Special: interview with leader of banned French movement The following exclusive interview with Alain for The Militant, along with our photo­ only a few years ago. Most of the students Krivine, one of the central leaders of the graphers, Helena Hermes and Brian there come from the most upper-class district French student movement and a leader of Shannon. of Paris. Until recently there has been no po­ the Jeunesse Communiste Revolutionnaire litical tradition at Nanterre, not even a strong (JCR- Revolutionary Communist Youth) student union (UNEF), partly because it's was obtained by Mary-Alice Waters on June MARY-ALICE WATERS: To begin with, a new university, and partly because the stu­ 2. could you give us some background on the dents are there only for their first few years On June 12, the de Gaulle regime out­ development of the student movement in of study. They go directly from the high France during the last few months? lawed the JCR, along with six other youth schools to the University of Nanterre. groups. ALAIN KRIVINE: The student movement The student movement was touched off by Mary-Alice Waters and Joseph Hansen began, in a real sense, on March 22 at the an incident. On the evening of March 21 there are presently in France covering events there University of Nanterre, a new school built was a demonstration in front of American Express in Paris, and some of the windows of the building were broken by the students. One of the Nanterre students, who is a leader of the JCR, was arrested that night by the police and accused of having organized this THE demonstration. He was arrested at 7:00p.m., and by 9:00 p.m. a huge crowd of Nanterre students had assembled at the university. The different stu­ dent organizations of the far left had set up loudspeakers to inform the students of what had happened. The students agreed upon a MILITANT new form of struggle never before seen in Published in the Interests of the Working People France-they decided to occupy the school until the comrade, Xavier Langlade, was Vol. 32- No. 25 Friday, June 21, 1968 Price 1Oc released. (Continued on page 6) Alain Krivine French revolutionists outlawed BY THE POLITICAL COMMITTEE, members of the Federation of German Social­ Anyone who in the opinion of the police defies vanguard of the student and mass movements. SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY AND ist Students (SDS). the decree is liable to be tried and faces six Under the relationship of forces in the current NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, The government likewise prohibited all months to two years in jail plus fines. revolutionary situation in the country, YOUNG SOCIALIST ALLIANCE street demonstrations during the election cam­ Both the PCI and the JCR immediately de Gaulle and his Premier would not have JUNE 14-While de Gaullewelcomesback paign, which opened June 10 and extends issued statements that they refuse to recognize dared to undertake such repressions unless the neo-fascists, his government has outlawed until the June 30 runoffs. the legality of the ban and propose to fight they were sure they could go ahead without all the militant student and left-wing organi­ The next day, June 13, Pompidou illegalized it in the courts and in the streets (see page 12). serious objection from the forces controlled by zations which have led the mighty mass move­ four adult political organizations: the Inter­ Guy Mollet, leader of the French Socialist the CGT and CP bureaucrats. ment in France. On June 12, as the three­ nationalist Communist Party (PCI), French Party, spokesmen for the Federation of the In fact, the CP leaders have prepared the week general strike of the workers tapered section of the Fourth International; the Lam­ Democratic and Socialist Left headed by ground for the government moves by ven­ off and the national pre-election period began, bertiste Internationalist Communist Organi­ Alexandre Mitterrand, and other political, omous denunciations of the student rebels Premier Pompidou dissolved seven student zation (OCI); the Maoist Communist Party labor and student bodies immediately de­ as ultra-left "adventurers" and their chauvin­ groups. (Marxist-Leninist) and an anarchist group. nounced the government's acts as outrageous ist attacks on foreigners such as Cohn-Bendit These are the Trotskyist Revolutionary The official charge against these persecuted violations of civil liberties. A broad protest whom l'Humanite labelled as the "West Ger­ Communist Youth (JCR), the March 22 organizations is that they organized subver­ movement will undoubtedly develop in de­ man" while the far-right press added "Jew." Movement led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Work­ sive commando squads, a frameup accusa­ fense of the victimized organizations both These slanderous attacks emboldened the ers Voice, the anarchist Revolutionary Group, tion which they have denied. They are being on a national and international scale. Gaullists to make anti-Communism the theme the Maoist Union of Communist Youth banned under a conspiracy law, enacted Quite different was the attitude of the French of their election campaign, perrnit fascists (Marxist-Leninist), the Federation of Revo­ during the Popular Front days of 1936, Communist Party. As other organizations on banned after the Algerian war to return, and lutionary Students (FER), and the Liaison which is the French replica of the Smith Act the left voiced their opposition, the Stalinist try to incite a witch-hunt hysteria in France. Committee of Revolutionary Students. in the United States. leaders kept mum. De Gaulle counts on the CP bureaucrats to At the same time it expelled many foreign It prevents the prohibited organizations However, their silence could not conceal restrain the workers while his cops and right­ students who have been active in struggles from carrying on any of the normal functions their criminal complicity with the Gaullist wing groups try to terrorize the rebel youth against the government and police, notably of a political group, "directly or indirectly." reaction in inflicting these blows upon the (Continued on page 12) Protest ban Historic opportunity for socialist victory on French leftl betrayed by French Communist leaders NEW YORK-A call has been issued BY JOSEPH HANSEN of socialism, was so close that everyone could Strike committees and broader Committees for nationwide demonstrations at French PARIS, June 7- The headlines in the bour­ catch a glimpse of it. These days were felt of Action were mushrooming on a national consulates and information agencies June geois daily press proclaim that the situation as the genuinely "normal" life, or at least basis. In many places they began to take 22 in solidarity with the French workers in France is rapidly reverting to "normal." a taste of it. over public functions, resembling nothing so and students and to protest de Gaulle's The metros and buses are again operating How could this opportunity for an imme­ much as the broad representative councils, outlawing of revolutionaryorganiz~;~.tions in Paris, the trains have begun running, the diate socialist victory, the most promising in soviets, that were formed at the beginning of and his ban on public demonstrations. post office has opened, most of the indus­ all history, be lost and dissipated within a the revolutions in Russia in 1905 and again A broad ad hoc formation of individuals tries- with a few stubborn exceptions- are single day? This is the question now preoccu­ in 1917. and organizations is sponsoring a march resuming production, or are about to, and the pying the French vanguard as it assesses the The capitalist ruling class, reeling from the on the French consulate ·in New York few weeks in which it seemed that at any mo­ events. speed of events, floundered helplessly. Their that day. ment the country could go socialist are now daily press, printed only by courtesy of the Communist Party, openly described the situ­ The New York demonstrators will as­ receding like a "nightmare" which can BEFORE DE GAULLE'S SPEECH promptly be forgotten or left to the historians ation as "revolutionary." semble at Columbus Circle, Saturday, The facts are absolutely clear. On May 29, and sociologists for leisurely analysis. The de Gaulle regime was caught in a deep June 22, at noon, and march to the the entire French economy was paralyzed by crisis, many of the government figures pre­ consulate at 74th Street andFifthAvenue. The central organ of the Communist Party, the most solid general strike ever witnessed l'Humanite, is not much different from the paring like rats to abandon ship. Premier There will be picketing there from 1:00 in the country. Ten million workers, two-thirds other daily papers. In banner headlines it Pompidou, upon rushing back to France to 2:30p.m. of the working force, had occupied the plants. boasts that the workers are hurrying to end Not a wheel was turning in public transport. from a trip abroad, was said to have told A partial list of sponsors include Lew their strike and rushing back to work, con­ The workers stood by at the switch of the the police that the situation at that point was Jones of the Young Socialist Alliance, scious of the "great victory" they have won. public power system-and they pulled the "prerevolutionary." Fred Halstead of the Socialist Workers The triumphant shouts of the French CP switch occasionally to show their readiness Everything that the ministers did seemed Party, Dixie Bayo of the Puerto :Rican leaders make a harmonious counterpoint to to stop this most vital service. wrong. 1\i!asures which in "normal" times Pro-Independence Movement, James the great sigh of relief from all sectors of the The distribution system was similarly frozen would have worked, now seemed only to Haughton of the Harlem . Unemployed capitalist ruling class in France. For the tight, all the big stores being occupied. Food make matters worse, concessions as well as Center, Linda Morse of the Student Mo­ bosses and the Stalinist bureaucrats alike, supplies were under strict control of the unions. repressive measures only heating up the re­ bilization Committee, .Tito Nolasco of the the situation has been saved-at least tem­ The farmers, solidly behind the general bellion still more. De Gaulle's offer to hold a Dominican Patriotic Youth, Robert Kirk­ porarily. strike, set up their own barricades here and "referendum" was like throwing gasoline on man of the New York .University SDS, However, for the revolutionary vanguard, there to indicate how they understood the a fire. Wendy Fisher of the New York High which has greatly increased in size in the situation. Disaffection began to appear in the very School Mobilization Committee, Norma past month, the return to "normality," when The students had already taken the lead. ranks of the police, and the army was un- Becker of the Fifth Avenue VietnamPeace a socialist victory was so tantalizingly close, It was their battles on the barricades in Paris, certain. Parade Committee, and a. representative does not seem normal at alL They are still in fact, that had electrified the workers. BIG CGT MARCH of the Columbia University Strike Com· living the days when the working class took Throughout France, universities and high On May 29, against this background, the mittee. fire from the sparks cast by the students, schools were shut down, many of them oc­ Communist-led unions staged a giant dem­ onstration in Paris. At least 800,000 workers There are French consulates or informa­ when consciousness expanded and deepened, cupied by students. belonging to the Confederation Generale du tion offices in major cities. when years of ordinary existence were com­ A liaison had been set up between the stu­ pressed into days and even hours, and when dents and the young workers in the plants, Travail (CGT-General Federation of La- the nearness of a new order, the coming order despite obstacles placed in their way. (Continued on page 4) Page 2 THE MILITANT Friday, June 21, 1968

THE MILITANT Black Canadian shot in U.S. Editor: BARRY SHEPPARD Business Manager: BEVERLY SCOTT Ted Watkins added anything to Marxism. Published weekly by The Militant Publishing Ass 'n., 873 Broadway, New York, [!-Editor] N.Y. 10003. Phone 533-6414. Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. slain in Calif. The People does print letters of Subscription: domestic, $3 a year; Canada and Latin America, $3.50; other opposition and answers to them. foreign, $4.50. By first class mail: domestic and Canada $9.00; all other coun­ tries, $14.00. Air printed matter: domestic and Canada, $1:.!.50; Latin America, Toronto, Canada We prefer to debate the parties $23.00; Europe, $27.00; Africa, Australia, Asia (including USSR), $32.00. This is to inform you that on of capitalism, because before we Write for sealed air postage rates. Signed articles by contributors do not nec­ essarily represent The Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials. June 2, 1968, our chairman Ted show that the Socialist Labor Party Watkins was slain and his brother represents true socialism, we must Vol. 32- No. 25 012e Friday, June 21, 1968 Clifford was wounded by a white first show capitalism to be evil store owner and a white clerk, and archaic and socialism to be in an alleged liquor store holdup its opposite. Also, we have been in Stockton, Calif. too often associated with the Com­ This column is an open forum We are not yet in possession of munist Party, the SWP, the SP, for all viewpoints on subjects of the full story of the circumstances and so on. Surely, when the vital general interest to our readers. of our Brother's slaying, but we question finally comes to who rep­ Please keep your letters brief. Where L'enrage do have intimate knowledge con­ resents socialism, we will debate necessary they will be abridged. cerning his character and financial other parties in the "left. " Writers' initials will be used, names status that proves any story about PAUL SANDAHL "robbery" or "attempted robbery" being withheld unless authorization to be an obvious lie. Likes Guardian is given for use. We in the Afro-American Progres­ sive Association refuse to accept coverage better of American corporations in Africa, (The Madman) Asia and Latin America in deter­ the initial report from the white Riverside, Calif. mining U. S. policy in those areas, racist news media of the U. S. and I received the May 17 issue of Canada. We cannot believe that the role of the CIAinforeignpolicy, The Militant plus subscription the role of universities in the cold a man who earns between $10,000 forms for it and the ISR. I am and $15,000 per season as a pro­ war. There should also be a serious writing this to let you know that attempt to really analyze these fessional football player would re­ I am not interested in subscribing sort to "liquor store holdups" even events, not in terms of vague ge­ to either one. I find that I get had he been uptight financially. neralities but a concrete perspective better coverage in the Guardian from which a concrete program Further, such a man would not than I do in The Militant. Your travel nearly 3,000 miles to rob of action can evolve. I think it paper seems too skimpy in its re­ a liquor store in California when would be good if you had an porting and does not deliver the the liquor stores in Ontario are opinion section where guest edi­ kind of "extensive" analysis that amply stocked with both money torials could be written. you claim it does. and liquor. c. c. May I make a few suggestions We mourn for our Black Brother to improve the paper? First of and chairman, but our mourning Trotsky writes all, I think you should broaden will take the form of action rather the scope of your reporting of the on elections than weeping. We are demanding colonial revolution to include re­ New York, N.Y. an investigation by the Canadian ports on what's happening in I have just been reading What government and we are having Africa and in other parts of Asia a public memorial for the Brother Next?, a pamphlet written by Trot­ besides Vietnam. In fact, I think June 9. We are preparing for other sky in 1932 on the rise of fascism it would be a good idea if you had actions as the details of the slaying in Germany, and came upon a a regular section in your paper reach us and the need for more section which seems to me parti­ devoted to the colonial revolution, definitive action arises. cularly applicable to the events similar to the Guardian's "The Also, we are asking all of our in France today. World in Revolution." Brothers and Sisters in the U. S. Trotsky asks whether votes in Second of all, I think you should to act in unity with us by investi­ bourgeois elections accurately as­ expand the section of your paper gating the slaying, publicizing it sess the real power of the working called "Black Liberation Notes" class: "That's a trick mirror," he and if possible holding a joint to report on the struggles of other writes: memorial on Sunday, June 9, and nonwhite minorities for liberation to give any other support possible. and also the struggles of poor "In parliamentary represen­ JOSE GARCIA, whites in such places as the South, tation the strength of an oppressed SECRETARY, the Appalachian region, and in class is way below its actual AFRO-AMERICAN Chicago. strength and contrariwise: the re­ A reprint of a cartoon magazine put out by French PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATION Third, I think there should be presentation of the bourgeosie even students (Action Committee No. 1) on the revolu­ detailed reports on what sections the day before its downfall will USSR pressures still be a masquerade of its tionary developments there. This edition, published of the power structure are doing in response to the growing move­ supposed strength. Only revolu­ by Berkeley, Calif., radical bookstore "Granma," Cuba on oil ment against the war and for black tionary struggle tears away all the contains English translations and explanations. New York, N.Y. liberation and for an end to im­ covers from the actual relation of I saw something on TVlastnight perialism and reports that expose forces." A nonprofit project published in solidarity with that added to the reports about the power structure, e.g., the role L.E. Cuba having to ration gasoline the revolutionary students of France. because Moscow says it can't in­ crease the amount it sells to Cuba. Not only did the USSR exceed its oil production quota last year but it seems to be stepping up its 16 pages 5 0 (: two colors sales in Western Europe. (If you ore interested in the id-1 of MINNESOTA: Minneapoli ..St. Paul: SWP, Last night they showed gas sta­ oocioliom. you can meet oocialioll in your YSA and Labor Bookstore, 704 Hennepin tions in London which are doing city at the following addreu... ) Ave., Hall 240, Mpls. 55403. (612) a brisk business with reduced-price CAUFORNIA: Berkeley.Oaldond: Socialist FE 2-7781. gas imported from the Soviet Workers Party (SWP) and Young Socialist MISSOURI: St. louis: Phone EV 9-2895, Union. Alliance (YSA). 2519A Telegraph Ave., ask far Dick Clarke. Can there be any question that Berkeley 94704. (415) 849-1032. NEW JERSEY: N-aric Newark Labor the Soviet refusal to sell Havana Lao Angeles: SWP and YSA. I 702 East Forum, Box 361, Newark 07101. the oil it so desperately needs is Fourth St., L.A. 90033. (213) AN 9-4953. NEW YORK: Albony: YSA, Carol French, nothing but crude economic pres­ San Diego: San Diego Labor Forum, 272 Lark St., Albany 12210. sure? They disgrace the word P.O. Box2221, San Diego92112. New Yon City: Militant Labor Forum, socialism. San Francioco: Militant Labor Forum and 873 Broadway (near 18th St.). N.Y. 10003. H. C. Pioneer Books, 2338MJrketSt., S. F. 94114. (212) 982-6051. Lenin: SLPer? (415) 522-1632. OHIO: Cleveland: Eugene V. Debs Hall, Santa Rooa: Young Socialist Alliance. 2nd floor west, 9801 Euclid Ave., Cleveland New Haven, Conn. Stefan Bosworth, 808 Spencer. 44106. (216) 791-1669. In reply to J. R.'s letter (May DELAWARE: Lloyd Summers, Box 559, Kent: YSA, Roy S. lnglee, 123 Water St. 1 0 Militant), I would like to say Dover, Del. (302) 674-9842. N., Kent 44240. 673-7032. that the Socialist Labor Party, for GEORGIA: YSA, P.O. Box 6262. Atlanta, Yellow Springs: Antioch YSA, Rick 7 8 years, has been ceaselessly dis­ Ga. 30308. (404) 872-1612. Wadsworth, Antioch College Union, Yellow tributing leaflets, pamphlets, and ILUNOIS: Carbondale: YSA, Bill Moffet, 406 Springs 45387. (513) 767-7862. literature to alL We don't have to S. Washington. PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphio: SWP and ask permission of anyone; mem­ Chicago: SWP, YSA and bookstore, 302 YSA, 6B6 N. Broad St .. Philo. 19130. (215) bers can, at any time, give any S. Canal St., Rm. 204, Chicago 60606. CE 6-6998. piece of literature to anyone. (312) 939-5044. TEXAS: Austin: YSA, James E. Gardner, We havenotbeenidlyspeculating Champaig,..Urbona: YSA, Michael Han­ 607 W. 31-1/2 St. (512) 454-6143. on some ivory-tower plan for the nagan, 56 Townsend. (217) 332-4285. Houston: YSA, David Shroyer, 1116 future, either. We show, as anyone INDIANA: Bloomington: YSA, Russel Block, Columbus St., Houston 78703. (713) JA 9- who reads the Weekly People would T know, the defects and irreconcilable 207 East 2nd St., Bloomington 47401.339- 2236. defects in capitalism; we expose 4640. UTAH: Salt Lab City: Shem Richards, 957 i the faulty logic and defective prin­ lndionapolio: Holstead-Boutelle Cam­ E. First Ave., Salt Lake 84103. (80 1) 355- ciples involved in all attempts to paign, P. 0. Box 654, Indianapolis, Indiana, 3537. reform capitalism; and finally, we 46206. WASHINGTON, D.C.: YSA, Tana Hicken, give Daniel De Leon's plan of the MARYLAND: Baltimore: YSA, Toby Rice, 15 7th St. N. E., 20002. (202) 546-2092. Socialist Industrial Union which 4300 Springdale Ave. WASHINGTON: Cheney: YSA, Ann will enable the workers to take and MASSACHUSETTS: Booton: Militant Labor Montague, 5223 Dryden Hall, Cheney hold the means of production. Forum, 295 Huntington Ave., Rm. 307. 90004. Order from: Granma Bookstore Merit Publishers 2519A Telegraph or 873 Broadway This plan, said Lenin, must even­ (617) 876-5930. s-tile: SWP and YSA, 52 57 University Berkeley, Calif. New York, N.Y. 10003 tually be the form of administration MICHIGAN: Detroit: Eugene V. Debs Hall, Way N. E., Se

Bobby Seale University of Washington. fCrime control' bill gives on probation Bonnie and Clyde Bobby Seale, chairman of the Oakland, There was only one dissenter in the South cops green light in ghetto Calif., Black Panther Party, was sentenced African parliament when a vote was taken May 23 to three years probation on a frame­ recently to approve the official banning of BY DICK ROBERTS that a person arrested must be given notice up charge of "smuggling" a shotgun into the fllm, "Bonnie and Clyde." The legislators JUNE 11- Twisting the assassination of of his constitutional right to remain silent; the Oakland jail. seemed to feel that the picture is "too deca­ Senator Robert Kennedy to its own purposes, he must be warned that any statement may The charge was based on a law passed in dent" for South African society. the U. S. House of Representatives rammed be used in court against him; he must be the 1880s. Other banned fllms include "Guess Who's through the Senate version of the "Crime told that he has the right to have a lawyer. Seale's arrest and sentencing under this Coming To Dinner," "The Graduate," and Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968" in Further, the arrested individual is supposed obscure law is another blatant example of "In the Heat of the Night." less than two days of floor debate. This to be taken before a magistrate or other illegal harassment of the Black Panther Party James Kruger, a member of the is the most repressive law that has come out judicial officer for arraignment "without un­ by Oakland police and courts. ruling party, recently told the parlia­ of the 90th Congress, and its aim is to necessary delay." If police fail to take these In an interview in the June 1 Guardian, ment that "In the Heat of the Night" por­ "legalize" police violence and oppression. steps, a confession obtained from the pris­ Seale describes how it happened: trays "a dumb white detective and a smart The two key sections of the law permit oner may not be admitted in court. "On May 22, 1967, I was on a public black detective who always makes the white bugging and wiretapping by federal, state and The bill throws these protections out. It sidewalk, leaning against a retaining wall cop look stupid." This, Kruger said, "could local police agencies in a vast number of empowers any judge to extend the time a of the Oakland police station with a shot­ be detrimental to race relations." "suspected" crimes, and overturn Supreme defendant is held in custody without arraign­ ment. It explicitly forbids the Supreme Court gun. I· had just left the bailbondsmen's office Students occupy Court decisions protecting the rights of"crim­ to post bail for some members (Panthers) inal suspects." There is also a "gun control" from reviewing state court rulings which who were in jail. I had told another Panther high school section, which Johnson declared is too weak. have admitted confessions "found to be vol­ untary." This means the police can arrest to pick me up at this location. Approximately half the student body at Although the White House now hints that it and question any "suspect" indefinitely, and "Waiting there, about 10 pigs vamped in Parker High School in Chicago staged a might veto the bill, Lyndon Johnson bears enter any "confessions" beaten out of him on me and grabbed my weapon. They un­ sit-down strike in the school corridors June direct responsibility for its creation. It stems into state evidence. It gives the congressional loaded the weapon and after some discussion 4. The strike was led by members of the from the President's state of the union message stamp of approval to the third degree, to gave it back to me. They didn't arrest me Afro-American Organization. in 1967. In that speech, Johnson answered whatever extent it had been hindered by and they left. The very next day I was ar­ Students surrounded the door of the main the crying needs of the black communities previous Supreme Court rulings. rested and charged under this old law even office and sat down, vowing to remain until with a call for federal funds to reinforce Title III of the bill authorizes extensive though the pigs knew I wasn't trying to demands for improvements in school facili­ the cops and beef up their arsenals. The wiretapping, bugging and the use of elec­ smuggle that gun into the jail." ties and curriculum were met. White House drafted appropriate legislation. Seale's probation stipulates that he cannot tronic "eavesdropping" equipment by federal, From there, the bill went into the Senate state and local authorities. It is the first legal "own, possess or carry any dangerous weap­ Militancy pays off Judiciary Committee, which added one piece on, or associate knowingly with any person sanction of the use of evidence obtained According to John H. Johnson, president of reactionary legislation to the next. It bor­ through such police-state means in courts. carrying a dangerous weapon" in his of the firm that publishes Ebony magazine, rowed the idea of "gun control" from Sen­ presence. Since 1934, the Federal Communications the general shift in the tone of the magazine ator Dodd-remember him? "Gun Control" Act has outlawed "eavesdropping" devices. Seale said he would abide by these condi­ from "moderate" to "more militant" has legislation, ostensibly aimed at criminals, tions, but that he plans to appeal. He also Although these have come into more and been profitable for the company. Sales for is actually aimed at overturning the con­ more widespread use by government police stated his intention to remain active in the the magazine have doubled in the last five stitutional rights of the citizens to be11r arms, Black Panther Party. "It is a political party," agencies under White House decree, their years. at disarming the black people and workers use as evidence has been barred in courts. he said, "and under the constitution I have -ELIZABETH BARNES generally, while the armaments of the cops a right to political affiliations." With little wonder the viciously antidemo­ are increased. cratic bill lingered for months in the Senate. Sports revolt In debating the bill, the Democratic and The job of obscuring its real meaning was Bill Russell, basketball star and coach of Republican politicians made long speeches momentous; it was buried in pages and pages the Boston Celtics, says he is in favor of the about "gun control." Their oratory had of testimony about "crime in the streets." boycott of the 1968 Olympics. a dual purpose. On one side it drew attention But when it finally came up for vote, only Russell also sympathizes with the black away from the real source of violence- the four Senators opposed it: Republicans John student athletes who have been organizing war-making, racist capitalist system-and Sherman Cooper and Hiram L. Fong; Dem­ protests on many campuses around the coun­ falsely put the blame on the victims of re­ ocrats Philip A. Hart and Lee Metcalf. try this spring. pression. On the other side it served as a The bill's fate in the House was somewhat Says Russell, "The only reason that uni­ cover for legislation sanctioning further of­ different. In the two days following the Ken­ versities give scholarships to black athletes fica! violence and repression. nedy assassination, it was rushed through is to exploit them .... The schools don't care The key sections of the bill are Titles II under provisions which prevented amend­ if they take the right subjects or even pass, and III. Title II reverses landmark Suprme ment and in an atmosphere bordering on because all they want them for is to fill the Court decisions concerning the constitutional hysteria. stadiums and arenas." rights of arrested persons. Although these Waving the flag and screaming about the Many of the schools that have seen protests high court decisions by no means guaranteed spread of violence, the congressmen voted by black athletes this spring are universities the safety and legal protection of an arrested a law which provides a half-billion dollars where athletics is a big money-making affair. person once he is in the cops' hands, they to police agencies to buy better guns, en­ These include the University of Oklahoma, were progressive and they had been won courages the cops to brutalize their victims the University of Texas, Michigan State Uni­ from the Supreme Court through years of and sanctions using electronic spying equip­ versity, the University of California, Mar­ civil rights and civil liberties struggles. ment against the people anytime the forces quette University in Milwaukee, Wis., and the Bobby Seale Under present court decisions, the law holds of the state so desires. Page 4 THE MILITANT Friday,June21,1968 Do the negotiations mean ••• May

(Continued from page 1) Vietnam war is ending? bor) paraded from the Place de Ia Bastille to the Gare St. Lazare. Even this march was BY DICK ROBERTS a limited one, the CP leaders having repulsed JUNE 12- The June issue of Analysis, the other big labor federations and the stu­ bulletin of the War Resisters League, asks dents, and they ended the march without a the question "Is the war over?" And it an­ rally. swers, "It is unlikely that Washington and Yet this march brought the movement to a Hanoi, having finally sat down together, new level politically. The marchers demanded will break off negotiations and engage in a an end to the "scarecrow" de Gaulle regime new escalation of the war. and the workers expressed what they wanted "Despite the fact that Johnson has said on by carrying thousands of red flags and sing­ many occasions that he would never, under ing the Internationale. The demonstration had any circumstances, 'abandon' the govern­ an enthusiasm and a fervor that required ment of South Vietnam, it seems clear that little to transform it into the clinching action he is now preparing to do precisely that." that would have brought down the regime and This opinion reflects the thinking of a num­ opened the socialist revolution in France. ber of people in the antiwar movement (see That was how things stood on May 29. page 9 ), but in our opinion it cannot be The next day the "scarecrow" government squared with the facts and it flows from a pulled a surprise. The 77-year-old de Gaulle misunderstanding of Washington's real pur­ made a four-and-one-half minute speech over poses in the Paris "peace" talks. the radio. His words abruptly altered the In his final round of public statements as situation. commander-in-chief of U.S. forces in Viet­ It was as if the French working class had nam, Gen. Westmoreland repeated many of risen like a giant, stretched out an arm to the lies which have been coming out of the sweep away the scarecrow in its way, and Pentagon since the war began. But he also then, hearing a recorded voice coming from offered fresh proof that Washington's strat­ the bundle of rags, had fallen back in con­ egy in Vietnam is just the opposite of de­ fusion. escalation. The bourgeois statesmen throughout the Westmoreland assured us that "the enemy world gave thanks with a fervor unusual for is being defeated at every turn . . . Our side people so long accustomed to restraining their is getting stronger whereas the enemy is get­ enthusiasm for de Gaulle. The consensus ting weaker." The former commander among them was that the unexpected out­ shrugged off the sustained guerrilla offensive come was due to the "magic" of de Gaulle's in Saigon with the comment that the NLF THE WAR ESCALATES. Gls and Vietnamese know Washington has intensified personality and his understanding of how to "is frustrated to the point where he is desper­ war since negotiations began. choose the right psychological moment ate. The attack on Saigon ... is an example The true explanation is more complex. The revolutionary outburst, as is generally of his desperation. " had toned down its military effort since the the negotiations as a cover for further esca­ "AT ITS HEIGHT" negotiations began. "At this time our military lation. Its basic strategy remains what it has the case in social upheavals of such scope, The general denied completely that the U.S. posture is at its height since our commitment. been from the outset: to impose imperialist caught everyone by surprise. Above all the We are now capable of bringing major mili­ domination over the people of Vietnam and French capitalist class. In view of France's tary pressure on the enemy. Thiswearedoing to crush the popular revolt against its puppet relative prosperity, to them it appeared com­ CP and the enemy is beginning to show the regime in Saigon. Any"abatementofpolitical pletely incredible that a revolutionary situa­ intellectuals effects." controversy" over U.S. war policy can only tion had been brewing in the country. The man who gave orders for U. S. bombers give the imperialists a freer hand in their Even more incredible to them was the fact that the chain reaction leading to such an to destroy large sections of South Vietnamese genocidal aggression. That is precisely what protest French explosion had been touched off by students. cities during the Tet offensive and for heli­ Johnson sought to achieve by beginning the Unable to understand what had happened, copters and planes to blast Saigon slums one negotiations. relying on devices that had become worn out month ago declared that if Vietnamese resis­ This is why it is dead wrong for the anti­ party's stand during the 10 years in which the bonapartist tance continues, things "may be reaching a war movement to have any illusion that the point where it is a question of destroying the opening of negotiations in Paris in any way de Gaulle regime had held power, the govern­ PARIS- The June 5 issue of l'Humani­ country ... " signals an early end to the war. It cannot ment lost control of events. It seemed but a te, the central organ of the French Commu­ Ignoring the fact that American casualties be emphasized too often that the negotiations matter of days until it would be swept aside. nist Party, reported that during the May Threshing about for ways and means to have increased more rapidly than ever before in Panmunjom, Korea, lasted two bloody upsurge, "a certain number of Communist gain time as the regime foundered, sectors of in the war, Westmoreland stated, "Lookatthe years before a cease-fire was achieved; then as intellectuals" sent a letter to the party leader­ the French bourgeoisie sought to put together number of enemy destroyed and weapons now Washington used the negotiations as a ship. On June 1 and again on June 3, a a "transition" government, a government that captured while our losses are relatively cover to step up its combat operations. In delegation of the Central Committee met with smalL" would seek at least a brief life by making the authors of the letter to discuss the criti­ Korea as in Vietnam today the opening of major concessions to the social forces in revolt. However arrogant, Westmoreland's asser­ "peace talks" was immediately accompanied cisms they had raised. tions should dispel any illusions that Wash­ If time could be won or bought, a more lasting by a sharp increase in U. S. casualties. In The editors of l'Humanite did not publish ington is de-escalating the military offensive solution might then be found. Korea more G Is were killed after the talks the text of the letter submitted by the intellec­ during negotiations. The climbing death fig­ The key problems for the bourgeoisie were tuals. However, the document had come to ures for American soldiers show that the U. S. opened than before they began. The same how to get the strikers to give up the plants, the knowledge of Le Mmde, France's leading is stepping up its military aggression. And thing could be expected now in Vietnam, return them to the capitalists, go back to bourgeois daily, and it published the letter this escalation by the imperialists has been except that the present rate of increase in work, and transfer their struggle from the in its issue of June 6, noting that the letter paralleled of necessity by stiffening combat casualties during negotiations already factories and streets into parliament where it was dated May 26. resistance on the part of the revolutionaries. exceeds that of Korea. could be safely channeled and eventually re­ The following is a translation of the letter "The enemy continues to hold the offensive The opening of negotiations in Paris did duced to harmless proportions. as published by Le Monde: in many parts of the country," the New York not signal a de-escalation of the imperialist The bourgeoisie by itself was incapable of "The Communist signers of this document Times admitted editorially June 11. "South war in Vietnam and it should not be taken accomplishing this. The parliamentary ma­ state that they are in political solidarity Vietnamese desertions have jumped sharply as a signal for the de-escalation of the anti­ chine along with the parliamentary parties with the movement which, starting with the while enemy defections have markedly de­ war movement in this country. There is need had been eroded by Gaullism, which itself students, galvanized millions of workers, the creased." for intensified opposition to the war. Now had now reached the point where the clamor youth in the factories and high schools, the If the attack on Saigon should be taken as more than ever it is necessary for the move­ for the general's resignation was universal. great majority of intellectuals. Their rallying lightly as Westmoreland suggested, one won­ ment to build a mass following and to con­ THE CP AS CAPITALISM'S SAVIOR together in a common action against the ders why Washington intends to protest it at duct mass demonstrations that show it means Only the Communist Party, the party with Gaullist regime put in question the very the Paris talks and has even hinted it will business about getting U.S. troops out of the largest backing in the working class­ foundations of the present social system. offer a bombing de-escalation in return for Vietnam forthwith. some 500,000-was capable of solving these "In attempting at the beginning to put the suspension of the Saigon attack. brakes on this exceptional impulse, the leader­ A closer view of the realities ofWashington' s ship cut off the party from a great force tactics than that given by the War Resisters of socialist renewal. League was presented by I. F. Stone in his French soldiers' committee urges "Fifty thousand demonstrators at the Gare biweekly newsletter June 10. Stone relates de Lyon shouted in anger against the gov­ that "a high (and hawkish) Pentagon official ernment decision violating the amnesty by told a friend of mine recently, 'The purpose banning Cohn-Bendit from French territory. of the partial bombing pause and the talks solidarity with workers, students Many Communists were there. The party in Paris is to reduce the fighting to a level was not. This facilitated the regime's ability the American people will tolerate for a long (A feature indicating the depth of the pop­ The government wants to use you as a to use provocations in its aim to isolate and time without giving up our basic aim,' i.e. ular upheaval in France was the formation repressive force like the CRS. It is going even crush the student movement. Yet, with­ an 'independent' south Vietnam." in some areas of committees supporting the to call on you to occupy the factories and out this movement which catalyzed the deter­ ATTEMPT TO GULL PEOPLE revolt among French soldiers. Following is strategic points- the ORTF (the radio and mination of the masses to struggle, the Stone bolsters this contention by quoting the full text of a leaflet issued by the Soldiers television network), the PTT (Postes Tele­ factories would not have been occupied, the a June 2 dispatch from New York Times Committee of Vincennes that is being cir­ phones et Telegraphes- the telephones and barriers of the SMIG (Salaire Minimum White House expert Max Frankel: "It was culated to their fellow draftees.) telegraph stations), the train stations, etc. Interprofessionale Gar anti- France's mini­ primarily to buy time at home to keep waging • • * It is also using you (WITHOUT PAY) mum wage law) would not have been blown the war's military and diplomatic battles Soldiers, to undercut the strike in public transport. up and other perspectives, in which the role abroad that Johnson accepted the dovish The entire people is now rising up against It is confining you to barracks in order of workers' battles is decisive, would not counsel of at least a partial halt in the bomb­ the antipopular Gaullist regime of unem­ to isolate you from the people. have been opened up. ing . . . So far the tactic has worked better ployment and want. You are the sons of the people; your place "The fissure between the Communists and than he dared to hope. The bitter controversy The students are struggling in the streets is at its side. the mass of students and intellectuals can has abated and the political candidates have against the CRS ( Compagnies Republicaines The government wants to use you to crush have tragic consequences. A dialogue must been muted." de Securite- Republican Security Companies, the people's revolt. be opened at once. Washington's fundamental purpose in the an elite paramilitary security police force). You must oppose this. "The debate imposed by events on the negotiations is to "buy time" to continue the The workers are occupying the factories. In ORGANIZE. orientation, structure and future of the revo­ military assault on the Vietnamese. It was the countryside, the poor peasants are in DEMAND YOUR LEAVES. lutionary movement cannot now be avoided. forced into this tactic by the massive and revolt against the rural exodus and the mono­ Refuse to suppress the people. A frank analysis of the reality, coupled with rising tide of domestic opposition to the war. polizers of farmland. All together against this government of audacious political initiatives, must be under­ But from this it does not follow at all that Soldiers, repression and want! taken at any price to establish links with the Washington altered its military strategy in You are the children of the people; your LONG LIVE THE UNITY OF THE new forces that have become revealed in the Vietnam when it entered negotiations. place is at the side of the workers, peasants, SOLDIERS WITH THE WORKERS, PEAS­ struggle for socialism and freedom." On the contrary, Washington hopes to use and students. ANTS, AND STUDENTS. Friday, June 21, 1968 THE MILITANT Page 5 revolution betrayed by CP problems in the interests of the French bour­ the CP bureaucrats brought a package deal ~~~;; geoisie; only the CP bureaucracy could save to the strikers. At the Renault plant where '1"._ ..., " French capitalism in its hour of dire need. Seguy presented this "proposed" settlement H With Waldeck Rochet in the lead, the French May 27, he was shouted down before he Stalinist bureaucrats responded ina way fully could even finish. up to the standards of the school they were Much worse than the low price for which trained in. Seguy and his fellow bureaucrats were willing In the beginning, when the student move­ to settle was their insistence that the strike ment first began to take on size and momen­ movement was merely for economic de­ tum, they sought to block it by slandering mands- that it had nothing political about it its leaders and aims and thus prejudicing the although it had shaken the country to the workers (and the Communist Party rank and bottom and the regime was ready to topple. file) against it. They refrained from backing Very consciously and very deliberately, the the students against the ferocious attacks of CP strategists sought to prevent the upsurge the police. The student demonstrations were from becoming political, from moving toward described as "provocations." The most mili­ power and the establishment of a workers' tant tendencies were labeled as "anarchist" state in France. They refrained from calling (in the bourgeois sense), "Maoist," and the general strike a general strike, proceeding "Trotskyist." The student leader, Daniel as if the concerted strike action consisted of Cohn- Bendit, was sneered at as "a German." scattered and unrelated involvements. When the police brutality reached levels not ONLY WORDS? seen since the torture of captured Algerian Their concern about terminology in this freedom fighters in the 1954-62 period, the instance was well motivated. To have ad­ CP leaders had no choice but to participate mitted that what was involved was a general in the protest demonstratiOR and one-day strike (which they never initiated and never strike that was organized in Paris May 13. wanted) would have implied a general settle­ But that was as far as they wanted to go. ment. But this in turn would have at once The last thing they had in mind was the posed the question of government power since mighty upsurge which the May 13 demon­ only the government could lay down the terms stration and the occupation of the uni­ of an overall settlement. And only a workers• versities by the students then touched off. government could make it possible to really As always, the workers began by presenting meet the demands of the workers and the Photo by Hermes their grievances against the system in the form students. "POWER TO THE WORKERS." So reads the large banner on the left, carried of immediate demands relating to the job­ Despite the CP, the question of government in May 29 demonstration called by the CGT. pay, hours, vacations, conditions ... These power came more and more to the fore. The the struggle from the streets and plants to the granted for the days lost on strike. For some grievances had been accumulating for 10 bourgeoisie themselves talked openly of safe confines of parliamentary politicking. categories, the workweek has been reduced years and were therefore considerable. In dumping de Gaulle. This made it increasingly In short, in return for 10,000,000 workers a little. this they paralleled the students, who were difficult for the CP to maintain thl'framework on strike, de Gaulle offered the CP leaders the The gains are actually modest since wages also moved into action by the pressure of of dealing with the de Gaulle regime as if it opportunity to roll up 5,000,000 votes in an were below those in other major countries in daily existence under long outmoded con­ were something so sacrosanct that no other election. They snapped to attention and sa­ Europe. The reduction of the workweek from ditions. framework could even be imagined within luted the tri-color. Yes, by all means, the 48 hours to 40 hours at no loss in pay, one The movement rapidly developed toward which to settle the great social conflict that French Communist Party was accepting de of the primary demands when the general a political expression of these demands. The had erupted. Gaulle's generous offer. strike began, was not won. students above all raised the question of the When the bourgeoisie became specific and This meant, of course, also accepting de But there is no doubt that the French work­ regime and the capitalist system as a whole. began talking in terms of a "transition" Gaulle as long as he cares to stay in office. ers feel a new self-confidence as a result of Their understanding of what ought to be done government headed by Mendes-France or And Pompidou, too. what they did win, despite an abysmalleader­ had every chance of quickly permeating the Mitterrand, the CP bureaucrats had to shift, The bourgeois hero, Mitterrand, much ad­ ship, through their concerted action. ranks of the strikers occupying the factories. too. If a new regime was being prepared, mired by the CP, who had been suggested It seems certain, too, that the grip of the CP SPLITTERS then they had to put in their bid for a place as the head of a "transition" government, CP bureaucrats will turn out to have been The Communist Party bureaucrats did in it. The demonstration they called in Paris at once retired back into the wings, as did loosened by the upsurge. The workers are everything possible to block this. Repeated May 29 had this purpose as well as the ob­ his rival, Mendes-France. well aware that the gains they made resulted efforts by the students to talk with the workers jective of remaining at the head of the masses QUICK ON THEIR FEET from their own initiative and not that of the in the plants were turned aside by the CP and preventing the burgeoning revolutionary The CP bureaucrats were equally quick on union brass, who functioned mainly as mes­ through their control over the CGT. The vanguard from outflanking them from the their feet. They stopped the nonsense about senger boys, and largely as messenger boys student efforts to form a united front in action left. demanding de Gaulle's immediate resigna­ for the de Gaulle regime. with the workers were either received very But demonstrations in the streets have a tion. L'Humanite is campaigning now on This rise in consciousness now becomes a coldly or rejected outright as "provocative" logic of their own. The new dynamic leaders something much better- the preparations to permanent new element of instability for or as playing into the hands of the govern­ among the students and young workers were meet de Gaulle's "challenge" on the electoral French and European capitalism. It will not ment. being brought increasingly to public attention. level To help the preparations for the elec­ be easy, for instance, to take away the wage Very consciously and very deliberately, the They were gaining invaluable experience at an tioneering and parliamentary horsetrading, gains through inflation without setting off CP strategists sought to prevent the radicalized extraordinary rate. The masses were becom­ the CP daily is stepping up the pressure to fresh convulsions. students from uniting with the workers. They ing more and more fired up. A revolutionary get everyone back to work. The main gain in the upsurge is the shake­ sought to keep the movement divided. They union between the students and the workers The CP has gone about this, naturally, up in the political field. On the capitalist side played the role of professional splitters. was inherent in the situation. The capitalist with the customary Stalinist finesse, playing the crisis has just begun. Whatever breathing up the gains made by the workers in the spell is granted the de Gaulle regime, it is Meanwhile they frantically sought to keep structure both socially and politically, it was form of concessions from the government and clearly doomed. The construction of a bour­ up relations with the de Gaulle regime while plain to see, was a most rickety structure the bosses. To be noted, however, is the geois alternative is no easy matter. at the same time making a show of being despite the chrome trimmings of the "society formula advanced by the CGT. The workers On the side of the workers, a fresh perspec­ in opposition. Thus they pushed a motion of of abundance." in any bargaining unit are to go back when­ tive has opened. A new revolutionary force "censure" in parliament against de Gaulle DE GAULLE'S OFFENSIVE ever they feel that their demands have been numbering in the tens of thousands, composed even as they negotiated with his lieutenants This was when de Gaulle moved. He flew first to consult with the heads of the army to "satisfied." Everything is split up and divided mainly of students and young workers, has on the concessions that were required to buy so far as the workers are concerned, and the appeared on the scene. This is centered at the time for French capitalism. And in 1' Humanite get assurances from them that they would obey government and the bosses are given maxi­ Sorbonne where activity is seething. In this they clamored for "haste" in making the his orders. Troops and armored forces were mum opportunity to bring pressure to bear "soviet" the most varied tendencies are de­ concessions. put into motion. Then he went on the air. He stated that he was not resigning. He on the weaker or more backward sectors to bating and discussing and organizing into After meeting behind closed doors with the end their strike. tendencies that have yet to become clearly representatives of de Gaulle and the bosses, was keeping the despised Pompidou, too. He postponed his previous "concession" of a In addition, l'Humanite is running daily delineated but which are running in the gen­ referendum. He dissolved the National As­ warnings about "provocateurs" who are said eral channel of revolutionary socialism. to be trying to prolong the strike action. sembly and called for elections. REVOLUTIONARY MARXISTS The bosses have become so emboldened that He threatened the use of force and he ap­ The Trotskyist movement, particularly as they are now testing out the use of police to pealed to all the most reactionary elements represented by the Jeunesse Communiste Rev­ break strikes. At the Renault plant in Flins, in the country to mobilize. olutionnaire (JCR- Revolutionary Commu­ early in the morning of June 6, between On the same day, May 30, the Gaullists nist Youth) and the Parti Communiste Inter­ 3,000 and 4,000 CRS (Compagnies Repub­ staged a demonstration to give point to the nationaliste (PCI- International Communist licaines de Securite, the special riot police) speech. This had been well prepared, partici­ Party), the French section of the Fourth Inter­ were brought in. They forced out the strikers pants being brought to Paris from other areas guarding the plant during the night. national, has won great prestige and is listed to give it greater size. Among the key com­ The CFDT (Confederation Francaise Dem­ on all sides as one of the sources of revolu­ ponents were former Algerian colons and sim­ ocratique du Travail- French Democratic tionary inspiration that helped touch off ilar riffraff. The tone of the demonstration can Federation of Labor) which also has mem­ the entire May movement. The size and in­ be judged by the slogan, reported in Le bers in the plant, called for a protest demon­ fluence of the Trotskyist movement in France Monde and also in the London Guardian stration in Paris the same evening. Not only and Europe are bound to increase at an (June 3), "Cohn-Bendit a Dachau" ("Send did the CGT leaders refuse to join in this impressive rate in the immediate period ahead. Cohn-Bendit to Dachau "-the Nazi exter­ demonstration, they denounced it as "adven­ What the next turn in the situation may mination camp). turist" and implied that it was a "provo­ offer can scarcely be predicted. The upsurge How the armed forces would have acted cation." in France is so deep-going, however, that had the revolutionary struggle become still The extent of the betrayal committed by not even the CP with its decades of practice more intense is, of course, speculative. It is the French Communist Party bureaucrats in betrayals can deflect it for long. In fact, nevertheless significant that the generals, ac­ must be gauged in relation to the extraordi­ one of the first coming developments may well Photo by Hermes cording to the press, told de Gaulle that while nary opportunity for a socialist victory in be a shattering crisis in the CP itself. In the rest of Europe and, for that matter, WHICH SIDE ARE THEY ON? The they would remain loyal to any "legal" France made possible by the massive mobi­ regime, the troops could not be depended on the rest of the world, the repercussions have poster above, put up in French Renault lization staged by the students and workers to break the general strike. themselves. But it would be a serious error only begun. What the French students and plants by heads of Communist Party­ The CP bureaucrats made the record with workers have done is to again put on the led General Federation of Labor to conclude from this that nothing was won some indignant remarks about de Gaulle's in the battles of the past weeks. agenda for consideration by revolutionists (CGT), slanderously attacks radical attack on Communist "totalitarianism" and GAINS WON everywhere the problem of the proletarian rev­ student organizations: "They must not his allegations about a plot for a Communist Pompidou, for instance, issued a decree olution as something actual. be allowed in our factory gates to de­ takeover in France. Within a few hours after making the minimum wage in France three The colonial revolutionists, too, who have fame our union. . . After their dirty the speech, however, they revealed their true francs an hour (about US$.60). This signi­ been looking to the peasantry in recent years work these elements always get a fat sentiments by accepting with both hands the fied a 35 percent jump for industrial workers as the prime source of movement, will now, pay-off for loyal services rendered to proffered new election. in Paris, 39 percent in most of the provinces, one may well assume, want to make a closer the bosses." Many of the student orga­ The election gave them exactly what they and 62 percent for the agricultural workers. examination of the revolutionary possibilities nizations named by this poster have needed- no doubt as de Gaulle had divined Wage gains are running generally from in the cities in their countries. The French just been outlawed by de Gaulle or been informed -in the way of fuel for a 10 percent to 20 percent. In some instances events certainly offer lessons that can be regime. back-to-work movement and the transfer of (railways, public utilities) full pay has been applied in those social powder kegs. Page 6 THE MILITANT Friday, June 21, 1968 Fri .•. interview with French Revolutio (Continued from page 1) The Maoists, in the beginning at least, char­ the Latin Quarter and began to fill the Blvd. thing they could lay their hands on was thrown ob They occupied the university; they occupied acterized the movement as "100percentbour­ St.-Michel. at the police, andmanyofthemwerewounded. SU( the office of the rector; and they stayed there geois." Later they tried to integrate themselves Thus a spontaneous demonstration began Large numbers of students were also th€ for several hours. The comrade was released in the movement. to take place long before the hour of the offi­ wounded, because usually the students didn't de1 during the night, and when he arrived at At that point, the movement didn't spread cial demonstration. Thousands fell into line want to retreat even when the barricades were m€ Nanterre the students decided to put forward to the other cities of France. There was wide­ as the march moved through the Latin Quar­ half taken. There were red flags on the bar­ OIJ other demands and to continue the occupa­ spread student discontent in France and for ter and fmally, into the main streets of Paris. ricades; the students sang revolutionary the tion. This was completely spontaneous in the several weeks we watched the situation closely There were probably 10,000 who marched songs; there was an extraordinary enthusi­ a' beginning. They began to challenge the struc­ to see if the Nanterre movement was merely through the heart of Paris shouting, "Down asm. Usually before leaving the barricades all ture of the university, the problem of the cap­ a local phenomenon or if it would become a with police repression, " "Free the imprisoned gallons and gallons of gas were poured on italist state, police repression, in fact, every­ national phenomenon. students," and demanding that the police get them and they were lighted to prevent the m~ thing that is related to the repression of stu­ NEW INCIDENT out of the Latin Quarter. police from taking them too rapidly and to po dents and workers by the bourgeois state. At the beginning of May there was a second That evening, the entire massive column of give the students time to retreat behind the ve1 The occupation lasted all night, and the spark which started the movement going demonstrators who had marched 10 or 15 next barricade. the next day a new organization developed, again again and led to the thoroughgoing political miles across Paris- there were probably The struggle ended at 5:15 a.m., almost the almost spontaneously. It took its name from crisis in France today. On the second or third 20,000 by then, mostly students but also some three hours after it started. There were some­ ple the day of the occupation of the university­ of May, I don't remember exactly now, the young workers- decided to return to the where around 1,000 students wounded and ab the March 22 Movement. fascists of the "Occident" ("West") group Latin Quarter. That became the first famous probably three deaths, one girl and one boy sa' In the beginning this movement was almost decided to clean up the University of Nan­ night of the barricades. and one CRS. But the deaths were covered Da entirely composed of unorganized students terre. They decided to have all their support­ About 7:00 p.m., when the immense dem­ up by the police who told the parents- in ca1 who had never before engaged in political ers from the provinces come in and to hold onstration arrived at the Blvd. St.-Michel, it the two cases we know of-that they were SW activity. But it also included some political a big meeting at Nanterre. In order to meet was blocked by the police. The leaders of the killed in automobile accidents. organizations-the National Union of this threat, the students at Nanterre began go French Students, which at Nanterre is led by to arm themselves with clubs and helmets. the the JCR, the JCR itself, and certain anarchist They called on the Paris students for help, po groups which are rather numerous and di­ and several hundred helmeted students as­ de1 vided at Nanterre. sembled at Nanterre to protect the university wh MARY-ALICE WATERS: Daniel Cohn­ and prevent the fascists from entering. rel, Bendit is the person who has been most fre­ Faced with that situation, the Dean decided rec quently linked with the March 22 Movement. to stop all classes at the university, which go Did he belong to one of these groups? has never happened before in France. This to ALAIN KRIVINE: Daniel Cohn-Bendit produced a tremendous uproar. no was a member of one of the anarchist groups, The fascists decided to cancel their meeting the Anarchist-Communist Youth (JAC), but and to occupy the Latin Quarter in Paris the St! he quit that group a year ago. He now next day instead. They announced they would be( belongs to no political organization. On the hold a demonstration in the Latin Quarter, stu ideological level he's rather close to anar­ the area near the Sorbonne. At that point ve1 chism. all the vanguard organizations of the student cla The movement was a spontaneous one left, with the exception of the Communists, m< which very rapidly took on the character of decided that they should occupy the Sorbonne. 1 a united front, bringing together the organized It's an old tradition that the Sorbonne is a th: political militants and a large number of bastion which no fascist has the rightto enter. the unorganized students. From that point on, All the vanguard organizations decided to to they permanently occupied the university. send their defense guards to protect the Sor­ pr They didn't stop classes from continuing, but bonne. The courses weren't stopped, but from th( they decided they would use the lecture halls the morning of May 3 on, the courtyard of th( whenever they wanted to use them for politi­ the Sorbonne was occupied by about 500 to cal discussions, to challenge the courses and militants from the vanguard organizations, ist the educational forms of the university. all armed and helmeted. ful This movement raised an enormous storm In addition to the 500 militant activists, throughout France because it was the first however, there were hundreds and hundreds the time students had ever taken over a univer­ of kids who joined us. That was something im sity. They occupied the classrooms, held po­ no one had expected. There were meetings stu litical discussions, stuck posters all over the of 1,000 or 1,200 throughout the day in the pr' walls inside and even painted slogans on the courtyard. cri walls. The fascists began to organize a demonstra­ Photo by Hermes pa There were permanent" general assemblies" tion on the Boulevard St.-Michel, with the JUNE lDEMONSTRATION.AlainKrivine,withmegaphone(atright), was one ao where hundreds and hundreds of students intention of forcing their way into the Sor­ of the leaders in front of the large student demonstration (see article, page 11 ). mE discussed all sorts of political topics, usually bonne. At that point we began to get the de­ pa in an extremely serious manner. It was not at fense squads ready. Everyone started putting demonstration asked the students to encircle After that there were other nights on the thE all anarchistic, as the press described it. The on his helmet and picking up clubs and bottles, the police who were surrounding the Sorbo nne barricades, other violent demonstrations. One du movement organized all sorts of study com­ and that set off the incident. and to stay there throughout the night. When of the most important things to take note of, missions- on the workers' states, on Stalin­ CALLS IN THE COPS the radio mentioned this occupation of the however, is the extraordinary support given co ism, on the relationship between the workers' The dean of the Sorbo nne asked the police Latin Quarter by the students, more students by the people of Paris. Parisians are not thE and students' struggles, on sexual problems, to surround the Sorbonne, which they did, began to arrive. noted for their love of violence. There were no on student problems- a whole series of com­ armed with guns and billy clubs and helmets. TWO CALLS more than 1,000 cars burned, most by phos­ vii missions which were very conscientious. They Then the dean gave the cops the right to The Communist Students, using loud speak­ phorous grenades, but others by gas and ult fmished their work by presentingtheirreports enter the courtyard, which is also absolutely ers, called on all the students to leave the fire on the barricades. But on May 10 in the dit to a general assembly which voted on the unprecedented in the annals of the history of Latin Quarter, to disperse and go home. The middle of the night all the people were at their ar' resolutions. The general assembly grew from the universities in France. The police have militants of the JCR and UNEF called on windows helping the demonstrators. They tore plc 500 to 800 to 1,500 students. never had the right to enter the university. the students to remain in the Latin Quarter up their sheetS!!to the demonstrators would ao For instance, there was a resolution of sup­ Several hundred CRS (special police)encir­ and occupy it throughout the night. have masks against the gas; tons of water port for Modzelewski and Kuron (Polish rev­ cled the Sorbonne and came into the court­ Without any instructions or directions, com­ were thrown upon the demonstrators, from all thE olutionary socialists who are fighting for so­ yard. They decided to arrest all the 600 or pletely spontaneously, the first barricade ap­ the apartments, to counteract the gas and titi cialist democracy), which was unanimously so students who were occupying the court­ peared. The students began digging up the let the demonstrators wash their faces. th: carried by the general assembly. yard. But they didn't have enough police cars cobblestones. It was a defensive barricade set MARY-ALICE WATERS: It was after this atJ The government was, of course, very un­ to arrest all 600 at once. up just in front of the police barrier. first night on the barricades that the strikes happy about the whole thing. The police When the mass of students learned that the At that point all of the revolutionary orga­ began to develop and the working class came ya arrived and stationed themselves around the police had invaded the Sorbonne, several nizations, especially the JCR, far from trying into the struggle. What has been the relation­ be university, but they never dared enter the thousands of them came to the Blvd. St.­ to stand in the way of the movement, on the ship between the student struggle and the thl university itself. The movement went on like Michel. When the first police van full of ar­ contrary joined in building the barricades. workers' struggle? th: that for several weeks, despite the reactionary rested students came by they began to throw The word went out to build barricades all ALAIN KRIVINE: On the first night of wi bourgeois gentlemen and all the extreme rocks at the vans and tried to free the students over the Latin Quarter, in an area of several the barricades, thanks to the radio, there were de right-wing groups that were saying the com­ square kilometers, in order to disperse the inside. It was completely spontaneous because probably several hundreds ofyoungworkers th: police forces. They were defensive barricades mandos should be sent in to clean out the virtually all the activists were imprisoned in who, completely spontaneously, decided to th( university of Nanterrewhichhad been infested the courtyard of the Sorbonne. at the outset. come help us. They were very helpful in the "h by the scum of society and by bolshevism. The cops were so harassed that they couldn't In all, there were about 65 barricades built technical construction of the barricades; after­ tio continue to arrest the students in the courtyard all over the Latin Quarter, especially in the At Nanterre, the Union of Communist Stu­ wards we got the habit, but at the begmning ha of the Sorbonne. They didn't have enough street which everyone has talked of, Gay­ dents refused to participate in the movement, we were not very well equipped. Earlier the bu Lussac. There were six or seven very impos­ characterizing it as ultraleftish and anarchist. forces, and the students remained imprisoned student leaders had made contact with union Tl in the courtyard for over three hours, the ing and very high barricades in that street officials, and the officials of the Communist aft time the police needed to clean out the Latin alone. They were built all along the length JCR buttons 25( Party, to ask them for aid, to ask them to be Quarter. of Gay-Lussac. send people. Only one official political orga­ stt Then all the students were arrested and During this time we had been talking with nization, the PSU (Parti Socialiste Unifie­ taken to police headquarters. During the next the police chief, using the two-way radio, United Socialist Party) sent out a call to help Ac week there were big demonstrations on Mon­ asking him to withdraw the police from the the students. It didn't bring many results, pli day, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with 20,000 Latin Quarter, explaining that the students but it was politically important. They urged to 50,000 students participating and some would not leave as long as thepoliceremained all their militants to join the students at the mi young workers joining us. On some of the in the Latin Quarter. He refused, and without barricades. ou demonstrations we marched all over Paris. any warning, at 2:15 in the morning, they The next day, the Communist Party press he On Thursday night, May 9, the JCR held gave the order to the CRS and the other and the union leadership had a rather am­ ne a huge meeting which had been planned for special police to take the barricades. biguous attitude: that is, they simply gave to several weeks. It was decided to turn it into COURAGE IN BATTLE information concerning the barricades, but ter an open forum for all the groups to discuss That is when the battle began and it was without taking a position, without supporting what to do. About 5,000 participated. extremely violent. The police utilized hundreds and without condemning the student move­ m( The next day, May 10, all the organiza­ and hundreds oftear gas grenades, phosphor­ ment. They stated that there were many ultra­ de tions on the left, with the exception (as usual) ous grenades, illegal kinds of gas grenades leftists involved, and that the leadership was on of the Communist Students, called for a dem­ being used in Vietnam, and they succeeded ultraleftist; but they were nevertheless obliged rec On orders of 20 or more, 17c each. onstration in the Latin Quarter at 5:00p.m. in taking the barricades one after another. to denounce the police repression. They wl Order from: Young Socialist Alliance, But from 11 a.m. the Latin Quarter was The students fought with an extraordinary charged that the police repression was the if P. 0. Box 471, Cooper Station, New occupied by the police, and thousands and courage, never before seen among students result of the irresponsible activities of a hand­ fOJ York, N.Y. 10003 thousands of students, completely spontan­ in France, fighting meter by meter, throwing ful of ultraleftists. er~ eously, as on the night before, also occupied pounds and pounds of paving stones. Every- Nevertheless, the Communist Party was ri~ 8 Friday, June 21, 1968 THE MILITANT Page 7 utionary Communist Youth leader obliged to call a general strike to protest participating in the movement and is advan­ of reasons, UNEF has been in complete de­ been condemned by the CP, condemned by I. such excessive police repression. At that time cing socialist ideas, fighting for a socialist cline. There is no more internal life; today it is the CGT, and the militants had been ordered iO there was no official liaison between the stu­ revolution, criticizing the CP from the left. more name than anything else; there are no not to go there. However thousands of work­ ,•t dents and the workers. There were never any It's a spectacular reversal for the student more militants in UNEF. When UNEF or­ ers participated in the demonstration, march­ ce meetings between representatives of the student movement! ganizes a demonstration, the monitors of ing under our slogans, which were revolution­ r- organizations and the Communist Party or Since no organization had hegemony over UNEF are in reality the JCR monitors. We ary slogans. y the unions. The night of the barricades had the whole student movement, the students felt are all members of UNEF, but that only This vanguard movement, going far be­ i- a very important impact in the factories, above the necessity of organizing themselves into means we have a membership card. yond the organized groups, exists at the pres­ ~s all among the young workers. committees to give structure to the whole But if UNEF has played an important ent time. We are trying now to give it a struc­ n They were not so concerned with the de­ movement. The Action Committees unite all enough role as regards the press, this is due ture and a precise revolutionary, and not te mands of the students because, after all, the the students of the movement, members of to the nature of the movement. The movement center-left, line. :o police occupation of the Latin Quarter is not organizations, nonmembers, and they exist is extremely heterogeneous; there is no orga­ MARY-ALICE WATERS: What has been te very symbolic for the workers. But, given in all the various schools of the university. nization that has hegemony. There are poli­ the role of the JCR itself in all the events of the social discontent that has existed among The Action Committees began at the uni­ tical organizations like the JCR, which plays the past months? st the workers for a long time, it was the exam­ versity, but the second stage opened when a predominant role as a political organiza­ ALAIN KRIVINE: In reality, we are the e­ ple of the barricades that made a consider­ hundreds of workers began coming to the tion, but the totality of the movement is not only organization that "survived." The stu­ d able impact on the young workers. They Sorbonne, which played theroleoftheSmolny politically organized. Given this very great dent masses, during the whole crisis, under­ y saw there a form of struggle, of direct action. Institute at the time of the Russian Revolu­ heterogeneity, UNEF was able to play a went a profound self-criticism. Amongst the d Day after day the number of workers who tion. That is, the students served as an ex­ unifying role by calling demonstrations, etc., student milieu there was no a priori prejudice .n came to the Sorbonne and the Latin Quarter ample. They played a leadership rolewherl the but it has no following in and of itself in the towards the vanguard groups, only a preju­ :e swelled by the hundreds. working class entered the struggle. The work­ student milieu. dice towards the CP and the Social Democ­ The police were obliged to retreat and the ers, very often, came to the Sorbonne asking racy. The student masses subjected each group MARY-ALICE WATERS: Yesterday there government accepted the three demands of for advice, asking the students to help them to an intense scrutiny. During all the general was a meeting called by an organizing com­ the students: the Sorbonne was reopened, the organize themselves. assemblies, as soon as someonetookthefloor mittee for a revolutionary movement, that the police left the Latin Quarter, and all the stu­ Thus the students saw the need to create and said something theydidn'tlike, they whis­ JCR and the PCI and several other organi­ dents were released without a trial. Those Workers and Students Action Committees. tled and stopped the speaker from continuing. zations which consider themselves Trotskyist who were still in prison were immediately Very quickly the Action Committees extended The Lambertists (a sectarian group which participated in. Could you explain this "re­ released by the police. Thus the workers to all of Paris, to all of the districts. The broke from the Fourth International) and the groupment" process a little and what you recognized that for the first time the Gaullist Action Committees, which were at first led by Maoists, because of their sectarian positions, government had retreated. They saw that even the students, quickly embraced all sectors of think it will bring? have actually discredited themselves among to make the government retreat, barricades, the population, workers and housewives, ev­ ALAIN KRIVINE: The revolutionary van­ the students. The dynamics of the movement not petitions, were needed. eryone. In certain districts, Action Committees guard is very strong among the students. obviously taught them nothing. They were MARY-ALICE WATERS: In the United of 150 to 200 persons, only 10 of whom were On the organizational level, the student milieu undercut just like that. The JCR was the only States, as here, the Communist Party has students, were formed. already has its vanguard organizations. The organization to be not only tolerated but to been attacking the JCR particularly, and the There are now about 300 Action Committees influence of this vanguard has extended be­ enjoy very real and important support. It students in general, as being ultraleftist, ad­ in Paris, which group together workers, stu­ yond the Latin Quarter and has had an im­ has a considerable audience at the present venturist, and trying to divide the working dents, professors; everybody and anybody is portant impact on the workers, not so much moment, especially among the students and class. Why are they so fearful of the student in these Action Committees. The Action Com­ organizationally, but more as a political cur­ high school kids. But it has also made very movement? mittees serve as a kind of infrastructure for rent, as a tendency. important inroads among the workers. Many ALAIN KRIVINE: It is important to note the movement. One symptom of this impact is that, besides workers are joining us now; we enjoy signi­ th!lt almost the whole student movement­ When the revolutionary movement was at the workers who have come to the Sorbonne, ficant sympathy in certain sectors of the work­ those who participated in the struggle- is its peak, certain Action Committees developed 50,000 persons, of whom 40 percent were ing class. For us this fact is one of the most to the left of the Communist Party. At the a much higher level of organization-that is workers, attended the meeting at Charlety positive results of the struggle. present, except for the organized vanguard, to say, certain Action Committees, particu­ on May 27, organized by the students. lthad (Continued on page 8) these students do not have a program, but larly in the provinces, became genuine em­ they agree on a number of points in regard bryos of dual power. to the Communist Party. They reject reform­ Today there is a real shortage of some ist politics, they reject the CP's theory of peace­ products in Paris. There is not enough sugar ful coexistence, they reject Stalinism. and coffee. There are no cigarettes, and there Are you with the revolu­ There are two main reasons for this. On is not enough gasoline. In certain very local­ the one hand, at first, we did not realize the ized places, for example in Nantes, the Action impact that our activities have had in the Committees purchased food by presenting student milieu during the last two years. The only IOUs. The merchants distributed goods, tionary socialist youth principal positions developed by the JCR-a without receiving any money, and in return critique of the CP, of Mitterrand and Com­ they received IOUs. The Action Committees s pany-have become mass themes absolutely blossomed into genuine embryos of dual te accepted by virtually the whole student move­ power. of france? ). ment. The full implications of the long and MARY-ALICE WATERS: In the factories, e patient activities of the vanguard groups, have there been similar Action Committees .e the impact of our propaganda, revealed itself or strike committees which have played a f, during the current upsurge. vanguard role? Join the same kind of n Second, the attitude of the CP itself has ALAIN KRIVINE: In the factories the lt contributed to this rejection of the CP. Since political vanguard does not have the leader­ e the beginning of the movement, and even ship. The movement in the factories was also ;- now, the CP has attacked the students very started in a spontaneous way by the youth. political movement here- d violently, accusing them of being led by An example I can give is the Renault plant­ .e ultraleftists, which, of course, only gives ad­ an example which wasmultipliedmanytimes. .r ditional authority to the leaders. But there The movement started off with 150 youth, are extremely perfidious attacks. For exam­ the Young Socialist Alliancel ·e spread out in three workshops, for the most d ple, at the time of the barricades, the CP part unorganized. They closed the workshops accused us of infesting the Latin Quarter with and decreed an unlimited general strike; car­ In France, the Revolutionary Communist Youth (JCR) "la pigre," the scum of society, and with all rying a red flag, they marched through the the buffoons of Paris- a word-for-word repe­ factory calling for a general strike. The has played a central role in the battles on the barri­ tition of Pompidou's accusation. I must say unions were completely outflanked. Much cades of the French students and workers. that this only leads to a more open-minded s later, after long deliberation, the CP called atmosphere among the students. s for a strike. The Communists have a table in the court­ e The workers did not anticipate this move­ Here, the Young Socialist Alliance, American counter­ yard of the Sorbonne; but they are endlessly l­ besieged by hundreds of students who attack ment; no one anticipated it. The workers have part of the JCR, basing itself on the same program, e them politically. The result of all this will be never been educated in what socialiststrategy is organizing and fighting for the same socialist goal. that the CP, for a very long time to come, is. The CP has kept the movement under ,f will lose all political prestige among the stu­ control, although they have been contested. e dents. One can say without underestimation The CP is opposed to the creation of strike If that's what you are aiming toward- if you support: s that in the political arena- that is, among committees. The CP has ordered three-fourths black power, Cuba, the colonial revolution, Vietnamese liber­ ::J the politicized students- the CP is only a of the workers back home. The strike pickets e "handful" in comparison with the organiza­ are mainly composed of CGT and CP mem­ ation fighters, the antiwar tions of the vanguard. They will continue to bers. There is no genuine political life in the movement, the fight for so­ g have influence in the student milieu of course, factories-they are almost empty today. cialist democracy in Eastern e There are some strike committees, but they but they have suffered a tremendous blow. Europe, revolutionary so­ 11 They exposed themselves to the students, day are often simply trade-union liaison commit­ it after day, as the events unfolded, and it will tees at the union brass level. In certain fac­ cialist candidates, a socialist ::J be difficult for them to salvage much in the tories where there are vanguard militants, America 1- student milieu. there are genuine strike committees, democrat­ MARY-ALICE WATERS: What are the ically run, having elections, etc., but this is Then you belong in the p Action Committees and what role do they extremely rare. Young Socialist Alliance. i, play? The vanguard workers are even blocked by ALAIN KRIVINE: Well, the Action Com­ strike pickets from entering their factories. clip and mail e mittees were created more or less spontane­ That is why the most advanced elements par­ ously, although there were political militants ticipate in the Action Committees of their neigh­ Young Socialist Alliance heading them. The vanguard groups had borhoods set up by the students. The genuine P. 0. Box 471, Cooper Station never been able to mobilize more than seven political life has shifted from the factory to New York, New York 10003 to eight thousand students in the Latin Quar­ the neighborhood. ter, notably for Vietnam demonstrations. MARY-ALICE WATERS: The press has D I want to join the YSA D I would like more information On the barricades, which is, after all, a talked a lot about UNEF; could you explain more rigorous experience, about 15,000 stu­ exactly what UNEF is and whatroleitplays? Name ...... dents participated, and then there were 50,000 ALAIN KRIVINE: UNEF is a student s on the Champs-Elysees. But we ourselves union of about 80,000. It is not a political Address ...... :l recognized that three-fourths of the students organization; it is a union that has always

Y' who were there were completely apolitical, been headed by left-wing militants, generally c~ ...... e if not conservative two months earlier. The of the PSU, but a few times by the CP. It former leader of FNEF (The National Fed­ played an important role during the Algerian State ...... Zip ...... On April 15, 1967 antiwar demonstration eration of French Students), an extremely War in directing the struggle against the war. s right-wing rival organization of UNEF, is But for the last three years, for a number Page 8 THE MILITANT Friday, June 21, 1968 "Blood spattered on walls, floor" PARIS- One of the things that triggered the Fourth Arrondissement "The scene in­ the May 13 general strike and massive side was rather unnerving. It was a large demonstration of the workers in Paris was room, and a youth of about 18 was being the brutality with which the riot police systematically beaten by the CRS, using fists, (CRS- Compagnies Republicaines de Se­ boots, and truncheons, in one corner. There curite) handled the rebellious students in was a lot of shouting and screaming both the Latin Quarter, first when the CRS invaded from the boy and the officers. Another youth the Sorbonne on the invitation of the rector, was standing bleeding quietly, and a large Jean Roche, and again on the barricades amount of blood was spattered on the walls in the famous battle of May 10-11. It might and the floor. be thought that after seeing the way the work­ "By this time the officers who had brought ers rallied to the side of the students, the me in had disappeared. I asked why I had Paris cops would be more cautious in their been brought in. There was no reply but I use of extreme brutality. This does not appear was then punched in the stomach and kicked to be the case, however. They are continuing in the groin for about two minutes. Compared to act in the style of the infamous Nazi SS. with others, I got off very lightly." A graphic eyewitness account of how the After this, Andrew Mack was put in a cell CRS are still acting was published in the with about 30 other people. They were packed June 1 issue of The Guardian, the respectable in tightly. "A lot had been badly beaten. London daily. They had hair matted with blood, split lips, Andrew Mack, a second-year sociology eyes closed, and one or two had broken student at the University of Essex, joined fingers." Photo by Shannon a large parade in Paris on May 24. Caught A doctor arrived around 3:30 a.m. He GAS GRENADES. These cannisters were picked up by students after police in a gas attack, he became very sick and advised the police to act in more gentle attack. Left is a tear-gas cannister, center is CN cannister, right rear is CB started back to where he was staying. fashion and ordered the door of the cell cannister, and one in foreground is not identified. Within a few yards of the Sorbonne, he to be kept open and the prisoners to be was cornered by some police and took allowed to go out to get a drink of water. refuge in a friend's apartment. Two hours After 10 minutes, the doctor left and the later, at about 2 am., he started home again. cell door was again closed by the police. Commission of Inquiry into A police officer told him that it was safe At 4 a.m. the prisoners were taken to to continue but he ran into a platoon of CRS the Hospital Beaujon, which is apparently at the next corner. a police training center. Among its facilities "I showed my passport, and said I wanted was a barbed-wire compound about 50 yards to go back to my apartment," the British square. About 600 prisoners were packed brutality of French police student said. "The men seemed disposed into this enclosure. to let me through but then an officer came "I saw one youth in only his underpants, BY MARY-ALICE WATERS causing irritation and watering, coughing up and said he understood I was an Amer­ socks, and half a shirt," Andrew Mack PARIS, June 7- One of the most serious and bronchitis. In large concentrations it ican. I said I was British and was imme­ continued "He was bleeding from the groin undertakings organized by the Paris students is particularly dangerous. If it penetrates diately smashed in the mouth." and from about a dozen other places: his in the last month has been a Commission to the interior of the eye, it can cause blind­ He was taken to police headquarters in body was covered in welts. Members of the of Inquiry studying the exceptional brutality ness. At the J oie de Lire bookstore of Fran­ CRS were standing beside him, pulling out used against the students by the police. cois Maspero, the CRS fired six to ten can­ tufts of his hair. He was about 17. There I talked with two members of the Commis­ nisters of CN into the shop. As a result must have been about 80 foreigners in the sion, one a medical student at the University four or five persons may be totally blinded. pen, a lot of Americans. " of Paris, and the other, Dr. Francis Kahn, Dr. Kahn knew of approximately 20 others To add to the misery of the prisoners, it a well-known Paris physician who traveled who had sufferedsevereeyedamagefromCN. started to rain. to Vietnam last year as part of an investiga­ CB is the most dangerous of the gases used. As people were taken out of the stockade tion team for the International War Crimes It causes vomiting, dizziness, and in heavy throughout the day, they were forced to go Tribunal. They discussed the results of the doses a total inability to function for a period along a corridor lined with CRS. "As people Commission's work so far. of time. It can cause kidney and liver dam­ went through they were rabbit-punched and During the night of May 10-11 in the age, and in high concentrations produces hit with truncheons. It was the most horrific Latin Quarter, and later in street battles a deep coma. Dr. Kahn knew of at least time of all, as by this time they were not in numerous areas of the city, the CRS (a one case where severe brain damage had angry: it was pure sadism. After about an special elite force), employed several types occurred. hour one of the Paris police told them to of chemical grenades as their chief weapon. In some areas about 25 yards square, stop." The first type of chemical grenade was as many as 50 to 75 gas grenade cannisters Photo by H errnes At 5 p.m. the British sociology student standard tear gas. The other two types are were collected after the night of May 10, POSTER AT SORBONNE. Identifies was taken out of the stockade and released popularly known as CN and CB (or CS). and it was weeks before the "gas pockets" French special police (CRS) with Nazi the following morning after being inter­ Both have been widely used in Vietnam. in the Latin Quarter were completely dispersed SS troops. rogated. CN affects primarily the eyes and lungs, by the wind. In addition to the gas grenades, the CRS also used phosphorous, concussion, and frag­ mentation grenades. The Commission of Inquiry has also been attempting to trace missing persons and deter­ ... talk with JCR leader Alain Krivine mine the number of deaths directly attributable to police violence. (Continued from page 7) danger) they might follow the leadership of At first, although the JCR had some sym­ Hundreds were missing after the night of This sympathy is due to the following fact: the nationalist organizations. The bourgeoisie pathy, it was nevertheless looked upon with May 10, many of whom did not return to the militants of the JCR did not lose them­ and petty bourgeoisie, terrified by the revo­ suspicion-we were too organized, too cen­ their home simply out of fear. But on June 6 selves in the Sorbonne. Either working with lutionary potential, marched 500,000 strong tralized, we had too much of a structure and there were still 17 persons known to be the Action Committees, or as JCR militants, at a pro-Gaullist demonstration on the discipline. This aspect of our organization missing. In all these cases, the Commission they went to the factory gates and to the dif­ Champs-Elysees on May 30. Their slogans shocked many people. has been unable to prove any deaths, ferent neighborhoods to discuss politics. Their were fascist in character, like: "Cohn-Bendit We understood the movement from its in­ although they told me they suspect that 10 activities were oriented toward the working to Dachau," etc. ception. We knew that it would not remain or 12 demonstrators have been killed, and class. at its embryonic stage. Little by little, through about five CRS troops. In several suspicious MARY-ALICE WATERS: What has been I think the JCR will come out of this ex­ their own experiences, the students understood cases, they found the medical files of the the international student response to the strug­ perience very much reinforced. The capitalist the necessity of a political leadership, of an person mysteriously "missing." Several gles here in France? press does not delude itself- it frequently organization. Although we integrated our­ deaths have been officially reported as speaks of the JCR, not out of sympathy, but ALAIN KRIVINE: Internationally, the selves completely into the movement, we "traffic accidents." because it represents a genuine political movement snowballed. We worked here played a leading role. We did not play a The one proved death, admitted by the current. month after month to organize demonstra­ sectarian role- that is to say we did not ar­ police, was recorded as a death due to knife wounds. But the information gathered by MARY-ALICE WATERS: You hear quite tion after demonstration in support of the rive with ready-made ideas and solutions, the Commission indicates that the young a bit of talk about the threat of fascism as students' struggles in Germany and Italy. we did not impose our organization; if we man died of shock after a severe beating, the current upsurge subsides. What is your We never thought that our turn would come did, we would have been thrown out. opinion on this? so soon. The movements of solidarity in Little by little, as the movement progressed, and that the knife wounds were inflicted after Germany, in Italy, in Belgium, as well as we were only one step ahead of the students death. ALAIN KRIVINE: The fascist groups were in Rome, where thousands of students instead of 50; and little by little we developed Among the people the Commission is try­ very weak and very ineffectual during this marched under the slogan of "two, three, our tactics, we enlarged our conception of ing to trace is a person released from one crisis. They did not havemorethan 100mem­ many Parises," had a great impact on us; organization, of the revolutionary perspec­ hospital to be transferred to another, but bers in the Latin Quarter, organized in squads, we feel part of a vast movement. I think tive, of dual power. We developed these never arrived. Another case is of a man and under military discipline. Up to now, or this fact will help to reinforce the revolution­ themes at a time when the students felt a need whom eyewitnesses saw the CRS throw even now, I don't think there is a real fascist ary vanguard. for them. against a store window, which broke and cut danger; but there is a real danger of repres­ During the strike we didn't have the time to This makes all the difference between us and the man's neck most of the way through. sion. Although a strong state apparatus pre­ make much contact internationally, but since Daniel Cohn-Bendit. Cohn-Bendit was in ac­ There is no trace of this man. vailed up to now, it did not appear as such, the beginning of the struggles there have tuality the leader at the beginning. He and While the police give a figure of 1, 000 because the working class was not in motion. been numerous delegations from the revolu­ his anarchistic ideas corresponded to the wounded, the Commission estimates at least Now that it has entered the struggle, the strong tionary student organizations in Italy, Ger­ realities of the movement as it was then. But 3, 000 for the period from May 3 to May state will show its true colors. It will try to em­ many, Belgium and England. They want to now the events have bypassed Cohn-Bendit, 25. On the night of May 24, for instance, ploy goons to suppress strikes; already in­ discuss with us, they want to learn from our unless he changes. His political conceptions the police reported 500 wounded in all Paris, dividual militants have been attacked. The experience, they want to aid us financially. regarding the spontaneity of the movement, while there were 500 at the Sorbonne in­ government has set up Committees for Civic Since the Berlin demonstration in February, and regarding certain Marcusian tenets, re­ firmary alone. Action, which are genuine goon squads. all these student organizations have partici­ mained the same, whereas the movement In order to treat the large numbers of The farmers and the petty bourgeoisie were pated in struggles in their own countries and entered a new stage. I think that the non­ wounded, more than 30 medical centers have beginning to follow the workers, but now, are putting up a fight. We will all come out sectarian attitude of the JCR, its integration been established, the most important ofwhich because of the betrayal of the CP, they find of this with a much richer experience. into the movement, and the vanguard role are at the Sorbonne, the School of Medicine, themselves without a leadership, without an The authority of the JCR today stems from it played in subsequent events, are some of and the Curie Foundation. All the supplies alternative offered by the workers' movement. the manner in which it integrated itself into the reasons for the great support it enjoys. have been donated by sympathetic doctors As unemployment rises they will either follow the movement. At its inception the movement We have made mistakes, but we have un­ or other individuals,. and each of the centers de Gaulle or under extreme economic diffi­ had almost an anarchic character, rejecting derstood the dynamics of this mass move­ is directed by a doctor who supervises the culties (without really speaking of a fascist all leadership, all organizational apparatus. ment. That is decisive. work of medical students. Friday, June 21, 1968 THE MILITANT Page 9 DuBois, pacifist documents shed light on SMC fight

BY HARRY RING AND LEW JONES is studiously not mentioned by name even Recent documents by the W. E. B. DuBois once, we assume it is not in this classification. Clubs and the War Resisters League shed The report also sheds light on the real, important light on some of the political think­ and thoroughly bureaucratic, attitude the ing behind the attempt of the Communist DuBois Clubs has toward the independent Party and a group of pacifists to fasten a activists for whom it is presently expressing policy of political exclusion on the Student such pious concern in the SMC. (They voted Mobilization Committee to End the War in for the motion that only "independents" Vietnam. should be permitted on the SMC staff. Unlike The crisis in the student coalition erupted the YSA, which has always insisted on the last month when the Working Committee of right of the DuBois Clubs and Communist the SMC bureaucratically fired two leading Party to participate as a matter of principle, staff members- Kipp Dawson and Syd they don't seem concerned with the issue of Stapleton- because of their membership in the exclusion.) Young Socialist Alliance and refused to call The report explains that what the DBC a national conference as mandated. Since needs is to form "broad coalitions" among then the exclusionary faction has sought to "already existing organizations." And, it impose a "multi-issue" program on the SMC emphasizes such a formation must be struc­ that would deflect it from organizing mass tured "so it is a coalition of representatives opposition to the Vietnam war and would of different organizations, including the shift it politically to the right DBC." (Emphasis in original.) An Organizational Report prepared by the Underlining its real attitude toward inde­ Executive CommitteeoftheNewYorkW. E. B. pendents, the report adds: DuBois Clubs for a June 8 DuBois confer­ "In areas where we are the only or main ence makes clear that this group is out to organization on campus, we should carry either rule the SMC or wreck it. Meanwhile, out the action in our own name." a War Resisters League document reveals In other words, in such a situation, if that at least a sector of the pacifist movement independents want to act, they are offered no believes that Washington is "phasing out" choice but that of joining under the banner, High school students in New York antiwar march April 27. the Vietnam war and that the pacifists must program and control of the DuBois Clubs! begin seeking new areas of activity. And they have the nerve to assert that the This view was also echoed in the May 30 YSA, which was instrumental in drawing so movement) against the government." nouncement that he would not run again, and New York Free Press by Art Goldberg, a many independents into SMC, is "insensitive" But this is not a serious declaration. The the entry of Kennedy and McCarthy, the Pied 33-year-old public relations man who has to the wishes of the independents. very next sentence states: "If [a mighty big Pipers of American capitalism, into the pres­ "if" J draft calls drop, the number of young emerged as a voting member of the Working There is no valid reason why a youth idential race, the radicals in this country are men directly confronted with the draft will in a strange position. While last October we Committee of the student organization and a movement that is genuinely socialist- that also decrease. If the war de-escalates then the were the leadership of the antiwar fight and principal spokesman for the exclusionary is, one based clearly on a revolutionary pressure that drives young men toward direct people in the country who wanted to express faction. Marxist program and not on a "broad" confrontation with the government will lessen. their feelings against the war had to follow Opposition to mass demonstrations against nebulous reformist one- need pay a price It is possible that by the end of the year the our initiatives to be heard, now their frustra­ the Vietnam war is also expressed by a Com­ for supporting a radical antiwar coalition. period of The Resistance will be largely over." tion and their anger has been blunted and munist Party spokesman and others in re­ This is demonstrated by the YSA which has The WRL leaders offer The Resistance the they have found new leaderswhohaveamore cently published SMC position papers. really poured energy into building SMC and "tribute" that their efforts brought McCarthy 'realistic' chance of ending the war. They no Previously, we had noted that the Commu­ its actions (far, far more than the DBC). As into the campaign, which brought Kennedy longer rally on our initiatives." ( Kalb must nist Party and DuBois Clubs had always a result of its efforts, the YSA is not declining, in, which forced Johnson out-"a lesson of think it was McCarthy who brought out the been reluctant members of the coalition that but is enjoying its most significant period the power of civil disobedience." It does add million student strikers!- H. R. and L. J.) formed the basis for SMC and that they con­ of growth in influence and membership. a chaste reminder on the need to "be wary "The radicals," she continues, "many who sidered participation in it as contrary to their If the DBC is losing ground as a result of of letting our full energies be 'co-opted' into became so through the antiwar movement, sectarian political interests. This is confirmed participating in such coalitions as SMC, its that process." (Emphasis added.) now stand on the outskirts watching this by the DuBois Clubs Organizational Report. members should examine what this may Two conclusions flow from the estimate that movement. Clearly then, a mass mobiliza­ The report attempts to cope with "unbe­ suggest is wrong with DBC politically, not the war is ending, state the WRL leaders. tion is not next on the agenda." lievable and deep-seated weaknessess" in the join in trying to purge and scrap the SMC. "First, many of the ad hoc committees that DuBois Clubs. Nor can it be argued that the DBC suffered Those with a knowledge of the actual po­ were formed to protest this war will vanish." litical line of the CP will understand what "There are three basic reasons," the report setbacks because it subordinated its program The second result of an end to the war, we she's driving at states, "why even in this period of expanding to that of SMC. In those committees it dom­ DBC activity and influence we still lead a inated it imposed its own particular program are advised, is that pacifist groups "will be­ It comes down to this: The bulk of the anti­ come more, not Jess, important." very precarious existence." in a thoroughly sectarian way. war activists, the CP contends, are now in Like the DuBois Clubs, the pacifists have the camp of the capitalist politicians who One of these reasons is, "Lack of a well­ This is testified to by the situation at Hunter profess to oppose the war. They no longer rounded program- including educational, College, where, the report states, the DBC found the growth of a mass antiwar move­ follow the antiwar movement. What to do? social and cultural activities as well as action­ organized and led the strike committee and ment very unprofitable. "In the past two or three years," the anal­ Educate them? No. Join them. In fact help oriented programs." where after the strike the DBC disappeared. them get there. Another is, "Anarchistic structure, lack of "Not seeing any difference between our or­ ysis states, "the antiwar movement has be­ come so large that the pacifist movement has That's the whole meaning of the CP's per­ leadership and lack of clearly defined lines ganization and the Strike Committee," the become almost peripheral to it. Where the sistent promoting of the ruinous "lesser evil" of responsibility." report says, "they [the members] decided to line. That's the meaning of its dictum on the The reason listed as number one, however, end their membership in the DBC." WRL was once the group which organized is: peace demonstrations in New York City . . . need for "progressives" to work "inside and "Overinvolvement with coalitions, especial­ WAR IS OVER? the organization of mass demonstrations has outside" the Democratic Party. That's why ly the 'peace coalition.'" Meanwhile, some people in the pacifist passed into the hands of a broad coalition you'll find CPers sporting McCarthy buttons Under this section, the report cites the ex­ movement are explaining why they think the of forces of which the WRL is only one and ringing doorbells for him. perience of the Queens College DuBois Club Vietnam war is coming to an end and why element." The CP, in short, opposes mass mobiliza­ chapter, which, it said, sharply declined as they won't have to continue suffering the Like the frog who preferred the small pond, tions for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. a result of, among other things, participating penalty of being part of a broad coalition. the analysis adds: "Now, however, as the troops from Vietnam because it cuts across in too many coalitions. A four-page printed brochure published peace movement diminishes in size, the role the formation of "broader coalitions," par­ of the pacifists in that movement increases STUDENT STRIKE June 1968 by the War Resisters League ticularly with forces like those led by It continues with a discussion of the DuBois offers an analysis of the present situation. in importance." McCarthy, since the good senator is quite role in the April 26 student strike organized An introduction explains: While not all of them would necessarily strongly opposed to the demand for imme­ by the Student Mobilization Committee. "This analysis is not an official statement voice agreement with the "war-is-over" theme, diate withdrawal of U.S. troops from "We should be more aware of the fact," of the War Resisters League but is offered leaders of the exclusionary bloc in SMC echo Vietnam. the report states, "that the approach which by the staff and officers of the WRL as a the conclusions derived from it. In the present situation-that is, under the killed the Q. C. DBC (Queens College DuBois position paper which may be helpful to WRL "SM C 's relevance in the future can no longer pressure of the elections and the Johnson Club) has also had a detrimental effect on members." be measured by mass actions alone," declares negotiations- all those of a reformist and most of the other DBC's in the New York The fact that the statement is by the staff SMC executive secretary Linda Morse in her opportunist bent find themselves veering area. Few DuBois Clubs maintained an in­ and officers of the organization does, we position paper. rather sharply to the right dependent organizational identity within the presume, give it some status. We will quote Coordinator Leslie Cagan, also an exclu­ This was quite evident in the May 30 New strike coalition. While we generally gave ex­ some of its significant parts. sionist, advises in her position paper that York Free Press article on the SMC fight by cellent leadership to these committees. . . . "It is unlikely that Washington and Hanoi, despite the growth and development of the Art Goldberg. This adult adviser began that we nevertheless did not reap the organiza­ having finally sat down together, will break student movement, "we have come to see the article with the assertion: tional growth which usually accompanies off negotiations and engage in a new escala­ growing irrelevance of the SMC to students "Now that the fervor of the antiwar move­ such intense activity." tion of the war. In our view the U. S. is phas­ across the country." ment has been undercut by Lyndon Johnson's Explaining further why, as far as it is ing out the war. Despite the fact that Johnson Why? Because, "we have, in fact, devoted withdrawal from presidential contention, and concerned, the massive April 26 strike was has said on many occasions that he would our time, money and energies into building the start of somewhat tenuous negotiations a setback, not a victory, the report adds: never, under any circumstances, 'abandon' mass mobilizations." (Emphasis in original.) in Paris ... " "During the time of the Student Strike we the government of South Vietnam, it seems "For a while," she concedes, "the massive And further, " ... with the start of negoti­ practically ceased all independent DBC ac­ clear that he is preparing to do precisely parades and rallies served a very real func­ ations, and a generational disagreement on tivity (as a matter of fact, only one college that." tion ... " But now, "students have moved civil disobedience and militancy versus picket­ club has even met since the strike- this is Aside from simply asserting this, the anal­ from a mobilizing mentality to a student ing and symbolic parades [read mass dem­ an indication of the seriousness of the crisis ysis does not even attempt to offer evidence mentality." onstrations, which Brother Goldberg hastily we are in)." to bolster this incredible thesis. Their thesis She doesn't explain, in light of all this, why assures us he's not against], signs of stress Of course, the reader is assured, "We are flies in the face of the actual U. S. moves of a million students responded to the SMC's are beginning to appear." not saying that we should not get involved military escalation- moves that make clear April 26 strike call. Or why, for example, the A bit less agile than his CP allies in expres­ in coalitions." that for Washington the negotiations are in­ student contingent was the biggest one by far sing the bloc's right-wing orientation, it was "But," it continues, "we have to be more tended only to gull the American people and, in the massive April 27 antiwar parade in Goldberg who blurted out that he saw a great critical of which coalitions we enter and how hopefully, to one day formalize at the bar­ New York. future for SMC if it "reaches out to students many we enter at a given time." Nowhere gaining table what it intends to extract from Phyllis Kalb, from the Communist Party, whom SDS cannot, because of its extreme is it indicated that the needs of the Vietnamese the flesh of the Vietnamese people by ever­ does blurt out a bit of the political consider­ radicalism, reach." people might be a factor in determining which increased military might. ation driving the CP to oppose a single­ It's the attempt to put over that kind of a coalitions to enter. That's apparently The WRL analysis does acknowledge that issue antiwar coalition. reformist line that is behind the campaign to secondary. even while "phasing out" the war, the U.S. "Things have changed very quickly in this drive the young revolutionaries of the YSA The DBC should enter, the report explains, is still killing Vietnamese and that "pressure country," her position paper states. "Between out of the Student Mobilization Committee coalitions which have "breadth." Since SMC must continue to be exerted (by the antiwar the negotiations in Paris, Johnson's an- and to bureaucratically change its character. Page 10 THE MILITANT Friday, June 21, 1968 UAW, USW sign aluminum Moscow, Peking, Havana: pact; AWIU calls strike v1ews• on France conflict BY GEORGE NOVACK great impact of China's great proletarian According to the June 2 issue of Business Each of the main political forces in world cultural revolution" guided by Mao's Week, the National Mediation and Concilia­ communism, Moscow and its followers, the thought It reported that "some students put tion Service announced that contract rejec­ Maoists, and the Cubans, have taken attitudes up Chairman Mao's portraits in the campus tions by the rank and file have dropped from toward the French events characteristic of of the university of Paris." a high of 19.3 percent in June 1966 to 11.6 their general strategic orientations. This is so. However, it did not report, percent in the first eight months of 1968. The Soviet spokesmen have shared the vin­ as did the June 9 Intercontinental Press, However, these statisticians may have to dictive hostility toward the student revolt that at the end of the first day of the stu­ revise their figures very shortly. union, so the Cleveland local used their exhibited by the French CP. They first tried dent demonstrations strong protests forced Although the United Steel Workers and rights to express their dissatisfaction. How to dismiss the youth coalition that was to the pro-Chinese students to take down the the United Auto Workers announced onJune the vote went in other locals has not been the left of the CP as insignificant "grouplets," picture of Stalin they had put up. 3 that they had arrived at acceptable contracts reported. composed of a handful of anarchists, adven­ Despite the militancy shown by the Maoist with the Big Five in the aluminum industry, According to the daily press, the UAW­ turists and provocateurs, who were taking youth in France, the masthead of the May the Aluminum Workers International Union, USW aluminum contract provides straight advantage of the "political immaturity" and 31 issue of the pro-Peking French paper, representing approximately 14,000 workers, wage increases of 20 cents per hour for the lack of discipline in the student milieu. La Course du Peuple, proudly proclaimed rejected essentially the same terms and called first year, 12 cents the second and 13 cents At no point has the Soviet press acknow­ itself as the "journal of the Popular strikes in 12 plants of the Alcoa and Reynolds the third, with 1 cent per hour in pay dif­ ledged the crucial catalytic role of the student Front"-echoing the political line of the CP. operations. ferentials between job classifications. Another movement in touching off the French tinder­ As for the Cubans, the May 24 Bohemia Cleveland UAW Local 1050 also rejected 2. 7 cents is spread for upgrading about 45 box. carried an article on the worldwide student the pact and continued a strike it had called percent of the jobs to higher classifications. When the student actions could no longer movements which implicitly approved the on May 31 when the old contract expired. A new feature in the contract is a $30 per be ridiculed or ignored, Pravda concentrated student dissidence in Poland and Czecho­ The USW rank and file do not have the week vacation bonus for each weekofregular fire on Daniel Cohn-Bendit It depicted him slovakia and featured the revolt of the French power to vote on their contract That is vacation time. Unemployment supplemental as "the West German" who had become youth. It quoted extensively from dispatches the prerogative of a council composed of benefits (SUB) were increased, as were pen­ "the newly cooked-up leader of the 'mad­ by the Agence France-Presse correspondent all local union presidents-who hurriedly sion benefits. One new holiday was added men' group of Parisian students." Its May Roger Geraud, who wrote that "the students ratified the pact UAW members still main­ and improvements were made in life and 24 issue slandered Cohn-Bendit as a pro­ hope to apply in France the teachings of tain at least that much democracy in their surgical insurance, major medical coverage vocateur. On May 28 it approvingly re­ the Cuban revolution" as well as those of and shift differentials. Industry claims the ported the French Stalinists' reasons for re­ the Latin American guerrillas whose main whole package costs 97 cents per hour per fusing to support the protest demonstrations ideologist is Che Guevara. Bohemia implied employee. against de Gaulle's moves to exclude Cohn­ that the Latin Quarter has become a sort actors say no to pact Bendit from France. of "foco" for the student guerrilla fighters. Scarcely had the ink dried on the USW Pravda inveighed against three horrors Geraud remarks that the sharp attacks and UAW contract than most of the that were raising their heads in France: against Cohn-Bendit by l'Humanite, which BOSTON aluminum industry announced stiff price in­ Trotskyism, anarchism and Maoism. On accused him of "adventurism" for leading FRANCE-WHAT NEXl? Speaker. Patrick Kelly. Fri., creases on ingot and sheet aluminum. May 30 it added a fourth in a blast by the students to occupy the Odeon Theater, June 21, 8:15 p.m. 295 Huntington Ave., Room 307 The second incident relating to contract Yuri Zhukov entitled "Werewolves-on the "recalls those used by the Venezuelan CP (one block from Moss. Ave.). Ausp. Militant Labor Forum. rejections occurred in New York City, when False Prophet Marcuse and His Noisy Dis­ against Fidel Castro." • Actors Equity members angrily turned down ciples." This epithet can take its place CHICAGO a proposed new contract with the League beside the "monsters and demons" that the FRANCE-COULD IT HAPPEN HERE? Speaker, Dan of New York Theaters. The union leader­ Maoists see on all sides in China. Lukacs: Put Trotsky Styron, SWP candidate for U.S. Senate. Fri., June 21, ship had recommended the ratification of the The same line is echoed in Communist 8 p.m. 302 S. Canal St. Ausp. Militant Labor Forum. pact circles in Warsaw, Rome and New York. Under the rejected agreement, wage Writing in the weekly Rinascita, theoretical back in history books DETROIT• minimums would have gone up from a low organ of the Italian CP, on June 6, Giorgio SOCIALIST SUMMER SCHOOL Saturdays 11:30 a.m. of $130 to $145, and to $165 over three Amendola declared that "the idea of a re­ Under the rule of the Stalinist bureau­ & 4 p.m. June 22, Permanent Revolution; July 13, The years. The actors had demanded an increase volution initiated by students on the barri­ crats, any favorable reference to Leon Trot­ Workers' States; July 28, Cuban Revolution; Aug. 10, to $200 a week, higher pay for out-of-town cades, and which would supposedly develop sky and his role in the Russian revolution Fascism; Aug. 24, Black Nationalism. 3737 Woodward. work, increased rates for· rehearsals, etc. into a frontal encounter, revives old nine­ has been tabooed in the Soviet bloc. Now For more information call 831-6135. The union granted the industry a one­ teenth-century images." two of the most prestigious Communist writ­ • week extension of the old contract during In an article on the French events in Kultur, ers of East Europe have openly and bluntly LOS ANGELES reopened negotiations. the official Polish Communist monthly literary protested his conversion into an "unperson." FRANCE ON THE BRINK OF REVOWTION. Speaker, One spokesman for the actors said it was magazine, entitled "What Will Come Out of One is the celebrated Marxist philosopher Theodore Edwards, S. Calif. chairman SWP. Fri., June his opinion that, unless the owners capi­ the Chaos?'', Jacek Fuksiewicz not only as­ Georg Lukacs of Hungary; the other is Jan 21, 8:30p.m. (rescheduled from June 7). 1702 E. 4th tulated on basic issues, a strike was ine­ sailed the embattled students but poisonously Prochazka, recently restored deputy chair­ St. Contrib. $1. Ausp. Militant Labor Forum. vitable in view of the "strong disapproval" suggested that the CIA, Zionist rightists and man of the Czech Writers Union and one • of the League's proposed terms, voiced by a number of foreigners had a hand in insti­ of the most militant spokesmen for the lib­ NEW YORK the Equity membership on June 7. gating their actions. Gomulka's regime has eralization movement in that country. A DEBATE- What's Behind the Crisis in the Student been well-disposed toward de Gaulle. In an interview published in the April Mobilization Committee. Speakers, lew Jones, not'l black workers' Just as the Maoist-inspired students have issue of Kortars, Lukacs wrote: "What will chairman, YSA, linda Morse, exec. sec'y, SMC. Fri., conditions worsening been participating militantly though erra­ a man of the West say of a party history June 21, 8 p.m. 873 Bdw'y. Contrib. $1. Ausp. Militant The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a tically in the French struggle, so Peking in which 1917 is discussed without men­ Labor Forum. new set of unemployment figures along with has aligned itself with the French strikers tioning the name of Trotsky and his functions • its regular April report and students. Massive demonstrations in soli­ at that time? This is an impossibility. I am SAN FRANCISCO For the nation as a whole, unemployment darity with them have taken place in China. really far from sympathizing with Trotsky. THE CONVERGENCE OF WORLD REVOWTION-A dropped to 3.5 percent, equaling the rate The June 11 Hsinhua castigated the re­ But to deny that Trotsky played a great Panel of socialist candidates discuss Cuba, France, for January 1968, and is a post-Korean visionist French CP for helping the govern­ role in the events of 1917 would mean that Vietnam, Eastern Europe, Black Power and Student War low. ment "sabotage and disrupt the fighting so­ henceforth anything we say would not be Struggle. Fri. June 21, 8 p.m. 2338 Market St. Contrib. But in poverty neighborhoods the jobless lidarity of workers and students." It also given credence in history." $1 (students, unemployed SOc). Ausp. Militant Labor rate was more than double the national denounced the CP-dominated CGT fora state­ Earlier this year Prochazka published a Forum. figure. ment on June 7 warning strikers at the magazine article in which he asked Vaclav Black worker jobless rates were higher Renault auto plant in Flins against playing David, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Young Socialist class-lessons of France. Sundays, than white worker rates, both in ghetto areas into the hands of student provocateurs. Paris why Trotsky's assassin had been given a 8 p.m. beginning June 23. 2338 Market St. and in other neighborhoods- 8. 7 to 5. 7, students had rushed to Flins to fight side Czech passport and a plane ticket to Prague • and 6.5 compared with 3.1 by side with the workers against the police. by the Czech embassy in Mexico eight years SEATTLE Teenage employment, it was noted, "faired May 24 Hsinhua stated with a straight ago. The agent of Stalin, known as Jacques REFORMS IN EASTERN EUROPE- FORWARD TO SO­ poorly" in poverty neighborhoods where face that "the vigorous upsurge of the pro­ Mornard, entered Czechoslovakia in 1960 CIALIST DEMOCRACY OR BACK TO CAPITALISM? 20 percent of them were unemployed com­ gressive student movement in West Europe following his release from a Mexican prison Speaker, Will Reissner, Not'l Comm. member, YSA. pared with 11 percent in other urban neigh­ and North America is inseparable from the after serving the maximum 20-year sentence. Fri., June 21, 8 p.m. 5257 University Ave. Ausp. borhoods. -MARVEL SCHOLL (His present whereabouts and activities are Militant Labor Forum. unknown.) Prochazka declared that this official step ·------clip and mail ------compromised the good name of Czechoslo­ vakia. These two public statements in behalf of Trotsky by such prominent intellectuals in­ Special to New Readers dicate the extent of the anti-Stalinism surging through East Europe today.

If you would like to get better acquainted with THE MILITANT, you may obtain a special, introductory four-month subscription for $J. (If Our special you're already sold on the paper, you can help out by sending a reg­ ular one-year subscription for $3.) 12-page issues

For the past several weeks, and includ­ 0 Enclosed is $1 for a 4 month introductory subscription. ing this one, we have been publishing 0 Enclosed is $3 for a 1 year regular subscription. special 12-page issues instead of our normal eight pages. This has been done to give greater space to our coverage of NAME . the momentous events in France. Although it is an added financial bur­ STREET. den, we plan to publish several more 12-page issues during the present devel­ opments. (Any contributions to help de­ CITY . STATE ...... ZIP fray this added cost will, of course, be appreciated.) Send to: The Militant, 873 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003 Friday, June 21, 1968 THE MILITANT Page 11 French students march in reply to de Gaulle

BY MARY-ALICE WATERS JUNE 3- Responding to the call of the words since the start of the struggle a month UNEF (Union Nationale des Etudiants de ago. France- National Union of Students of At the head of the demonstration marched France), 20,000 to 30,000 students marched Jacques Sauvageot, vice president of UNEF, through the streets of the Latin Quarter in Daniel Cohn-Bendit, and Alain Krivine of the Paris on the afternoon of June 1. JCR (Jeunesse Communiste Revolution­ After the speech of Gen. de Gaulle on May naire- Revolutionary Communist Youth). 30, and the subsequent Gaullist demonstra­ Sauvageot and Krivine addressed the rally tion of some 400,000 on the Champs-Elysees at the end of the march. (the Fifth Avenue of Paris), the students waited for the mass trade unions to taketheinitiative After the rally several thousand demonstra­ in continuing the struggle. tors crowded into the courtyard of the School But the response of the CGT (Confederation of Science to listen to half a dozen spokesmen Generale du Travail-General Federation of from different political groups call for and Labor) and the Communist Party was to as­ discuss the formation of a committee to co­ sure de Gaulle that they were willing to take ordinate the actions of the various revolution­ the struggle off the streets, out of the factories, ary-minded tendencies in France today. out of the universities, and, as they expressed Speaking were members of the JCR, the it, accept the electoral challenge. The inten­ French Section of the Fourth International, STUDENTS MARCH. View of French student march on June 1 in reply tion and the effect of the CP line is to demo­ Voix Ouvriere ("Workers Voice"), and the to speech by de Gaulle challenging French workers, farmers and students. bilize the millions of workers whose struggle Revolutionary Marxist Group, in addition to in recent weeks has reached such heights that J. P. Vigier, the well-known French physicist one frequently hears the comment, "Not since and leader of the National Vietnam Commit­ the Commune of 1871 has Paris seen such tee, and J. Coin, former editor of France French Trotslcyist youth a mobilization of the working masses." Nouvelle, the weekly theoretical organ of the By Friday, May 31, it became clear that Communist Party. neither the CGT, nor the Communist Party, The size and composition of the student nor the FGDS (Federation de la Gauche demonstration unquestionably represented Democrate et Socialiste- Federation of the answer a downturn from the previous demonstration U.S. 'The Worker' Democratic and Socialist Left) headed by called by UNEF on Monday, May 27. At (The June 2 issue of The Worker, organ of tradition, this was obviously our responsi­ Francois Mitterrand, nor any other organi­ the earlier demonstration, also denounced by the Communist Party, USA, carried an article bility. With every reference to the establish­ zation with mass working class support, the CGT as divisive and possibly dangerous, would call millions of workers into the streets which continued the paper's attack on the rev­ ment of a socialist society, the atmosphere tens of thousands of workers rejected the ad­ in an immediate and decisive reply to de vice of the CGT and swelled the ranks of the olutionary youth in France. Among other of the meeting became very militant, almost Gaulle's suspension of even the forms of par­ demonstration to nearly 150,000. On May things, the article said: "It is considered electric. The CP, in accordance with its Stalin­ liamentary democracy and open threat of 27, as they marched bytheofficesofl'Human­ significant that Mendes-France is acclaimed ist tradition, rejects such a perspective and military dictatorship. In the absence of such ite, the newspaper of the French Communist by students, particularly those organized in found this meeting very embarrassing. But a response, the student movement called a Party, the demonstrators addressed them­ or sympathetic to the Jeunesse Communiste they were not alone. In such a situation, demonstration Saturday afternoon. The CGT selves to Georges Seguy, the secretary general Revolutionnaire, a Trotskyist formation. Mendes-France, with his capitalist perspec­ instructed its supporters to stay away. of the CGT and a leader of the Communist ("United States and British establishment tive, decided not to risk being hissed off the "THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES" Party, with shouts of "Seguy- Resign," and media focus attention on Mendes-France, stage by the masses present at Charlety. He For two hours the students marched to loud "Seguy- Betrayer." whose lack of a mass base makes him par­ decided not to take the floor. The French and spirited chantsof"lt'sonlyabeginning­ ticularly amenable to pressure from monop­ CP, which opposes Mendes-France (not be­ the struggle continues," "We will fight till the On June 1 only a small number of workers fmal victory," "Workers-students- soli­ joined the demonstration. But, at the same oly, and the Trotskyist-led student demonstra­ cause he is a capitalist politician, but because darity," "Elections equal betrayal," "The time, despite the loud proclamations of the tions. The latter are credited with being the they support his capitalist rival, Mitterrand), power is in the streets," and "The working French radio and many newspapers, the true revolutionary forces in France, whereas decided to try to utilize this situation to fab­ class to power." strikers were holding fast on their economic trade unions, particularly those led or influ­ ricate, in the minds of their followers, an The chants were intermixed with frequent demands and their refusal to return to work enced by Communists, are pictured as con­ amalgam between the revolutionary organi­ verses and choruses of the "Internationale," without an economic victory. servative, reactionary and even part of the zations dominating this meeting and Mendes­ the strength of which indicated that thousands Clearly, the current crisis for French cap­ French establishment. France, thus smearing the revolutionary of students have become familiar with the italism is not yet over. ("The French Communists see this as an youth. attempt to split the unity of the workers." But why does the paper of the American (The following answer to The Worker was CP print such obvious slanders? Probably to written by Gerard Verbizier, editor of Avant­ attempt to undercut the campaign of solidarity ····••··.•···... ·.·····.·.·M···.·.· •.· ...•. ·.· ....· ..... ··.· ..•. ·.· ....·· .. ···.·.·.··.. ·· ...·.··.· ..·· .. ·.·•.·.·.·•. ·.·.. ·.·•·.·•.·.·..·····.;:.··.·.· ...... ·.. · .. ··••.· ...... ·.· .. ·... ·· .... Garde Jeunesse, magazine of the Jeunesse that our sister organization in the United

•·.·r•··•····· .. · .. ··.·.· ·.· ··... e.···.. ·······.·.·· ...... ·.·.. :(m•· ...:·.·.······.······ Communiste Revolutionnaire, JCR.) States, the YSA, is carrying out. ;, ·': c :; ''' ',,:' <" .. '::0 '.. ' .::··>·,,,_::',: ', ,:-·,':w,:>' ,·,:·: _'' '; :·.:'.. ,·.· ',,.;;: •> ;.>>'',,~';: .. ·.·· .. .. ·.·.·t ....· .•....·.· ...... •.· ...... ·.. ··•····•·•·•.· ...•.... ·.. oo ...•...••... ·.. ·.·.····.··.·.·.···.··········.·.·.·.•.··.··········.····.·.··· ..•.·.· ..··.·.·.•.•.·.•·.·.· ct •.• ·.··•···.··.··.·.•··.·•.·· ..•... ..· ..· ..· .. ·.•.•·•.·.·... ·.·.• e.ty-... ·.··.·.·.···•.· .. ·····.·.·············.·.·.:.·..•·· .. ·.····.·.·.•.·.·.·.·.•.···•.·.·•.···.• ..· .. .•... · But, in so doing, The Worker in reality i' ',·.·.·.~' ,-'_,";',,.,-_., J·;._--:<. ,, :,,•>·, •!',;"L ,' < ..:''.·;·:. '·' admits that the meeting at Charlety was po­ PARIS, June 8- In its June 2 issue, The litically to the left of the CP, and that it created A HELPING HAND-Of New York's THEY'RE TOO DAMN LOGICAL­ Worker published an article on France which a real danger for them. The Worker, as well many outstanding social services, no doubt " I don't think kids now are worse than slanders our organization, the JCR. They as the French CP, recognizes that the JCR the leader is its Youth Counsel Bureau. This they used to be. They have better educa­ write that Mendes-France, a representative of was one of the principal revolutionary forces kindly agency intervenes on behalf of youth tion now, but there are many without op­ the capitalist class who hopes to replace de involved in this meeting- despite the fact that facing criminal prosecution. Where possible portunities. This is where the trouble starts. Gaulle, is acclaimed by the students and es­ it arranges to have the charges dropped and They wind up blaming the system, then the JCR is still small in numbers in compar­ pecially by those who are members or sym­ places the youth in a job. Cooperating with they try to change the system."- Senator ison to the French CP. pathizers of the JCR. agencies of equal social concern, the bureau George Aiken of Vermont. It is just one more slander against the Their barefaced lie actually refers to a mass has been very successful. Last year alone French revolutionary movement of May meeting of more than 50,000 people held at it placed 3,000 young men, 70 percent of 1968, from which the American CP is cer­ Charlety, a huge sports stadium in Paris, on its caseload, with a single employer- the RAVAGES OF REVOLUTION-"The tainly far removed politically-it has a dif­ May 27. This mass meeting followed adem­ U. S. armed forces. French Revolution of 1968 has not exactly ferent line. Didn't the CPUSA support John­ onstration of more than 100,000 that had forced New York gourmets to tighten their son in the 1964 presidential elections? And been condemned by the Communist Party. FOR MORE LABOR-An Opposition belts, but it has obliged them to muddle in the revolutionary struggles in Latin Amer­ For a long time the French CP has been Labor member of the Australian parliament through without some of their favorite deli­ ica they stand with the right-wing Communist wooing Francois Mitterrand, head of the demanded the government protect baby car­ cacies. Brie cheese, turbot and fraises de Party leaderships opposed to the Cubans. bois are some of the specialties usually re­ FGDS (Federation de la Gauche Democrate riage manufacturers from the effects of birth To the mediocre, paper-shuffling bureau­ control pills. He said a manufacturer in his ceived two and three times a week by New et Socialiste- Federation of the Democratic crats of The Worker, we say: We do not constituency had advised him that carriage York luxury restaurants. The general strike and Socialist Left). In fact, some of the pres­ recognize you as qualified judges of our rev­ sales had been "gravely affected" by the that has paralyzed industry as well as ship­ ent leaders of the JCR were expelled from the olutionary activities. We do not recognize pill. Maybe they could do something like ping and postal service in France has cut Communist Party and from the Communist you as the true Communist Party of America. make half the pills ineffective. off New York restaurateurs from their source student organization for refusing to support You are miserable agents of the counter­ of supply."- The New York Times. Mitterrand, a procapitalist candidate, in the revolution cast in the same mold as your THAT BERKELEY IMAGE-Student 1965 elections. Recently Mitterrand has been French counterparts, who have exposed them­ dissenters at the University of California considerably discredited, and the bourgeoisie, WRONG TRACK-Manuel Cohn, chair­ selves so clearly in these past weeks. in Berkeley are giving the place a "distorted aside from the Freemasons, no longer give man of the Securities and Exchange Com­ Our confidence and our solidarity go en­ image," according to Vice Chancellor William him much support. mission, takes a dim view of the advertising tirely to the Socialist Workers Party and the Boyd. He says a good third of the students In this situation, Men des-France, pushed to attend because they aim to be "well off fi­ used by some security companies. Some ads Young Socialist Alliance, the true inheritors the fore by the CFDT (Confederation Fran­ nancially" and that such students "regard for securities, he said, "are not unlike com­ of the tradition of Lenin and Trotsky. The caise Democratique du Travail- French the university highly because they find it ments found in a horse racing tout sheet." CP remains only the sad inheritor of the Democratic Federation of Labor) and the PS U highly efficient for their purposes." Which But this would suggest that security inves­ unspeakable Stalin. (Parti Socialiste Unifie- United Socialist certainly couldn't be precisely what's bug­ tors, who rank among ourmostsolidcitizens, ging the other two-thirds. can be approached as though they were Party), as well as by other pseudorevolution­ common gamblers. ary formations, appeared as a possible can­ A Young Socialist Class LEFT IN A HUFFMOBILE-Austra­ didate to replace de Gaulle. The massive lian Prime Minister Gordon had to face an demonstration of May 27 in Paris was sup­ on Australian newsman at a Saigon press confer­ NERVOUS TENSION- The following ported by neither the CP nor the CGT ( Confed­ ence who had the temerity to suggest that correction appeared in the June 6 New York eration Generale du Travail- General Fed­ • Australian troops in Vietnam didn't seem Times: "As a result of a typographical error, eration of Labor- the CP-dominated trade Revolution In to be doing well and even questioned the a headline in some copies of the first edition unions). The PSU and the CFDT hoped to quality of their military equipment. "I would of the New York Times Sunday said that utilize the demonstration to publicize Men des­ france like to make it perfectly clear," declared the a flow of 'terrorists' into France was resuming France. However, it did not work out that PM, "that the progress and capacity of the as tension eased. The headline was subse­ way. Australian military forces will not be ques­ quently corrected to say that it was a flow When the meeting at Charlety began, the Friday nig~ts, 6:30 tioned in my presence." He thereupon termi­ of tourists into France that was resuming. JCR militants took the floor, explaining the 873 Broadway near 18th St. nated the news conference, departing in a The Times regrets the error." perspectives of the socialist revolution in New York, N.Y. 10003 huff. -HARRY RING France. As the inheritors of the Bolshevik Page 12 THE MILITANT Friday, June 21, 1968 ••• FRENCH LEFTISTS OUTLAWED Resist attacks (Continued from page 1) ther advances of the socialist revolution and split them from the ranks of labor. exhaust the energies of the workers, and, a~ on Blacks in Through this "divide and rule" tactic the the propitious moment, proceed to behead JCR: 'Struggle reactionaries hope to gain time, demoralize and smash their offensive. the worker militants, and restabilize the The intentions of the reactionaries are one continues!' shaken supremacy of capitalism. They hope thing; their realization is another. The colos­ Louisville (Following are excerpts from a June to get away with all this with tacit compliance sal mobilization of the masses cannot be so 12 statement by Alain Krivine, secretary (FROM THE SOUTHERN CONFERENCE from the CP. easily demobilized or defeated. Although the of the Revolutionary Communist Youth, EDUCATIONAL FUND) majority of strikers have returned to work The government repressions are all the more which The Militant received via telephone LOUISVILLE, KY.- City officials are ominous in view of the coalition with the far important sectors are holding out. Somehav~ from Paris.) using the recent uprisings in this city as an right which de Gaulle is hastily cementing to engaged in bloody battles with the police who excuse for victimizing black militants. How­ tried to evict them from the plants. do battle against the workers and students. What "combat groups" are provoking ever, action is being taken by both black and The auto workers at Renault and Peugeot In his first television campaign speech on armed demonstrations in the streets? white activists to beat this effort. Already have been in the forefront of the struggle. June 12 Premier Pompidou appealed for There are such groups-the CRS (Com­ the city has been forced to cut bail bonds The principal unions, including the CGT, "reconciliation," with a special welcome for pagnie& Republicaines de Securite­ for three black leaders, from $175,000 to were compelled to call an hour-long general the ultra-right conspirators who had opposed special police forces), theGuardes Mobile, $25,000. strike on June 12 to protest the deaths by de Gaulle's Algerian policy. to say nothing of their "private" counter­ The three were accused of plotting to dy­ shooting of two strikers who had fought the Many of the military men who plotted the parts, the AC (Civic Action) and the JDR namite oil refineries and gasoline-storage cops at the Peugeot plant at Souchaux. attempted coup against de Gaulle in April (Committee for the Defense of the tanks in the West End, where most of Louis­ The Socialist Workers Party and Young 1961 are being permitted to return to France Republic) ... ville's 100,000 black people live. Socialist Alliance express solidarity with all or are released from prison. After secret con­ If the French Communist Party and Those charged were James Cortez, Wash­ the victims of repression and especially with sultations with the generals commanding the General Federation of Labor do not de­ inton,. D. C., a volunteer worker for SNCC our comrades in the PCI and JCR who have French forces in West Germany, the President fend these first organizations to be vic­ and Sam Hawkins and Robert Sims Kuyu: been conducting an uncompromising struggle amnestied the neo-fascist Georges Bidault, the timized by the repression, who will stand officers of the Black Unity League of Ken­ against Gaullism and for socialism. former premier who has been living in exile. up to the next moveoftheGaullistgovem­ tucky. Kuyu and Hawkins also work for We add our voices to the spokesmen of At a June 9 press conference after his re­ ment? Will the ballot safeguard all work­ Vista. those French political, labor and student turn to France, Bidault was ostentatiously ers' organizations tomorrow? All orga­ Cortez, Kuyu, Hawkins and Charles X organizations which immediately denounced guarded by a large squad of ex-members of nizations that stand for democratic rights of the Muslims spoke at a street-corner rally these violations of the most elementary dem­ the OAS, the paramilitary conspirators who and civil liberties? on May 27, the day the uprising began. ocratic rights of free speech and organization. sought to impose a military dictatorship on The choice is not between de Gaulle The rally was called to protest the rein­ The dissolution of so many political and the country just before de Gaulle took power and Mitterrand, but between the bour­ statement of Patrolman Michael Clifford, who student groups in a national pre-election in 1958. geois elections and a socialist revolution. had been dismissed earlier from the police period demonstrates what a mockery In addition to the mobilization of all avail­ The power of the workers is in the streets, force for punching a black man in the face. de Gaulle's electoral machinations really are. able military and police forces, extralegal not in the ballot box. The government The Police Department fired Clifford, but The SWP and YSA appeal to all student, armed Gaullist groups under the misnomer of understands this perfectly. . . • the Civil Service Commission ordered him political and other democratic-minded groups "Committees for the Defense of the Republic" Today, for having objected to the back to work. Mayor Kenneth Schmied had and individuals in this country concerned with are springing up under semi-official protec­ Gaullist armed bands in the streets, for the power to reject the commission's action, civil liberties to make known their opposition tion. They are being readied for use against having participated in the general strike, but he delayed. to these punitive measures and rally to the insurgent workers, students and peasants. for having supported the strike which About 500 people were peacefully leaving defense of all the persecuted organizations These developments expose both the fraud is still continuing, the JCR has been the May 27 rally when three police cars and any of their members who may suffer and the folly of relying upon the pending dissolved by the government. roared into the intersection with red lights prosecution. elections to settle the life and death issues But the revolutionary movement can­ flashing. A bottle hit the windshield of one Cable protests to Premier Pompidou in posed by the present revolutionary upheaval. not be dissolved. The socialist revolu­ of the cars, and six policemen leaped from Paris. Hold public solidarity meetings. Sup­ The elections are designed to give the capitalist tion remains on the agenda. The need the cars, waving pistols in the air. Soon port the call (see page 1) to hold protest rulers enough time and cover to stave off fur- for action has already moved to the six more police cars arrived. More bottles demonstrations before French consulates and formation of action committees. It is only and some bricks fell, and police began firing information agencies throughout the United the beginning. The struggle continues. into the air. PCI: 'We will States on June 22. Then people began tearing up sidewalks to get bricks to throw, breaking store win­ dows, overturning police cars and setting emerge stronger!' them afire. The rebellion then spread over (The following statement by Pierre Poor People's proiect the West End and into the downtown sec­ Frank, secretary of the French Interna­ tion of the city. Gov. Louie Nunn sent the tionalist Communist Party, was issued National Guard into the city within two hours. June 13. The Militant received it via • The next day a group of 50 white people telephone from Paris.) IS beset by difficulties went to City Hall to demand the removal of the Guard, amnesty for people arrested, and action by the city to provide jobs, decent BY BERTA GREEN looking for "big speeches and no action." I learned from a press agency that the housing, better schools, and the firing of RESURRECTION CITY, Wash. D. C., If "we don't get anything," they said, "may­ Internationalist Communist Party (PCI) Clifford. They said the presence oftroops was June 12- From an overflow population of be we'll turn Carmichael loose." They then has been placed on the list of organiza­ a main factor in keeping the rebellion going. more than 3,000, the Poor People's cam­ went on to explain how they viewed non­ tions whose dissolution has been decreed The mayor locked the protesters out of paign at Resurrection City has dwindled to violence as "only a tactic." by the Council of Ministers. I have had City Hall and police headquarters. Seven less than 800. A member of the Oakland Black Panther no official notification of this measure were arrested for picketing. Mud, confusion, disorganization, bureau­ Party is taking part in the campaign, "be­ but it does not surprise me. Within three days, two black youth had cracy, and mismanagement seem to be the cause I'm poor too and I'm willing to try The PCI, it should be remembered, was been killed, one by a cop and the other by most noticeable characteristics of life at Res­ anything once." But, "I'm for self-defense," built in the underground during World a white store owner. In addition, 20 people urrection City. Despite all this, many of the he said, "but I'm not causing any trouble War II through the fusion of various had been shot by police and more than 400 participants still seem to maintain an un­ here." Trotskyist groups of that time. It has people arrested. Bonds were set so high that quenchable hope. The rank-and-file participants in the cam­ been active in public life since the libera­ few could be released. Those who have the greatest determination paign to whom I talked seemed to know tion. Among other things, since 1946 White activists formed the White Emer­ to stick it out "until they give us something" very few details about the headline-getting it has run candidates in legislative elec­ gency Support Team (WEST). Its aim is are the people from the South. Typical of dispute between SCLC leaders and Bayard tions many times. "to act immediately and effectively in support these is a 27-year-old Afro-American mother Rustin. Bayard Rustin had agreed to head Our members were persecuted and ar­ of the black community as crisis situations of three children from Selma, Ala., who told the large-scale march planned of June 19, rested during France's war with Viet­ develop." me she was ready to stay at Resurrection but withdrew from the campaign when nam and again in the war with Algeria. WEST reached thousands of white people City "forever" if necessary, although it means SCLC leaders attacked him for watering The government measure, which has with the truth about the uprising through sacrificing her welfare checks. down the demands. struck at various revolutionary youth television, radio, newspapers, leaflets and One woman, a middle-aged white sewing It is clear that the people of Resurrection organizations along with us for allegedly picketing in the downtown section. machine operator who supports her parents City are simply not involved in the decision­ organizing commando groups, is a com­ on $53.50 a week, told me she was staying making process there, including decisions pletely arbitrary administrative directive. because she feels she has no alternative. "I on questions as important as what the de­ The government does not dare to pre­ can't go back to that life," she says. "I'm mands of the campaign should be. sent its case in the courts, where it would just too tired." Thus, the leaders have had to face numer­ PEACE have to formulate exact charges and pre­ Among the Northerners participating in ous small revolts, perhaps the most signi­ sent evidence. the campaign, there seems to be a feeling ficant of these being the refusal of the Mex­ The government move coincided with FREEDOM that not much can be accomplished at Res­ ican-Americans under the leadership of Reies the frenzied campaign which the leader­ urrection City except a dramatization of the Tijerina to move into Resurrection City until ships of the PCF (French Communist existence of poverty in this country. certain guarantees are met that they will not JUSTICE Party) and the CGT (General Federation One young black woman who came all of Labor) are conducting against the be "pushed around" by the marshals. the way from California told me she had "leftists." These leaderships have not pro­ The Mexican-Americans are some of the done so mainly because she wanted a chance tested at all against the repression which most militant participants of the Poor People's to participate in the exchange of ideas which can turn in their direction in the future. campaign. When, after the assassination of she thought would be going on during the Robert Kennedy, a march on the National We are studying the legal aspects of campaign. She was "tired of this society" Rifle Association headquarters in favor of the measure and are reserving our right and wanted to learn how to change it. gun-control laws was held, Tijerina's group to challenge it. We are confident that Members of the Milwaukee Commandos, led a contingent to the State Dept. to seek many labor and civil liberties organiza­ the NAACP youth group led by Father tions will speak up againstthedissolution a meeting with Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Groppi, complained that they did not come measures taken by the government I talked with a number of the leaders against a series of vanguard organiza­ of both the United Latins for Justice and tions, and will struggle against these the Mexican-American Student Association decrees until they are abrogated. In any Notice to subscribers of California. case, the Trotskyists, who have under­ They told me that," If all the young people Changing your address for the get together we can shake up this country gone many repressions before, will swnmer? Send us your new address, and do as the French students did. If we emerge from this attack stronger than including zip code, right away. ever. want a real change, there's got to be a revolution." At Resurrection City