TH£ What was Dimitrov's "united front"? - page 5 MILITANT Poll shows nse 1n black militancy Published in the interests of the Working People Vol. 33- No. 29 Friday, July 18, 1969 Price 15c - page 3 March on D.C. Nov. 15

cago called by SO in support of the eight Student Mobe activists fr a med up on a "consp ir a t~ y" ch arge in connect ion with the Chicago Nat'l antiwar parley police rio t last year . SMC will a lso help build the nationwide maps progra m mo r atorium against the war, planned by the Vietn am Moratoriu m Co mmittee for sets fall offensive Oct. 15; leaders of SMC a nd the Mor a to­ of action rium Committee a greed to cooperate in By Harry Ring getting the participati on of hundreds of By Joel Aber tho usands of students. CLEVELAND- A broadly representative gathering of antiwar activists CLEVELAND-About 500 student a nti­ Escalation of the fa ll offensive is plan­ meeting here July 4-5 initiated plans for a massive fall offensive against war activists from around the country ned for ovember, with a student strik e the Vietnam war culminating with a giant Washington demonstration meeting at Case-Western Reserve niver­ to be built for ov. 14, one day before sity here July 6 voted to plunge into build­ the massive march on Washing ton. Nov. 15 for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Vietnam. ing the fall antiwar offensive, which will Politica l diversity In two days of political discussion at the conference it was generally culminate in a massive ov. 15 march Many ideas were expressed in the plen­ agreed that opposition to the war is now clearly a m ajority sentiment on Washington, as mapped out during a ry session a nd workshops, but ther e was in the country and that, effectively organized, the Washington action the previous two days by a general a nti­ one point of general agreement - the need war conference. for effective, militant m ass action for with­ could be the most immense in the nation's history and could have ex­ Spon ored by the Student Mobilization drawal of troops from Vietnam. plosive political impact in the fight to end Washington's aggression Committee to End the War in Vietnam, the The differences of opinion exp ressed du­ against the Vietnamese revolution. Sunday conference was the most geograph­ ring the previous two d ays' conference The program of action, and creation of an organizational structure ically diverse gathering of the student wing and the d ia logue with SOS a t the SMC of the a ntiwa r movement in the past two confer ence p rovided a backdrop for much to carry it through, were agreed on after two days of discussion, some- years, with representation from mo re than (Continued on page 7 ) ( Continued on page 6) 150 loca l and national student group . Austin (Texas) Student Mobilization Com­ mittee, eattle GI-Civilian Alli a nce for Peace, Buffalo Draft Resistance Union, Madison Committee to End the War in Vietnam, Berkeley SMC, Terre Haute Draft Project, Committee of Returned Volunteers, Minnesota Resistance, Boston GI-CAP­ these were just a few of the o rga niza tions represented, in addition to a bout 10 mili­ tary bases and many high schools. For the majority, this wa their first a ntiwar conference. SDS, which had refrained from participating in a ny student a ntiwar con­ ierence for the past three years, intervened a t th is SMC conference. FaJI offensive The fall offensive charted by the SMC at this conference is a n a mbitious plan to build the most massive and intense series of antiwar actions yet-with a pre­ Jude to the fall already planned fo r Aug­ ust. SMC voted to make Hiroshima-Naga­ saki week, Aug. 3-9, a wee k of a ntiwa r actions a nd protests against the L. .­ Japan security treaty and l . S. presence in Okinawa and Viet nam. On Aug. 17, SM will help build a demonstration initi ated by the Southern California Peace Actio n Council to ta ke place at San Clemente, California, Lxon' summer White House. Photos by Shannon To begin the fall actions, SMC decided to endorse and throw its forces into helping build the Sept. 27 demo nstra tion in Chi-

Prof. Sidney Peck, co-chairma n D. C. demonstration project. Student Mobilization Committee session (top) and national antiwar conference. Page 2 THE MILITANT Friday, July 18, 1969 Mississippi black proiect harassed THE MILITANT Editor: HARRY RING Business Manager: BEVERLY SCOTT

the establishment. Workers from Published weekly by The Mauant Publishing Ass'n., 873 Broadway, New York, 'Nothing to the law LLL had helped the movement N.Y. 10003. Phone 533-6414. Second-class postage paid at New York, N: Y. grow in many western Kentucky Subscription: domestic, $4 a year; foreign, $5.50. By frrst class mail: domestic Letters cities, in places like Owensboro, and Canada $10.50; all ather countries, $15.00. Air printed matter: domestic m Sunflower' and Canada, $15.00; Latin America, $24.00; Europe, $28.00; Africa, Australia, Paducah, Bowling Green, Hop­ Asia (including USSR), $33.00. Write for sealed air postage rates. Signed articles Sunflower, Miss. kinsville, Henderson, Madison­ by contributors do not necessarily represent The Militant's views. These are ex­ pressed in editorials. After continual harassment for from our ville, Mayfield and numerous the past year by local residents smaller towns. It had worked with in cooperation with the mayor and students at Murray State Univer­ Vol. 33- No. 29 Friday, July 18, 1969 justice of the peace, we have sity, Western Kentucky State Uni­ •· readers versity, Brescia College and sev­ decided that we should leave the The closing news date for this issue was July 11. community center and the town eral community colleges. of Sunflower. Clothes were stolen This column is an open forum It had reached people who other­ from the center, dashikis were for all viewpoints on subjects of wise might have remained stolen from the sewing coopera­ general interest to our readers. untouched and under the thumb tive, and a teenage girl signed an Please keep your letters brief. Where of the establishment news and ally it with the capitalist United dam proposal on the grounds that affidavit charging Otis Brown necessary they will be abridged. opinion. It had worked steadfastly States. it would destroy a valuable rec­ with threatening to kill, which is Writers' initials will be used, names for an end to the war in Vietnam I don't think PL has been wrong reational area for sportsmen in a felony. The sheriff set bond at being withheld unless authorization and an end to injustice at home. in all its differences with the SWP. groups like the National Rifle $500. We got Otis out of jail that is given for use. At present there are no plans for Its position on "Jeff' labor-fakers Association. For some reason its morning and decided to press its reopening. Those who worked of the Bridges ilk has improved. effect on the lives of Indians living charges against those who had to whom you give and why you with the Liberal Lending Library PL is wrong in considering black in the area never seemed to be broken into the center and the are giVmg. We are more will, however, continue to be nationalism reactionary, but considered. worst troublemakers. concerned about the children than active in the movement for peace when nationalism is used as a Rick Feinberg The law listened to a witness of about anything, because they are and freedom. cover for "build the black bour­ the burglary and saw for them­ the ones who will be running the R.A.C. geoisie," then we should crack selves the fuss around the center, world tomorrow and they are Chairman, Committee for a down. Even Nixon can accept but they wouldn't take our com­ going to need love to encourage Liberal Lending Library nationalism on such terms, and Pittsburgh gains plaints. We couldn'tevengetpeace them to go forward. They are the SWP's attitude has been too bonds issued. The illiterate con­ also going to need good teaching, uncritical. One of the big prob­ Militant reader stable even stood outside the and coming up in Mississippi they lems has been the attitude toward center and said the people in it do not get much. We need what­ Best m America the peace movement, and this re­ needed to be killed, the center ever help you can give to help quires special discussion. Pittsburgh, Pa. burned to the ground and us carry on. Two years ago in San Fran­ I am a relatively new reader, "nothing would be did about it." Mail can still be sent to Box 398, cisco, some PLers attacked SWP but I have read The Militant with Folks around here always said Sunflower, Miss. Boxes sent by Yosemite, Calif. supporters who were handing out great enthusiasm. I was especially there was nothing to the law in other means can go to 411 Grey I have enclosed money for a leaflets. One of the ringleaders of gratified by your coverage of the Sunflower. Street, Indianola, Miss. sub and a donation to help keep the attack had been my comrade Pittsburgh peace march [The People can have us put in jail Otis Brown, Jr. The Militant the best radical news­ in the May 2 Movement, and I Militant, June 6], where I first when they get ready, and we have Margaret Kibbee paper in America. was shocked at this act of hood­ saw your paper. It was the most no protection. We want to move Sunflower County With solidarity, lumism, reminiscent of the CP's objective report on the march I back to Indianola, where the at­ Improvement Ass'n. L.E. tactics in the "third period." have yet read. I hope you will mosphere is a little better than in Up till 1965 the SWP had by continue to remember that some­ Sunflower. We still want to carry far the best record in the peace one once said, "The Militantnews­ out our plans for the Sunflower Progressive Labor movement. Of the principal ten­ paper is one of the best in New dencies of the left (social demo­ County Improvement Project Much impressed York City. In fact, it is one of when we move into Indianola. articles disappointing crats, CP, third-campers. SWP) the best anywhere you go today," Remember too that if Sunflower it was the only one to take a and act accordingly. were not a community where principled stand against the US P.S. government's role in both the se­ problems like this could happen Stamford, Berkeley, Calif. [The "someone" quoted by P. S. Ctmrt, cond world war and the cold war. it would not be in the mess it is I was much impre~J!Sed by the I have found Mary-Alice Waters' was Malcolm X, speaking at a But it was not until 1965 that in today. The people here are not superiority of your coverage of series of articles on Progressive Militant Labor Forum in New the SWP was in a position to angels made in heaven any more the SDS split over that of the Labor rather disappointing. York in January 1965. -Editor] assume a readership role in the than the people in any other com­ Guardian story. Many of her criticisms of PL's peace movement. munity. R.L. behavior in specific crises are un­ I, Otis Brown, have been trying doubtedly correct (I am not The idea seems to be to build to get people to help themselves familiar with all the crises), but massive demonstrations against for a little better than five years. she fails to give any theoretical the Vietnam war, and then more The students I have been wanting to quit sev­ Library in Kentucky explanation for PL's degenera­ massive demonstrations. But eral times, but I just cannot. Like tion. single-issue organizations, which may yet save us last night I went over to a house in is burned cut PL's behavior has gotten in­ depend on a coalition of several front of the community center and creasingly disgusting over the last tendencies to work, generally have their politics determined by the learned that the baby in the house Chicago, Ill. three years. They seem to work San Francisco, Calif. hadn't had any milk in two days. The Liberal Lending Library on a theory that all countries ex­ tendency farthest to the right. Gerald Clark in his June 27 I feel the SWP-YSA line in the The only food I found in the of Providence, Kentucky, which cept China are counterrevolu­ Miutant article on the recent stu­ peace movement has been proved house was some flour and had served as the major peace tionary and capitalist, as are all dent government election in Hay­ bankrupt both on theoretical oatmeal. The lady who lives there and freedom center for Western groups except themselves. They ward, Calif., has correctly pointed grounds and by experience. It has nine children already and is Kentucky, is no more. A fire of haVe indulged in a hysterical anti­ out that the colleges of California seven months pregnant. She is unknown origin broke out in the hippieisrn which went to the point is akin to the CP line which are moving to the left in their Cannon denounced in his 1951 only 26 years old. Earlier this section of the building in which of trying to ram an antimarijuana choice of student governments. I pamphlet "The Road to Peace"; year she and her husband moved the LL L was housed. Ninety per­ resolution down SDS's throat and believe that to a large extent this to Indiana believing they would cent of the boob artd papers were writing articles on the marijuana at times it seems as if the only is true not only in California but principled difference with the CP have a better opportunity there, destroyed, along with the files question that read as if Henry in schools of higher learning line is the question of supporting but they didn't find it, so they of the Committee for LLL. There Anslinger had been boning up on throughout America and the moved back South in March. is suspicion of arson. the Thought of Chariman Mao. Democratic candidates. world. J.R.H. We know that this continual The library had been in exist­ Their baseless charge that If the military-industrial com­ giving will wear out in the long ence for three years and had been Marcuse is an agent of the ruling plex does not in the meantime run, but it's the way you give, a persistent thorn in the side of class is contemptible. plunge us into an atomic war, The impulse that led the Successful revolution, the students may yet save us from founders of PL to break with the ourselves. Communist Party in 1961 was a unsuccessful movie Dale Rasmussen sound one, but they failed to de­ velop a theory as to why the Oakland, Calif. CP had gone so hopelessly to Ill In apt and succinct terms, the the bad. I doubt if they were Oakland Tribune describes the On Panther z initially Maoists, but the Chinese movie Che: "If the revolution were case against Khrushchevism gave as boring and unsuccessful as ... them ideological ammunition for coloring book this, we'd still be gambling in the struggle against the CP's op­ z Havana." portunism. Unfortunately they R.L. got to the point of ideological de­ St. Louis, Mo. 0 pendence on the Peking leadership, UPI reported on June 24 that - even to the point of supporting along with free breakfasts being h Peking's refusal to repudiate the State of California provided by the Black Panthers Stalin cult. in San Francisco, a coloring book I think the failure of P L to come versus the Indians was being passed out to the chil­ to terms with the Trotsky-Stalin dren urging them to kill white dispute lies at the root of its later policemen. Since the person who IF YOU SUPPORT THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT THE degeneration after an excellent be­ Berkeley, Calif. supplied this information, Inspec­ BLACK LIBERATION STRUGGLE, THE FIGHT FOR SO­ ginning. Trotsky's analysis is es­ Just a few words in relation to tor Ben Lashkoff of the San Fran­ cisco police department, is likely CIALIST DEMOCRACY IN EASTERN EUROPE A SO­ sential if one wants to understand the latest developments on the the catastrophe that has over­ proposed dam on the Eel River to have a certain bias in his CIALIST AMERICA, YOU BELONG IN THE YSA ... whelmed the CPS U, CPU SA, and which, as I reported in the June testimony, I'd like to know what indeed the whole complex of 27 issue of The Militant, was the Militant has heard about these Kremlinite organizations; but threatening to flood the Indians allegations. ------clip and mail ------how can one study this analysis of Round Valley out of their A.Z. Young Socialist Alliance, Box 471 Cooper Station, New York, N.Y. 10003. if brought up in a political at­ homes. [Bobby Seale, national chair­ mosphere where Trotsky is con­ Since the article was written, man of the Black Panther Party, 0 I would like more information 0 I wont to join the YSA sidered a counterrevolutionary? plans for the darn have been tem­ announced to the news media re­ porarily suspended and an in­ cently that all copies of the color­ Name. Hence we see theories such as about the Czechoslovak crisis: vestigation initiated to find out if ing book had been withdrawn Address Novotny had restored capitalism there is any other way to supply and destroyed immediately after in Czechoslovakia and wanted to water for Southern California. It publication, several months be­ City State ...... Zip .. ally it with the capitalist Soviet seems that the good Gov. Reagan fore the cops happened to l'nion, while Dubcek wanted to was finally induced to veto the "discover" a copy. Editor] Friday, July 18, 1969 THE MILITANT Page 3

Poll shows new rise of black militancy

By Dick Roberts power ... and its appeal is even greater "How wide does the current black ferment ( 31 percent) among lower-income younger run- and how has it changed \:egro Negroes." dreams and aspirations? Has the tradition­ Compared to this the 1969 poll sings al goal of integration lost its grip on the a different tune. Over 40 percent of all those rank and file'! Who are the influential new interviewed favored black power and those voices'? Do they speak for the silent'! Be­ under 30 favored it 68 to 16 percent. hind the fashionably aggressive rhetoric Newsweek stressed that King's popular­ of separatism and reparations is there ity is even greater now than in 1966 but ad­ realistic hope for raciai reconciliation in mits this has quite a different meaning from America? And on what terms'?" three years ago: "Negroes now generally These were the questions that Newsweek agree ( 52-30) that his nonviolent strategy magazine claims it set out to answer in its is in fact losing whatever tenuous hold it third national poll of the "mood in black has left." America" the results of which are reported The three polls document the decline of in the .June 3 0 issue. The answers News­ the popularity of the NAACP and the Urban week got (their poll was conducted by League. In 1963, Newsweek found 91 The Gallup Organization) are summed up percent favorable to the NAACP and 54 in the quotation of a black waitress from percent to the Urban League; this fell to Kansas City: 81 and 50 in 1966; and to 60 and 40 "I used to feel that nonviolence was the in 1969. way ... I guess I'm beginning to think "The old-style race diplomats who re­ violence is the only thing white people main persuaded that the walls of Jericho understand." can best be toppled from within have Whatever their intentions, the Gallup poll­ slipped in the past three years." sters came back with the message that three Malcolm X, who was entirely omitted years of capitalist violence in Vietnam and from the 1966 poll, has become "No. 2 man" in every city of the nation has intensified to young black northerners, after King. black radicalism and deepened black na­ This "tough new breed" feels "the ghetto tional consciousness and racial pride. riots have been not only justified ( 4 7-32) Comparing the attitudes of the 997 per­ but helpful (50 percent say yes, only 20 sons interviewed in 1969 to the results of no)- and one ... in six stands ready the previous poll in 1966 (conducted by to join the next time." Louis Harris), Newsweek singled out these The pollsters did not even ask the ques­ significant changes: tion of 1963 and 1966 about favoring a 1966 1969 Photo by Shelley Ramsdell(New York Press Service black organization- or if they asked it, Local police are harmful to A SIGN OF THE TIMES. During third-world student occupation of City College they buried the results. Here is what the Negro rights 33 ·~:. 46 ';I of New York this spring. 1969 poll states: Negroes should oppose "A robust 76 percent consider themselves the war in Vietnam be­ Democrats-higher even than in the Ken­ cause they have less free- erally. And many Negroes envtsiOn a as a leader and what he stands for ... nedy-Johnson years- but only 62 percent dom to fight for 35 56 far gloomier consequence- the possibility SNCC's Carmichael and CORE's Mc­ think the Democrats will do most for The Federal government that King's nonviolent ideals may have Kissick come in almost at the bottom of the Negroes. is helpful to Negro rights 74 25 died with him." list at 19 percent apiece." "The spill-off goes not to the Republi­ Draft laws are unfair to But if the pertinent information in News­ In a book entitled Black and White cans ... but to the cynics- the 24 percent Negroes 25 4 7 week's survey is separated from the white ( 1967) based on this poll, Harris makes who doubt it really makes much difference Newsweek attempts to demonstrate that, liberalism of its editors, the figures suggest much of the fact that in 1963 only 9 percent who wins." as the survey is entitled, American blacks something else: that millions of blacks, of those polled believed that blacks should The fact that 20 percent of the black are "Angry- Rut They Still Have a Dream." above all the young people, have rejected have their own political organizations and population today favors the creation of a On the one hand, according to Newsweek, the forms of struggle King symbolized this dropped to 7 percent in 1966: separate nation is only mentioned in pass­ the poll "discloses small but real increases when he was alive and they are searching "These results ... are ample testimony ing. But that fact alone has wide-ranging in nearly every index of bitterness and for better paths. A more accurate title to the fact that most rank-and-file Negroes implications for the future ofthe black liber­ alienation and despair. one black in five would be "Angry- But Not Dreaming." simply do not buy the separatism voiced ation struggle. wishes for a separate Negro nation within The change is much clearer if the results by Floyd McKissick and Stokely Car­ The 1969 pol! had one other category that the ll. S.; one in seven doesn't consider of the 1969 survey are compared closely michael." was not in the two earlier polls: It asked America worth fighting for in a world war; to the 1966 Newsweek survey. Only a few But the 1966 poll had to admitthat"black about soul, which, according to Newsweek, and one in four thinks Negroes should of the 1966 figures are included in the power with its vision of racial pride and "defies precise definition- even by those arm themselves." June 30 article. stature has intrigued a fair number of who are sure they have it." One person On the other hand, "Negro Americans The Louis Harris poll in 1966waslarge­ Negroes. Fully one in four of rank-and­ informed Newsweek, "The white people believe they are on the move now as !y written to drive a wedge in the civil­ file Negroes favor the idea of black can do the Watusi, but we are the Watusi." never before- more so even than at the rights movement. One section of it was height of the great hallelujah days of entitled "Black Power: Road to Disaster?" 1963" and "Martin Luther King, in death, This described the ideas of SNCC leader I Third World Liberation Notes remains by far the most revered Negro Stokely Carmichael and CORE leader leader." Floyd McKissick as "brash,""chauvinistic," This is supposed to be a "quandary" be­ "intolerant of compromise." cause it leaves blacks without a man "to "Overwhelmingly," said Newsweek then, I Black steel workers organize speak with authority for black people gen- "[blacks j endorse Martin Luther King, both

According to the June 27 issue of tion last year, some black workers were Muhammad Speaks, black labor agitation so dissatisfied that they picketed the con­ N.Y. police admit brutal has hit the United Steel Workers of Amer­ vention. The projected conference is an ica. Over 1,000 black steel workers are ex­ indication of the heightening of that dis­ pected at a conference to be held in Gary, satisfaction. Indiana, on July 12 and 13. The con­ • • • treatment of Panther 2l ference will be sponsored by an all-black In the July 12 edition of the Baltimore organization of steel workers known as the Afro-American, there is a description of National Ad Hoc Committee. The objec­ a police dog attack on a black woman and NEW YORK- The city department of cruel and unusual punishment. The 13 were tive of the Ad Hoc Committee is to fight her companions. The dog was unleashed correction here has admitted the truth of among 2 I Panthers indicted in a police­ for equal rights within the USW A. by a K-9 cop while these ghetto residents charges by attorneys for 13 jailed Black concocted "conspiracy" to blow up depart­ Black workers, who comprise one quar­ were on their front porch on the night of Panthers that they are being subjected to ment stores, the New York Botanical Gar­ ter of the 2.5 million members oftheunion, June 27. The incident began when the dens and part of the Penn Central rail­ have only one post in the whole leadership K-9 cop came up and said that the talk road. (See Militant, .June 20.) structure of the USWA. Muhammad Speaks was too loud (as usual). After a brief The .July 7 New York Times revealed quoted Rayfied Mooty, the chairman ofthe conversation between the K-9 cop and that these prisoners are being made to Ad Hoc Committee, as saying, "only one Mrs. Helen Smith, the dog was unleashed. sleep with a light on in their cells, are black man has been appointed a sub­ Sister Smith, while trying to escape the checked every half hour, are allowed only district director, and that was not until four-legged beast, was maced by the two­ two photographs and a religious medal­ this year." legged beast. In the aftermath, the sister, lion in the cell, can receive letters from The reason for this, which the article just 30 years old, required 75 stitches family members only and are restricted to close the dog bite wound on her legs. to reading only the newspapers and maga­ explained, is that the leadership structure zines provided by their jailers; they are is filled by appointments from on high. A brother, Donald Best, required 32 not permitted out of their cells except for First there is the 32-man executive board, stitches to close the dog bite wounds in a half-hour exercise period once a day. which is composed of district officers. On his side and hip. The department claims that this is the top of this are the three national officers. On top of all this, Sister Smith was same treatment given all "special" prisoners. Under the executive board, the union is charged with disturbing the peace. How­ What makes the Panthers "special"? Depart­ divided into 25 districts, each of which ever, the court has since ruled that she ment commtsswner George McGrath contains subdistricts. was not guilty, and Sister Smith plans to offered this explanation to the Times: "They The rank-and-file workers only come sue the city for this attack. were committed to us as recognized mili­ into play in the election of local union But this is not all of the story. Militants tants, as part of a formal party which urges officers. But outside of this procedure, they who are members of the SOUL School people to be anti-establishment. We view have no power. and Black Students Union had planned them as security risks. It's simply a matter The two-day conference will address it­ to protest the attack They wanted the K-9 of their proclivity for trouble, for stirring self to the problem of representation plus cop, Alvin Nachman, arrested and up trouble in the institution." the problem of working conditions in the charged with assault with intent to mur­ McGrath's statement corroborates what plants. der. Upon receiving this information, the attorneys William Kunstler and Arthur The Ad Hoc Committee, which according police chief, Donald Pomerleau, met with Turco have been charging: that the Pan­ to the article has chapters in Birmingham, the militants and told them that they would thers are being mistreated for their poli­ Philadelphia, Detroit, Youngstown, Cleve­ be arrested and charged with inciting to tical views. land, and Gary, was formed in 1964. riot if they used a bull-horn to publicize Another aspect of the denial of the Pan­ In negotiations with the top union brass, the dog attack. thers' rights is their preposterously high none of its demands for representation So goes justice in Amerika. bail- $100,000 each. have been met. At the USWA's conven- -Derrick Morrison Page 4 THE MILITANT Friday, July 18, 1969

Congress Saigon and the State Dept. votes tax ' ... the ultimate surcharge

By Ed Smith The June 3 0 House of Representatives vote to continue the 10 percent income tax form of corruption' "surcharge" shows how great the concern is in Washington to dampen the inflation­ ary spiral of prices and interest rates. Less than one month ago, before banks raised their prime interest rate to the his­ toric high of 8. 5 percent, it was considered a virtual certainty that extention of the un­ popular tax surcharge would be defeated in Congress. Even with intense last-minute pressure from the White House, the bill was barely By Dick Roberts able to squeak through Congress. It gained On May 1, 1968, Troung Dinh Dzu was a five-vote margin of 210 to 2 05. Congress­ arrested by the Saigon government and men are extremely reluctant to vote for charged with "urging the formation of a 1964 DEMONSTRATION IN SAIGON: How many of these high taxes when prices are rising at record­ coalition government as a step toward oppositionists are in Thieu' s jails today? breaking speeds. peace." In August, almost one year ago, This fast increase in prices has already he was sentenced to five years of forced cut deeply into workers' wages. The truth labor and he is still in prison. of the matter is that real wages, represent­ This would probably not merit attention, for 'non-crimes' is actually rising rather position with an iron bar locking his ing the actual purchasing power of the since there are thousands of such prisoners rapidly. The rate of increase is impossible wrists to his ankles; 'afterwards he cannot dollar, have declined in this country since in Saigon's jails, except for the fact that to discover because of the fact that up walk or even straighten up'; it was said ... mid-1965. Dzu was the runner-up in the South Viet­ to one third of all the persons detained "[One] informant said, as a number of In the June 17 Wall Street Journal, econ­ namese elections of 1967 which made Thieu have not been charged with any offense others did, that sexual torture was com­ omist Alfred Malabre Jr. gave a tabula­ the president. or given any sentence. mon.... tion of weekly pay and weekly purchasing Further, "formation of a coalition gov­ "One of the reasons for the increase (a "Another informant told of the torture power of the "typical" worker, as defined ernmenf' through elections is what the rise admitted by Embassy officials in Sai­ by electricity of an eight-year-old girl for by the Bureau of Labor Statistics: a non­ Nixon administration claims it is for. One gon) is the U.S. Pacification program the purpose of finding her father: 'She supervisory worker in private industry could reasonably question the validity of which, as it moves into the hinterlands, said her father was dead and they just with three dependents. such elections if Thieu's political oppo­ ferrets out citizens suspected of being 'dis­ kept torturing her . . . They tortured her Weekly nents are all in jaiL loyal' and turns them over to the 'kanga­ mother too.'" Purchasing To investigate these matters further, a roo courts' known as Provincial Security "On June 11," Dean Robert F. Drinan Power team of well-known American churchmen, Councils or Military Fields Tribunals. wrote in the Boston Globe article, "I was ( 1957-59 dollar) educators and politicians visited South "3) A significant number of political pri­ back in Washington and at another meet­ Weekly Pay Vietnam between May 25 and June 10. soners, prior to their 'non-trial,' are tor­ ing told one of the high White House September $110.87 $79.86 They discovered not only that there were tured by South Vietnamese officials in officials ... that a State Department offi­ October 110.38 79.10 thousands of political prisoners in the Sai­ order to get information about VC ac­ cial on May 23 had 'lied' to us about November 109.88 7 8. 48 gon jails but that the number was growing tivities and plans ..." the number of political prisoners. . . . The December 110.46 78.64 and that the U. S. State Department had The full report of the "U.S. Study Team White House official became flustered at January 11 0. 33 77.95 lied about the extent of the imprisonment. on Political and Religious Freedom in this revelation. He urged that no one had February 110.48 77.73 Robert F. Drinan, Dean of the Boston South Vietnam" appeared in the Congress­ 'lied' and started a monologue about the March 112.05 78.07 College Law School and one of the team ionalllecord, June 18. difficulty of getting 'hard' information ... April 112.13 77.62 members, described the main findings and The report summarized the testimony of "When I left the handsome offices of the "The latest weekly payfigureof$112.13," the treatment he got from the State Depart­ a number of prisoners: State Department on June 11 I was so Malabre wrote, "is a record and no doubt ment in the Boston Globe of June 19. "All prisoners are oppressed by condi­ depressed I did not talk for almost 30 suggests continuing good times to anyone Two days before going to South Viet­ tions of overcrowding. Sometimes, how­ minutes ... taking a cursory glance at the nation's nam, Drinan was told by "a highly placed ever, many prisoners are stuffed into small "I shall never forget those encounters economic condition. But the latest purchas­ official of the State Department ... that cells which do not allow for lying down or, [with State Department officials]. They have ing-power figure of $77.62 not only is the number of political prisoners in South sometimes, even for sitting; and this, when probably done more than any other event $2.24 below the September total but is Vietnam had been continually decreasing." it is steaming hot, when excrement accumu­ in my life to galvanize my determination below the yearly averages for 1968 "The 'hard' information about political lates, and when the prisoners are seldom to work for a government which will be ($78.81 ), for 1967 ($78.13 ), for 1966 prisoners which emerged in South Viet­ released for exercise, is torture indeed. honest in its communications with its citi­ ($78.39) and for 1965 ($78.53)." nam," Drinan states, "comes to this: "Beating is the most common form of zens. It should be noted that this decline in "l) Of the 35,000 men, women and child­ abuse .... A number of commentators "Those encounters left me with the convic­ workers' purchasing power is greater than ren in prison about 60 percent wear a also described the immersion of prisoners tion that our students and young people in the four "recessions" of the U. S. econo­ red tag on their prison garb indicating into tanks of water which are then beaten are profoundly disturbed because they see my since the second world war. In fact, that they are 'Communists.' Many of these with a stick on the outside. The pain is in their government a policy of telling lies in three of these recessions, in 1948-49, until recently used to be called 'political said to be particularly intense and the or at least a policy of trying to deceive in 1953-54 and in 1960-61, weekly pur­ prisoners' but that name was changed to resultant injuries are internal. people. chasing power actually increased slightly. 'Communist' or 'Viet Cong sympa­ "One witness described a 'bicycle torture' "However benignly one may describe or The word "recession" usually refers to a thizers' ... used in this center. For about a week the view such a policy, I knew on June 11 significant decline in industrial production. "2) The number of persons imprisoned prisoner is forced to maintain a squat that it is the ultimate form of corruption." In that sense, the economy is not in a recession right now. Nevertheless, the poli- · cies of the Johnson and Nixon administra­ tions were and are designed to slow indus­ trial production in this country, and they Schweikism upsets Czech bureaucrats have already taken a toll. This has been somewhat disguised by the rapid increase in prices. It can be revealed, By Joel Aber tion for a massive nationwide work stop­ mands "in view of the fact that the present however, by examining the real growth The Kremlin-inspired Czech bureaucrats page planned for Aug. 20, the anniversary development of the political situation is in GNP after subtracting the growth attri­ are nervous- and with good reason. For of last year's Soviet invasion of Czecho­ coming into sharp conflict with the moral butable solely to price increases. The real the power of the Czechoslovakian people slovakia. Fifteen-minute work stoppages convictions of the overwhelming majority GNP (physical output of goods and ser­ to resist the current clampdown on democ­ were reported during one day recently at of the working people of our country, and vices) has been steadily slowing since John­ ratization is beginning to demonstrate it­ at least five metal-working plants. The thus with the duty of the trade-union or­ son imposed the first 10 percent tax sur­ self in a most convincing manner. 900,000 metal workers constitute Czecho­ ganizations to defend the interests of the charge in 1968. According to the June 30 New York slovakia's largest and one of its most workers." These figures were given in the Wall Times, managers of Czech industry are militant unions. Street Journal, June 16: The declaration included demands for an "deeply worrying" about the proliferation Price Real Following the recent government disso­ end to government encroachment on the of slowdown tactics by factory workers, increase growth lution of the Czech student union, the independent role of the trade unions, ter­ which are apparently seriously hampering 1968: 2nd quarter 4.1% 6.3% metal workers had planned strikes in soli­ mination of censorship of the union press, production. "This is Schweikism, pure and 3rd quarter 3. 7 5.2 darity with the students. They were per­ a.n end to increases in prices of necessities, simple," explained a Czech economistto the 4th quarter 4.0 3.5 suaded to call off the work stoppages at opposition to "any suppression of our con­ Times. Like The Good Soldier Schweik, 1969: 1st quarter 4.6 2.9 the last minute. Nevertheless, the June 25 tacts with the unions of the students, crea­ the hero of a classic Czech novel who Estimates of real growth in the second Times reported, some 40 representatives of tive workers and scholars" and protests successfully screwed up the Austrian mili­ quarter of this year suggest that the drop plant committees met in a plant in the against bureaucratic practices by the na­ tary machine, the economist described how in real growth is continuing. Liben district and passed a resolution con­ tional union leaders. workers no longer "just come late to their demning the disbandonment of the student What is important to realize is that the In a cutting rebuke to the union bureau­ government can repress real growth job, if they come at all, and knock off for union. a beer an hour later, as they have been crats, the statement said, "It astonishes us through its fiscal and monetary manipu­ doing all these years. They follow safety "The display of solidarity between work­ that the leading union bodies did not lations and that this will cut into jobs, regulations to the letter, say they don't ers and students," observes the Times, "is protest against the statement by Comrade sooner or later. With slowing real produc­ understand work norms or interpret them bound to cause concern among the party Strougal [an avidly pro-Moscow bureau­ tion, layoffs are inevitable. The jobs of wrongly, and slow down plant tempos leadership. The conservative faction now crat regarded as second-in-command to young blacks and teenagers generally will tremendously. In some workshops there is in control has been intent on breaking up Premier Husak] on April 21, 1969, about be the first and hardest hit. such an "uncooperative labor attitude that the alliance of trade unionists, intellectuals the 'so-called autonomy of social and pro­ Moreover, Washington is intent on an you feel there are organizers behind it. and students." fessional organizations.' We are not industrial slowdown come what may, and But it's hard to spot them." Meanwhile on June 6 an assembly of familiar with any 'so-called autonomy'; if the present policies, including the extended The same Times article reported the dis­ elected trade union delegates met and is­ we are familiar only with 'so-called tax surcharge, are insufficient, more strin­ tribution of clandestine leaflets in prepara- sued a declaration containing nine de- leaders.'" gent policies will soon be adopted. Friday, July 18, 1969 THE MILITANT Page 5

The actual historx. What was Dimitrov's 'united front' policy?

By Tom Kerry retain its organizational independence, the The demon of history works in a mys­ integrity of its own program, and the full terious way his wonders to perform! A right of criticism. case in point- after decades of almost The Bolsheviks were convinced that in total obscurity the ghost of Georgi Dimi­ the course of such united front actions trov rides again. the logic of the struggle would carry the Dimitrov suddenly arose from his grave movement beyond the self-imposed limits a month or more ago at the time the placed on the actions by the reformist and Black Panther Party announced plans to centrist leaders. The experience acquired hold a Revolutionary Conference for a by the workers in the heat of the struggle United Front Against Fascism in America. would lead them to reject the leadership To help explain why such a conference of the reformist windbags and impel them had been called, the Panther national paper to follow a revolutionary course under a reprinted two lengthy excerpts from a revolutionary leadership to the very end. speech by Dimitrov delivered at the seven~ That, in summary, was the essence of the th world congress of the Communist Inter­ tactic of the united front as conceived and national held in the summer of 193·5. carried out under the tutelage of Lenin. Who was Dimitrov? What was his"united fronf'? Some historical background would be in order. UNITED FRONT? Moscow's class-collaborationist popular front line reached Dimitrov arose as a leader of the Bul­ The "Third Period" its peak with World War II alliance with imperialist U.S. and Britain. Stalin garian Communist Party after the October here meets with Roosevelt and Churchill to agree on world spheres of influence. 1917 revolution in Russia. Following the In 1929 Stalin suddenly discovered that Kremlin policy was to subordinate revolutionary struggles in imperialist countr­ death of Lenin he emerged as a prominent history had entered its "Third Period." ies to the preservation of this alliance. In the U. S. this meant a "no-strike" spokesman for the Stalin faction in the The "Third Period," according to Stalin, Communist International. As a Bulgarian was to be the final period, the period of policy by CP-led unions and a denunciation of all Afro-American struggles emigre in Germany he actively promoted the total collapse of capitalism on a world taking place during World War II. Stalin's "Third Period" line of social-fas­ scale. cism, the united front from below, the build­ In line with this prognosis Stalin pro­ imminent collapse of capitalism and the Soviets of workers, peasants and soldiers ing of "red" trade unions, etc., etc. ceeded to jettison the united front tactic. advent of socialist power. deputies and directed the class struggle The "Third Period" brainstorm was Sta­ Not the winning of the masses on the road Scuttled was the united-front-from-below for workers' power and socialism against lin's own creation. He divided the histori­ to power but the conquest of power was and the theory of social fascism. Kerensky' s people's front government cal development into an arbitrary schema placed as point number one on the agenda. Buried were the alternatives: fascism which sought to confine the revolution of neatly compartmentalized periods. The The alternatives were bluntly posed: ei­ (capitalism) or socialism. within bourgeois-democratic limits. first period was ushered in by the Octo­ ther fascism or socialism. Obliterated were To replace the shattered "Third Period" In his various pronouncements on the ber revolution in Russia and placed the all distinctions of the various forms under edifice there was hurriedly erected a new people's front following the seventh world conquest of state power on the agenda in which capitalism ruled. All were subsumed theory that the choice facing humanity congress, Dimitrov was constrained to take Europe. under the general label of fascism. was fascism or democracy- bourgeois de­ note of the historical struggle waged by Unfortunately, the revolutionary wave All other working class tendencies were mocracy, that is. Bolshevism against the people's front in which threatened to inundate capitalist Eu­ damned as fascist agents, fascists in dis­ The turn was executed with full fanfare Russia. rope was beaten back. The young, inex­ guise, etc., etc. The social democracy, which under the slogan: For a United Front "Our attitude towards bourgeois demo­ especially in Germany at that time com­ perienced Communist parties, which emerg­ Against Fascism. The struggle for social­ cracy," he observes, "is not the same under manded much greater mass support than ed from the wreckage of the European ism was erased, expunged, wiped off the all conditions. For instance, at the time of social democracy, proved incapable of the Communist Party, the largest section agenda. Instead of the united-front-from­ the October revolution, the Russian Bolsh­ carrying through the revolutionary over­ at that time of the Communist International below in the struggle for socialism there eviks engaged in a life-and-death struggle throw of capitalism. The revolutionary outside the Soviet Union, was stigmatized was substituted-the People's Front. against all political parties which opposed wave receded. This ushered in the second as just another wing of fascism. So that period- the period of European capitalist there would be no ambiguity on that score, The People's Front the establishment of the proletarian stabilization. Stalin declared:"Social democracy and fas­ The policy of the people's front was dictatorship under the slogan ofthedefense The united front cism are twins, not antipodes!" codified at the seventh world congress of of bourgeois democracy." the Communist International in 1935. Be­ "The situation," he goes on, "is quite dif­ It was in this period that the Third cause of the prominence he acquired in ferent in the capitalist countries at present. International, under the leadership of Len­ United-front-from-below the Reich stag fire trial, Dimitrov was tagged Now the fascist counterrevolution is at­ in and Trotsky, elaborated the tactic of If that were so, there could be no talk as the ideal mouthpiece to give voice to tacking bourgeois democracy in an effort the united front. The aim of the tactic was of a united front with the social democrats. the new people's front line. It was not to establish a most barbaric regime of to win the leadership of the masses as an To bolster their theory of social-fascism long after, that the people's front line was exploitation and suppression of the toiling indispensable prerequisite and preparation the Stalinists added another wrinkle: the submitted to the acid test of history-with masses. Nowthetoilingmasses in a number for the conquest of power at the next united front from below. But the "united­ tragic results. of countries are faced with the necessity surge in the revolutionary tide. front-from-below" was no united front at First, a comment on an important matter of making a definite choice, and of making The defeat of the post-October revol­ all. In practice it meant that workers belong­ of terminology. The Stalinists, and others it today. not between proletarian dictator­ utionary upsurge fractured the workers' ing to the Social Democratic Party and following them, use the terms "united fronf' ship and bourgeois democracy, but between organizations. The failure of the Italian trade unions were harangued to join in and "people's front," interchangeably. This bourgeois democracy and fascism." workers to make their revolution brought actions called by and under the leader­ serves to make the confusion worse con­ Stripped of its radical rhetoric, the Mussolini and his fascist thugs to power ship of the German Communist Party. founded. The united front, as originally "choice" is bluntly stated. That was in 1921. The temporary stabilization of In other words, they were asked to abandon conceived, was viewed as an instrument the choice foisted on the workers in France capitalism in the major European states their own organizations, reject their own of the class struggle. The tactic was design­ when the Communist Party in the mid- served to revive the reformist social demo­ cratic parties which claimed the allegiance leadership, and embrace that of the CPG. ed to unite the workers in action against 1930's entered a people's front government of substantial sections of the working class But if they were prepared to do that there the capitalist ruling class regardless of the along with the French Socialist Party and and petty bourgeoisie. would be no earthly need of a united form under which it ruled: bourgeois dem­ the Radical Socialist Party- which was How to unite the working class in the front to begin with. ocratic, monarchicaL fascist, bonapartist, neither radical nor socialist but was the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism­ Stalin's "Third Period" insanity served etc., etc. most corrupt and venal capitalist party this was the burning question of the day to split the German working class right The idea of a "people's fronf' that trans­ in the country. as the Bolsheviks saw it. And the solution, down the middle and permitted Hitler to cends class lines is alien to Marxistthought. It was the choice forcibly imposed on they concluded after lengthy debate, was waltz to power without a struggle. It was It is never found in the writings of the the Spanish workers who sought to over­ the tactic of the workers' united front. a shattering debacle which demoralized and great Marxists, except as a concept against throw capitalist rule in the Spanish civil The united front tactic was devised to prostrated the German working class and which they directed their most withering war. unite the workers in action around specific permitted Hitler to plunge full-speed into criticism. Because of the debacle of the people's issues affecting the interest of the class as his preparations for war. As a matter of historical fact, Lenin front in France and Spain, the policy a whole. Each organization or group en­ It was at this point that Georgi Dimitrov had his first confrontation with people's became so discredited that the very term tering into united front agreements was to came on stage and achieved world pro­ frontism when he returned to Russia after "people's fronf' was later expunged from minence. Seeking a pretext to launch a the February revolution. He discovered the Stalinist vocabulary. Not the policy reign of terror designed to smash all work­ that some of the leading Bolsheviks, in­ but the words. The policy continues under ing class organizations and crush all resis­ cluding Stalin, were adopting a concilia­ another guise: the antimonopoly coalition, tance, the Nazi's put a torch to the Reich­ tory line toward the provisional govern­ which is nothing but the same old poison CALENDAR stag-the building where the German par­ ment. His answer, set down in the "April in new bottles. liament held its meetings. Theses," attacked the view that the aim of It would have been better to let Dimitrov Hitler, charging that the "communists" the Russian Revolution was the establish­ rest quietly in his grave. To begin pour­ had set the fire, arrested Dimitrov among ment of a bourgeois-democratic state and ing over his writings and quoting his LOS ANGELES others, and held a show trial which at­ set forth the perspective of a socialist rev­ "thoughts" can stir up many embarrasing L.A. SOCIALIST SUMMER SCHOOL, July 20.4 p.m.­ tracted world attention. Because of pres­ olution under Soviet rule. memories. Repression and Defense of the Socialist Workers Party sure brought to bear by the Soviet Union, The Provisional government under Ker­ During World War II. 5:30-dinner. 7 p.m.-Building Dimitrov was set free, but in the course ensky was a classical form of the people's Fascism: the Revolutionary Party. 1702 E. 4th St., Tel: 269-4953. of the trial achieved world prominence as front. It was a coalition of workers' part­ Dona. 50c/session. a "fighter against fascism." ies (Mensheviks), peasant parties (Social What It Is How to Fight It • Meanwhile, the victory of Hitler in Ger­ Revolutionaries), and various capitalist NEW YORK many, bringing with it the threat of war parties, based on a common platform of A Revised Compilation THE NEW OPPOSITION IN RUSSIA. Speaker: George against the Soviet Union, induced an at­ establishing a bourgeois-democratic state. leon Trot sky 50c Saunders, Soviet correspondent for Intercontinental titude of panic in the Kremlin. Lenin would have no part of class col­ Press. Fri., July 18, 8:30 p.m., 873 B'way (near 18th Overboard went the "Third Period" and laboration whether of the people's front Merit Publishers St.}. Ausp. Militant Labor Forum. Contrib. $], h.s. 50c. all its trappings. or any other variety. 873 Broadway New York, N.Y. l 0003 Abandoned was the prognosis of the He saw the genuine united front in the Page 6 THE MILITANT Friday, July 18, 1969

• • • • Conference maps fall offen SIVe against Vi

(Continued from page 1) times marked by conflicting political views and emphasizing the virtue of the various on various issues and dispute on organi­ participants doing their own thing. Dowd, zational matters. But the spirit of the gath­ on the other hand, seemed to favor includ­ ering was dramatically expressed by the ing some form of civil disobedience as a resounding standing ovation extended to structured feature of the Washington action. Jerry Gordon, chairman of the Cleveland An added ingredient in the ensuing de­ Area Peace Action Council which hosted bate was provided by Mark Rudd, who the conference, when he noted in his closing presented the SDS proposal for the Chicago remarks that the media had reported differ­ demonstration to the conference. Flanked ences at the conference as representing a by a number of young men and women "split" in the movement and declared that who apparently constituted a body guard, despite the differences the conference had Rudd argued that the demand to bring served to unite the movement around a the troops home was essentially reformist meaningful program of action. and that an authentically anti-imperialist The conference agreed to endorse or help position must center around the demand organize a series of antiwar actions begin­ to "bring the war home." ning in August and culminating with the The ultraleftism of the SDS proposal Nov. 15 Washington demonstration. was buttressed by a sectarian, ultimatis­ tic approach on the organizational level. The following actions were agreed upon: e Support to a mass march on Nixon's An SDS position paper on the need for summer White House in San Clemente, converting the antiwar movement into an Calif. The action is being organized by "anti-imperialist movemenf' asserted that the Southern California Peace Action Coun­ such a movement "must be held by such cil. organizations as the Black Panther Party, e An enlarged "reading-of-the-war-dead" the Young Lords Organization, the Third demonstration in Washington early in Sept­ World Liberation Front, La Raza, and ember initiated by the American Friends other Third World groups, and by the Service Committee. They envision adem­ Leo Fenster Young Patriots, SDS and other white orga­ onstration in which a large single-file pro­ nizations that understand and support the cession will include sufficient participants Third World struggle ..." for each to bear the name of one of the plementation came after the fullest poli­ "Broad-based antiwar organizations that more than 3 7. 000 l'. S. men killed in tical debate of any national antiwar ga­ have led the antiwar movement until now," Jerry Gordon Vietnam. thering yet held. Apart from various dif­ the SDS paper asserted, must make their • Support to the plans of the recently ferences of emphasis and tactics, the basic resources and skills available to the above political debate at the conference centered ican people. he said are now in favor of organized Vietnam Moratorium Committee cited organizations but must be willing for an Oct. 15 moratorium on campuses on one main issue. On the one side there withdrawing the C. S. troops from Vietnam to accept their leadership. and elsewhere demanding a withdrawal were those who favor massive, militant as rapidly as possible. Neither the position paper nor Rudd of l'. S. forces from Vietnam. demonstrations around the demand for the This fact, the union official emphasized, mentioned the Washington demonstration. e Support to the Sept. 27 Chicago dem­ immediate withdrawal of forces from Viet­ provided new opportunities and responsi­ onstration called by sns national leaders nam, involving the broad est possible forces While the Gordon presentation favoring bilities for the antiwar movement. Begin­ in opposition to the war and to protest in the civilian population and within the mass action against the war was present­ ning as a minority movement, he said, the indictment of the "Conspiracy 8" whose armed forces. ed as that of a steering committee mino­ the antiwar movement now has the oppor­ trial is slated to begin in Chicago that day. In counterposition to this was the view rity, the discussion that followed in the tunity to become a majorit,· movement. Dual structure that such mass demonstrations are large­ floor debate as well as in a large workshop To do so it is necessar,· to develop the To ensure effective participation in the ly ineffectual and that more "militant," the next morning made clear that the mass politics of a majority movement. Tactics Chicago action and to carry through the "confrontation" action is needed, even if action position already enjoyed or had and strategy consonant with the politics enormous effort involved in a successful by significantly fewer people. To this won during the debate the support of the of a minority movement, he argued, do Washington demonstration, it was agreed concept some add the proviso that the great majority of the conference partici­ not apply to the politics of a majority to establish a "bicameral" organizational demonstrations must center around "more cipants. movement. structure. advanced" anti-imperialist slogans. Address by unionist If the antiwar movement seeks to under­ Two cochairmen and two project direc­ CAPAC proposal At the outset. added weight was given stand the issues that are moving organi­ tors were selected to be responsible for The basic policy proposal of broad mass the Gordon position by a significant ad­ zed workers and approaches them effect­ participation in the Chicago demonstra­ actions was brought into the conference dress by Leo Fenster, the elected head ively, Fenster declared, significant num­ tion. The two cochairmen are Sid Lens, by the Cleveland Area Peace Action Coun­ of the Ohio Regional District Council of bers can be mobilized in the struggle to a principal spokesman for the Chicago cil delegation. The CAPAC delegation spell­ the United Auto Workers. end the war. Peace Council, and Prof. Douglas Dowd ed out the need for a massive Washington Explaining that this was his first ap­ Additional powerful arguments in favor of the New Cniversity Conference. The action without the encumbrance of civil pearance at an antiwar conference, two project directors are Rennie Davis of mass action as opposed to adventu­ disobedience which can only serve to limit Fenster said that as an opponent of the of the National Mobilization Committee ristic pseudoconfrontations by a few were the breadth of participation. The proposal Vietnam war he had previously confined to End the War in Vietnam and Sylvia advanced by members of Gls United argued the need for making withdrawal his efforts within the union movement. Kushner of the staff of the Chicago Peace the central demand. explaining that this Against the War in Vietnam who p arti­ But, he said, his was no longer a mino­ Council. demand provides "the best defense of the cipated in the conference. Pvt. .Joe Miles rity viewpoint within the organized labor The cochairmen of the Washington pro­ Vietnamese people and fully respects their and ex-Pvt. Andrew Pulley explained how movement. The majority of rank-and-file ject are Prof. Sid Peck, former chairman right to self-determination." Gls United had developed and why their unionists, he continued, are now opposed of the Cleveland Area Peace Action Coun­ This proposal came to the floor of the care in avoiding any adventuristic trap cil and a cochairman of National Mobe, conference as a minority report of the to the war and many of the secondary had made it possible to win the confidence and Stewart Meacham, peace secretary of steering committee of the gathering and officials now reflect that sentiment. This and support of many Gls as well as signi­ the American Friends Service Committee. was effectively presented by CAPAC chair­ change within the union movement, he ficant support from the civilian popula­ Project directors are Fay Knopp of the man Jerry Gordon. added, reflected a change within the popu­ tion. Philadelphia Friends staff and Abe Bloom, Two "majority" reports were presented. lation generally. A majority of the Amer- They argued strongly for a mass dem­ chairman of Washington SAN E. One was by Dave Dellinger, the other by onstration without civil disobedience since To assure that the two actions will be Doug Dowd. with the differences between G Is have won their legal right to partici­ developed in a related way, Dave Del­ them somewhat murky. Insofar as this pate in antiwar demonstrations but any linger of the New York Parade Committee reporter could determine. Dellinger favor­ Pvt. Mil~s .. giv.en announcement of a planned "illegal'' action and National Mobe was designated liaison ed having a demonstration on I\:ov. 8. would provide the brass with the pretext coordinator between the two projects. but only as one of a number of regional to deny them the right of participation Agreement on the actions and their im- actions announced by SDS for that date, a.···.·warm·••· tribute and would in any case, significantly reduce the number of G Is in the action. Photos this page by Shannon High school and college antiwar acti- CLEVELA1'-JD-:1'x4ov~~ent sup~ port to at Ft Jac~son ar1d I<'L Bragg; sug~ gested .the brass was offering h~m the opportunity to organize still another unit of the antiwar GI formation. Miles was later elected to the permanent steei"ing·•.cotnmi.ttee of the new. antiwar coalition with tlie proviso .that if h~ were trarisferred and U.llable to function h~ ·could select.a .. ·G~ proxy to s~rve•· .. op. the committee. SDS spokesman Mark Rudd addresses antiwar conference. Dave Dellinger Friday, July 18, 1969 THE MILITANT Page 7

~tnam war • • • Student Mobe meeting

(Continued from page 1 ) of the discussion concerning the orientation vists, principally from the Student Mobili­ of the student antiwar movement. zation Committee, recounted their succes­ The conference opened with greetings ses in organizing mass actions against from ex-Pvt. Andrew Pulley and l'vt. .Joe the war and the poor results of isolated Cole of the Ft. .J acskson H, followed by "confrontation" efforts on campus. Ceorge Addison of the Canadian antiwar Marxist view movement. Representatives of the Socialist Workers Carol Lipman, executive secretary of Party and Young Socialist Alliance sought the Sl\1 C, outlined proposab for the fall to demonstrate that revolutionaries whore­ offensive. garded themselves as partisans of the Viet­ SDS role namese liberation struggle had the obli­ At the conclusion of her presentation, about 30 SDS ( HY\1 J members, in their gation to build a broad mass movement first attendance at a SMC national con­ in opposition to the war from the view­ ference since 1966, interrupted the pro­ point of aiding the Vietnamese revolu­ ceedings by moving up to the podium tion as well as from the standpoint of acce­ chanting, "Ho, f-lo, f-lo Chi l\linh" and lerating the radicalizing process in this "Dare to struggle, dare to win" for a few country. minutes before lining up across the front The discussion made apparent that the of the room and taking the microphone. stand favoring central emphasis on mass Speaking for about 15 minutes, the SIJS­ action had the support of the great majori­ ers accused the majority in the room of Carol Lipman, executive sec'y, SMC. ty of the participants and, even though "great-power chauvinism," lecturing them they were divided on other issues, among on the virtues of "being ready to take the majority of the conference steering up the gun" and having "anti-imperialist" nationwide student strike Nov. 14. committee. This made it possible for what slogans. How? demanded the Sl\ICers. Regarding the Chicago action, the con­ began as a sharply divided conference to What's the most effective way to be against ference resolved nearly unanimously that work out agreement on a program of ac­ imperialism'? ex-Pvt. Andrew Pulley "we should negotiate with SDS to try to tion that in all its main features reflected The SDSers didn't appear to have any build the largest, most effective demonstra­ the majority view and yet made it possible answer, and began to walk out after be­ tion in defense of the Chicago victims." rating SMC for 15 minutes. The audience for the entire coalition to remain united. The majority of the steering committee A girl from ('Jeveland SM C then proposed A source of disagreement and friction shouted, "Stay and debate," the chairman that SMC not sponsor the Chicago action which initiated the conference took the thanked SDS for their contribution, and the at the conference was the question of who unless the outcome of the negotiations with position that the steering committee itself meeting continued, with discussion of what should receive delegate credentials. should be the final source of appeal from SDS is favorable; this motion was defeated The conference had been initiated by a had just occurred. The SDSers began to overwhelmingly as were two other motions, credentials committee decisions. A motion filter back as Peter Camejo of the Socialist number of individuals prominent in the that the conference as a whole be the high­ one opposing all confrontation tactics and W okers Party spoke in answer to their antiwar movement. Several, such as Sid est body of appeal was defeated at the open­ another against all violence initiated by rhetoric. He emphasized the need for dev­ Peck and Sid Lens, are officers of the N a­ ing session by a vote of 55 to 44. demonstrators. eloping methods of struggle that could tiona! Mobe but felt a broader formation In the course of the conference a num­ A student from Resistance pointed out involve broad masses of people. was needed to launch an effective antiwar ber of additional credentials were issued, that opposition to all confrontation tactics Julie Miller, a high school student in action. They agreed on issuing invitations but a fairly large remaining number of would exclude him. To pass an abstract New York SMC, noted that the :\"ational to a group of organizations and indivi­ representatives of antiwar organizations motion against violence, il was pointed Liberation Front of South Vietnam had duals they deemed representative of a cross were angered at the fact that they were out, would be to implicitly accept the dis­ sent messages of support to the C. S. anti­ section of the antiwar movement. In send­ denied credentials. However, despite this tortions of the ruling class that some­ war movement, urging us to keep up our ing out the invitations, however, they noted jarring note, there was obvious genuine times the antiwar movement initiates the massive demonstrations; thus, she con­ that there might well be other ogranizations satisfaction and enthusiasm over the fact violence. cluded, the NLF apparently regards mass and individuals who were not on the list that regardless of disagreements and diffi­ The democratic structure of Sl\1 C was antiwar actions as more decisive in sup­ who should have been included. Such culties the conference did agree on a mean­ reaffirmed, with national conferences twice porting them than would be an ultimatistic yearly being the major decision-making groups and individuals, they announced, ingful program of action. slogan, "Support the NLF." raised by a bodies, and with a steering committee for could apply for delegate status. The initiating committee of the conference, small number of "anti-imperialists." the day-to-day implementation of decisions. Information a bout the conference ex­ with several Gis and other representative The dialogue with SDS continued on the The steering committee consists of the na­ plaining these facts was included in mate­ figures added, was constituted as the nu­ floor and in a workshop set up for such tional staff and representatives elected from rial issued by the Student Mobilization cleus of a steering committee, with the discussion at the request of SDS. The all affiliated groups in cities close enough Committee. Indicative of the present vigor understanding that it had the responsibi­ SDS viewpoint expressed in the workshop to the national center to attend steering of the antiwar movement- even though lity to add representatives of additional was that the most effective and militant committee meetings. the conference was organized during a antiwar organizations and thereby develop antiwar action is one under the banners The national staff elected by the con­ period of only several weeks and took into a body genuinely representative of of "Support the NLF" and "Down with ference consists of Carol Lipman, execu­ place in the summer when many campus the antiwar movement. ll. S. imperialism." The viewpoint of most tive secretary; Allen Myers, editor, (;J Press committees are not functioning- there was The attendance at the conference, the SMCers was that the most effective and Service; Joanna Misnik and l{ichie Lesnik. a large turnout. More than 900 people serious political debate, the program mapp­ militant confrontation with l'. S. imperi­ In addition to the staff, the steering com­ attended the conference. Many came as ed out and the spirited note on which the alism is building the type of demonstra­ mittee consists of .Julie Miller, high school sessions ended offer every promise that observers, but in addition to the original tion which can mobilize the masses to student, New York SMC; Neal Grossman, list of about a hundred invited delegates the antiwar movement is on the road to demand that the troops be brought home. New York SMC; Kevin Kenney, Vietnam perhaps another 150 or 200 applied for one of the biggest things this country Conference decisions vet; Duncan Williams, former chairman, delegate status. has ever seen. In addition to workshops on the sum­ Antioch SMC; (;len Barnett, Manhattan mer and fall actions, there were work­ College; and Cindy .Jacquith, New York shops to discuss the draft and political University; plus others to be elected by their rights as well as a workshop for (;Is own organizations. The conference decided and one for third-world students. to move the national office from New York Antiwar action program Following the recommendations of the to Washington, D. C., for the final prepara­ workshops, the conference discussed and tions for the Nov. 15 mass march. voted to build the Sept. 2 7 action in Chi­ cago, the Nov. 15 mass march in Wash­ (The following is the text of the central antiwar action proposal agreed ington, the Oct. 15 moratorium and a on by the Cleveland national antiwar conference.)

The Steering Committee recommends two massive national actions for which administrative and organizing personnel shall be provided by this conference and its appropriate committees: 1. A September 2 7 action in Chicago related to the beginning of the conspiracy trial. Planning on this action was initiated by other groups. It will therefore be necessary to negotiate on tactics and means of colla­ boration with these other groups to assure the development of plans and tactics capable of mobilizing the largest number of people. 2. A broad mass legal November 15 demonstration for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Vietnam around the White House in Washington which will include: a. A mass march; b. A rally with speeches as near the White House as possible which will include but not be limited to the following program: 1. Withdrawal of support from the Thieu-Ky government; self-deter­ mination for the people of Vietnam 2. Immediate and total withdrawal of all U.S. troops and supplies and dismantling of U. S. bases in Vietnam; 3. Defeat of the ABM and related missile programs and swift progress toward disarmament: an end to research and development of chemical­ biological warfare. 4. Immediate implementation of a program to end racism, repression and poverty in the U. S. 5. Free speech for GI's. c. The march and rally will last from llam to Spm. d. Those who wish to stay in Washington will meet that evening for planning of subsequent days' strategy and tactics; e. It will be expected that an associated demonstration will be planned Julie Miller, a New York high school Duncan Williams, former chairman for the same time on the West Coast. student, was elected to SMC steering Antioch SMC, was elected to SMC committee. steering committee. Page 8 THE MILITANT Friday, July 18,1969 RaQ. and rock session • Plers 1n fracas Lively Cleveland socialist rally at N.Y. region

By Roger Rudenstein C !,EVE LAl\'D- An election rally attend­ SDS meeting ed by over 80 people here .June 2 8 cele­ brated the successful collection of 20,000 Ry Peer Vinther signatures to put Syd Stapleton, the So­ NEW YORK- The struggle between the cialist Workers Party candidate, on the two rival SDS es reached a new low at ballot for mayor of Cleveland. In addi­ a meeting held .July 7 at the student center tion to Stapleton, speakers at the rally, of New York University. The meeting wa~ held on the campus of Case-Western Re­ called for 6 p.m. by the national-office serve l'niversity, included .James Harris, tendency led by Mark Rudd, and its an­ SWP candidate for East Cleveland board nounced purpose was the reorganization of of education; attorney Jerry Gordon, chair­ the New York regional SDS. man of the Cleveland Area Peace Action A defense squad at the door asked all Council, the local antiwar coalition; Dr. those who entered whether or not they were Eugene V. Perrin of the pathology depart­ members of the Progressive Labor !'arty ment of the Case-Western Reserve medical (PLP) or the Worker Student Alliance school; and Paul Boutelle, the SWP may­ (WSA), and any member of that tendency oral candidate in New York City. Enter­ was excluded. Around 6:30 p.m .. when tainment was provided by the country­ approximately 200 people had entered the rock group, Eli Radish. meeting, a group of 75 member~ of the The rally was covered over NBC and PL-WSA tendency attempted to force their CBS TV and in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. way into the hall. After a short scuffle Attorney .Jerry Gordon outlined the his­ they were repulsed by the SDS security tory of the repressive Ohio election laws squad. Several people were injured by which are designed to keep minority parties flying glass when the plate glass doors off the ballot and then focused on the war were shattered. in Vietnam. Photo by Dave Wulp PL's attempt to physically disrupt the Gordon noted that Carl Stokes, the black, Syd Stapleton, Paul Boutelle and James Harris meeting of the other SDS is the logical Democratic incumbent mayor who. is run­ continuation of the tactics that have been ning for reelection,had finally come out for people exacting their due from a corrupt is just an extension of the same system employed by both sides of the SDS split. ilJimediate withdrawal from Vietnam. and bloated ruling structure that reigns which holds us in a modified form of And, unfortunately, it is likely things will "While we welcome Carl Stokes into the over this city of Cleveland. The fiction's slavery in America today. One of the basic get even worse in this regard before they antiwar ranks," commented Gordon, "we falling away, and it's clear that the color tenets of my campaign is black control get better. The Mark Rudd group tried to take special note that while Stokes was of the mayor's skin is going to make very of black education." use the same strong-arm-type tactics at the sitting back and watching and waiting little difference to the black comrn unity if Dr. Eugene V. Perrin of the department Cleveland conference of the Student Mobi­ until the time was right for him to take the mayor allows the legal lynching of of pathology at Case-Western Reserve Uni­ lization Committee (see story, pp. 6-7 ). a stand, people like Syd Stapleton were Ahmed Evans without a word in protest." versity school of medicine asserted the right Such tactics are not new to the movement. out in the streets marching and demonstra­ of victims of the unjust system to decent They were introduced by the Stalinists some 40 years ago and have since then ting and demanding the end of the war James Harris, the socialist candidate health care. Although he differs with some been one of the most pernicious. destructive when it wasn't popular to do so." for East Cleveland board of education, of the positions of the Socialist Workers factors used by the ruling class not only Gordon concluded by characterizing the stated that his campaign would be focused Party and the campaign, Dr. Perrin gave to discredit the radical movement but also times we live in: on the school system and the rights of stu­ his endorsement to the Stapleton-Harris to provoke the kind of internecine violence ''We are in for sweeping changes. This dents and the black community. He read candidacies. that has turned the radical groups against is a whole period of fundamental social to the audience a letter by the Cleveland The last speaker at the rally was Paul change and there is nothing that can stop superintendent of schools, Paul Briggs, Boutelle, black revolutionary and SWP each other and kept them divided in the it ... And it is in that spirit that I wel­ banning works by LeRoi Jones, Eldridge candidate for mayor of New York City. face of the real enemy. come the candidacy of Stapleton and Cleaver, and W. E. B. DuBois from the Commenting on Mayor Stokes, Boutelle Physical intimidation and the use of force within the radical movement is a Harris. Let's make sure we bring their school system. Harris commented: said: deadly poison that can only be combated message to the attention of tens of thou­ "When racist bureaucrats are allowed "It doesn't make any difference whether when the combined forces on the left are sands of people in the greater Cleveland to dictate to black people what reading Stokes has his Cleveland Now, Cleveland conscious of the stakes involved and are area." material they shall read, then it is time Never, Cleveland Yesterday program. Be­ actively educating against it. Elementary SWP mayoralty candidate Syd Staple­ for a change in this society. This letter cause as far as the black community is to this education is the insistence on the ton, the first speaker at the rally, talked is exemplary of the systematic campaign concerned, the working-class community, right of any tendency to hold its own meet­ about his opponent, Stokes: to subjugate black people and strip them it'll really be Cleveland Never as long as ings without need to defend them against "What has become clear in the last two of their identities, to keep us ignorant the bankers and industrialists control opponent tendencies. of the true nature of our oppression and Cleveland." years is that Carl Stokes the Democrat, The PL-WSA attack on the SDS meeting how to liberate ourselves. This is the func­ Those interested in the Cleveland socialist whatever his personal inclinations are, has was in the full tradition of Stalinism. tion of the schools as far as black people campaign should write to Socialist Cam­ become an agent of the white power struc­ After the attack, the student center was paign Committee, 13900 Euclid Ave., ture in its dealings with the black commu­ are concerned-to subjugate us and to closed by the cops, and the SDS meeting nity, rather than a representative of black keep us controlled. The school system Cleveland, Ohio 44112. was able to proceed. The "reorganization" for which the meeting was called consisted views and reviews of officially reading the PL-WSA faction out of the New York regional SDS . Dave Gilbert, a long-time SDS activist and spokesman, reported on the SDS con­ • • . and more press reports on SDS split vention and repeated the justifications for the expulsion of PL-WSA- their "counter­ Assessments by the radical press of the (anti-PL). The rivals came at times to The July 5 Guardian gives editorial revolutionary" stand on black nationalism split at the SDS national convention con­ moderate blows but usually the fights were support to the expulsion of PL from SDS, and the Vietnamese revolution. In essence, tinue to roll in. Stew Albert, a sidekick orally fixated. but is highly critical of the present state he articulated the line put forward by the of Jerry Rubin, writing in the June 27 "The source of this mad hell was PL's of SDS in other ways. "While we basically Guardian, criticizing, but supporting, the Berkeley Barb, describes the convention belief that their enemies were going to stack agree with SDS's development into a rev­ leadership of the so-called national col­ this way: the convention. PL responded by bringing olutionary youth movement and the lective. "The scenes on the Convention floor everybody they could to the meeting. It growth of Marxist-Leninist politics in the His speech was followed by a series of were out of a reactionary newspaper car­ turned out to be paranoia and PL had organization, the present shape of SDS campus reports which stressed the failure toon satirizing the New Left. The a heavily disporportionate representation. politics leaves a lot to be desired." of PL-WSA to participate in supporting P L [Progressive Labor Party] and anti­ "This was too much for their rival fac­ Among the present faults of SDS that the struggles of third-world students. p L factions waved fists and red books tions who walked out, set up their own the editorial lists are ( 1) that there is a at each other and drowned out rival meetings and expelled PL for not support­ "growing gulf between its leadership and '!Jl'eches by shouting !\lao, l\!ao, l\lao tse­ ing the Black Panthers or the National membership," (2) that "internal democracy tung ( I'L I and flo, Ho, Ho Chi Minh Liberation Front. A faction fight then broke must be understood to be a top priority," Atlanta socialist out in the newly purged SDS between one (3) that there is "an intoxication with group which hates PL but has similar sectarianism, dogmatism, obscure rhetoric attitudes and a really different group and empty sloganeering," and ( 4) that backs Evans fight known as the Revolutionary Youth Move­ there is a "resurrection by some of ment. The RYl\1 won out and elected its 'comrade Stalin' as a positive figure in communist history." ATLANTA, Ga.- Linda Jenness, Socia­ people to the National SDS office." list Workers Party candidate for mayor, Albert quotes Jerry l

The limits of simple unionism The decline of John L. Lewis

By Robert Langston (The first part of this article appeared in the July 11 issue of The Militant.) After the 1935 AF L convention failed to heed Lewis' call to organize the unor­ ganized, he took the initiative without au­ thorization by the federation in a massive organizing drive among the nation's un­ skilled mass-production workers. The CIO was launched on Oct. 20, 1935, when Lewis met with a half-dozen other leaders Miners take strike vote, 1945. of AF L industrial unions to form the Com­ mittee for Industrial Organization which, after the expulsion of these union from the the AFL, became the Congress of Indus­ dominant bureaucats, in cooperation with the nature of the administration's drive the rate at which miners were displaced. They trial Organizations. the FBI, the bosses and the congressional towards war. But Lewis drew back from also discovered that the union's abdication It would be false to say that Lewis cre­ red-baiters, began to purge the trade-union the obvious logical consequence of his in the face of the operators' rationalization ated the CIO. That was !he deed of the movement of radicals.(To his credit, Lewis statements and called on the American and mechanization plans condemned the millions of American workers who, recov­ did not that time join in this despicable workers to vote for- Roosevelt's Repub­ workers to ever lessening control over ering from the fear and apathy induced act of class collaboration.) The Stalinists lican opponent, Wendell Wilkie. working and safety conditions. by the great depression and furious at what suddenly found themselves almost totally But if Lewis could never grasp the neces­ Lewis left the once-mighty UMW a weak was being done to them, unleashed a torrent devoid of rank-and-file support. sity for labor to organize and fight poli­ and flaccid outfit unable to defend the most of working-class struggle unlike any pre­ Political action tically in complete independence of and un­ elementary interests of the miners and pre­ viously seen in the United States. But While Lewis played a constructive, per­ compromising opposition to the capitalist sided over by men utterly devoid of those Lewis, almost alone of nationally promi­ haps decisive, role in the trade-union field class, after the Little Steel disaster he never qualities he, despite all his limitations, during the 30s, his role in the other great again departed for long from his perfectly nent labor leaders, welcomed this torrent possessed in such high degree. sphere of working-class struggle- the correct conviction that in the trade-union and undersood how to swim with it; he Art Preis' Labor's Giant Step, published sphere labor must fight in complete inde­ wanted to lead it, and within the limits arena of political action-was about as in 1964 by Merit Publishers includes a imposed by his support to the capitalist miserable as that of any of the reactionary pendence of its foe, placing no reliance comprehensive account and Marxist anal­ on the government and not subjecting it­ system, he knew how to offer the kind craft-union leaders he so thoroughly de­ ysis of Lewis' role in the history of the CIO. self to the authority of capitalist laws and of leadership required. "It is doubtful," tested. Lewis never transcended the courts. The validity of this conception was Art Preis wrote in Labor's Giant Step, Gompers approach to politics: "Reward compellingly demonstrated in the midst "if the CIO would have been formed, or your friends and punish your enemies," of the second world war during a struggle if the industrial union movement would where both "friends and "enemies" are un­ Trotskyists given that showed the heights to which Lewis have arrived as quickly as it did, if not derstood as office seekers within one or could rise. for the exceptional qualities of Lewis." another capitalist party. 1943 coal strikes With Lewis' shift to mass organizing, The same torrent that took the form of By the beginning of 1943, workers in his attitude towards radicals in the union the great sit-down strikes -which Lewis harsh sentences many indus tries were growing restive under movement changed. Free of personal pre­ unconditionally supported- was also be­ judice against radicals, Lewis had cynical­ ginning, by 1936, to batter through the the system of war-time price and labor controls that assured continually growing ly used red-baiting as a power tactic in the confines of the Democratic Party and sweep 20s; during the 30s, when he needed men towards the creation of an independent profits for capitalists, rising prices of con­ by Greek iunta sumer goods and declining real wages and women with organizational experience, party of labor. Lewis did everything in a measure of genuine dedication to labor's his considerable power to deflect this move­ for workers. In January, the anthracite miners of Pennsylvania walked out in a ATHENS (IP)-A group of Trotskyist cause, and the ability to speak a language ment back into the Democratic Party-to militants were condemned to long prison corresponding to the increasingly militant the benefit of the "great friend of labor," wildcat strike. The phony government"me­ diation" machinery was set in motion, but terms by a military tribunal here following and anticapitalist mood of the workers, Franklin Roosevelt. there were clear indications that the miners their "trial" May 19-2 0. The defendants, Lewis welcomed those radicals who would Early in 1937, the giant United States would not acquiese any longer. arrested in September 1968, were members recognize his suzerainty into the CIO. Steel Corporation capitulated to the CIO's Lewis put himself at the head of this of the Internationalist Communist Organ­ Members and sympathizers of the Stalin­ Steel Workers Organizing Committee with­ spontaneous movement of the miners. De­ ization of Greece, which supports the Fourth ized Communist Party swarmed into the out a strike, and Lewis negotiated a con­ fying the government, most of the national International. The ICO publishes the young industrial-union movement, and tract which provided for substantial wage labor leadership and a journalistic cam­ monthly journal Spartacus and distributes they quickly gained important leadership increases, reduced working hours, import­ paign of calumny as vicious as any in leaflets opposing the dictatorship. positions. But instead of pursuing a prin­ ant fringe benefits and, above all, union American history, he led a series of four During the trial the defendants declared cipled revolutionary trade-union policy­ recognition. Flushed with this inexpensive coal strikes that smashed the whole system their opposition to the military regime, organizing the rank-and-file workers in left­ victory, the SWOC, more or less led by of labor controls, restored to the labor denounced the tortures they had been sub­ wing caucuses, encouraging and leading Lewis' trusted lieutenant, Philip Murray, movement a large part of its freedom of jected to, and courageously upheld their all tendencies towards independent political tackled five of U.S. Steel's main compe­ action, defeated a concerted government­ political convictions against the dictator­ action, challenging the established conser­ titors known collectively as Little Steel. boss union-busting effort, and prepared ship and the capitalist state. They caliPrl vative or reformist leaderships wherever Lewis and Murray expected Roosevelt, the way for the great strike wave of the for a socialist revolution, as partisans possible- the Stalinists sought to snuggle to whose re-election in 1936 the C IO of Trotsky and the Fourth International. up as closely as possible to the Lewis-ap­ immediate post-war years. had contributed so much, at least to re­ But following the second world war, The tribunal handed down the following pointed or -supported bureaucrats. strain the Democratic governors of the savage sentences against the accused: Instead of critically sup porting Lewis the limitations of Lewis' policies became big steel-producing states from intervening increasingly clear. His kind of militant, Theodossis Thomadaxis, machinist, pri­ when his policies deserved support and on the side of the companies. Roosevelt but still "pure and simple" trade unionism son for life; Panayotis Doumas, water­ opposing him when revolutionary prin­ of course did no such thing, and the rank­ could not cope even in the narrowly econ­ works employee, prison for life; Sofronis ciple required it, they served him. In re­ and-file workers had been left by the union omic sphere with the new problems created Papadopoulos, building worker, prison turn, they got jobs and influence, but in leadership wholly unprepared for the police by the "third industrial revolution." The for life; and Helene Doumas, printer, eigh­ the long run they paid dearly for their and National Guard onslaught that was coal industry entered a phase of rapid teen years in prison. temporary successes. In the late 40s, the unleashed upon them by these Democratic mechanization as the coal bosses despe­ Three other defendants were also sen­ governors during the bitter strikes. The rately tried to rejuvenate their declining tenced: Elie Corovessis, student, eight years bosses' and Democratic politicians' vio­ industry - and to restore their declining in prison; Dimitri Frangoulanis, house lence reached its bloody zenith on Memorial profits. painter, eight years; and Anna KaroutA. Day, 1937, when 10 steel workers were Decline of the UMW printer, two years. Transitional Program slaughtered at the Republic Steel plant in Lewis lacked the vision to see the possi­ The prosecutor in his indictment during South Chicago. On June 30, Roosevelt bility of a workers' struggle to gain control the trial described the defendants as "state­ commented on the carnage with a quote of the whole process of production and to less persons" and "traitors to their coun­ for Black Liberation from Romeo and Juliet: "A plague on both organize it under a conscious plan for the try" in the service of ... Moscow! your houses." benefit of the workers themselves. He could During the same week: Thirty-nine mem­ After Roosevelt's Little Steel "treason" see only two alternatives confronting the bers of the Patriotic Front were put on A programmatic proposal for the Lewis began to cool towards the "great UMW: either to blindly oppose the inevit­ trial in Salonika. In Athens, six intellec­ building of a mass black liberation friends of labor." He even began to utter able progress of mechanization in a vain tuals were tried for having set up a net­ party, this important document is ad raft sounds about the possibility that labor attempt to protect miners' jobs, or to ac­ work for the centrist organization Demo­ resolution presented by the political might "someday" have to form its own quiesce in the capitalists' efforts to eliminate cratic Defense (Papandreou's group). committee of the Socialist Workers political instrument. His break with Roose­ jobs and increase productivity in return Also in Athens, an independent left-wing velt was consumated after he discovered Party for consideration by the party's for a small cut of this higher productivity group was tried for having set up a resis­ that his "great friend" was meddling in in the form of higher wages and, especially, tance network. The principal defendants coming national convention. the internal affairs of the CIO and organ­ improved retirement benefits. Lewis opted were Theodore Nicas, sentenced to life izing by flattery and promises a group unhesitatingly for the second alternative, in prison; Georges Tzorzorian, and Lam­ 25 cents of top bureaucrats whose first loyalty would and he lived to see the UMW membership brini Iconomidou, who each received twen­ be to the President and not to . Lewis. dwindle from more than a million to fewer ty years; and Dimitri Livieratos. Lewis supports Wilkie than 100,000 working miners. In Greece today there is no large, mass­ Socialist Workers Party In an October 25, 1940, speech on the Lewis became a trustee of the immensely ive resistance movement. But there are 873 Broadway forthcoming presidential election, Lewis wealthy pension fund. But the miners dis­ always illegal activities against the dic­ New York, N.Y. 10003 delivered a superb denunciation of Roose­ covered that their retirement and unemploy­ tatorship led by the vanguard political velt and explained with complete clarity ment benefits declined rapidly, so high was tendencies. Page 10 THE MILITANT Friday, July 18, 1969 Will CP back Lindsay •1n New York election?

By Howard Reed working people, deems adequate for a family of four in New York City. NEW YORK-The New York Commu­ What kind of coalition does the CP con­ nist Party has announced that it is run­ sider important enough! to warrant the ning a candidate, Rasheed Storey, a black subordination of its "particular party in- factory worker, for mayor of New York terest''? City. The answer is contained in a June 21 The announcement came on June 17, Daily World editorial. It is interested in the day of the Republican and Democra­ a coalition of "labor, the black and Puerto tic primary elections, in a small article Rican communities, the youth and many on the bottom of page three of the CP other under the slogans- Stop Marchi! voice, the Daily World. By assuring that rthe Republican candidate, a representa­ Communist Party members "will always tive of his party's right wing] Stop Pro­ subordinate our particular party interests caccino! [the Democratic candidate, also to such broad coalition struggles which a representative of his party's right wing.;" we foresee as the main road to progress in the coming period," Storey's announce­ To "stop" two capitalist candidates (and ment that his hat was in the ring gave elect a third), is the basic unity program some idea of the intent of the campaign. sufficient for the CP to subordinate its This is an old and familiar tunE' for the campaign. It is obvious that the CP con­ Communist Party. If the CP actually makes siders maneuvering among capitalist poli­ and effort to collect the required signatures ticians more important than calling for to put their nominee on the ballot, their the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops campaign on his behalf will almost cer­ from Vietnam, black and Puerto Rican tainly be a purely token one. Ever since control of the black and Puerto Rican the 1930s, the New YorkCommunistParty communities, and similar demands. If the has been buried deep in capitalist politics. CP were interested in fighting for the in­ It has helped to elect such capitalist poli­ terests of the masses of New Yorkers, ticians as Fiorello LaGuardia, William it would have announced support of Paul 0' Dwyer, Robert Wagner and Mayor Lind­ Boutelle of the Socialist Workers Party, say himself. who is basing his campaign on these As part of its policy of getting into the demands. However, nowhere in the pages "mainstream" (a euphemism for capital­ of the Daily World has the CP mentioned Boutelle's campaign. ist parties), CP members and supporters EDUCATION UNDER LINDSAY. New York mayor ordered cops into schools. have long been rump-deep in the reform Who then, does the CP view as a mayor­ Democratic clubs in New York. Frozen al candidate around which these "broad Scene above is Franklin K. Lane High School last January. Now CP regards out of patronage by the Wagner machine, progressive forces" can unite? The answer Lindsay is better to vote for than "law-and-order" mayoralty opponents. many of the reform clubs switched to Lind­ is contained in the June 28 Daily World, say. The CP, to avoid isolation from the which reports a "grass roots" conference physically assault the student protesters at right wing of their respective parties. This "mainstream," switched with them. held here June 26 that adopted a proposal colleges and universities in the city. He came pressure is particularly strong among Re­ To assure that his program will appeal of the Freedom and Peace Party, a poli­ out strongly against the demand by black from Democrats." to the "broadest possible forces" and alie­ tical formation whose principal spokesmen and third-world students that City College The CP was even more gleeful when Vic­ nate none of the "mainstream," Storey generally reflect the views of the CP. John of New York admit a freshman class which tor Gotbaum of District Council 37, Amer­ declined to call for black and Puerto Rican Gallo, a Freedom and Peace Party official, would increase the number of blacks and ican Federation of State, County and Muni­ control of black and Puerto Rican com­ is approvingly quoted as saying, "Our Puerto Ricans, making CC:\Y reflect the cipal Employees, reaffirmed his earlier munities. Instead, the platform calls for task is to build independence away from composition of the high schools. endorsement of Lindsay. It pointed to Got­ "black and Puerto Rican representation the two major parties. Lindsay in a sense He threatened the use of the National baum as having views corresponding to at the highest levels," something that nu­ is running as independent because Guard to break strikes by transit and the views of the "newer and younger sec­ merous capitalist politicians also favor. he is forced to. The bulk of the working sanitation workers and tried to break a tions of the labor leadership." It is customarily referred to as tokenism. class, black and Spanish-speaking com­ six-week welfare workers' strike in 1967. It is clear from all this that the CP has Storey's policy for the labor movement munity will go for Lindsay. Running our The CP has not been able to find any no intention of running a serious or prin­ similarly shows a desire to attract "wide own candidate would insure the victory prominent black spokesmen to endorse cipled campaign. They are doing the same unity." He calls for "power for labor in of Procaccino." Thus, although the Free­ Lindsay, with his overt racist record. How­ thing they have done numerous times in the public affairs." How much power? What dom and Peace Party has announced it ever, they quote with glee the endorse­ past: running a token campaign to placate public affairs? For example, in the form will run candidates for less important city ments Lindsay has thus far received from supporters who cannot stomach hustling of the Meany bureaucracy, labor now offices, it definitely won't run anybody reform Democrats and labor bureaucrats. votes for capitalist candidates, while giving has consider able power in determining against Lindsay. Several such endorsements were gleefully their major emphasis to building up how the CIA should approach the Latin Lindsay has a clear antiblack, antilabor announced when the June 26 World re­ support for a capitalist candidate like Lind­ American labor movement. record. He has added 4,000 cops to the ported that "considerable pressure has been say. Storey does not call for a labor party, police force, given himself power to jail developed in labor and liberal ranks to Those who want to support a genuine or even for the right of public employees 10,000 people a day iftheblackandPuerto support Lindsay against Procaccino and socialist candidate should get behind Paul to strike. His call for a $1 00-a-week mi­ Rican communities of New York rebel, Marchi, both of whom are on the extreme Boutelle of the Socialist Workers Party. nimum wage for all New York City work­ and put cops in New York City high ers comes to exactly half of what the U. S. schools, especially the black and Puerto Department of Labor, itself no friend of Rican schools, as well as using them to Socialist candidate in Philadelphia backs local fight against pollution In a June 27 and 28 editorial on the Middle East, WCBS in New York City presented an opinion remarkably coincident with that of the Israeli government By Fred Stanton The pollution problems that plague urban PHILADELPHIA-The people ofDar­ areas, if left up to the industrialists, con­ Brian Shannon, New York Socialist Workers Party mayoralty campaign direc­ by, a majority-black suburb of Philadel­ tractors or politicians, would continue to tor, requested and obtained equal time. The SWP's reply to the CBS editorial phia, won a recent victory when they suc­ run rampant. It is only when the people was broadcast July 3: its text is reprinted below. ceeded in obtaining a court order prohi­ in a community organize to protest and * * * biting the dumping of raw human ex­ take action that problems are eliminated. THE WCBS Radio editorial ends with what has become the standard refrain crement at a landfill site in the community. The power to make society fit to live in of Israeli foreign policy: "The Israeli people will never be driven into the sea." The victory was the culmination of pro­ rests with the working people. They have test demonstrations, during which 150peo­ nothing to lose and much to gain; clean The actual demands voiced by the liberation movement of the Palestinian Arabs ple, mostly women and children, blocked air and water would be just minimal gains. demonstrate that this is not the real issue. roads leading to the landfill site for several Like the only way black people in Darby As reported in the American news media WCBS among them, the Palestinians days. can get a little fresh air is to get together actually demand that they return to their homeland of twelve centuries for which The residents had tried to go through and fight for it." they have suffered so much and from which they were driven in 1948. The "normal channels' to end the dumping of Palestinians call for the establishment of a democratic, secular state with one man, sewage-and the resulting odor and threat to the health of their community, but re­ one vote for both Jewish and Arab citizens and with full religious, cultural, and ceived little response. The landfill opera­ political freedoms for both peoples. They expressly oppose the expulsion of the tion is owned by the nephew of a Delaware Jews from Israel and publicly condemn anti-Jewish and racist agitation. County Commissioner. While Israel demands face-to-face talks with the Arab states, she refuses to An injunction was issued in an attempt talk with the aggrieved party, the Palestinians. This, coupled with the Israeli to halt the protest of the residents. But suppression of all Palestinian political opposition, leaves the Palestinians no 100 angry residents packed the courtroom to protest the injunction and the NAACP alternative but revolutionary warfare for their elementary rights. retained a lawyer to appeal it. The dem­ The privileged Zionist establishment ruling Israel has aligned the state with onstrations ended only after the court order the V.'estern colonialist countries, chiefly the United States. These powers hail to stop the dumping was issued. Israel as an ally who can help assure continued huge profits from their oil The landfill owner, who is paid by near­ monopolies, while letting the bitter anti-imperialist resentments of the Arabs by communities to dispose of their sewage, fall upon the Jews. Falsely identifying the survival of its privileges with the claims the odor is not due to human waste, although he does dump human survival of the Jewish people, the exclusive Zionist establishment has led the waste there. According to residents, the Israelis into a bloody and senseless trap. sewage is neither treated nor covered as For a more complete analysis of these issues, I recommend two pamphlets required by law. The landfill owner claims by Peter Buch entitled "Burning Issues of the Mideast Crisis" and "The Myth the odor is due to an old pig farm dug of Progressive Israel." They document the background of the conflict and indi­ up by his men. cate the road for the Israeli people: to reject the dead-end Zionist establishment .John Benson, Socialist Workers Party and welcome back their Arab brothers in order to build a peaceful. democratic, candidate for Philadelphia District Attor­ ney, commented, "As socialists were talk multinational and socialist society. about the evils of capitalism; its complete rBoth pamphlets mentioned are available from Merit Publishers, 873 Broad­ disregard of people's health and welfare. John Benson way, New York, N.Y. 10003-Editorl Friday, July 18,1969 THE MiliTANT Page 11 Reading for revolutionaries T..··h.•e .. ·· ··.··G.r•••eiat Marxism or ultraleftism?

As American as A&P- Operating under In 1965, there were 9,904 appeals from What Policy for Revolutionists- Marx­ a local option system, 15 of Nevada's draft calls. Last year the figure was ism or Ultraleftism? by James P. Cannon The work$ revi~¢d .·m. this 17 counties have legalized prostitution. 120,000 and more than 221,000 appeals and Grandizo Munis. Merit Publishers, column .are generally available (In one town where the citizens complained are expected this year. 1969. 64 pp., 75 cents. from. Merit Publishers. For a free because the house was next to a school, catalog write •.·to. Merit·· Publishers, they moved the school.) .J. C. Muyres, top Variety- Coffin-nail consumers are Initially pubrshed in 1942, this pam­ 873 Ikoadway, N~ York, N.Y. Internal Revenue Service man in the area, being offered a wide variety of pacifiers. phlet contains two items- a criticism by 10003. says federal tax men keep a close watch Recently patented filter devices include such Grandizo Munis of the way the Socialist on the operation. "It's a real challenge materials as animal bone, honey, clay and Workers Party conducted the defense of party, still unknown to the masses of people, for our agents," he said. "I don't know of sugar, guaze, linen and moss from "moss its leaders during the 1941 Smith Act must first get a hearing from them for its any that accept credit cards- although plants grown in a bog area." trials, and an answer by James P. Cannon, program. It must first win widespread that's not too far fetched. Some of the National Chairman of the SWP. The SWP support before it can think in terms of houses give green stamps." Organizing the unorganized- If their leaders were under indictment for their big actions. He points out how futile and owner-trainers have their way, wild ani­ opposition to World War II, but this pam­ even harmful it can be for a small organ­ It's all done with mirrors- To cope with mals used in movies and TV will be organ­ phlet deals with many questions that are ization to pretend and to act as if it were student demonstrators and generally im­ ized into an effective union. Demands in­ a mass party enjoying large-scale support prove its campus image, the Pentagon is being discussed in radical circles today. clude minimum-wage scales, residuals for The criticism, by Grandizo Munis, is and influence. swiftly reducing the amount of classified commercials and annual awards like the He shows how propaganda and educa­ military research done at universities. Such along the line that Cannon was not suffi­ Oscars. They are also ticked off because ciently aggressive on the witness stand, tional work must be the main labor of a projects have already been reduced by 50 the Humane Society, in making annual small grouping trying to grow. "Patiently percent and further reductions are slated. that he did not defy the ruling class by awards to performing animals, judges wild proudly asserting that the Socialist Workers explain," says Cannon, quoting Lenin's How do they do it? Simple. They declassify and domestic ones in the same categories. position in Russia in 1917, when the Bol­ the projects. Party advocates revolutionary violence against capitalist violence. Munis de­ sheviks were still a minority. Facts-of-life dep't- Most government manded that the party raise slogans for The pamphlet is rich in quotations from Screwing up the system- Sex education regulatory agencies don't get much reg­ the most eminent leaders of the revolution­ for children, warns Rev. Billy Hargis, is action and he deplored the fact that the ulating done, says Charles 0' Brien, Ca­ ary movement, beginning with Marx and part of "a gigantic conspiracy to bring testimony was largely propagandistic and lifornia deputy attorney general, because Engels and including Lenin and Trotsky. America down from within." "I don't want educational. most of them "are in bed with the com­ These all bear with telling consistency on any kid under 12 to hear about lesbians, Something of the same diffence of opinion, panies they're supposed to be regulating." the question in dispute and are completely homosexuals and sexual intercourse," the in the context of present day reality, exists among radicals today. On the one hand, relevant to today's problems. good reverend said. "They should be con­ Science in the trenches- A promotion there are those who advocate confronta­ -Milton Alvin cerned with tops, yo-yo~ and hide letter from Science News waxes enthusias­ and seek." tic about a new paper that dissolves quick­ tions of various sorts, regardless of the ly in water, noting its advantages for relationship of forces; on the other hand, The pot war-After a meeting of U.S. diplomatic and security agencies. It would there are those who argue for working out Gainesville YSA and Mexican narcotics officials it was un­ also be useful for college-CIA correspon­ correct, realistic programs and then or­ officially disclosed that the U.S. is con­ dence files. Turn the hoses on sit-in demon­ ganizing mass actions designed to rally sidering spraying Mexican pot fields with strators and get rid of the letters at the the greatest number of people behind a holds meeting a substance that reportedly makes the user same time. given issue, such as the fight against the start vomitting after a few drags. Mean­ war in Vietnam. By John Sugg while, on the other side, it was reported Perish the thought- The Internal Cannon's reply to Munis takes up the GAINESVILLE, Fla.- The first public that marijuana growers are now using Revenue Bureau announced it would audit question of how a revolutionary organi­ activity of the new Gainesville, Fla., Young fertilizer for bigger, faster-growing plants the tax returns of 10,000 physicians who zation should carry on its work in the given Socialist Alliance was held June 26 at the and have developed a hydraulic press that tapped the taxpayers for more than circumstances of the time. The present si­ University of Florida. About 100 people, compresses marijuana shipments into one $25,000 a year in Medicare and Medicaid tuation, in which a number of organiza­ mostly SDSers and other independentradi­ quarter the previous space thus facilitating fees. Dr. Dwight Wilbur, president of the tions call themselves revolutionary, is si­ cals, attended a meeting addressed by Doug across-the-border deliveries. AMA, responded that it was incredible milar to that of 1941. All the parties Jenness, Socialist Workers Party organi­ that anyone should think doctors would and groups are small and have relative­ zer in Atlanta, and Bob Arons, a GI Uneven development- The North-East behave in any other way than with "the ly little influence among broad masses of organizer. Ohio Methodist Conference declared its utmost restrainf' in collecting fees. people. At the same time, the ruling class Arons spoke about his experiences or­ opposition to the antiballistic missile today is still very strong and disposes ganizing Marines and editing Head On system and to the Sunday sale of liquor. Thought for the week-"Frequently, the of overwhelming material resources, as at Camp Lejune, N. C. In the course of people who have savings are not the same it did 2 8 years ago. From this stand­ the talk he attacked the Fort Jackson 8 Feels harassed- Gen. Hershey, who persons who are in debt." -The July 2 point, the situation today is not funda­ as a YSA "publicity project," but even favors drafting war protesters, complained Wall Street Joumal. mentally different from what it was then; among the SDSers in the audience the that antiwar sentiment has resulted in an the same lessons are applicable. reaction to Aron's uninformed and non­ increasingly "bad time" for draft boards. -Harry Ring Cannon draws the conclusion that a small political criticism was negative. Doug Jenness spoke about the YSA's positions on the key political questions facing radicals in the U.S. today, includ­ ing the black liberation struggle, the youth movement, the fight against the war in Vietnam, and world revolution. Many people asked questions, and there was a lively debate on the respective positions of the YSA and SDS on all the key issues. The audience was greatly ap­ ARIZONA; Phoenix: YSA, c/o Lindley Garner, P. 0. 55403. Tel: (612) 332-7781. preciative of the high political level of Box 750, Tempe, Arizona 85281. Tel; (602) 669-4025. MISSOURI: St. Louis: YSA, c/o Bill Onasch, Schardell discussion. CALIFORNIA: Berkeley-Oakland: SWP and YSA, Hotel, Rm. 30, 280 N. Skinker Blvd., St. Louis, Mo. The YSA in Gainesville was organized 2519-A Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, Calif. 94704. 63130. earlier this year, following the April 6 Tel: (415)848-9334. NEW JERSEY: Newark: YSA, c/o Walt Brode, 425 antiwar demonstrations. Many of the peo­ Mt. Prospect Ave., Newark, N.J. 07104. Tel: (201) ple brought together by the April 6 Com­ Los Angeles: SWP and YSA, 1702 E. 4th St., Los 483-8513. mittee began to think in terms of forming Angeles, Calif. 90033. Tel: (213) 269-4953. NEW YORK: Albany: YSA, c/o Bill O'Kain, 313 State a YSA chapter, especially after a "reor­ San Francisco: SWP, YSA, Militant Labar Forum, and St., Albany, N.Y. 12210. ganization" of SDS failed to produce a Pioneer Books, 2338 Market St., San Francisco, Calif. Binghamton: YSA, c/o Gary Wurtzel, Box 1187, Harpur radical organization adequate to Gaines­ 94114. Tel: (415) 626-9958. College, Binghamton, N.Y. 13901 ville's needs. A combination of positive feeling for YSA and internal dissention in San Diego: Alan Stancliff, 443 Georgia, San Diego, New York City: SWP, YSA and bookstore, 873 Broad­ SDS led a group to join the YSA in early Calif.92103 way, N.Y., N.Y. 10003. Tel: (212)982-6051 COLORADO: Boulder: YSA, c/a Chuck Melien, 1044 James P. Cannon June. NORTH CAROLINA: Chapel Hill-Durham: YSA, c/o University, Boulder, Ca. 80302 Bob Friedman, H6 Camelot Apts. Chapel Hill, N.C. ------clipandmail ------FLORIDA: Tallahassee: YSA, c/o Doug Lord, 610 27514. Tel: (919)942-3024. N. Calhoun, Tallahassee, Fla. 32301. OHIO: Cleveland: SWP and YSA, 9801 Euclid Ave., GEORGIA: Atlanta: SWP, YSAandBoakstare, 18714th Oeveland, Ohio44106. Tel: (216)791-1669. St., Atlanta, Ga. 30309. Tel: (404) 876-3887. Kent: YSA, P. 0. Box 116, Kent, Ohio 44240. ILLINOIS: Champaigr>-Urbana: YSA, P. 0. Box 2099, Yellow Springs: YSA, c/o Dick Taylor, Antioch Union, New Sta. A, Champaign, Ill. 61820. Tel: (217)359-1333. Special to Readers Yellow Springs, Oh. 45387. Tel: (513)767-9063. Chicago: SWP, YSA and bookstore, 302 S. Canal St., OREGON: Portland: YSA, c/o Tonie Porter, 5203 S. Rm. 204, Chicago, Ill. 60606. Tel: (312)939-2667. If you would like to get better acquainted with THE MILITANT, you W. Pomona, Portland, Oregon, 97219. Tel: (503) 246- DeKalb: YSA, c/o Steve Sappanos, 111 Carroll *1, may obtain a special, introductory three-month subscription for (If 9245. $J. DeKalb, II. 60115. PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: SWP an.d YSA, 686 you're already sold on the paper, you can help out by sending a reg­ INDIANA: Bloomington: Sandy McNaughton, 511 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Penna. 19130. Tel: (215) N. Fess '4, Bloomington, ln. 47401 u Ia r one-year subscription for $4.) CE 6-6998. KANSAS: Lawrence: YSA, c/o Bob Mears, 1500 Ken­ RHODE ISLAND: Providence: YSA, c/o Jell Powers, D Enclosed is $1 for a 3 month introductory subscription. tucky, Lawrence, Ks. 66044. Tel: (913) ¥13-8215. 134 Benefit St., Providence, R.I. 02902. D Enclosed is $4 for a 1 year regular subscription. MASSACHUSETTS: Baston: SWP and YSA, c/o Militant TEXAS: Austin: YSA cjo Tom Kincaid, 2201 B Nueces, D For Gls- $1 for a 6-month introductory subscription. Labor Forum, 295 Huntington Ave., Rm 307, Boston, Austin, Texas 78705. Mass. 02115. Tel: (617)536-6981. Houston: YSA, c/o Fred Brode, 5420 Olano, Houston, MICHIGAN: Detroit: SWP and YSA, Eugene V. Debs Texes 77039. Hall, 3737 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48201. Tel: UTAH: Logan: YSA, c/o Sterne McMullen, 763 E. 9th NAME ...... (313)TE1-6135. North, Logan, Utah 84321. East Lansing: YSA, c/o Alec Hershey, 914 Lilac *7, WASHINGTON, D.C.: YSA, c/o Kathy Coram, 3218 STREET ...... East Lansing, Mi. 48823. Wisconsin Ave. N. W. *3. Tel. (202)362-0037. Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor: YSA, c/o Dave Davis, 913 WASHINGTON: Seattle: SWP and YSA, 5257 Uni· Washtenaw '16, Ypsilanti, Mich, 48197. Tel: (313)482- versity Way N.E., Seattle, Wash. 98105. Tel: (206) CITY ...... STATE ...... ZIP .... . 7348. 523-2555. MINNESOTA: Minneapolis-St. Paul: SWP, YSA and WISCONSIN: Madison: YSA, 202 W. Gilman, Madi­ Labor Bookstore, 704 Hennepin Ave., Rm. 240, Mpls. son, Wise. 53703. Tel: (608) 256-0857. Send to: The Militant, 873 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003 Page 12 THE MILITANT Friday, July 18, 1969 Harlem action forces halt on state building By B. R. Washington On the night of June 30, 500 Harlem NEW YORK-On Tuesday, July2, Har­ residents attended a rally at the building lem residents won a significant victory site protesting the construction that was when Governor Rockefeller's office post­ to begin the following day. The next poned indefinitely the construction of a morning, with 75 residents occupying the proposed state office building at the corner site and an ample number of policemen of 125th Street and Seventh Avenue in on the scene, the American flag was taken Harlem. The project was canceled, the down and the red, black, and green flag governor's office said, "as a result of com­ of black liberation was raised over the site. munity concern." Since then the site has Residents began hanging signs on the fence been continuously occupied by Harlem surrounding the site, explaining the nature residents to assure that construction does and the reasons for the protest to members not begin. of the press and the community. The victory culminated several months of That afternoon, a meeting was called by protest activity, stemming from the concern the so-called "responsible leaders" of the of black people in Harlem that Governor community, i.e., spokesmen for the state Rockefeller and his Negro representatives building. Upon the arrival of 35 of the are proposing something that is irrelevant residents occupying the site, the meeting to the needs of the Harlem black com­ developed into a heated verbal confronta­ munity. tion. Out of 165 Harlem residents present, During the last few months, 20,000 Har­ only five or six spoke in favor of the build­ lemites have signed a petition protesting ing. It was decided by the protesting res­ the construction, seeing it as part of a idents that this state building would be plan to clear residents out of the Harlem stopped by any means necessary. area and into other slums. One of the One of the speakers in opposition to the protest leaflets handed out stated that" Har­ state building was Senator Basil A. Pat­ lem is recognized as an extremely desirable terson. He pointed out that plans were area of the city geographically and phys­ originally drawn up for the $30 million ically; it is the new frontier." With black office building, plus a $10 million build­ people in Harlem so badly in need of ing. This second building was to have schools, hospitals, and housing, it would been a House of Culture and Civic Center. be an insult to the black community to But is was eliminated by the same legis­ lature that cut welfare, hospital, and ed­ let Governor Rockefeller build a $30 mil­ Photo by Bruce Marcus lion state office building. ucation funds. On Tuesday, July 2, fearing violence and INDEPENDENCE DAY, PHILADELPHIA Nearly 1,000 antiwar demonstrat­ hostility from residents, Governor Rocke­ ors marched July 4 under banners reading, "Bring all the Gis home now!" feller's office postponed construction in­ Stapleton refused definitely. The black people of Harlem Initiated by Philadelphia Vets for Peace, march generated broadest support of demonstrated that they are no longer will­ any demonstration in area for past year, including sponsorship by Fi Dix ing to let outsiders and smiling Negroes GI newspaper, The Intimate Weapon, as well as Resistance, SMC and many by Army; gains decide what is to be built in the com­ other groups. Speakers included Joe Cole of the Fi Jackson 8, Harold Feld­ munity of Harlem. The needs of the Har­ man of Vets for Peace, Katherine Camp, national president of Women's Inter­ place on ballot lem people must come first. national League for Peace and Freedom and William Davidon of Resist

CLEVELAND, July 9-The Army today declined to induct the New victimization Socialist Workers Party candidate Israel brazenly escalates for mayor of Cleveland, Syd Sta­ pleton, informing him that after of Gls United by consultation with Army security headquarters, he was not wanted. claims on occupied areas Under the slogan"GivetheArmy Ft. Bragg brass an Excedrin Headache," sup~ By Robert Langston Israel for the confiscation of Arab property in Jerusalem and for the administrative porters of Stapleton had accompa­ The Gls United Against the War in Viet­ nied him to the induction office at JULY 10-A series of declarations by changes made since the Israeli occupation, nam at Ft. Bragg, N. C., reports that it is the Israeli representative declared, "Jeru­ 6 a.m. to give him a gala send­ holding regular meetings and has publish­ Israeli leaders during the past two weeks indicates an increasingly brazen determina­ salem will forever be united"- that is, under off. Stapleton reported that the ed the first issue of Bragg Brief, its own Israeli domination. And followingpassage tion on the part of the Zionist state's friendly reception he had received underground newspaper. Permission to dis­ of the resolution on July 3, Foreign Min­ rulers to absorb the Arab territories con­ tribute this newspaper on base was re­ ister Abba Eban said that despite the inside the induction center, how­ quered during the June 1967 war. quested of the Ft. Bragg authorities. U. N., Israel intended to consolidate its ever, exceeded all his expectations. In apparent reference to a reported U.S. The Bragg brass meanwhile has con­ hold on the city. Not only the other inductees, but proposal that Israel withdraw to its prewar tinued to harass Gls United members. Finally, on July 4, Information Min­ boundaries "with minor rectifications," De­ the Army personnel at the center After illegally outlawing the circulation ister Israel Galil stated, "I believe it can fense Minister Moshe Dayan on June 27 too, were mostly sympathetic and of a G Is United petition on the base, the be said definitely that the Gaza region told a meeting of industrialists in Jerusalem, anxious to talk to him about his authorities have used this illegal order will not again be separated from the state "We are not talking of minor rectifications to frame Sp/4 Jack Riley. of Israel." This was the first official in­ campaign. of the border, but major ones." Specifically, Riley was passing out copies of the Bill dication of the intention to hold the Gaza Interviewed later in the day by Dayan referred to the cities of N ablus of Rights and the Army Oath of Enlist­ strip in perpetuity. The 25-mile-long coastal Cleveland press, radio and TV, and Jericho- both well inside the region ment on the base June 26, an action strip extending north-east from Sinai was seized from Jord~n in 1967-as "our home­ reporters said they had been in­ which the Gls United had specifically taken from Egypt during the six days war. land." He also said that the status of the formed by board of election of­ gained permission to do. About 20 feet Some 200,000 of its exclusively Arab'pop­ away from him was his notebook contain­ Golan Heights- taken from Syria during ficials that Stapleton was definite­ ulation of 350,000 are refugees and the ing some antiwar literature and petitions the six days war-was not negotiable and ly on the ballot The board of children and grandchildren of refugees who protesting the fact that Joe Miles, another that "we consider it part of Israel like were driven from their homes following the election estimated that at least Gls United member, has been ordered the Jezreel Valley or the Galilee." Further, establishment of the state of Israel in 194 8. 15,000 of the nearly 20,000 sig­ 200 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska, Dayan reiterated Israel's resolve to hold But as the Israeli conquerers move to natures turned in were valid. Only to the Arctic Circle. the city of Sharm el Sheik on the Gulf consolidate and "legalize" their conquests, 12,000 are required. Sp/4 James G. Judson, out of uniform of Aqaba and the approaches to the gulf. they are facing ever stiffening resistance and in a T-shirt, came by and took one But, for the first time, he defined these of the leaflets. An MP came by and or­ approaches to include "half the Sinai Pen­ on the part of the Arab victims of their dered Judson to return to the barracks insula," which was taken from Egypt in aggression. A July 4 New York Times and put on his uniform. Judson went 1967. dispatch from Beirut, Lebanon, indicates away but returned when the MP was gone, During the same period, Israeli officials that the Palestinian guerrillas may be mov­ asking Riley for antiwar literature. have stepped up the process of "reunifying'' ing towards a new unity in action without Riley said that he had some in his note­ Jerusalem. On July 1, the Israeli national obscuring the important political differen­ book but was not allowed to give it out. police headquarters was moved from Tel ces between them. According to the Times Shortly after this Riley was arrested and Aviv to a building that formerly housed story, representatives of the Palestinian all his literature, including the notebook, an Arab hospital in East Jerusalem (the Armed Struggle Command, which includes was confiscated. Two weeks later, on July formerly Jordanian sector). On July 5, Fatah, the Palestine Liberation Organiza­ 7, he was told that he was being charged Mayor Teddy Kollek announced approval tion, the Saiqua, and the Democratic Po­ with "disobeying the general," presumably by an international panel of experts of pular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, for distribution of antiwar literature. a grandiose urban-renewal project for East met with representatives of the Popular Riley has rejected punishment under an Jerusalem. The plan projects the conversion Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Article 15, which carries a very light sen­ of some 600 acres of the city into a park, of several smaller liberation groups July 1 tence, but implies an admission of guilt and implementation of it will involve the to July 3 in Amman, Jordan. The meeting and allows for no appeal. No date has displacement of thousands of Arab resi­ issued a statement which reiterated the guer­ yet been set for a summary court-martial, dents. If carried through it will be imposed rillas' rejection of the possibility of a "peace­ but if the Army decides to proceed Riley on the Arab people of East Jerusalem ful" solution to the Palestinian conflict, will be defended by Attorney Peter Rind­ without their consent and without consul­ warned against counterrevolutionary ef­ skopf of the Southern Labor Action Pro­ tation with them. And previous experience forts to liquidate the Palestinian question, ject in Atlanta. Rindskopf is an associate with Israeli "resettlemenf' schemes suggests reported the decision to intensify the strug­ of Howard Moore, one of the lawyers that many of the displaced Arabs will end gle against the Israeli aggressors, and de­ who had defended members of Gls United up in tl1e miserable subexistence of the clared that the existence of different guer­ at Ft. Bragg in other cases. The G I Civil refugee camps. rilla organizations is a sign of vitality Liberties Defense Committee is also helping During debate in the U.N. Security Coun­ "as long as their guns are aimed at the Rejected to defend Riley. cil on a .Jordanian resolution to censure common enemy."