THE Newark black parley p.4 MILITANT De Gaulle's ballot victory p.S Published in the Interests of the Working People SMC maps antiwar action p.6 Vol. 32-No. 28 Friday, July 12, 1968 Price 10c

By Elizabeth Barnes thousand people on Telegraph . The scene BERKELEY, July 4, 1968-l'mwriting is one of balloons, red flags, rock bands, this from Telegraph Avenue, "free territo­ tables of political literature, free food, but­ ry of Berkeley." Thousands of people are ton salesmen, flowers, and Free Huey here in a jubilant celebration of the victory signs. for freedom of speech and assembly won As you approach the crowd from the yesterday. North, the first thing you see is a middle­ It is a combination mass 4th of July aged woman in a flaming red dress direct­ celebration, political rally, and general ing traffic. As you move toward the crowd assertion of the rights of citizens to meet you pass by the Granma Bookstore and together without fear of police attack. Young Socialist Alliance headquarters On this same section of Telegraph, just which has a huge sign over it reading, six days ago, police were using tear gas "Two, three, many Berkeleys-Join the to break up a lawful, peaceful demonstra­ YSA." tion in support of the French students Then you see signs stapled on police and workers. barricades saying, "Telegraph is Ours" It took a week of taking to the streets and a huge banner spreading aeross the and of pressuring the city council to win street which reads, "Amnesty Now." It refers the right to have Telegraph blocked off to the many persons arrested and indicted for today's rally. And the city council during the week. Some are still in jail hedged up until the last minute before and people are circulating in the crowd, giving in. collecting bail money. Two days ago, after a public meeting In the late afternoon, people gathered of the city council which was attended around the sound truck for a political by 1,500 people, the council actually voted rally. Speakers included Black Panther 5-4 against giving the Avenue over to Party leader Eldridge Cleaver, movement the protesters. But, yesterday, after 2,000 leader Peter Camejo of the Young So­ people gathered in the Civic Auditorium cialist Alliance, Jack Bloom, a student and pledged that they would hold their in sociology who also has been in the rally on Telegraph today regardless of leadership of the movement during the what the council said, the city fathers past week, Ralph Schoenman of the Ber­ granted their demands and voted to close trand Russell Peace Foundation, Paul off the street. Boutelle, vice-presidential candidate of the Today there may be as many as five Socialist Workers Party, and Paul Jacobs of the Peace and Freedom Party. At the rally it was announced that El­ ' ' dridge Cleaver has been asked to come _':~~:'this pot~•• byOavi~Worr•n. to a hearing in San Quentin Prison which , ;of -·,vi.cr-ry c:•J•brotion on S.r~•ley's ' • will consider revoking his parole. A rally l'eltftr.. h. ~V:•nu•~ , , , has been called for Monday to protest ~·· .:· :' ~: .:: . against this. Page 2 THE MILITANT Friday, July 12, 1968 Of Dow, dogs and children THE MILITANT it is obvious to any intelligent Pain-killer Editor: BARRY SHEPPARD Business Manager: BEVERLY SCOTT reader. We are creating a Frankenstein letters Published weekly by The Militant Publishing Ass'n., 873 Broadway, New York, from Dow N.Y. 10003. Phone 533-6414. Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y. monster which may or may not Subscription: domestic, $3 a year; Canada and Latin America, $3.50; other Philadelphia, Pa. crush our "enemies," but almost foreign, $4.50. By first class mail: domestic and Canada $9.00; all other coun­ certainly, in the long run, will tries, $14.00. Air printed matter: domestic and Canada,$12.50; Latin America, I thought you might he inter­ from our $23.00; Europe, $27.00; Africa, Australia, Asia (including USSR), $32.00. ested in this item. destroy its creators. Write for sealed air postage rates. Signed articles by contributors do not nec­ Doesn't anyone realize that a essarily represent The Militant's views. These are expressed in editorials. I recently received from Dow Chemical Company a stuffed more solid and lasting prosperity could be assured if the govern­ readers .1211 toy-a dog with one paw neatly Vol. 32- No. 28 Friday, July 12, 1968 ment, which is really we, the wrapped in gauze- as an adver­ tising gimmick for their newest people, in microcosm, were to This column is an open forum veterinary anesthetic, which they take half those billions and create for all viewpoints on subjects of a huge agricultural complex, are sure will aid me (and my general interest to our readers. stretching from coast to coast, animals) in my research. This Please keep your letters brief. Where Johnson's new war tax and begin producing food instead gift brings to mind the following necessary they will be abridged. of armaments? comments: Writers' initials will be used, names It seems to me, in trying to win ( 1) If only Dow would show The Johnson tax hike, passed by the Senate on June 21 friends and influence people being withheld unless authorization the same concern for human and signed into law by the President the next day, will in­ throughout the world, it would is given for use. beings that they show for canines. be much more practical and crease opposition to the Vietnam war. (2) Although! their sales depart­ sophisticated politically, would certainly more gratifying to try The new law provides for a 10 percent increase in individual ment is creative, they are not very claim that "capitalism is dead"­ and feed the hungry children of income taxes, retroactive to April 1. Since it adds an equal discriminating. I am one of 12 as your translation of the plac­ other nations instead of burning students who recently won a battle ard on p. 2 of the June 28 percentage to all tax bills, regardless of size, it diminishes the them to death. with the University of Pennsyl­ Militant would indicate. difference between the tax rates on low and high incomes. Dale Rasmussen The new tax hike is directly related to the rising cost of the vania administration, forcing What the poster says is "capi­ escalating Vietnam war. Less than two weeks before the tax them to drop charges growing talism is dying," which is quite out of a November sit-in protest­ SWP: Only party different- and more correct. bill was fmally passed, the House of Representatives approved ing the presence of Dow recruiters For working class Your coverage of events in a "supplemental" military appropriation that provided for on campus. France has been too fine to allow an increase of almost one-third in Vietnam war spending for David Oden, Instructor New York, N.Y. your credibility to be marred by Jle fiscal year ending June 30, 1968. Department of Psychology Now is the time for socialism. a careless translation. The increase is, in short, a means of shifting the burden of University of Pennsylvania The Socialist Workers Party has R.S. ever mounting war costs onto the backs of the masses of the the program to get the people out Dow boycott of this stinking, war-capitalist working people. mess. Open minded In an associated move, the Senate approved a budget cut Detroit, Mich. The Socialist Workers Party has Cherry Hill, N.J. of $6 billion. By far the largest slice- $2.9 billion-was taken Please print the information on a solution for the agriculture pro l:r So you claim to be in sym­ from agencies involved in slum-clearance and antipoverty pro­ Dow from the enclosed Newsletter lem. It will produce for the needs pathy with the "French Revolu­ grams. The war is thus rapidly liquidating even the token of the Detroit Clergy and Laymen of the people and pay the farmers tionaries"? social and economic concessions that have been wrested from Concerned about Vietnam: for an industrial standard of You claim you feel the "black "Dow Chemical Corp. was con­ living- including hospital costs man" is being denied his rights the nation's rulers by the poorest, predominantly black, sec­ fronted by CALCAV as to its and fringe benefits. as a citizen and a human being. tions of the population. policy of making napalm. This In industry, the Socialist Work­ You also claim you are against These developments cannot fail to increase popular opposi­ product is being used to kill people ers Party will reduce the hours of the war in Vietnam, against vio­ tion to the war. While war-induced inflation erodes real wages, and crops in Vietnam and other labor. It will develop and provide lence, hatred, etc., etc. a war-caused tax increase reduces them further. While living countries. Our protest was only a construction program for in­ If you oppose all of these things, conditions in the ghettos steadily deteriorate, war-determined one step in confronting Dow. One dustrial expansion, for housing why are you preaching violence, budget cuts decimate the window dressing of token slum­ other means of protesting this and recreation, for hospitals and hatred and disaffection, not to company's policy would be to for care of the elderly. mention anarchy, in this 1()-cent clearance and antipoverty programs. boycott the following products The Socialist Workers Party will rag you call a newspaper? It is the job of the antiwar movement to continue to reach (this is a p artiallist ). end the genocidal capitalist war. The very name of your paper out and mobilize the increasing number of Americans who are "Cliffchar charcoal products, Do not be misled by the bally­ in my mind aroused suspicion. fed up with this war. Dow bathroom cleaner, Dow hoo for the capitalist war-parties. I pride myself on having an open latex, Dow oven cleaner, Dowper Only the Socialist Workers Party mind, on wanting the underpriv­ dry cleaning solvent, Dowgene is the party for the working class. ileged to get a better shake, and wormer, Emdee margarine, Vote and work for socialism. I would like to see some changes Handi-Wrap, Neo-Polycin anti­ Otto Thomas in the present administration. biotic ointment, Saran Wrap, However, after reading several Sight Savers, Shoe Savers, Dow­ Mistranslation issues of your hate-propaganda New works from Merit Publishers clor, Styrofoam, Dow cral:rgrass rag, I feel that your way is def­ killer, Dow general weed killer, New York, N.Y. initely not the answer. Dowpon grass killer, Premerge I don't think the revolutionary You may print my full name. weed killer, Trelone-Trizonefumi­ French students, who are quite (Name illegible) gants, Trolene-Tydex insecticides, The Case of Leon Trotsky Bay gasoline, Sentinel antifreeze, ingredients in almost all aspirin Publication date: Aug. I, 1968 $7.95 674 pp. cloth except Bayer, Zip tape, Dowgard." P.L. Long out of print, The Case of Leon Trotsky will be an {If you are interested in the ideas of 3737 Woodward Ave., Detroit 4820 1.{313) important addition to your Marxist library. This is the Peaceful prosperity socialism, you can meet socialists in your TE 1-6135. transcript of Trotsky's testimony before the Dewey Com­ San Francisco, Calif. city at the following addreues.) East Lansing: YSA, Mike Moniskalco, 614 mission inquiry into the Moscow Trials. Here is a partial The Saturday Evening Post is Michigan, Apt. 2. 351-0970. list of the subjects covered: Trotsky's career as a revolu­ usually a rather reactionary pul:r CAUFORNIA: Atascadero: YSA, Bill Blau, MINNESOTA: Minneapolis-St. Paul: SWP, lication, but occasionally, in an tionist; the history of the Bolshevik party after the revolu­ P.O. Box 1061, Atascadero. YSA and labor iookstore, 704 Hennepin outburst of conscience or right Berkeley-Oakland: Socialist Workers Ave., Hall 240, Mpls. 55403. {612) tion; the struggle of the Left Opposition; the Marxist attitude thinking, its editors publish an Party {SWP) and Young Socialist Alliance FE 2-7781. article or editorial which really toward terrorism, democracy and socialism; the origins MISSOURI: St. Louis: Phone EV 9-2895, tells it like it is. In the issue of {YSA), 2519A Telegraph Ave., Berkeley and nature of Stalinism; tactics in the fight against fascism ask for Dick Clarke. June 15, there is an article by 94704. {415) 849-1032. and the difference between the united front and the popular Ralph E. Lapp entitled "The Colusa: YSA, John Montgomery, 1107 NEW JERSEY: Newark: Newark labor front. Weapons Industry is a Menace," Jay St., Colusa 95932. Forum, Box 361, Newark 07101. which attacks the military-indus­ Los Angeles: SWP and YSA, 1702 Eost NEW YORK: Albany: YSA, Irving Sherman, trial complex with such passionate Fourth St., LA. 90033. (213) AN 9-4953. 26 Willett St., Albany 12210. intensity that one finds it difficult San Diego: Son Diego lobar Forum, New York City: Militant labor Forum, to believe one is not reading some P. 0. Box 2221, Son Diego 92112. 873 Broadway {near 18th St.), N.Y. 10003. Black Nationalism and Socialism leftist antiwar publication. San Francisco: Militant labor Forum ond {212) 982-6051. The gist of the essay is that, Pioneer Books, 2338MorketSt., S. F. 94114. OHIO: Cleveland: Eugene V. Debs Hall, By George Breitman and George Novack 50c 32 pages although this country already has {415) 552-1266. 2nd floor west, 9801 Euclid Ave., Cleveland enough weapons and war ma­ Santa Rosa: Young Socialist Alliance, 44106. {216) 791-1669. Why black nationalism and socialism are not opposing chines stockpiled to destroy all Stefan Bosworth, 808 Spencer. Kent: YSA, Roy S. lnglee, 123 Water St. our "enemies" several times over, but complimentary movements. GEORGIA: YSA, P.O. Box 6262, Atlanta, N., Kent 44240. 673-7032. the government continues to spend Ga. 30308. {404) 872-1612. Yellow Springs: Antioch YSA, Michael many billions of dollars anm•ally IWNOIS: Carbondale: YSA, Bill Moffet, 406 Schreiber, Antioch Union, Yellow Springs to produce more and bigger and S. Washington. 45387. 767-5511. more complex weaponry. The link Champaign-Urbana: YSA, P. 0. Box 2099, PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: SWP ond between the military-industrial The Black GheHo Station A, Champaign, Ill. 61820. YSA, 686 N. Broad St., Philo. 19130. {215) complex and its twin, industrial CE 6-6998. capitalism, is not established, but Chicago: SWP, YSA and bookstore, 302 By Robert Vernon 50c 32 pages S. Canol St., Rm. 204, Chicago 60606. TEXAS: Austin: YSA, Charles Cairns, 1803 {312) 939-5044. Enfield Ave., Austin. This third printing is expanded to include WaHs and INDIANA: Bloomingtan: YSA, Russel Block, Houston: YSA, Dov id Shroyer, 1116 Harlem. Malcolm X 207 East 2nd St., Bloomington 4740 I. 339- Columbus St., Houston 78703. {713) JA 9- 4640. 2236. The Man Evansville: YSA, Ronald Hicks, c/o lyles, UTAH: Salt Lake City: Shem Richards, 957 638 E. Missouri, Evansville. E. First Ave., Salt lake 84103. {801) 355- and His Ideas Indianapolis: Holstead-Boutelle Cam­ 3537. order from: paign, P. 0. Box 654, Indianapolis, Indio no, WASHINGTON. D. C.: YSA, 3 Thomas Cir­ 46206. cle, N. W., 2nd floor, Washington, D. C., Department M 12 MARYLAND: Baltimore: YSA, Toby Rice, 20005. {202) 332-4635. MERIT PUBLISHERS 2402 Calvert St., Baltimore. WASHINGTON: Seattle: SWP ond YSA, Merit Publishers MASSACHUSETTS: Bastan: Militant Labor 5257 University Way N.E., Seattle 98105 873 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003 873 Broadway Forum, 295 Huntington Ave., Rm. 307. {206) 523-2555. {617) 876-5930. WISCONSIN: Madison: YSA, 202 Marion New York. N.Y. 10003 MICHIGAN: Detroit: Eugene V. Debs Hall, St. (608) 256-0857. Friday, July 12, 1968 THE MILITANT Page 3

INTERVIEW WITH PETER CAMEJO The Berkeley banle

The following interview with Peter asked that Mayor Johnson and Police Camejo was obtained by Elizabeth Barnes Chief Beale, who were in the crowd, step on July 3 in Berkeley, Calif forward so that we could discuss and work Camejo is the Socialist Workers Party out the situation without a police attack. candidate for senator from Calzfomia, and The mayor refused to come forward, but is one of the principal leaders of the move­ the chief of police did. ment at the University of California campus By that time the monitors were lined up, in Berkeley. linked arm in arm, along the street and everyone was on the sidewalk. I pointed Elizabeth Barnes: How did the struggle this out to the chief of police and asked in Berkeley begin? him on what basis he could attack our Peter Camejo: The six-day battle that demonstration, and to please reconsider. just took place in Berkeley began with a He agreed to that, and asked for two police attack on a demonstration orga­ minutes to think it over. He and several nized by the Young Socialist Alliance in other policemen walked off to discuss it, solidarity with the French students and but when they came back, they repeated workers. The demonstration was called for their stand that the rally was "illegal." Haste and Telegraph Avenue because this Do Not Disperse is the best location for a political rally in Of course, nobody left. And a line of the campus community. ministers lined up in front of the police When we called it, we took all the legal and pleaded with them not to attack. steps needed. We got a sound permit, the When the police started to move against only permit you need for a sidewalk rally. the crowd, the monitors told people to We feared we might have an overflow withdraw rather than engage the police crowd so we went to the city council and directly, but not to disperse or leave the asked them to assure us that police would area. not attack the demonstrators if there was The police then did something which was some overflow into the street. new for Berkeley-they opened up with A street rally called by the Vietnam Day tear gas. That's when the fighting began. Committee April 12, 1966, was attacked As the crowd began to run, the police ran photo by Hermes by police and w~ did not want this to hap­ after them. The demonstrators in some pen again. So, if it turned out that there cases began to build barricades to defend TEAR GAS. Scene at corner of Telegraph and Bancroft, night of June 28. was a large crowd we wanted the moni­ themselves, with wood from construction tors to be able to close off the street. sites or whatever they could get their hands our rally. people inside their houses and start beating The council refused to even consider the on. At this rally I took the position that we them up. possibility of closing off the street and Then the police used a new tactic we've had to fight for our rights, that rights are These endless attacks and police harass­ acted in an extremely hostile manner. never seen here before. They would enter never given and that you have to win them ment of people began to turn the tide of Various organizations were supporting an area where people were gathered, and by fighting for them, and that in order to public opinion in favor of the dem­ this rally in addition to the YSA. Among from speeding cars, sometimes going as win we would have to take direct action. onstrators. them were the Peace and Freedom Party, fast as 30 or 40 miles an hour, they would We then decided to go into the Telegraph Curfew Black Panther Party, the Movement, the launch grenades. It was dangerous at this Independent Socialist Club, the Triconti­ and Haste area to begin another rally. The next day a curfew was declared. time to be young and to be walking in the We had a sound permit that covered that The curfew was based on a law which was nental Student Association, the Iranian streets in any sizable group, because these students and other groups. area. We marched down Telegraph and originally conceived during the Second carloads of police could attack at anytime. filled the street around Haste and World War for the purpose of protecting Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton Many students retreated onto the campus Telegraph. As a result, that whole section the area during air raids. With the curfew sent a letter from prison to the rally. and built a huge bonfire there. The fighting of Telegraph became blocked off, and beginning, we knew we were at a new stage The local Berkeley daily papers started went on for several hours. to take note of the rally and ran headlines pretty soon a rock band brought by the of the fight. Elizabeth Barnes: How did you get or­ Resistance came and started playing. That day a group of people from the geared to intimidate people from coming ganized to fight this attack by the police? by claiming that there was a threat of Then it became evident that police were Berkeley radical community, including Peter Camejo: It was clear that the police beginning to mass in the area. At the same Peter Frank, an attorney from the Peace possible violence. had violated our constitutional right to time the crowd grew much larger. Hundreds and Freedom Party; Max Scherr, the editor Monitors free assembly. The very presence of the and hundreds of people, primarily students, of the Berkeley Barb; Bruce Rappaport, What actually happened at the demon­ police, the fact that they were massing two began to pour into the area to back up an independent graduate student in soci­ stration was that the YSA organized mon­ blocks up from the rally, intimidated people those already there. We estimate there were ology and my!}elf met with the mayor, the itors in order to attempt not to violate from coming. around 2,000 people. vice-mayor and the city manager, who had any laws, although we felt it was perfectly The next day a mass meeting was called declared the curfew. within our rights to hold a rally in the to chart plans for protesting the police Barricades Barricades began to go up as people We argued with them for two hours, and streets. We didn't want the people at the attack. Five hundred people came. began to seek ways to slow up any police they refused to give on anything. We pro­ meeting hurt by any possible police attack. At this meeting we went over the fact advance. They used sawhorses, trash cans, posed that if they agreed to lift the curfew, There were close to a thousand people that in every city in California streets have beams from construction sites, news stands, we would cancel the demonstration for that there and the sidewalks were crowded, but been closed by the candidates of the Re­ day. And we also asked that they agree the monitors were careful to keep people publican and Democratic parties in the whatever was around. in principle that we be allowed eventually, off the streets and on the sidewalk. At one recent primary. Specifically, we referred to The mayor then appeared in the crowd after working out some sort of due process, point, though, there were a few people Ted Kennedy, who came to Berkeley, spoke a::td asked us to go to a nearby parking to have Telegraph Avenue for rallies. We who ran out in the street aQd sat down. from a microphone without a sound per­ lot where he could debate me on the ques­ specifically asked for July 4. They refused It had been decided at two open meetings mit, clogged up two major streets at rush tion of the constitutional issues involved. this also. held to plan the demonstration that we hour- and even stopped a train, the same He was doing what we call "playing a We then went to the mass meeting, which would try to keep the street clear. So the train that the Vietnam Day Committee once Lindsay," that is, walking among the peo­ by this time was up to almost 800 people. monitors moved quickly to get people out tried to stop a while ago. ple, trying to appear very concen"!ed. We called everybody in the area together. We agreed at this meeting to ad again, but of the street. Kennedy had no permit at all and, of By that time we were beginning to see that this time to act with caution, because the It was a small incident, but the police course, he was not indicted, nor did the we had been thoroughly surrounded by police were now using this new tactic of used it as a pretext to claim that they had police attack or tear-gas him. Why is it, the police. We placed this fact before the the curfew. to disperse the crowd, and 20 or so cops when he had not bothered to get a permit, crowd, and we told themaboutthemayor's By the time the meeting ended there were moved down the street toward the demon­ or to go before the city council as we did, offer. We then had a vote which was fairly police stationed on every block in the area, stration. The police then announced that that his demonstration was not attacked? which was the campus area. We marched the gathering was an "unlawful assembly" It was clear that this represented a preju­ decisive in deciding to stay. The mayor stayed around for a while, (Continued on page 12) and ordered everyone to leave. I then dice against the views being presented at and then two of the mayor's aides came and told him, "the time's come, let's go"; and so then we knew the attack was coming pretty soon. The police came by surprise- they charged down the street at us with no advance warning, and this began the sec­ ond night of fighting, which was shorter but much more intensive than the night before. The students and young people fought much harder. During the evening the banks and other large businesses had their windows broken. There was sporadic fighting throughout the town. People went down into the busi­ ness district. From the beginning of the police raid, the cops were indiscriminate in whom they attacked. They continued this policy when they fanned out through the town. In the south campus area, for example, police would suddenly pull up next to people who were standing outside their homes- many of them who were just curious and had photo by Dave Warren RE photo by Hermes come out to see what was going on. The ADY TO ATTACK Cops line up on Telegraph Ave. in preparation for cops would speed over, jump out and start PETER CAMEJO. Speaking to rally attack on peaceful rally June 28. beating them up. They would even chase on campus. Page 4 THE MILITANT Friday, July 12, 1968 Black political conference By Derrick Morrison need, people who think about benefiting NEWARK- When the Newark Black the black community. Seventy percent of Political Convention was adjourned June the police force should be black." 23, it signified that this community had On narcotics, he said, "Heroin does not taken a big step forward in organizing grow on trees. It is refined in factories black people to fight for political power. and produced to enslave black people." The three days of deliberations, orga­ He said that black "children are not nized by the United Brothers of Newark, getting educated, but getting trained to which is spearheaded by LeRoiJones, were be house servants and field servants. very much together in direction and Trained to be cannon fodder in Vietnam." planning. On the following day Herman Ferguson The first two days were devoted to work­ explained what had happened at his trial shops on the various aspects of an over­ and how the whole thing was a total all political program. The principal farce. From there he launched into a speakers were LeRoi Jones; Sonny Carson description of Negro politics and black of Brooklyn CORE; public educator politics. He described Negro politics as Herman Ferguson, recently convicted on "window dressing- a few politicians here frame-up charges of conspiring to kill and there. Negro politics ends when the certain civil rights leaders; and Ron Ka­ polls close on election day. Negro poli­ renga of the US organization in Los ticians are put into office by the machine, Angeles. not by black people. Negro politics is On the third day of the convention, an antiblack and anti-Negro." He used Harlem overall political program was ratified by Democrat Percy Sutton and Cleveland the delegates. Then candidates were selected Mayor Carl Stokes as examples of Negro to run on this program for two openings politicians. "Black politics," he said, "is on the city council. The conference wound a manifestation of black power, which up with a speech by Phil Hutchings, leads us into black nationhood.... Rad­ program director of SNCC. ical problems require a radical solution. The total attendance at the convention Black politics addresses itself to rad­ was over 1,000. In the evening, during ical surgery." the principal speeches, 500 to 600 people Education and Politics were seated in the auditorium of Kinney In his attack on the public educational Junior High School. About 100 delegates system, Ferguson pointed out that ''public representing over 200 organizations education re-enforces the self-hatred of attended the deliberations. Although the the black child and the superiority of young brothers and sisters composed the the white child. Black politics understands that you do not separate education from politics. Education and politics must go hand in hand. The problems of education require a political solution. The school curriculum is Anglo-Saxon based, not African-American based." He called for working with the Nation of Islam to develop a solution to problems of education. Ferguson also mentioned his campaign for U.S. senator, which is being run by the black caucus of the Freedom and Peace Party of New York State. That night, Carson and Karenga spoke. Carson, dressed in a combat dashiki, NEWARK, JULY, 1967. National Guard was called in to brutally suppress praised Newark for setting an example for the rest of the country. He dwelt on rebellion of black people. the situation in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville, New York, school district where, accord­ the black politician supports cultural na­ here during the day and leave again at ing to Carson, the local governing board tionalism. night. Resolution: Institute a commuter composed of black parents fired "19 pig Closing speech payroll tax on nonresidents." This work­ teachers." After the delegates ratified the program shop also proposed a head tax to be levied After "33 1 pig teachers" walked out in and selected their candidates, Phil Hut­ at the Newark airport. support of the 19, Carson said, "'Adolph' chings gave the final speech. This was The City Housing and Land Workshop Leroi Jones Shanker [president of the United Federa­ Hutchings' first major address since his passed resolutions opposing the construc­ majority, at least 40 percent of the con­ tion of Teachers] and Donovan [head of election to the position ofprogram-director tion of route 75 and other highways that vention was over 30. This meant that the Board of Education] got the shock of SNCC. He is also a member of the would cut through the black community. the convention represented a cross-section of their lives when the governing board United Brothers. They also proposed that the Model Cities of the black community. Brothers dressed fired all 350 pig teachers." At present In the beginning of his speech, Hutchings Program be under the direction and control in black dashikis served as the security the parents are running the schools, and called for the formation of black united of the black community. They proposed guards. come next September, Carson said, the fronts. These united fronts, he stated, serve further that new housing be "planned and Leroi Jones community will be prepared to keep the four purposes. First, they serve as an um­ built by black people in the neighborhoods Jones was the speaker the first night. teachers out of the schools by any means brella of protection for everybody, militants and with black contractors and workers." He ran down why the convention was necessary. and moderates alike. The moderates need The proposals of the Urban Education called and outlined its objectives. Karenga came on stating that 1968 is the militants because they cannot speak Workshop boiled down to a demand for He said, "As black people, we have the year of the Black Panther since it directly to the people on the streets. The black community control of the schools. never participated in the democratic is an election year. He pointed out that militants need the moderates because they Narcotics addiction, day and night care processes .... Why do we need a political the Black Panther originated in Lowndes do not have an organized base. centers, and the community health services convention? Everybody knows that we County, Ala. Lowndes County, he said, Secondly, the fronts serve as an example were discussed in the Health and Welfare are the majority in Newark. ... We will was not a failure but a lesson. He stress­ of black people coming together. Thirdly, Workshop. get candidates who are sent here by the ed the necessity of forming black united they provide a forum for discussion and The Law Enforcement Workshop called federal government, Standard Oil, and fronts in order to unite black people. debate of every viewpoint in the black for the development of a police-community Time magazine .... We want to cut the To the advocates of guerrilla warfare, community. Finally, the fronts serve as relations program, hiring of more black field down so that only one black can­ he said that revolution has to be waged a local base for national hook-ups. policemen, and a complete review and didate runs for each position .... The on all fronts, below ground and above He mentioned two obstacles to the es­ revision of the judicial system. city is controlled by white people, white ground. Fighting for public office is not tablishment of real black control ofthe black A Black Labor Committee to deal with people in corporations, people who have a cure-all but a step forward in politicizing community. One is the control that whites the labor problems of black people was never been in Newark. ... We want to the masses. exercise over the county and state. To called for by the workshop on employment. govern ourselves; what we want is the Karenga developed five criteria that resolve this, black people would have to The formation of a black united front power for black people to control their would separate a black politician from a take over the country. The second is the was suggested by the Political Organizing community." Negro politician. The first criterion was existence of capitalism, which he described Workshop. He stated that the people attending the that the black politician would be account­ as updated feudalism, another word for On the third and last day, after unani­ convention were in the vanguard, and that able to the black community, not to the slavery. mously approving these reports, the con­ by 1970 black people could establish con­ Man. Black Panther vention dealt with the selection of trol of Newark by electing their own mayor. The second criterion was that the black Noting that there is no difference between candidates. The leading idea was to unite Commenting on the police department, politician recognizes that the system is the Democratic and Republican parties, the black community behind two black totally bankrupt and should be destroyed. he said1 "To quote from Huey Newton, Hutchings called for the formation of a candidates for the two openings on the 'The police department is an occupation The job of the black politican is to mass black party with the Black Panther city council in the upcoming nonpartisan army.' It is here to protect white people's deliver this message to those who refuse to as its symbol. elections. If an aspirant lost at this con­ belongings. Black policemen are what we listen to the same message on the street In regard to picking up the gun, he vention, he then would not run. corners. emphasized the need first for political edu­ When each of the candidates had spoken The third criterion was that the black cation, an education that would provide and been questioned by the convention, politician practices the politics of disrup­ goals and objectives for the use of the gun. the 79 delegates present overwhelmingly MURDER IN MEMPHIS tion; that is, he brings up all types of He ended the meeting by calling for selected Donald Tucker as the candidate controversial issues in the interest of the support to the Vietnamese in their heroic for the East Ward, and Theodore Pinkney Martia Luther Kiag aad the Future of black community. This type of politics struggle against American imperialism. as candidate for the councilman-at-large will show the people what they really On the second day, reports from the position. the Black Liberation Struggle have to do to take power. workshops were given to the convention. Lucius Thompkins, a Republican, and The fourth criterion was that the black These reports were mimeographed and Leon Ewing, a councilman recently ap­ Articles ~, Potl lotttllt, Gtorlt lloYick, politician is politically astute, acting neither formed the basis of the candidates' political pointed by Mayor Addonizio, lost the Jostpk Ha1st1, ••4 Cllfto1 Dtltrrf as a Democrat nor as a Republican. You platform. support of the convention. The question can use one of the party labels, but don't The workshop on city financing passed and answer period revealed that they were 2se take it seriously. (This criterion was his several resolutions. One of these resolutions not willing to abide by the decisions of weakest, in the opinion of this writer, as stated: "The city of Newark has 100percent the convention. erit . it did not clearly break with the racist more people in it during the day as opposed Both Tucker and Pinkney are nationalists :.:~·;:-.....-~', 10003 rubhshers Democratic and Republican parties.) to its night population. We provide many now working in the antipoverty program The fifth and last criterion was that services to the people that come to work in Newark. . Friday, July 12, 1968 THE MILITANT Page 5 De Gaulle's ballot victory

By Joseph Hansen 61 of its 121 seats and the PS U lost the regained their nerve, and through de Gaulle The political meaning of the outcome 3 it held. set about to recover their mastery. of the French elections in the two rounds The liberal bourgeois party, the Centre De Gaulle did three very important things. on June 23 and June 30 was indicated Progres et Democratie Moderne, lost 15 First of all, under guise of going to his by the elation of the Gaullists and the of its 52 seats. country home to consider resigning, he glumness of the top leaders of the Com­ To properly understand the meaning set off May 29 in his helicopter for con­ munist Party as the voting pattern became of the elections, it is necessary to place ferences with the heads of the army, in­ clear. them in the context of the May events. cluding the notorious General Massu, who Little change was to be noted in the over­ At the height of the upsurge, ten million was instrumental in putting de Gaulle in all figures in the first round, 22,539,7 43 workers -two-thirds of the labor force­ power 10 years ago. voting on June 23 as against 22,902,224 were on strike. Occupying the plants, they The generals agreed to back de Gaulle on March 5, 1967-about 80 percent of held the key industries in their hands, by armed force. They at once began de­ the registered electorate this year compared along with transportation, the retail out­ ploying troops and tanks in the direction with almost 81 percent last year. But lets and the banking system. They were of Paris. This news, while it caught the among the various parties, a shift occurred joined by the employees of the state-run headlines in the press outside of the country, which, while it was not a great one, was communications system, including the received but routine attention in the French sufficient in the light of the preceding events postal workers. The government adminis­ press where it was pictured as merely part to be ballyhooed by de Gaulle's partisans tration was suspended in mid-air, and of maneuvers scheduled long before. This as a great triumph for the bonapartist even the police began showing signs of way of presenting the troop movements general. disaffection. was intended to lull the public so as not The farmers sympathized with this move­ to alarm and precipitate action by the ment and advanced their own set of de­ masses before the troops were in position mands. to attack. The ranks of the armed forces displayed De Gaulle was reported to have pro­ the greatest interest in the progress of the mised his generals to release from prison upsurge, and the generals were reliably and to rehabilitate all the ultrareaction­ reported to have told de Gaulle they could ary figures serving time or in exile be­ not be depended on to put down strikers. cause of their conspiracy to bring a mili­ Not the least important element in this tary dictatorship to power in France 7 situation was the students, both high school years ago. These included such unsavory and university. It was they, in fact, who men as Georges Bidault, Raoul Salan, etc. had precipitated the entire crisis by carry­ Bonapartism De Gaulle ing their struggle for educational reforms De Gaulle delivered in accordance with to the streets, occupying the schools on his promise. No real concession was in­ no matter what their private opinions of a nationwide basis, battling the police volved in this, however, since de Gaulle him might be. sent to put them down, and setting such had obviously decided to do everything In the other camp, with luck some of a militant example in general that they in his power to build up the most reaction­ the workers might feel satisfied with their inspired the working class to move into ary forces in France to counter the un­ newly won wage gains and look rather action. expected upsurge of the working class. apathetically at the elections which pro­ The students indicated again and again Such a maneuver is typical ofbonapartist mised nothing new. Others would look through their actions, their slogans, and figures like de Gaulle, who seek to maintain at the election as a let-down or anticli­ their press that they understood the key power by balancing between the class max after the events of May. Still others issue was government power and that forces. The shift toward the left in the rela­ would agree with the revolutionary groups they were prepared to go through to the tion of class forces in France threw de that approval of the election equalled a Bidault end. Gaulle off balance and threatened to topple betrayal of the revolution. De Gaulle's party, Union for the Defense Revolutionary Action Committees him overnight. To rectify the balance from De Gaulle's most important calculation of the Republic, received 9, 663,605 votes Revolutionary action committees began his point of view required drastically was to provide the Communist Party with (43.65%) in comparison with 8,448,982 forming throughout the country, consti­ strengthening the right. a plausible reason for getting the strikers votes (37. 73%) last year. tuting incipient organs of "dual power" in Thus beside turning to the army, he back to work and off of the streets­ The vote for the Communist Party was opposition to the capitalist state. A pro­ also called for the formation of "civic away from the road of revolution. 4,435,357 (20.03%) this year and 5,039, capitalist commentator said that as many action" groups and gave the word to or­ Subsequent events showed that de Gaulle 032 (22.51%) last year. as 600 such committees, ranging in size ganize a street demonstration in Paris understood the bureaucrats of the Com­ The bourgeois center parties as well from 30 to 40 persons, were reported to May 30, making it as huge as possible. munist Party to perfection. They were the as the social democratic Federation of have been formed in Paris alone. A leader It cannot be said that de Gaulle suffers first to announce that they were accepting the Democratic and Socialist Left (FGDS) of the Jeunesse Communiste Revolution­ from parliamentary illusions. His entire the "concession" de Gaulle had made "under suffered losses. naire (JCR- Revolutionary Communist policy was to organize for a showdown pressure" and that they intended to meet The most significant gains, probably, Youth), which was very active in the work in the streets. his "challenge." were registered by the United Socialist of these committees and in helping to ex­ How well this would have turned out De Gaulle, it should be noted, also sought Party. In 1967 its vote was 495,412 tend them, put the figure at between 300 had de Gaulle been faced with a mass to meet the "challenge" of the Communist (2.21% ); on June 23 it won 874,212 votes and 400 committees in Paris, but with party fortunate enough to have a leader­ Party, and, more importantly, the entire (3.94% ). Its success is attributed to the their size ranging from 3 0 to 70 persons ship of the caliber provided by Lenin and revolutionary vanguard. In his campaign fact that it was the only party running and in some instances considerably higher. Trotsky for the Russian workers is another propaganda, he introduced an "anticapi­ candidates in the election which sympa­ In a few places, like Nantes, commit­ question. It is dubious that the forces talist" note, saying that he stood for a "third thized with the students who demonstrated tees of this kind virtually ran the town, at de Gaulle's disposal could have done way," different from both communism and in the streets. the capitalist government being reduced much in face of the mighty power of the capitalism. He talked about "participation" A certain polarization was thus evident to impotence. French working class with the entire in­ by the workers in industry and the stu­ among the electorate, the PS U gaining For about a week it would have been d'.lstrial system in its hands. dents in the universities; and he promised at one pole, the Gaullists at the other. possible for a mass revolutionary party Now we come to de Gaulle's second sweeping educational reforms, the precise While the polarization, in the final analysis, to take power with a minimum of com­ important move. He dissolved the Na­ nature of which he left conveniently vague. reflected the acute class struggle of the motion and disorder and France today tional Assembly and ordered new elections This was pure demagogy, of course, preceding weeks, it should be noted, and would have constituted the first industrial­ to be held within a few weeks. smacking of the kind of demagogy ad­ noted well, that it reflected that struggle ly advanced country to have gone over The timing is important. All the reac­ vanced by Mussolini and Hitler in their but dimly and with a high degree of to socialism. tionaries, the right wing of the middle time and by Napoleon III a century ago. distortion, magnifying the size and weight But such a party did not exist in France. class, the whole kit and caboodle of the Th~ CP bureaucrats worked like zealots of the reaction and greatly reducing that The Communist Party, while a mass party forces of "law and order," would still have to end the general strike and get the capi­ of the revolutionary forces. that presumes to speak in the name of fresh in their minds the fear they experienced talist system back into smooth running The real relationship of class forces in communism, is not revolutionary. The when the capitalist system seemed about to order. Strikes, it is well known, interfere France was still further distorted by the groups that stand on revolutionary pro­ crash. They would thus be inclined to get with elections. They worked with similar outcome of the runoff elections June 30. grams, the most important being the Inter­ out and vote and to vote for de Gaulle (Continued on page 8) With the official figures not yet available, nationalist Communist Party, the French Le Moncle (July 2) noted that in the first section of the Fourth International, do round, the total Gaullist vote was around not have a mass following. 10,500,000 and that of the left 9,000,000; Time was required to gain that following, while in the second round, the Gaullist to organize and extend the revolutionary vote was about 6, 700,000 and the leftist action committees and to give them na­ vote 6,1 00,000. Nevertheless under the tional cohesion and structure. electoral provisions established by de During the crucial week, the capitalist Gaulle1 this difference was translated into rulers of France displayed panic and even a landslide for de Gaulle in the National despair. Events appeared to have slipped Assembly. completely beyond their control and every­ The "orthodox" Gaullists gained 97 seats, thing they did appeared to have the op­ bringing their total up to 294, well above posite result from what they intended, the 244 needed for an absolute majority serving in each instance to stir up the masses in the 487-member parliament. The still more. As Le Monde put it in an editorial "dissident" Gaullists (Independent Repub­ July 2 warning against overoptimism in licans) gained 21 seats, bringingtheirtotal judging the triumph of de Gaulle's "author­ to 64. Thus the Gaullists of various stripes ity" in the elections, only a month previously ended up with 358 seats. that same authority appeared "to its parti­ The Communist Party lost 39 seats, sans as well as to its opponents and to dropping from 73 to 34. The FGDS lost the general himself to be hanging by only a thread." Joseph Hansen, editor of Intercontinental Fortunately for the general and his par­ Press, went to France to cover the events tisans that thread was not cut. The bour­ COPS AND BUREAUCRATS. Slogan on banner reads: "The Revolution there for Intercontinental Press and The geois rulers soon determined what the Will Not Get Through!" Cartoon, which appeared in second issue of revolu­ Militant. He was arrested by de Gaulle's main weakness of the revolutionary forces tionary student magazine L'Enrage, reflects French revolutionists' view that police and expelled from the country just was -lack of time to construct a leader­ Stalinist leaders of General Federation of Labor (CGT) worked with Gaullist before the first round of elections. ship capable of cutting the thread. They regime to block socialist revolution. Page 6 THE MILITANT Friday, July 12, 1968 Fri• Student Mobilization maps fall action against war

By Harry Ring and Lew Jones tion. The split-off group said 85 of these of their membership in the Young So­ the current Paris talks as being used by NEW YORK- The Continuations Com­ had signed their walkout declaration. Some cialist Alliance. The YSA has consistently the U. S. as a screen to cover further es­ mittee of the Student Mobilization Com­ 65 attended its meeting that night. Ofthese, defended the principles laid down by SMC calation of the war and declared, "We mittee to End the War in Vietnam, meet­ only 11 said they were from outside New membership conferences that the organi­ reject any action that would lend credence ing here June 28-29, reaffirmed SMC's York. zation must be an anti-Vietnam-war, non­ to the U.S. role in the Paris Negotiations." policy of organizing mass demonstrations The Continuations Committee meeting exclusive coalition. The unanimously adopted resolution for withdrawal] of U.S. forces from Viet­ was held as a result of a crisis which The exlusionary group in the New York also called for endorsement of and active nam, and reaffirmed that the coalition erupted in the student organization early Working Committee, which dubbed itself support to the Aug. 3 antiwar demonstra­ is based unambiguously on the principle in May. At that time a bloc sparked by the "independent" caucus, tried to scrap tion projected by the New York Parade of political nonexclusion. some pacifists and the Communist Party these democratically arrived-at policies Committee, the Aug. 10 Peace Action dem­ A New York based minority grouping, used a mechanical majority on the SMC's piecemeal and refused to call a previously onstration in Chicago, and any possible which had sought unsuccessfully to scrap Working Committee to bureaucratically similar demonstrations in other areas. mandated conference of the SMC where AI these policies, walked out of the conference impose a policy of political exclusion on the dispute could be settled. Instead they Fall Actions to establish a new multi-issue organization the movement and to shift its focus away called a Continuations Committee meeting The resolution further proposed a mass­ de called the Radical Organizing Committee. from its declared reason for being-op­ in New York where they apparently felt ive national demonstration in the fall in a (See story page 7.) position to the Vietnam war. they could pack the meeting and win some opposition to the war policies of both of The conference was attended by some Tried to Dump Socialists kind of formal cover for their actions. major parties. att 400 delegates and observers from They began by firing Kipp Dawson When they realized that they faced re­ This proposal was counterposed to the campuses and committees across the na- and Syd Stapleton from the staff because pudiation even at the Continuations Com­ one now being put forward by various on mittee meeting, which they had so care­ groups for a demonstration at the Dem­ a 1 fully prepared, the exclusionists decided ocratic Party convention in August. Such co. to walk out. They left on the first after­ a demonstration, the SMC said, could inc noon, without participating in the plenary only be interpreted as a pro-McCarthy th~ political debate and before a single sub­ demonstration. wt stantive vote was taken. The exclusionist minority did not directly frc After their departure, discussion was con­ address itself to the political positions in­ to cluded on a resolution submitted at the cluded in this resolution. Yt>t their actions opening of the conference by Kipp Dawson made clear their opposition. aft and Syd Stapleton on behalf of the stu­ In previous articles about the dispute th! dent antiwar action caucus. This caucus in SMC, we made the estimate that the was organized in response to the exclu­ exclusionist caucus was seeking to. drive sh sionist caucus, and it had met immediately the YSA and others out of SMC as a an prior to the Continuations Committee. step toward changing the basic political hu Five Points character of the movement. We said that Vil The resolution (see text page 6)contained as a result of the pressure of the election th! five points. campaign (the desire to support McCarthy The first called for a national SMC and other "peace" candidates) and the Paris th! conference to be held in Chicago over talks, the Communist Party and some of ch the Labor Day weekend. the pacifists wanted to get away from po The second point provided for a dem­ mobilizing mass actions against the Viet­ be onstrative return to the policy of nonex­ nam war and to liquidate the antiwar tio clusion by reinstating Kipp Dawson and movement into one more multi-issue Syd Stapleton as members of the SMC formation. thl staff. In a sense it was rather surprising how in The third emphatically reaffirmed SMC's rapidly this estimate was born out. After C< basic political position of fighting for the walking out of SMC, the exclusionists drop­ Y< immediate and unconditional withdrawal ped any pretense of being interested in at of U.S. forces from Vietnam. building an antiwar coalition. Their sol-~ ml This section of the resolution assessed purpose, they made clear, was to establish N, HIGH SCHOOL ANTIWAR FIGH1 At the SMC conference, a group of New maneuvers to swing the majority of the d York high-school students, who supported delegate vote their way. But the most hi the exclusionist caucus, made clear that blatant of all the maneuvers came when ta they had no interest in building the SMC the SMC exclusionists refused to discuss (s as an antiwar coalition, preferring to turn the major political issues involved in the al their attention to smaller issues which, they crisis, substituting for such a discussion S< asserted, are of greater interest to high­ various time-consuming points. A school students. After the SMC morning plenary, a high­ bi Supporters of SMC policy within the school caucus was called by us, the mem­ OJ high-school caucus insisted that, while it bers of the nonexclusionary caucus. There in was necessary for radical activists to relate we encountered the same maneuvers at­ cl to the whole variety of issues concerning tempted by the SM C exclusionists. The fe students, as a coalition the SMC's most high-school caucus was chaired by two a• valuable and unique function was that of people, not even in high school, who settled dl turning out masses of students in antiwar procedural questions. When a non-high­ actions. school student, who happened to be a tl: As in the general conference, the difference member of the Young Socialist Alliance, si in the two groupings was readily apparent. was standing at the door of the caucus h The exclusionists tried to have their views room merely to observe, he was told by ni prevail through heavy-handed organiza­ exclusionist Brent Garren that he would a tional measures. Meanwhile, the high­ have to leave at once, since the meeting n· school supporters of the student antiwar was for high-school students only! fi action caucus fought for an exchange of st political views. On May 25, at a meeting of the New York High School Student Mobilization The following resolution on these matters c. was reported to the closing session of the Committee, a summer program of work­ t< conference by Laurie Perkus of the New shops was proposed. Some of these in­ York High School Mobilization. clude: student power, high school oq,a­ * * * nizing, racism in the New York school I system, and, last but not least, a work­ 0 shop on sex education! In a three page The cns1s in the Student Mobilization mailing later sent out by the NYHSSMC, Committee may have appeared to some n not once were the words ''Vietnam" or to have been resolved at the Continua­ ''war" mentioned. Even the committee's n tions Committee meeting of Saturday, June original title of "New York High School 29. Linda Morse1 Art Goldberg and Brent Student Mobilization Committee to End c Garren, spokesmen for the so-called "in­ the War in Vietnam" was changed to just iJ dependent caucus" (exclusionary caucus), "New York High School Student Mo­ d upon seeing that their policy of political bilization Committee." All these moves point exclusion would not be passed, staged away from the direction in which the com­ a walkout. tl mittee should be going. For those of us who stayed behind, S< the fight continues. We have resolved to In the high-school caucus, those of us continue to build the most massive dem­ speaking in support of the five-point resolu­ onstrations to end the war and bring tion submitted by Kipp Dawson and Syd the Gis home from Vietnam that the U.S. Stapleton to the student antiwar action cau­ r• government has ever seen. cus, tried constantly to keep the discussion \1 The walkout occurred after the exclusion­ on the political issues involved. We were ary caucus attempted various tactical faced with having to answer manufactured s 8 Friday, July 12, 1968 THE MILITANT Page 7 Pacifists, others, plan new radical grouping

By Robin Maisel As the discussion went on it became 'Y NEW YORK, July 2- The group which s­ clear that the majority of the group sup­ re walked out of the Student Mobilization ported the Morse-Cagan-Goldberg po­ Committee Continuations Committee meet­ :e sition. ing June 29 has set up a new organization Brent Garren of the exclusionist wing of called the Radical Organizing Committee the New York High School Student Mobi­ ,n (ROC) which will "organize students re lization Committee stated that his group around things they want to do." had decided to become a high school stu­ 01- A few hours after walking out of the dents' union, organizing on issues such le SMC, the first meeting of the group took as dress codes, smoking in class, and 1- place in the basement of the Washington le Square Methodist Church. About 65 people student control of curriculum. photo by Ring were present. Eleven of these said they The closest the group came to a concrete APRIL 27. High school students formed oneofthe major contingents in massive were from outside New York. formulation of their aims was "to organize s­ demonstration against the war in New York, and in other cities. A few members of the Young Socialist students around things they want to do." n a new multi-issue organization. The idea previously not in contact with SMC sudden­ Alliance who had gone to observe the Exactly what that would mean in practice was not completely clear. h of antiwar demonstrations received scant ly sprouted at several college and high meeting were excluded after a good deal attention at their organizing meeting. school campuses in the area.) When this of discussion. Many at the meeting were In the discussion over structure, Bob 1e The majority who remained in the SMC, was challenged and it was proposed to disturbed by this action. Later in the Gottlieb proposed that a special type of evening the exclusion of YSA and Socialist IS on the other hand, will continue to play resolve the issue by simply utilizing the membership be set up for members of Workers Party members from observing 1- a most valuable role in mobilizing a broad principle of one man, one vote, they bolted "disciplined political groups" whereby they the meeting was reversed when Fred Hal­ h would have only a single spokesman for coalition of organizations and unaffiliated from the conference. Unwilling to stay stead, SWP candidate for President, came d individuals for significant actions against and fight for their political positions, they their views. Brent Garren suggested that to the church. members of such groups be denied the y the war. Taking their stand at a moment left before a vote could even be taken Upon his arrival the discussion centered right to vote or serve on the steering when others in the movement are retreating on the procedural issue. around whether he should be excluded committee of the new organization. y from this position gives added importance After the exclusionists' departure, the or allowed to stay. Clark Lobenstein of l­ to their commitment. meeting acted on the previously reported the University Christian Movement stated Mike Zagarell stated that the Gottlieb IS The walkout, which occurred the first resolution and established a provisional that the presence of Halstead was not formula might be interpreted as exclu­ afternoon of the conference, symbolized Working Committee with representatives disrupting the meeting, but that the meet­ sionary. His organization had no desire te the difference between the two groups. from various parts of the country and ing was disrupting itself by arguing over to take over the new group, he stated. As the exclusionists departed, they with openings held for all those wishing the question. A motion was then passed ''We could have brought a lot of our Com­ shouted in unison: "Up against. the wall!" to join in. Several temporary secretaries overwhelmingly to allow Halstead to stay. munist Party youth members to pack the a and exploded fuecrackers. The several were also selected. At the slated Labor The group then decided to meet the next Continuations Committee meeting [of il hundred antiwar activists who remained Day conference, it was agreed, a structure day. SMC]," he said, ''but we didn't, even though l.t vigorously responded to this with: "Bring would be established and regular officers Second Meeting we were asked to by independents." n the troops home now!" selected. Sunday morning, about 60 members of Zagarell then reassured the body that he y This incident typifies the contrast between A delegation was sent to the meeting the walk-out group met. did not think it was exclusionary to fire is the two groups. From the outset, the ex­ of the departed group asking them to Linda Morse outlined the agenda for the the two YSAers from the staff of SMC. day. ''We should discuss who we are, where >f clusionists had tried to achieve their participate in the coalition, either as pre­ In a poll of the meeting it was discovered we are going, what we are going to do n political aims, not by spelling them out viously or as a new affiliate. that they did not have any people there and how we are going to organize our­ t- from the West or South, and only three before the movement, but by organiza­ During the period when the conference selves." lr from the Midwest. tional maneuvers. was split into two groups, Myron Shapiro The first item of business was the re­ te First were the exclusionist firings. Then of the Veterans and Reservists to End ception of a delegation from the Student ''We don't have a student leader like the refusal to call the mandated conference the War in Vietnam served as impartial Mobilization Committee. The delegation Danny the Red who everyone will follow," w in the Midwest and the substitution of a chairman. After the one group left, he invited the group to join the SMC, either complained Phyllis Kalb. ~r Continuations Committee meeting in New withdrew as chairman and Mark Gunther, as an organization or as individuals, to ''Phyllis," interjected Allen Gross of Queens )­ York, the only place they had any strength chairman of the Columbia University In­ carry on the work of building mass mobi­ College, ''we don't say that Danny the Red n at all. Then came an effort to pack the dependent Committee on Vietnam, was lizations to bring the troops home now. is a student leader. We say that he has just [,~ meeting with questionable delegates from elected chairman for the balance of the Nancy Jewlett, chairman of the meeting been thrown up by the bourgeois press." h New York. (A variety of organizations conference. and a member of the University Christian Organization Movement ( UCM), thanked the delegation The discussion proceeded to the question for the invitation, but stated that a reply of finding a staff and an office. A staff was would have to wait until the new group selected, and the national office will be in was better organized. Philadelphia. The special attraction of Phil­ FIGHTERS TAKE FIRM STAND A motion to exclude YSA members from adelphia for Bob Gottlieb was that unlike observing the meeting was then made and New York, Philadelphia would be less likely e charges against Kipp and Syd. Also, the Morse will be taken in by the hysteria quickly defeated, with only six votes in to breed and perpetuate ''bureaucracy," a ;t high-school exclusionists raised issues to­ of the Joe McCarthy variety that we wit­ favor. characteristic of New York, according to n tally unrelated to an antiwar organization nessed in the high-school caucus yesterday, For the next three hours the body de­ Gottlieb. liberated over a series of proposals on what s (such .as the need to organize strikes to instigated by a small group of people A lively interchange took place over the the new organization should be. Proposals e allow girls to wear slacks to school), who call themselves radicals, but who are name of the new organization. New Left considered included those for a radical saying that "that's where the struggle is at." in fact shifting more and more to the right. student union, a nuclear disarmament or­ Federation (NLF) was rejected on three And finally, there was considerable red­ We want to expose the Vietnam war, ganization, a new political party, a counts: Many students are not sympathetic I­ baiting. We tried to focus the discussion racism and the draft for what they really literature distribution service organization, to the National Liberation Front of Viet­ I­ on the Vietnam war; political exclusion are. And the most militant way we can an umbrella student union for all student nam which has the same initials; the group e in the SMC; the refusal by the SMC ex­ express our opposition to the suppression groups, and a coalition based upon op­ did not want to appear as simply an anti­ t­ clusionary caucus to call a national con­ of the Vietnamese Revolution and our position to racism and the Vietnam war. war organization; and it did not want e ference; and the need to build massive support of the right of self-determination The two proposals receiving the most to appear as a coalition or federation of 0 actions, such as the student strike and for Vietnam, and protest the killing of discussion were one presented by a group groups, but rather as a membership or­ d demonstrations against the war. over 25,000 Gis, is to get out and de­ of "independents" who supported the ex­ ganization. clusion of YSA from the SMC, and one 1- Two sets of resolutions came out of monstrate in the streets of New York and The name, Student Peace Movement, was presented by Mike Zagarell of the Com­ a the high-school caucus. Only the exclu­ in cities across the United States to bring received cooly and a suggestion for a name sionist caucus resolution was allowed to the troops home now! munist Party, who also supported ex­ including the word "alliance" was booed clusionism in the SMC. s be read and passed. It called for ""orga­ In light of the recent revolutionary up­ down. The selection of Radical Organizing Zagarell proposed that the new orga­ nizing" not "mobilizing" in the high-schools, surge in France, which involved thousands Committee was greeted with applause and y nization take the form of a coalition around d a reaffirmation of the policy of political of high-school students, we propose that the was adopted. high-school section of the antiwar move­ a limited number of issues such as racism, Art Goldberg suggested that concrete g nonexclusion, and a reaffirmation of the the war, the draft, etc. He said that the ment become an international movement steps should be taken to "protect" the new firing of Kipp and Syd from the SMC Student Mobilization Committee, from by calling for simultaneous high-school committee. "We are liable to find ROC staff. This is the boldest contra diction of all. which they had just bolted, had been suc­ v demonstrations in the cities of the U. S. groups in places like Detroit and Minnea­ We of the nonexclusionary high-school cessful because it "fills a vacuum" on the n polis," Goldberg complained. His fear that caucus submitted the following resolution and Europe to show our international campuses by mobilizing students in a coali­ solidarity with the Vietnamese. "the trots" (at least those west of the Hudson) 1- to the Continuations Committee: tion for mass action. We call upon all high-school students, Art Goldberg, Leslie Cagan and Linda would try to take over was alleviated ( 1) We call for the reinstatement of Kipp regardless of political affiliation, to return Morse, exclusionists from the former Work­ somewhat when Jewlett of UCM suggest­ Dawson and Syd Stapleton to the staff to the tradition the antiwar movement ing Committee of the SMC, and Bob Gott­ ed setting up a credentials committee to of the SMC. has followed over the last three years, lieb of Students for a Democratic Society examine local groups before they were e ( 2) We reaffirm the policy of political by uniting to build the high-school anti­ put forward the position that the new orga­ given accreditation as chapters of ROC. ,,' nonexclusion in the SMC. war movement to bring the troops home nization should not be a coalition but a Goldberg volunteered to serve on such r (3) We support the call for an SMC now! membership organization. a committee. s national conference. Laurie Perkus, NYHSSMC Political Agreement The ROC will try to measure the re­ 'l (4) We demand adherence to national­ Arlene Lagares, NYHSSMC The point of agreement between the two sponse of students to the new organization d conference mandates, passed unanimously Roland Lagares, NYHSSMC in the next few months, and a decision il positions .was the exclusion of the YSA in January in Chicago, to build mass Kenneth Bell, NYHSSMC and opposition to forming a coalition will be made as to whether or not to 1- demonstrations against the war in Vietnam. Mark Rosensweig, NYHSSMC for mass demonstrations against the war. hold a national conference. It We do not believe that the members of David Fine, Wilmington, Del. Phyllis Kalb of the Communist Party l- the NYHSSMC exclusionary caucus repre­ Peter Gellert, Long Is. HSSMC and an exclusionist from the old Working sent the 250,000 New York City high­ Gordon Fox, Detroit HSSMC Committee of SMC spelled it out. "I'm s school students who struck and demonstrat­ Eric Sell, Detroit HSSMC against the YSA concept of mass 1- ed against the war on April 26 and 27. Louise Goodman, Detroit HSSMC demonstrations. I'm just tired of them." d Nor does the small clique in New York Dave Watson, Detroit HSSMC Bob Gottlieb cautioned the group at I­ represent the national high-school anti­ Steve Stewart, Twin Cities HSSMC one point, "Although we all feel like n war movement. Carrie Zilsel, Cleveland SMC brothers because we all hate the trots e Nor do we believe that most of the high­ Elinor Schuman, Walton, NY [Trotskyists], that isn't enough of a basis d school students who walked out with Linda Fran Seigal, Walton, NY for a new organization." Page 8 THE MILITANT Friday, July 12, 1968 ... De Gaulle vote (Continued from page 5) content of "participation" was likewise not zeal to end the demonstrations, which are spelled out. What the Stalinist bureaucrats likewise inimical to elections. had in mind, no doubt, was a few posts And instead of reminding the electorate as in the memorable days of de Gaulle's of how de Gaulle smashed the former first regime following World War II when electoral system so that the National As­ they saved French capitalism from the sembly was reduced to a body of but "threat" of socialism by persuading the little significance in the governmental struc­ Resistance fighters to turn in their guns and ture, with representation in that body "re­ the workers to refrain from striking in adjusted" to cut down Communist Party order not to interfere with production. representation in particular, the Stalinist This line failed to convince the con­ bureaucrats campaigned against the "left­ servative petty-bourgeois layers whose ists" and "provocateurs" who wanted to fears the CP sought to allay. It was a take advantage of the revolutionary op­ costly line in another respect, for it failed portunity that had been presented to the to inspire the working class, to say the French people. least. A study of the concrete voting pat­ The Communist Party refrained from tern in key districts shows in fact that calling attention to a point made even the CP failed to gain in predominantly by liberal bourgeois voices. Not only were petty-bourgeois districts, while in the young workers and the hundreds of thou­ famous "red belt" in the Paris area, absten­ sands of youth who had been active in tions among workers who traditionally the high-school and university agitation vote Communist was unusually high. The barred from participating in the election rightward shift of the CP failed to pay off because of their age level, but some 250, with votes from the petty bourgeoisie which 000, who had come of age since the reg­ might have compensated in the electoral istration of voters at the beginning of the arena for the losses on the left among the year, were denied their legal righttovote­ revolutionary-minded layers wh9 had be­ the Gaullist regime refusing to open the come convinced through experience that the registration lists and bring them up to road to workers power does not run date. through a bourgeois parliament. De Gaulle's third important action was to open a witch-hunt. This began with CP Slanders Rebel Students speeches by prominent Gaullists like Pom­ The salient feature of the Communist pidou and by de Gaulle himself about an Party's electoral campaign, however, was alleged "plot" for a "Communist takeover" the fire directed at the rebel students and in France. Special fire was directed by revolutionary organizations that had these orators against the "leftists" and "pro­ dared to try to outflank the Stalinist chief­ vocateurs" who had started the street dem­ tains from the left. Waldeck Rochet and his COPS BEAT STUDENT. French special police attacked student and young onstrations and the general strike. The next lieutenants protested de Gaulle's charges step was deportation of foreigners, parti­ worker demonstrations early in May. But example of struggle put up by these about a "Communist plot" to take over cularly youth, accused of participating France but that was all they protested. young people fired whole working class, which then entered battle. Now, cow­ in the demonstrations. They did not protest the Gaullist slanders ardly CP leaders are attempting to blame revolutionary youth for their own Then the revolutionary organizations, levelled against the revolutionary orga­ failures. both youth and adult, were banned. This nizations and students who had inspired was· immediately followed by raids on Having exposed de Gaulle's plot to grant ism- can be reproduced tomorrow with the demonstrations. They did not pro­ some very impressive economic conces­ greatly increased gravity ifaresolutedeter­ their headquarters and on the homes of test the deportation of foreigners- they mination to profoundly modify our ob­ their leaders. A number of arrests were sions to the working masses, the Com­ echoed the ultraright line about Daniel jectives and methods is not very quickly made and these political prisoners were munist Party itself stands exposed for what Cohn-Bendit being a "German Jew." They displayed. n held incommunicado, in some important it really is-a true party of "law and did not protest the police raids on the instances until after the first round of order," standing up "responsibly" against The truth is that the economic conces­ headquarters of these organizations or the elections. the "excessive demands" of the workers sions granted under the pressure of May on the homes of their members. They which de Gaulle granted. "events" can be wiped out in perhaps rec­ Revolutionary Organizations Muzzled did not protest the political arrests L 'Humanite's lament over the loss of ord time- a jump in the price of bread Thus one of the prominent features of carried out by de Gaulle's police. votes presumably occasioned by each bar­ was permitted by the government within the "free" elections staged by de Gaulle Just the contrary. They joined in the ricade and each "automobile set on fire" a few days after it reached agreement with was the muzzling of the revolutionary Gaullist witch-hunt. is truly pitiful. What did they expect in an the trade-union bureaucracies (principally organizations so that their voice could On June 24, stung by the defeat suffered election conducted according to de Gaulle's the Communist Party union leaders) on not be heard. From this it can be judged in aP election conducted according to the rules? Why did they agree to participate the Grenelle formula for wage increases. how unstable de Gaulle considered the rules of the game specified by de Gaulle, in such a fraud? Why were they so eager The renewal of the class struggle, if it situation to be as the country wentthrough and now faced with the task of explaining to accept de Gaulle's bait? begins within the period immediately the ritual of dropping paper ballots in to their own members how they came to Worst of all, perhaps, is their assumption ahead, as seems most likely, will proceed boxes to determine who should sit in a be mouse-trapped by the 78-year-old gen­ that de Gaulle would have abided by the from the political level reached at the close largely token National Assembly. eral, the Stalinist general staff sought to results of the election if they had gone of the May events. This will greatly en­ This explains, too, why another feature hance the chances for a swift success no blame it all on the revolutionary-minded against his expectations. of the "free electionS' staged by de Gaulle students and the banned organizations that matter what the machinations of the Gaull­ was the order to have the troops stand by. Outside of the Communist Party strate­ had been involved in the demonstrations. ists and the Stalinists may be. The Communist Party bureaucrats went gists, virtually all knowledgeable observers The danger remains, however, that the along with de Gaulle's game to the bitter of the French scene hold that the current L'Humanite Editorial French bourgeoisie will now do their ut­ end. elections solved nothing basic whatsoever most to strengthen the most reactionary They did their best to present themselves In a front-page editorial signed by Rene in France. forces in the country in order, through as the loyal opposition to de Gaulle, de­ Andrieu, the June 24 l'Humanitedeclared: In its postelection editorial of July 2, repressive measures-including extr apar­ serving full credit for saving the country "It is clear that the blackmail of threat­ for example, Le Moncie warned the bour­ liamentary means- to block a repetition in an hour of desperate peril. With breath­ ening civil war bore fruit and that it in­ geois world: "Just the same, nothing has of the scare they suffered in May. This taking lack of logic they at the same time fluenced the most backward layers of the been settled. It was not at all due to some course, however, is filled with pitfalls, for explained to members troubled in con­ population. That was the essential objective 'splinter groups' being caught in a squeeze it can have just the opposite result from science about the party's failure to respond of the Gaullist strategy- in this it succeeded. between the Gaullist majority and the Com­ the one aimed at. The threat of fascism in to a revolutionary situation that actually "The extravagances, the provocations, munist Party that such large numbers of France, or of a military dictatorship like no revolutionary situation had existed at the useless violence- naturally deliberately youth chose to revolt and the strikes spread the one in Greece, can serve to arouse the all. magnified and expanded in the govern­ everywhere. The same causes normally working class and precipitate a showdown The main slogan ofthe·CommunistParty ment's propaganda- committed by the left­ produce the same effects, the 'events' of that would signify the doom of French was "For a Popular Government and a ist groups manipulated by the Minister of yesterday- to adopt the current euphem- capitalism. Democratic Union." What this meant was the Interior, resulted as could be expected. not spelled out in detaiL The target, how­ It will doubtless prove interesting for his­ ------clip and mail ------ever, was the "monopolies"; so that it can tory to ascertain exactly who took the be deduced that the Communist Party ad­ initiative in the 'barricades' of Rue Gay­ vocated a government of the "liberal" or Lussac, even if some students in good faith "progressive" bourgeoisie "with the parti­ let themselves be caught in the police snare. cipation of the Communist Party." The Each barricade, each automobile set on Special to New Readers fire turned several hundred thousands of JCR buHons 25( votes over to the Gaullist party. That is the truth of the matter." If you would like to get better acquainted with THE MILITANT, you

Absurd Conclusion may obtain a special, introductory four-month subscription for $J. (If A more revealing statement could scarce­ you're already sold on the paper, you can help out by sending a reg­ ly be expected. L 'Humanite ended up by ular one-year subscription for $3.) adopting de Gaulle's thesis that the May events were the result of a plot! Except that the plot was cooked up by de Gaulle 0 Enclosed is $1 for a 4 month introductory subscription. instead of the Communist Party. The logical conclusion to this is that in 0 Enclosed is $3 for a 1 year regular subscription. order to grant the strikers wage gains ranging as high as 20 percent, de Gaulle NAME . required them to stage a general strike. To get the general strike, he had to stir up the students and get them to build STREET. On orders of 20 or more, 17c each. barricades to serve as a "detonator." De Order from: Young Socialist Alliance, Gaulle's trip to Rumania and Pompidou's CITY STATE ZIP P. 0. Box 471, Cooper Station, New trip to the Middle East thus constituted a York, N.Y. 10003 wily ruse to cover up the most crucial days of the conspiracy. Send to: The Militant, 873 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10003 Friday, July 12, 1968 THE MILITANT Page 9 Gl morale at new low SDS convention beset d u r~~od~ "pea.. ~~~~,~~. 1~.~m by factional disputes JULY 2- Escalation of the war in Viet- of duty are especially bitter, according nam is continuing at an even more rapid to the article. They "fmd the areas they By Carol Lipman There were others who didn't agree with rate, now that Washington is playing up had 'won' on their first tour being con- EAST LANSING, Mich.- The national PL politically, but opposed this redbaiting the negotiations in Paris in an attempt tested again." convention of Students for a Democratic and defended PL's right to stay in SDS. to mask its real intentions. The morale of dictator Thieu's South Society, held here June 10-15, was beset Their disagreements with Progressive La­ The U.S. News & World Report of June Vietnamese conscripts is no better. U.S. by a bitter faction fight. After three full bor may have been on any number of 24 reveals the real state of affairs in the News states that "Thedesertionrateamong days of workshops and three more days questions flowing from PL's Maoist per­ first sentence of its lead article: "Suddenly, South Vietnamese soldiers, always an in- of plenary sessions, the convention passed spective. PL's position opposing Soviet aid in the midst of so-called peace talks in dicator of troop morale, has shot up- no programmatic resolutions (except a to North Vietnam was clearly rejected by Paris, American war casualties in Vietnam while the defection rate among Communist minor one) and spent 12 full hours electing the majority of delegates, for example. are rising at a record rate. . . . soldiers has plummeted." its national officers. But they were turned off by the red baiting "Twenty thousand American men will While Washington feeds the American There was a feeble attempt to develop and by the inability of the leadership to be killed in Vietnam this year, atthecurrent public trivia about Harriman in Paris, a strategy for SDS in a resolution sub­ present a revolutionary perspective in op­ rate, and 120,000 will be wounded. That soldiers' unhappiness with the war ha~ is more than in all previous years of increased manyfold. Gls have been among mitted for discussion by three leading SDS position to PL. Many left the convention the war combined." the first to see that the Paris talks are members: Bernadine Dohrn, Tom Bell and early. For this reason, the hoopla about peace just another big lie. U. S. New & World Steve Halliwell. The debate ended after a few hours, talks is apparently quite unconvincing to Report sums up the feeling of the soldiers: The passage of this resolution would and the body got to the business of electing the Gls in Vietnam, who see an ever larger "Bitter realism is the mood now." have been a step away from the organi­ a national leadership. percentage of their buddies being killed. zation's developing revolutionary answers Mike Klonsky from Los. Angeles, the 'fhe u: S. News & World Report article to the major questions of the day. single nominee for national secretary, was goes on to say that '"the mood of many The French revolt has shattered the myth elected, although there was a substantial Americans [in Vietnam]- civilians and mil­ put forward by spokesmen of the "new "no" vote. Bernadine Dohrn was elected itary- has changed almost overnight. left," including Herbert Marcuse, that the national interorganizational secretary and "Instead of a 'gung ho' attitude about industrial working class is incapable of Les Coleman was defeated by Fred Gordon winning the war, a deep lethargy has set fighting for social change. for the post of national educational in." According to the article, only the top But the makers of the resolution ignored secretary. brass continue "to echo an optimistic Ad­ the lessons of the French revolt. They based Elections for the National Interim Com­ ministration line about 'steady progress.' their perspective on Marcuse's theory that mittee (NIC) took two ballots. Elected on "Talk to the lower echelons- officers and the relationship between labor and produc­ enlisted men, career employees and civil­ the first ballot were: Mike James, Mike tion has changed and that the industrial Spiegle, and Carl Oglesby. On the second ians on temporary contracts- and you working class is not the prime instrument hear a different story. At this level, the ballot Chip Marshall, Jeff Jones, Barty for social change. U.S. effort in Vietnam is talked about Haile, Eric Mann and Spector were elected. openly and frankly as a lost cause." The Many SDSers rejected this resolution be­ Those elected represented a layer in SDS demoralization has spread, according to cause of its position on the working class. most factionally opposed to PL. U.S. News, from draftees to even career Since no other resolution offering a poli­ The last day of the convention was officers: "Young servicemen, in for one tical perspective for SDS was presented, the poorly attended. All resolutions were hitch, have always kept their 'short-time resolution was defeated by a slim margin. tabled, except for a minor one on the calendars' to mark off the days until they Thus, no political perspective for the orga­ military. No resolution was passed on the return to the U.S. Today you see battalion nization was adopted. 1968 elections. and brigade commanders- career of­ Bitter Struggle There was a general sentiment in the ficers- just as anxious to get their tours The faction fight hit the floor during a convention against candidates of the Dem­ of duty over and clear out." debate on the structure of the organization. ocratic and Republican parties. Most Two main structural changes were pro­ viewed the McCarthy campaign as a threat posed. While these would have meant little to the radical character of their 'Jrganiza­ actual change in the functioning of SDS, tion. The Socialist Workers ticket of In solidarity with french each grouping saw the victory of one or Halstead and Boutelle was not discussed, the other resolution as a victory for itself. but over 40 more SDSers became endorsers One resolution, written primarily by Jeff of the socialist campaign at the convention. Segal, an SDS leader presently in prison A resolution in support of the Peace and revolutionists for antidraft activity, was viewed as a Freedom Party was discussed, but it was proposal for more "structure" or centraliza­ tabled because of the nonrepresentative tion. The other, presented by an anarchist character of the gathering at that point. posters grouping, was viewed as favoring decen­ There was no discussion of the most tralization. important political issue facing the radical 50( A majority of voting delegates supported movement in the U.S.- the war in Viet­ the first resolution. But, because of a pro­ nam and the antiwar movement. Reproductions of posters put out vision requiring a two-thirds majority to by revolutionary students in France. change the constitution, it was blocked. A nonprofit project in solidarity Delegates who were members of the Mao­ with French revolutionists. ist-Stalinist Progressive Labor Party were Rally to protest Newton the largest single grouping opposed to the order from: Segal resolution, and hostility towards PL broke out on the floor. During the frame-up set for July 15 debate, one SDSer accused PL of being in Young Socialist Alliance By Jim Kendrick P. 0. Box 4 71, Cooper Station SDS only to recruit to PL. He said PL SAN FRANCISCO- In response to a New York, N.Y. 10003 wasn't interested in allowing SDS to devel­ op its own revolutionary perspective and call from Black Panther Party leader El­ that PL was blocking political discussion dridge Cleaver to all sympathetic orga­ and debate among the "real" SDSers. At nizations, the Free Huey Committee I'Enrage that point an anti-PL demonstration took h11s been formed here to organize a protest place on the floor. demonstration on July 15 at the Oakland A frustrated body of delegates spent the Court House to demand freedom for Huey A reprint of a cartoon magazine Newton. evening discussing what was happening to put out by French students (Action Newton, a founding member and leader Committee No. 1) on the revolu­ SDS, and some caucused straight through of the Black Panther Party, will come to tionary developments there. This edi­ the night. trial July 15 on the frame-up charge of tion, published by Berkeley, Calif. Elections "murdering" an Oakland cop on the night radical bookstore "Granma," con­ When the session opened the next day of Oct. 28, 1967. On that night Huey New­ tains English translations and ex­ and the election of national officers was ton and an associate were driving down planations. before the body, only one person accepted an Oakland street and were stopped by A nonprofit project published in nomination for the top post of national a cop for an alleged traffic violation. The solidarity with the revolutionary stu­ secretary. One accepted nomination for cop ordered Newton to get out of his car. dents of France. national interorganizational secretary, and Newton refused. In the ensuing struggle, two accepted nomination for national edu­ several shots were fired. Newton was se­ 16 pages two colors cational secretary. riously wounded in the abdomen, and Some from the floor demanded the right one policeman died. The cops were cleared to cast "no" votes, while others were calling of any crime; Newton was charged with 50( the elections a mockery of the organiza­ murder. Order from: tion and still others were requesting time The July 15 demonstration will begin to caucus to convince other people to run. the process of bringing maximum local, national and international pressure to bear Granma Bookstore Merit Publishers Tom Bell then grabbed the microphone and 2519A Telegraph or 873 Broadway delivered a 15-minute red-baiting attack on the Oakland city government and police department to free Huey Newton and clear Berkeley, Calif. New York, N.Y. on Progressive Labor. He said that PL shouldn't be allowed to exist within SDS. him of the frame-up "murder" charge. With the cry of "PL out!"- picked up by Cleaver, in his call for the demonstration, a majority of the delegates in a roaring, emphasized the importance of a broad, clapping chant- Bell ended his speech. united action involving all layers of the Debate community, black and white. A cool-headed chairman organized the The Free Huey Committee has the support of many groups and orga­ convention into a three-way debate between nizations, including the Young Socialist the supporters of Bell, supporters of PL Alliance, the Peace and Freedom Party, and the neutrals. This debate exposed the the Socialist Workers Party, the Indepen­ inability of a large number of SDSers to dent Socialist Club and the Progressive develop a political analysis of PL, and Labor Party. Inquiries and donations their failure to do this led them to oppose should be sent to the committee, care of PL on a purely factional and organiza­ Karen Wald, 55 Colton St., San Francisco, tional basis. Calif. Page 10 THE MILITANT Friday, July 12, 1968 Black Liberation Notes French left asks According to the June 7 issue of Muham­ the next six months without a cease-fire mad Speaks, an international campaign and massive help." has been launched to free Fatima Birnawi, This is a war that nobody seems to a 27-year-old Palestinian black woman, care about. The two-faced morality of the West is revealed in this situation. While aid in rights fight from an Israeli jail. Fatima, a member of the Palestinian liberation organization, the imperialist nations will intervene in AI Fatah, was accused of putting a bomb the Congo to save a few white mission­ The revolutionary groups in France ban­ in an Israeli movie house and attempting aries, nobody will help save the starving ned by de Gaulle are waging a struggle to blow up the communications system Biafrans. But then, of course, the Western against the repression directed againsttheir of the UN supervisory headquarters in powers do not operate by the principles organizations and members. They are Jerusalem. of morality but by the dictates of their fighting for the right to exist and function­ The Israeli occupiers have given her political and economic interests. to speak, to hold meetings, to publish life imprisonment. Already Fatima has newspapers -without the threat of arrest become a symbol of struggle to the Palesti­ • which now hangs over them for simply nian Arabs in their fight against Zionist Periodicals exercising their rights. occupation. In Khartoum, the capital of In the April-May edition of The Black In addition to filing in court a series of the Sudan, demonstrations of up to 20, Conscience magazine, there is a reprint legal briefs demanding the lifting of the 000 people have occurred. These actions in full of the Merit Publishers pamphlet, illegal bans, the French revolutionists in­ were sponsored by the Sudanese Women's "Case for a Black Party." The Black tend to carry on a step-by-step action League and the Sudanese Cultural Club. Conscience is put out by the Organization campaign to reestablish their rights. They When Fatima was asked by an Israeli of Afro-American Education in Detroit. intend to publish newspapers, sell them in periodical if there can be peaceful coex­ It can be obtained by sending SOc to: the streets, hold public meetings and speak istence between Jews and Arabs in Pales­ The Black Conscience, 8661 Grand River, as individual revolutionists. Each of these tine, she replied, 'Why not? But the first Detroit, Michigan 48204. acts will be a test of de Gaulle's repressive condition must be that we regain our The June edition of the Inner City Voice decree, and a reassertion of the right of country, that before anything else can be is off the press. The lead article is on a all the banned organizations to function. solved." wildcat strike by black workers at Chrysler At any stage, de Gaulle may decide to • assembly plant in Detroit. Along with arrest or otherwise harass the revolution­ The civil war in Nigeria enters its second articles on police brutality, there is one ists. But each time one of these acts is year this month. Millions of people have on the visit of Black Panthers Kathleen successfully carried out, it will be a step been killed and maimed. The causes of Cleaver and Bill Brunt to the offices of toward the complete reassertion of the war lay not in Lagos, the capital of Ni­ the ICV. Check out the Voice. If you want democratic rights of the organizations. geria, or in Enugu, the capital of seces­ to get a copy of the Voice or send cor:­ An international solidarity campaign in sionist Biafra, but in London and Lisbon. tributions, write to : Inner City Voice, behalf of the victims of the Gaullist repres­ Alain Krivine Although the issues aremurkyandmuddy, 8661 Grand River, Detroit, Mich. 48204. sion has been set in motion in Belgium. of the revolutionary movement." it is obvious that some blame must be A new publication, the Afro-Americans An international solidarity fund has been The May events, according to him, put laid at the door of the federal government for Halstead and Boutelle Newsletter, has established to make it possible for the the problem of worker-student relations in Lagos for the continuation of the war. just recently come out. The main article French revolutionists to carry on both in a new light. "Up until now, this re­ An article in the July 3 New York Times deals with the question of why black people their legal fight and the step-by-step chal­ lationship has been understood in terms described how millions of people are suffer­ should support the Socialist Workers Party lenge of the ban. of discussions with the trade-union leader­ ing from malnutrition and starving to campaign. It also carries an article on Emil Van Ceulen, a veteran leader of ships. In other cases (this was the notion death in Biafra because of a shortage of some of the activities of Paul Boutelle, the Belgian labor movement, who is secre­ of the ''pro-Chinese") the students wanted food. According to Dr. Herman Middle­ vice-presidential candidate of the SWP. To tary of the fund, has made an appeal to put 'themselves' in the service of the koop, a rural health specialist represent­ get a copy or make contributions, write for contributions, which are needed im­ working "class." These two concepts failed. ing the World Council of Churches, "Several to: Anthony Thomas, cjo Socialist Work­ mediately. He has asked that checks be The May events showed that students could million people are likely to be dead by ers Campaign Committee, 873 Broadway, made out to Emil Van Ceulen and sent play the role of a "spark," helping to open the end of August, and I have no doubt New York, N.Y. 10003. to: up a frozen political situation. These events that even six million people will die in -Derrick Morrison Emil Van Ceulen, Secretary, Fonds de also proved that students can play a role Solidarite contre la Repression en France, of 'model' in offering examples of direct 111 Avenue Seghers, Brussels 8, Belgium. action and new forms of struggle able * * * to make the government give ground." The Paris daily Le Monde printed the Halstead will go to Vietnam following story June 28 on a press con­ * * * ference held by Alain Krivine, a leader Gilles Martinet, a member of the editor­ of the Jeunesse Communiste Revolution­ ial board of the Paris weekly, Le Nouvel naire (JCR- Revolutionary Communist Observateur, denounced the ban in the July to talk to American soldiers Youth): 19 issue of the magazine. 'We all knew- and the police knew for Alain Krivine, member of the national dead sure-the Jeunesse Communiste Rev­ bureau of the Jeunesse Communiste Revo­ In August, Fred Halstead, Socialist In order to pay for travel and living olutionnaire, the March 22 Movement, and, lutionnaire (a recently dissolved orga­ Workers Party candidate for President, expenses for the trip, $7,500 must be in a more episodic way, the Federation of will travel to Saigon to discuss the Viet­ raised. nization), accompanied by Pierre Rous­ set, held a "clandestine" press conference Revolutionary Students, as well as the nam war with American Gis. He will also "pro-Chinese" formations, spearheaded all be stopping in Japan to participate in the Coupons like the one below are being in Paris on Wednesday [June 26]. He protested the measure against his move­ the demonstrations that transpired in Paris Beheiren (Japan Peace for Vietnam Com­ sold to help raise money for the trip. Each from May 3 to 13," Martinet said. mittee) conference to be held in Kyoto, coupon costs $1 and will cover the costs ment. and to attend Hiroshima and Nagasaki of sending Halstead three miles to Saigon "The government knows perfectly well memorial meetings and actions. (and back!). that it has no evidence against us,"he stated. ''We never constituted an armed militia. Our relations with other revolutionary groups abroad are officially stated and known to all. Thus, there is by no means any plot involved. We received no directives nor any subsidy from abroad. We call BERKELEY on the government therefore to prove the CLASSES ON SOCIALISM. Every Sunday, 8:00 p.m. accusations it has made against us, to 2519A Telegraph Ave. Ausp. Berkeley YSA. make them in a public trial." Krivine added • that the JCR monitors, who made up the CHICAGO essential part of the monitors of UNEF FRANCE 1968: REVOWTIONARY PERSPECTIVES. [Union National des Etudiants Francais­ Sun., July 14, 7 p.m. Speaker: Barry Sheppard, editor, National Union of French Students], had The Militant. 302 S. Canal St. Contribution: 35c. Ausp. always been purely for self-defense and had Socialist Summer School. always had orders to avoid clashes with • the police." DETROIT Krivine declared that the [mass] move­ SOCIALIST SUMMER SCHOOL Sat., July 13: The ment was now in a period of stagnation Workers' States; Sat., July 27: The Cuban Revolution; Sat., Aug. 10: Fascism; Sat., Aug. 24: Black National­ and that it would revive in the coming . ism. I 1:30 a.m.-4:00p.m. Debs Hall, 3737 Woodward. months. "Our present objective is not to For more information call831-6135. organize new demonstrations or to sabo­ tage the elections but to consolidate and CUBA. A series of lectures and discussions. Fri., organize the revolutionary vanguard in July 12: Cuba Before the Revolution: A People Under order to prepare it to intervene more co­ the Heel of Imperialism; Fri., July 19: The Struggle far herently and with more precise goals. A Power: The Revolutionary War and the Evolution of ------clip and mail------revolutionary front must be created which Leadership. 8:00 p.m. Debs Hall, 3737 Woodward. would constitute a permanent political For more information call 831-6135. Ausp. Friday Socialist Workers National Campaign CommiHee force to the left of the CP. This would Night Socialist Forum. 873 Broadway, New Yorlc, N.Y. be a step in the direction of forming a party. On the other hand, discussions must LOS ANGELES• be carried forward so as to formulate FRENCH REVOWTION BETRAYED- The Role of the Enclosed is$ ...... to send Fred Halstead ...... miles on his trip to Saigon. a transitional program for the passage French Communist Party in the May Events. Speaker: to socialism. Such discussions, for example, Joel Britton, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., July 12, I want to order ...... coupons to sell. should clarify the concept of workers 8:30 p.m. 1702 E. 4th St. Donation. Ausp. Militant control in the factories." Labor Forum. According to Krivine, France did ex­ • perience a revolutionary period in May NEW YORK Name .. and the seizure of power was then possible. THE MEANING OF THE IERKELEY BARRICADES. However, the attitude of the Communist Speaker: Peter Camejo, Berkeley student leader and Address. Party, "which accepted elections at the very SWP candidate lor U.S. Senate from Calif. Fri., July time when they were the only way out for 12, 8:30 p.m. 873 B'way, near 18th St. Contrib. Sl.OO. City ... .. State . . Zip the Gaullist government was a real betrayal Ausp. Militant Labar Forum . Friday, July 12, 1968 THE MILITANT Page 11 Background of steel contract negot1at1ons• • As the Aug. 1 strike deadline approaches, conditions for steelworkers today remain as archaic as they were 20 or more years ago. The United Steel Workers leaders give a lot of lip service to steelworkers' demands for a change, but come contract time, they always make deals with the steel barons. This has meant a real bonanza for the bosses, who have been able to finance in a loss, up to the present, of 40 cents their "modernization" programs directly out to 60 cents an hour, possibly more. Thus of the hides of the steelworkers. steelworkers are minus $15 to $20 in The work load per job and per worker their pay envelopes each week. continues to increase out of all proportion The second aspect of inequality is the to job description. A well-established pat­ wage scale itself, one of the lowest among tern of intimidation discourages rank-and­ organized workers today. The starting file initiative. The union bureaucrats go wage is $2.50 an hour. along with the companies on this. The Thirdly, in the steel industry, the great result is that the steel bosses are raking majority of workers, from 50 percent to in a bigger take from the steelworkers' 70 percent, are in the unskilled or semi­ DURING 1959 STRIKE. Striking steelworkers picketed home visited by Pres­ higher productivity. skilled categories. Thus the average wage ident Eisenhower in La Quinta, Calif. demanding Ike not use Taft-Hartley Underlying this situation are heavy­ for more than 50 percent of the steelwork­ Law against them. handed labor relations- the no-strike ers is $2.80 an hour, plus or minus a clause, the bosses' disciplinary powers, few cents. the cumbersome grievance procedure, Other contradictions aggravate this situa­ By Abel's own figure, there is a deep I. W. Abel had unbent a little by creating corporation control of work schedules, tion. Modernization programs insteelhave inequality among steelworkers themselves. "councils" allowing local union presidents the confining hours of work- all of which meant not only a reduction of the total If 60 percent are earning about $2.80 to "participate" in contract deliberations. are as bad as ever. work force in favor of electronically con­ an hour, then the remaining 40 percent Too often these local presidents are little Ask any steelworker and he will tell trolled operations and the elimination of are earning about $4.40 an hour (and more than flunkies for the 32 district you what a farce is made of the 40-hour several old processes, but also the dis­ there must be pronounced differences in directors, who form the upper crust of the week under the four-shift system, with no location of workers with seniority to other the second group, too). Thus a minority union. Thus rank-and-file demands, or weekend overtime; how generous foremen plants and other jobs at lower pay. Young of steelworkers earns better than $1.60 independent expression of them, have little are in handing out disciplinary memos; men entering the industry now have little more than the great majority of their chance of being heard. how many grievances get "buried" on the opportunity to move up the wage scale union brothers. The steelworkers themselves are the un­ way up the ladder. because of this situation. This has led to a demand- popular certain factor. among abroadstratum-foranimmediate The Wage Inequities I. W. Abel, United Steel Workers pres­ Many young men and more black work­ There are three aspects of the wages ident, says the average wage ofhis member­ cash increase of 50 cents an hour across the board. A modest enough demand! ers have entered the industry in recent system which put the steelworkers in a ship is now $3.40 an hour. Steelworkers years. In its drive to beat the strike dead­ continually worsening position among or­ know this is a false figure. Even as a basic Abuse of Incentive System The most unequal feature of the wage line, the steel industry has been compelled ganized workers. wage, compare it with the autoworkers, to institute a lot of overtime, which for The loss of the cost-of-living escalator or chemical and paperworkers, where the system is the so-called "incentive program." Difficult to believe, this system originated steelworkers has meant paying off old clause in the four-month strike of 1959 sons of my shopmates are starting out bills and acquiring a few more comforts. is an important factor. This has resulted at $3.30 an hour! with Carnegie and Frick in the 1890s in order to separate the skilled workers, Steelworkers are realistic. They know like the old hand rollers, from the mass of this exceptional rise in production is leading ; ., ... :·;'~~ ·.-- ::' ~- unskilled workers, and to break the drive to a slowdown in the industry this fall, for unionization. This system will be dif­ strike or no strike, and a return to the ficult to uproot. three to four-day week, to which they have SocietY .. Over the years it has produced a chaotic become accustomed, and which compelled Ihe GreOt 'them to moonlight in the first place. situation in steelworkers' wages. A crazy­ quilt of incentive pay has been built up This only sharpens their desire to see HARD DAY'S NIGHT- Sybil Burton about one third. However, even with the in steel union contracts. Basically, a key a genuine increase in their wages and Christopher, co-owner of Arthur's disco­ boost, retired lawmakers would have to worker- in the past, rolling mill operators, a real improvement in their conditions theque in New York, threw a party there scrape by on no morethan$24,000ayear. annealers and such- receives a percentage of work when the industry slows down. for Vidal Sassoon, a high-powered celebrity bonus per ton of steel produced by his If there is a strike, forced by the steel barber ($5,000 once tor trimming Mia THE GO-GO BOYS- According to a unit or department. He therefore pushes bosses, we will see whether this mood, Farrow). Highlight of the party was a New York Times survey, workers are all the men below him to get out the needed this desire for a real change, will turn hairdressing contest on live models for the winning longer vacations but busy top tonnage. in a militant direction. guest. Mrs. Christopher joined in. "I' never executives are taking shorter ones. If so, The struggle of other· workers to get The changes that have affected people did anything like this before," she confided. there could be a variety of reasons. Like into the incentive "plan" has only multi­ in the country as a whole in the recent "I can't even do my own hair. I fmd the maybe someone might notice that things plied the inequalities in pay. Thus an period may also be given unexpected ex­ whole thing so strenuous- reaching one's run quite well without them. Or perhaps anneal craneman makes as much as 60 pression by steelworkers on strike. arms up there around the head." they're concerned that in their absence cents more an hour than a fmishing-crane - Henry Austin their replacement may be oiling the shaft. operator. A skin-mill bander makes 30 WITH JUSTICE FOR ALL- New York Or maybe it's simply that someone who cents more than a fmishing bander. The cops apparently had a great time busting spends most of the year in hot pursuit of operators themselves can make as much an alleged sporting house in a luxurious a buck fmds it a bit pointless to just loll as $5 more an hour than the lowest man brownstone. "It was like a Roman orgy," on the beach. As Jack Benny once put it, on their unit. These pronounced inequities Dow man ducks one of the participating cops enthused. "What good is happiness- can it bring are oftPn compounded by deals made be­ "Some of them were even eating grapes." you money?" tween steel bosses and a favored union Five women !lnd three men were arrested. officer at contract time. Such a union In accordance with police procedure, the representative can pass along additional Madison debate NEW YORK'S "FINEST"- After a care­ names and addresses of the five women incentive pay to his base of support in the were released to the press. The names of ful, six-year probe, the New York District shop. MADISON, Wis., June 20-When Ned the men, of course, were not. Attorney's office says it has found evidence of graft in the police department. In fact, It is apparent that there is a need for Brandt came to Madison, he thought that a thorough overhaul of the wage system that this time, at least, there would be PRESERVING OUR IMAGE- To as­ they say, it extends right up to a special in steel. Because of this situation, as many no demonstrators. E. N. Brandt is head sure the hospitality of the city, the Miami police-department group selected to deal as 60 or 70 percent of workers in any of public relations for the Dow ChenJcal police force will ring the Republican con­ with the graft problem. We assume six one mill will be moonlighting, or baby­ Co., manufacturers of napalm. vention with special security forces. Their years was sufficient for the probers to thor­ oughly immerse themselves in the graft sitting while their wives are working. He was wrong. equipment will include such items as 40 A Three-Way Struggle Brandt was scheduled to speak before shotguns, 20 flak jackets, 50 smoke gre­ issue. Now, to give others a whack at it, the mayor should appoint a committee to What are the attitudes of the contending the Madison Press Club to present what nades, etc. So they won't be obtrusive, forces as the Aug. 1 strike deadline ap­ he called "Dow's side of the story," and they will be shielded from view by a wall investigate the investigators. It would prove lucrative. proaches? he chose a time when school was not of hedges now being planted. "It would be The steel bosses remain as arrogant in session. And, just to make sure, he a relatively simple matter," the chief of as ever. spoke in a hall far removed from campus. poli~ explained, "to make it a totally GIVE AND TAKE- Howard Ahman­ If the June 1 settlement for '10,000 USW In spite of all this, some 40demonstrators, secure operation, with tanks, and blocking son, an apparently signiflcantfmancialop­ members in aluminum is par,.setting, the organized by the Madison Committee to off streets. But then you'd have a police erator, judging by the political bigwigs who steel bosses seem willing to settle for the End the War in Vietnam, formed a mil­ state. That's totally alien to the image of attendea his Los Angeles tuneral, was same "package" steelworkers have gotten itant picket line in front of the Veterans America in the world." But with the hedge, eulogized, according to th~ Los Angeles in the past three contracts of 1959, 1962 of Foreign Wars Hall. They demanded the egghead chief explained, "We've com­ Times, as a man who "returned to his and 1965. That simply means a measly that Brandt come out to debate with them. bined esthetics and function." community a good part of what he took 55 to 60 cent, th .. ee-year increase. Or in The president of the Press Club, Cedric from it." Perhaps to ensure that no one steelworkers' language, just another 18 or Parker (also managing editor of the IT'S LOGICAL- Shortly after Congress claimed the balance, "an honor guard of 20 cent cash increase spread over three Capital Times), negotiated with Brandt and enacted a law socking taxpayers with a ten sheriff's deputies stood at attention outside years, plus a few changes in the fringe allowed one person mto the meeting to percent tax hike, a House committee voted the church." benefits. question the guest speaker. Bob Wilkinsou, to increase congressional pensions by -Harry Ring For their part, the steel union leaders Socialist Workers Party candidate for remain as conservative as ever, as docile governor of Wisconsin, was chosen to toward the bosses and as tough with their represent the group. members. The USW constitution is the After about a half hour of debate, Parker McCarthy Says It's Conceivable same one that Philip Murray handed the decided that things were getting too hot steelworkers with an iron fist in 1941. for Dow's Brandt, and Wilkinson was That He Could Back Rockefeller The few changes made at conventions are told to leave. Later several members of those guaranteeing the bureaucracy addi­ the Press Club talked with Wilkinson and -headline in July 1 New York Times tional privileges. expressed their disappointment that the This was made clear even at the special debate was stopped, "just when things were convention in March, where Secretary­ getting interesting." I make no apologies to those critics who call me Treasurer Walter Burke, explaining the Bill Patrick of the NBC outlet in Madison "Rocky the Cop." We will have order, and no mistake about it. need to double the dues, indicated that offered Wilkinson and Brandt air time a good part will be used to protect the to continue their discussion. Brandt, who -from advertisement by Rockefeller in same issue privileges and "status" of the legion of earlier that evening had said his company flunkies who administer the union's was always eager to discuss the issues, affairs. declined the invitation. Page 12 THE MILITANT Friday, July 12, 1968 •• BERKELEY (Continued from page 3) three main proposals to the council. The down the street to city hall and held a first was that the curfew be lifted comple­ meeting there. Then we decided to try to tely. The second was that the Peace and enter the curfew area as a protest against Freedom Party proposal to hold a referen­ the curfew. dum for a police control-board be placed It was this day that we started to suffer on the ballot, and the third was, of course, an increased number of arrests. The rally the closing of Telegraph for the July 4 soon disintegrated when the mayor ap­ rally. peared, and many small groups who left During the council meeting, which lasted ended up fighting with the cops. eight hours, between 50 and 100 people Outside of these incidents, the night was got up and expressed their views on what quiet, except for police, who used the cur­ was happening, with 95 percent of them few as an excuse to harass people. being completely favorable to our The fact that we did demonstrate on this proposals. day was crucial, because if we had decided This brought a lot of pressure on the not to come out that day, it would have council, as they began to hear report given the impression that the curfew would after report from ministers, older people, break the movement. At the same time, lawyers, doctors, middle-class people, as we were in the difficult situation of knowing well as the youth and protesters, who that the relationship of forces was very were eyewitnesses on Friday, on how the unfavorable to us. We only had about monitors kept people on the sidewalk, 500 people in the streets at the time we how the rally had been completely legal. acted. The Mayor's and the council's only de­ It was hard to tell at this time what fense was that the street had been closed for public opinion toward the demonstrators a brief period, so that the only crime they was- but the police brutality and the fact accused the demonstrators of was that of the curfew were helping to push things they had temporarily closed the street. in our favor. For that the mayor and council had thrown Saturday was crucial to show we could the whole town into a state of emergency fight; Sunday was a stalemate, in my with the curfews, etc. opinion, and then Monday we opened up This city council meeting was spectacular a whole new strategy, which brought us in that at no time in the history of Berkeley to victory. had there ever been such a meeting where We called off all demonstrations for over a thousand citizens came to speak Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and their minds. The case was so clear-cut simply declared we would go through to all those present that it was obvious all the procedures needed to get Telegraph that if the city council did not grant our photo by Hermes closed for Thursday, July 4. Just as we demands, there was going to be a power­ BARRICADE. Berkeley students erect barricade on Telegraph Avenue during had done for the first demonstration, we­ ful outcry. second night of defense against police attack. decided to go again to the city council It was a meeting where people reassured to show that we were simply trying to themselves that they were completely right and for the right to organize to fight fQr could be gotten to participate in every aspect of the work. By doing this, we use rights which belong to us, and that just by listening to each other, by each the things we believe in. The position of the Independent Socialist wanted to keep any group fromcompletely the ruling powers -the businessmen and person getting up and giving their own Club (ISC) to forego Telegraph Avenue dominating the action. people who run this town like Mayor personal experiences. Most people didn't July 4 received almost no support. We saw everything as a movementthing, Johnson, the city council, the police depart­ know exactly what happened because Telegraph and July 4 had become symbols and tried to organize every action as ment-that they were violating our rights everyone just witnessed one or another a movement thing. and were creating and provoking the sit­ aspect of the events. As the general picture of the general struggle. As such, we felt we couldn't compromise Elizabeth Barnes: What were the other uation that existed. began to dawn on people, it became ab­ groups involved? The mass meeting where all this was solutely clear to everyone: We were com­ on it-either by moving the location, or Peter Camejo: Actually, the majority of decided was held on campus-outside­ pletely right in our accusations. by moving the date. Thus, everyone voted to hold a demonstration on July 4, on the people who participated did not belong because no one had given us a place Council Vote Telegraph, regardless. to any group. The main groups which to meet. This meeting showed the move­ When the question finally came to a In arguing for the proposal, I made took part were the Young Socialist Alliance ment's rapid growth, the sympathy that vote, the result was a five-to-four vote and Socialist Workers Party, the Peace we were getting. The curfew had continued against us, denying us Telegraph Avenue the point strongly that if we stood tough and Freedom Party, and the Independent to turn the tide somewhat in our favor­ for a rally on the 4th. (They offered us and showed we were ready to fight for Socialist Club, many of whose members more than we had realized. a different site for the rally.) Of course, our rights, we would win to our side are also members of the Peace and Free­ Between 1,200 and 1,500 people turned there was an immediate outcry against all the people who were wavering-and dom Party. up for this meeting. One thing that was this by everyone present. However, the we would bring to bear such pressure Elizabeth Barnes: What do you think council also had voted to lift the curfew. on the city council that it couldn't be clear was that the student community was were the main political issues involved We called a mass meeting that evening ruled out that members of the city council now beginning to enter the struggle in in the struggle? in the same hall where the city council would capitulate before Thursday. greater numbers. There are only 9,000 Peter Camejo: Of course, the specific had held its meeting. Close to 2,000people This was especially true if we made it students on campus during the summer, issue involved was the right of assembly, came, making it the largest decision­ clear that we were ready to fight. But and we estimate that about 900 of the but behind this- and this is important­ people at that meeting were students. making movement meeting in the history if we had begun to capitulate, they would have intensified their attack on us, instead are other issues: the right to have an It was agreed at this meeting that the of Berkeley. antiwar movement, the right for the Berke­ Eldridge Cleaver came to the meeting of the other way around. next action would be to gather at the ley movement to have the right to struggle and got a standing ovation. The next morning, when the city council city council meeting the next day to hear against the oppression of the black com­ The meeting was almost unanimous in met and reconsidered the question, they the debate on the demands we were making. munity. favor of our proposal, which was a simple did switch and voted five to three to give The mayor, under pressure from the move­ A fight of this type could not exist and one: that the city council's rejection of allow­ us the Avenue. Thus ended the six days ment, had agreed to hold an open meet­ would not develop unless there were these ing us Telegraph Avenue had become a of fighting in the streets and with the city ing of the council. other issues. There is a certain confusion symbol-the block on Telegraph and the counciL Council Meeting among some people, who feel that you date of July 4 had become a symbol-for Elizabeth Barnes: What was the role So many people turned out for the council must immediately raise all these other of the YSA in all of this? meeting that they had to change meeting our right of assembly and our right to issues and demands. Peter Camejo: Much of the press and places at the last minute. We presented have a say over what happened to us, But when you get into a fight with the TV and the newspapers played up this government around a specific point, you whole thing as a purely YSA action. This can mobilize people, youcaninvolvemass­ is inaccurate, and it reflects a tendency es, and through it they can learn a on the part of the press to try to red­ terrific amount in a short time about the bait the whole thing. way the system is run and what it shows The YSA, in actual numbers, was but about the nature of the police department. a small fraction of the people involved And through this you open up whole in the actions. But, throughout the six days, YSAers were extremely active and new layers to consider other issues, such in many places played the key role in as the Huey P. Newton defense and what doing the work to build the movement. the Black Panther Party is doing. So concentrating on this specific ques­ After the original rally initiated by the tion-of that one block and opening it YSA, we did everything possible to build up- did not in any way cut across the the protest as big as possible, to broaden other struggles, but on the contrary will its base of support, to work to bring in . strengthen those struggles and the number every group and every individual that of people participating in them. Also, crucial to the struggle was the fact that every tactic and turn was based on Cameio to speak the question of how to win over mass in New York support: mass support in the streets and NEW YORK-Peter Camejo will mass support in terms of public opinion. speak on "The Meaning of the Berkeley Barricades" at 8:30 p.m~ Fri., July 12. The meeting will take place under the photo by Dave Warren POLIC. E VICTIM. Berkeley demonstrator attacked by police June 28 receives auspices of the New York Militant wd at YSA headquarters which was turned into first aid station during police Labor Forum at 873 Broadway, near attack on peaceful, legal demonstration. 18th st.