jpnoto Dy in n e r
P a rt of throng at ra lly d uring student M arch on W ashington to End the W a r in V ietn am .
20,000 in D.C. March Assail
U.S. Aggression in Vietnam
of a num ber o f the established,
generally respected peace groups.
B u t despite protests by conser­
va tive figures in some o f these o r­
ganizations, they also obtained and
publicized the support o f such o r­
ganizations as the Y oung Peoples
S ocialist League, the W.E.B. Du-’Bois Clubs, the Young S ocialist
A lliance, the M ay 2nd M ovem ent,
the A m erican Socialist O rganizing
C om m ittee and Y outh A gainst W ar
___ '
_ .
and Fascism^..
B y H a rry Ring
M o n d a y , A p r i l 26, 1965
V o l. 29 - N o . 17
P ric e 10c
Student Marchers
Blazed a Path
Tiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiifiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
A ll E d ito r ia l
'•'••m miiniiiiiiimimmiiiiimniiiiiiiiiminnminiiiiiiiiir
T h e A p r i l 17 M a r c h on W a s h in g to n to p ro te s t th e U .S . w a r
in V ie tn a m exceed ed th e m ost o p tim is tic e x p e cta tio n s of its i n it ia ­
tors a n d su p po rters. Som e 20,000 p eo ple, m ost o f w h o m w e re s tu ­
dents, d e m o n s tra te d t h e ir opp o sitio n to th e w a r th e Johnson a d ­
m in is tra tio n is w a g in g ag ain st th e p eo ple of V ie tn a m .
T h is h ug e o u tp o u rin g re fle c ts th e g ro w in g opp o sitio n to th e
w a r on th e n a tio n ’s cam puses. T h e success o f th e m a rc h is also
an in d ic a tio n o f th e uneasiness o v e r th e w a r f e lt b y w id e sec­
tions o f th e p o p u la tio n as a w h o le .
T h e S tu d e n ts fo r a D e m o c ra tic S o ciety, w h ic h o rg a n ize d th e
m a rc h , an d th e o th e r y o u th o rg a n iza tio n s a n d in d iv id u a ls w ho
h e lp e d b u ild i t a re to be c o n g ra tu la te d fo r a jo b w e ll done. ■
T h e success o f th e m a rc h w as d u e n o t o n ly to th e re a l and
g ro w in g o pp o sitio n on cam pus to th e w a r, b u t also to th e policies
c a rrie d o u t b y th e o rg a n ize rs o f th e m a rc h w h ic h h elp e d to b u ild
it an d m a in ta in its m ilit a n t s p irit.
T h e o rig in a l c a ll fo r th e m a rc h to ld th e t r u t h a b o u t th e w a r.
I t describ ed th e w a r as a c iv il w a r. I t d id n ’t b u y th e v ie w
th a t “ b oth sides” a re “ e q u a lly to b la m e ,” a n d co n c e n tra te d its fir e
on th e U .S . g o v e rn m e n t, w ho se m ilit a r y in te rv e n tio n th re a te n s to
p lu n g e A s ia a n d th e w o r ld in to a b lo o d y holocaust.
A l l w h o ag reed th a t th e w a r sh o uld be en d ed n o w w e re in ­
v ite d to s u p p o rt th e m a rc h . U n d e r th is p o lic y o f n o n -e x c lu s io n th e
s u p p o rt o f r e v o lu tio n a r y socialists w as w elco m e d . T h e S D S le a d ­
ers stu ck to th is p o lic y d esp ite p res su re fro m a ll k in d s o f lib e ra ls ,
S ta te D e p a rtm e n t socialists, those in th e r ig h t - w in g o f th e peace
m o v e m e n t, etc.
T h e p o lic y o f n o n -e x c lu s io n opened th e w a y fo r th e a c tiv ists
an d m ilita n ts to jo in in th e o rg a n iz a tio n o f th e m a rc h , an d to
c o n trib u te th e ir e n e rg y a n d s p irit — no s m a ll fa c to r in th e la rg e
tu r n o u t fr o m m a n y citie s a n d cam puses.
T h e d e m o n s tra tio n p ro v e d th e fa lla c y o f th e o ft-re p e a te d
a r g u m e n t o f p ro fess io n al lib e ra ls th a t serious o pp o sitio n to th e
Johnson a d m in is tra tio n can ro n ly is o la te th e m o v e m e n t a n d re n d e r
its p ro tests “ in e ffe c tiv e .” T h e m a rc h w a s b u ilt on th e basis o f th e
u n q u a lifie d d e m a n d on th e g o v e rn m e n t to end th e w a r in V i e t ­
n a m , a d e m a n d w h ic h g e n e ra te d en th u s ia sm a n d s u p p o rt fo r th e
m a rc h .
In his speech a t th e m a rc h , S D S P re s id e n t P a u l P o tte r ca lle d
u p o n th e stu d en ts assem bled th e re to go b a c k h o m e a n d o rg a n ize
to fig h t th e system th a t is resp on sib le fo r th e w a r. “ W e m u s t n a m e
th a t sy ste m ,” h e co n tin u ed . “ W e m u s t n a m e it, d escrib e it , a n a ly z e
it, u n d e rs ta n d i t an d change it. F o r i t is o n ly w h e n th a t system
is ch an g ed an d b ro u g h t u n d e r c o n tro l t h a t th e re can be a n y hope
fo r sto p p in g th e forces th a t c re a te a w a r in V ie tn a m to d a y o r a
m u rd e r in th e S o u th to m o rro w o r a ll th e in c a lc u la b le , in n u m e ra b le
a tro c itie s th a t a re w o r k e d on p eo p le a ll o v e r — a ll th e t im e .”
I n his speech, P o tte r d id n o t g iv e “ th e sy ste m ” its n a m e —
(Continued on Page 4)
Opponents o f U.S. aggression in
V ietnam and partisans o f social
change should be g re a tly heart­
ened by the re m a rk a b ly success­
fu l A p ril 17 student M a rc h .o n
W ashington to End the W a r in
Vietnam .
The tu rn o u t of 20,000 was double
the num ber expected b y the or­
ganizers o f the m arch. Viewed in
relation to the character o f the
march, the 'figures are even more
impressive. These 20,000 were not
there sim p ly to voice an am or­
phous pro-peace sentim ent. They
were in the capital as m ilita n t,
conscious opponents o f a w a r now
going on.
They were there to in d ic t the
U.S. governm ent fo r aggression.
T hey were there to oppose thé
reactionary effo rts o f the Johnson
a d m in istra tio n to crush a le g iti­
mate, p opular re vo lu tio n w ith
bombs, napalm and gas. T h e ir
banners, th e ir comments to news­
men, th e ir enthusiastic response
to every m ilita n t sentim ent ex­
pressed by speakers at th e ir ra lly ,
made this unm istakable.
The m arch was organized by the
anti-establishm ent Students fo r a
D em ocratic Society w h ich sought
fro m the outset to give it a m il­
ita n t character. The o ffic ia l call
fo r the m arch, w h ich was w id e ly
d is trib u te d in le a fle t form , de­
clared in p a rt:
“ The c u rre n t w a r is being waged
P h o to b y F in e r
P aul P o tte r
in behalf o f a succession o f un­
p opular South Vietnamese d ic ta to r­
ships, not in behalf of freedom . . .
The w a r is fu n d a m e n ta lly a c iv il
w a r waged by South Vietnamese
against th e ir governm ent . . . the
people and the g u e rrilla s are in ­
separable.”
SDS obtained the endorsement
Impressive Results
The results w ere tr u ly im pres­
sive. The great m a jo rity o f the
p a rticipa nts w ere students. C har­
tered tra in s and buses brought,
some 5,000 dem onstrators fro m '
New Y ork. The rem ainder came
from a ll over the East and M id ­
west. There w ere m ore than 500
students fro m the Boston area and
m any more fro m colleges in Maine,
New Ham pshire, V erm ont and
Connecticut. A
big delegation
came fro m P hiladelphia. E ight
busloads came fro m Chicago.
M ichigan was represented b y
ten buses. F ive o f these carried
students fro m W ayne State U n i­
v e rsity in D e tro it. Three came
fro m M ichigan State U n iv e rs ity
and tw o fro m the U n iv e rs ity of
M ichigan.
Three buses made a 30-hour tr ip
fro m M innesota. T w o bro ught stu­
dents fro m the U n iv e rs ity o f M in ­
nesota; dem onstrators fro m Carle(Continued on Page 3)
N.Y. News Whips Up Hysteria
Urges H-Bombing of N. Vietnam
By F red H alstead
A P R IL 21 — As the U .S . gov­
ernm ent continues to escalate the
w a r in Vietnam , the newspaper
w ith the biggest circulation, in the
U n ite d States has called fo r the
use o f the H-bomb on N o rth V ie t­
nam. A n e d ito ria l in the New Y o rk
D a ily News o f A p r il 17, dealing
w ith the re p o rt th a t a n ti-a irc ra ft
missiles are being installed around
the N o rth Vietnamese capital of
Hanoi, declared:
“ The sensible th in g fo r o u r side
to do is to make certain th a t these
m issile sites are being b u ilt, then
give tw o hours w a rn in g to every­
body in the area to get out o f the
w ay, then b lo w the w hole layout
to K ingdom Come w ith hydrogen
o r conventional bombs . . .”
The N ew Y o rk D a ily News is
notorious fo r its rig h tis t and hatespewing anti-com m unist editorials,
b u t th is firs t ca ll by a m a jo r U.S.
newspaper fo r the use of the Hbomb in V ietnam cannot be dis­
regarded. I t is a sym ptom of the
degree o f madness w hich has de­
veloped w ith in the ca p ita list power
stru ctu re over the V ietnam situa­
tion.
M eanw hile, U.S. je t bombers
continue to range over N o rth V ie t­
nam day and n ig h t w ith the pilots
choosing targets o f the moment
and on th e ir own judgm ent. Presi­
dent Johnson has rejected a ll de­
mands that these bombings be
stopped. Even the suggestion A p ril
18 by Senator J. W illia m Fulb rig h t, a consistent supporter of
the a d m in istra tio n ’s V ietnam pol­
icies, th a t the bombings be sus­
pended to ease the w ay fo r nego­
tiation s was su m m a rily rejected.
W ith in South V ietnam , the isola­
tio n o f the U.S. forces and the
Saigon regime continues to grow
and the h o s tility o f the general
population to w a rd them is con-:
sta n tly dem onstrated.
The U.S.
and its puppets are now reported
to be able to con trol so lid ly o n ly
three m ain areas — the cities o f
Saigon and Hué and the Danàng
air-base area. Johnson is reported
to be p lanning to send an addi­
tio n a l 20,000 GIs in an atte m pt to
hold these areas fro m w h ich p u n i­
tiv e raids are made against the
countryside.
The g u errilla s, however, pene­
trated even the U.S. M a rin e de-,
fense perim eter o f the Danang a ir
base the n ig h t o f A p r il 18 and
attacked a rtille r y positions w ith
grenades. The g u e rrilla s escaped,
apparently w ith o u t casualties.
The Soviet U nion and N o rth
V ietnam issued a jo in t commua
(Continued on Page 4)
THE MILITANT
Page Two
M onday, A p r il 26;--1965
H U A C PROBE OF KLAN
Way Paved for Attack on SNCC
B y D ic k Roberts
A
15-day strike
a t Bloom ing-
dale’s departm ent store in New
Y o rk ended A p ril 16 w hen 1,500
of th e store’s 3,500 w orkers voted
unanim ously to accept a new con­
tract.
Leaders o f the s trik in g A F L C IO union, D is tric t 65, R etail,
Wholesale and D epartm ent Store
U nio n, recommended acceptance
of the contract w h ich calls fo r
wage increases o f 26 cents an hour
spread over the three years o f the
agreement. This w ill u ltim a te ly
raise the m in im u m pay to $1.76
a n -h o u r. The un io n ’s o rig in a l de­
m and had been a $2 m in im u m
w age and a reduction o f the w o rk
w eek fro m 37 V2 to 35 hours.
The un io n also fa ile d to w in its
demand concerning union senior­
it y a t new suburban stores. In ­
stead i t settled fo r the dubious
rig h t to cancel the contract on
M arch 1 o f any year, i f the job
security o f members was affected
b y th e opening o f new stores.
In th e m eantim e, the A p ril 4
Record, D is tric t 65’s paper, re ­
ported th a t contracts covering
10,000 members w ill e xp ire M ay 1.
I t said the union is p re p a rin g fo r
a series o f mass strikes to s ta rt on
M a y 3 w h ich w ill be backed by a
$ l-m illio n fund.
■■* * *
U n ited Steelworkers tellers have
com pleted an investigation o f 150
alleged
violations
d u rin g
the
u n io n ’s recent elections.
U n o ffic ia l returns indicate that
I. W. A bel, the secretary treasurer,
beat incum bent President D avid
M cD onald by 7,700 votes. I f the
unio n ’s
32-m ember
executive
board rules in A b e l’s fa v o r a fte r
exam ining the tellers’ report, he
w il l take o ffice June 1‘. McDonald,
how ever, can s till appeal the elec­
tio n to the U.S. L ab or Departm ent.
M eanw hile, the steel bosses, us­
in g the confusion su rro u n din g the
election results as a p re te xt, have
Weekly Calendar
BOSTON
M A Y D A Y F O R U M : A m e ric a n L a b o r
T o d a y , an a na lysis b y F a rre ll D o b b s, n a ­
tio n a l s e c re ta ry , S o c ia lis t W o rk e rs P a rty
a n d le a d e r o t 1934- M in n e a p o lis tru c k d riv e rs ' strike s w h ich h e lp e d sp ark th o
C IO . F r i„ A p r il 30, 8 p.m . 295 H u n tin g ­
ton A v e ., Rm. 307 (o n e b lo c k -from Mass
A v e .) C o n tr ib . 50c. A u s p . M ilit a n t L a b o r
F o ru m .
•
C H IC A G O
y STATE'S
R IG H T S
D O C T R IN E :
A
t h r e a t t o fre e sp ee ch . S p e a ke r: R alph
L e v itt, a s tu d e n t w ho faces ¡a il fo r his
s o c ia lis t id e a s. F ri., A p r il 30, 8 p.m .
a t 302 S o u th C a n a l St. A u s p . F rid a y
N ig h t S o c ia lis t Forum .
•
D E TR O IT
M A Y D A Y C E L E B R A T IO N . R ea d ing s,
songs, d ra m a tiz a tio n s o f h is to ry o f M a y
D a y: F ri., A p r il 30, 8 p.m . D ebs H a ll.
3 737 W o o d w a rd . A u s p . F rid a y N ig h t So­
c ia lis t Forum .
'
•
LO S A N G E LE S
M A Y D A Y C E L E B R A T IO N . M a y D ay
add re ss b y O s c a r C o o v e r, re c e n t c a n ­
d id a te
fo r m a yo r. A lso, W a tc h O u t
W o r ld , a o n e -a c t p la y . R efresh m e n ts.
M u s ic a l e n te rta in m e n t. S ot. M A Y I, 8 :3 0
p .m . 1702 E. 4 th S t. C o n tr ib . $1, stu ­
d e n ts a n d u n e m p lo y e d 35c. A u s p . M i li ­
t a n t L a b o r Forum .
•
NEW YORK
M A Y D A Y BUFFET & C E L E B R A T IO N ,
S a t., M a y I. Speakers: C lift o n D eB erry,
S o c ia lis t W o rk e rs P a rty c a n d id a te fo r
m a y o r o f N e w Y o rk ; P e te r C a m e jo , n a ­
tio n a l
s e c re ta ry , Y o u n g
S o c ia lis t A l ­
lia n c e ; B illy K o c h iy a m a , C h a irm a n , S tu ­
d e n ts A g a in s t S o cia l In ju s tic e ; a r e p r e ­
s e n ta tiv e o f M o v e m e n t fo r P u e rto Rican
in d e p e n d e n c e ; a n d C a rlo s C a m b a n d o , o f
A n g o la n G o v e rn m e n t in Exile. B u ffe t a t
6 p.m ., p ro g ra m o t 8 :3 0 p .m . 116 U n i­
v e rs ity PI. C o n tr ib . $1.75 A u s p . M ilita n t
L a b o r Forum .
introduced a new g im m ic k in
negotiations fo r a new contract
before the c u rre n t one expires on
M ay 1.
In re tu rn fo r an extension to
Aug. 1 o f the present contract,
they are o ffe rin g a “ d o w n -p a ym ent” raise o f 15 cents an hour.
McDonald, w ho heads the u n io n ’s
negotiators pending the o ffic ia l
outcome o f the elections, reported­
ly rejected the o ffe r as “ complete­
ly inadequate.”
*
*
*
action
rem ­
iniscent o f the 1930s b u t b o rro w in g
the tactic o f s ittin g dow n in the
m id d le o f the street fro m the c iv ilrig h ts movement, forced the M u r­
ra y Ohio M a n u fa ctu rin g Co. to
close its plants in Law renceburg,
Tenn., a fte r i t had trie d to operate
w ith scabs.
On A p r il 13, a m id-street s itdow n b y Teamster Local 327 mem­
bers proved so e ffe ctive th a t scabs
who had entered the p la n t were
trapped fo u r hours a fte r q u ittin g
tim e and the company was forced
to suspend operations.
Company president W .M . H an­
non appealed fo r aid and Demo­
cratic G overnor F ra n k Clement
responded b y sending in state
troopers to take over la w enforce­
m ent. H is p re te x t was th a t the
sale o f fire a rm s and am m u n itio n
in the southern Tennessee tow n
had been a b n o rm ally high.
On A p ril 19, the state cops suc­
ceeded in re s tric tin g p icke tin g in
accordance w ith a co u rt in ju n c tio n ,
and scabs w ere able to enter the
plant. The company was unable to
resume production, however, since
a ro w o f electrical transform ers,
w h ich provide pow er fo r the plant,
had been p u t out o f commission
by r ifle fire .
M ilita n t
strike
*
*
*
3,000 members of Local 5-443,
In te rn a tio n a l
W oodw orkers
of
A m erica, have ended a threem onth s trik e against the M asonite
C orp. in L a u re l, Miss. T h e ir new
tw o-year contract provides a tencent increase each year and im ­
proved sickness-and-accident ben­
efits.
P rio r to the strike, Local 5-443
was a target o f an in tim id a tio n
campaign by the K K K because of
union effo rts to integrate its m em­
bership. A fte r F in a n cia l Secretary
O tis M atthew s was beaten b y the
K la n late la st year, the un io n is­
sued a “ peace-or-bloodshed” chal­
lenge to the K K K . I t said th a t
fu rth e r violence w o u ld
b rin g
armed re ta lia tio n . F o llo w in g this,
there w ere no fu rth e r reports of
K la n te rro r against union o ffic ia ls
o r members.
Fired Prof. Rejects
Fake Hearing Offer
N EW Y O R K — D r. A lle n Krebs,
the sociology professor w ho was
dismissed fro m A d e lp h i U n iv e rs ity
a fte r he visite d Cuba in defiancc
o f the tra v e l ban, has refused to
accept the term s fo r a hearing o f­
fered h im b y A c tin g U n iv e rs ity
P resident B row n.
On M arch 11, B ro w n to ld Krebs
th a t he w ould be allow ed a hear­
ing, w h ic h had e a rlie r been denied
h im despite u n iv e rs ity regulations,
b u t th a t i t w o u ld be priva te , and
he w o u ld not be p e rm itte d to
cross-examine his accusers o r be
present d u rin g testim ony against
him .
K rebs im m e d ia te ly w ro te the
acting president th a t such kangaroo-court conditions w ere un­
acceptable. K re b s’ position on th is
is being supported b y the A m e ri­
can Association o f U n iv e rs ity P ro­
fessors w h ich w ro te A d e lp h i U n i­
v e rs ity on M arch 18 and;£ l, p o in t­
in g out the deficiencies in the
A d e lp h i hearing procedure.
The danger of a w itc h h u n t of
the c iv il-rig h ts m ovem ent came a
step closer A p r il 14, w ith a Con­
gressional decision to back the
House
U n-Am erican
A c tiv itie s
Com m ittee investigation o f the
K u K lu x K la n . The House of
Representatives voted 312 to 43
to give H U A C $50,000 fo r the
K la n investigation.
D u rin g the debate on th is vote,
S outhern congressmen made it
p e rfe c tly clear th a t they consider
the K la n investigation o nly the
fir s t step tow ards an a ll-out attack
on the c iv il-rig h ts struggle. Rep.
Prentiss W a lk e r o f M ississippi
gave a h in t o f the e xte n t o f the
im pending w itc h h u n t when he
stated:
“ I have first-h a n d in fo rm a tio n
about subversive elements
in
CORE — the Congress o f R acial
E q u a lity ; SNCC — the Student
N o n vio le n t C oordinating C o m m it­
tee; COFO — the C ouncil of Fed­
erated O rganizations; and SCLC —
the Southern C h ristia n Leadership
Conference.”
Responding to W a lke r, Rep. Joe
Pool, a Texas D ix ie c ra t w ho is a
m em ber o f H U A C , said th a t the
com m ittee “ w ould lik e to look over
the
evidence,” and
long-tim e
H U A C C hairm an, E d w in E. W illis
(D -La.) assured Congress;
Ready to A ttack
“ A ll in fo rm e d and th in k in g
A m ericans realize th a t the e lim i­
n ation o f the influence of the
K lans alone w ill not b rin g the
peace and order we a ll desire.
There are other ra cia l agitators at
w o rk in a ll parts of the country.
The com m ittee is aware th a t Com­
m u n ist influence is at w o rk in this
fie ld . . .
“ The restoration of ra cia l h a r­
m ony in a ll parts o f the co u n try
depends on the e lim in a tio n o f th e ir
influence as w e ll as th a t o f the
K la n .”
W h ile the D ixie cra ts have been
g e ttin g H U A C ready fo r an attack
on the rig h ts struggle, a p o te n tia l­
l y dangerous w itc h -h u n t clim ate
is developing both inside and out­
side the c iv il-rig h ts movement.
T h is is being caused b y the con­
servative Negro leadership and the
lib e ra l press w h ich are attacking
c iv il-rig h ts m ilita n ts , p a rtic u la rly
SNCC.
M arch 28, fo r example, head of
the N a tio n al U rb a n League W h it­
ney M. Y oung criticize d demon­
strators w ho staged a sit-in at the
W hite House dem anding federal
in te rv e n tio n in Selma (see “ The
‘Generals’ C om plain,” The M il­
ita n t, A p r il 12); and on A p ril 13,
the N A A C P w ith d re w fro m COFO,
fo llo w in g attacks since January by
N A A C P P resident Roy W ilk in s on
the SNCC leadership in COFO.
The lib e ra l N ew Y o rk Post col­
u m n ist James W echsler d id not
hesitate to use these divisions as
a springboard fo r sm earing SNCC.
In a M arch 29 a rtic le on the Sel­
ma march, W echsler te lls us th a t
“ young ‘m ilita n ts ’ most o f them
id e n tifie d w ith SNCC” have staged
an u p risin g against W ilk in s , Young
and M a rtin L u th e r K in g .
R ed-B aitin g
“ The in c ip ie n t re b e llio n ,” Wechs­
le r adds, “ was undoubtedjy en­
couraged by a fra g m e n t o f Com­
m unists . . . to w hom any prospect
o f dem ocratic tra n s itio n assumed
the aspect o f defeat.”
The Post w ent even fu rth e r in
th is th in ly disguised red-baiting of
SNCC in a “ news” a rticle A p r il 8.
A t the end o f a re p o rt o f SNCC’s
criticism s of the V o tin g R ights
B ill, we read the unsupported
statement:
“ SNCC has another problem . I t
attracts young radicals o f the c iv ilrig h ts m ovem ent — and w ith them
a certain num ber o f beatniks and
Communists. N e ith e r SNCC nor its
r iv a l groups th in k Red in filtra tio n
is a .serious problem . B u t at the
v e ry least, i t gives the c iv il-rig h ts
D A Y R ID E R S . Bed-sheet boys in a G eorgia tow n out advertising
one of th e ir rallies.
foes a brush w ith w h ich to smear
the en tire m ovem ent.”
I t is precisely such attacks as
these th a t are most valuable to
H U A C in ju s tify in g its coming
smear of the m ilita n t rights or­
ganization. Note the fo llo w in g ex­
ample: On A p r il 12 the A labam a
D ixie cra t, Rep. George Andrew s,
dem anding an im m ediate H U A C
investigation o f SNCC, ju s tifie d it
by quoting an A p r il 9 a rticle by
syndicated
colum nists
Roland
Evans and R obert Novak.
W hat did Evans and Novak say?
“ O nly an in fin ite s im a l fra ctio n of
SNCC w orkers have C om m unist
ties. B u t an in fin ite s im a l fra ctio n
can be quite in flu e n tia l . .
( Con­
gressional Record, A p r il 12)
Conservatives R etreat
R etreat before th is red-baiting
is confined to the conservative
leadership o f the c iv il-rig h ts move­
m ent at. present. M ost rig h ts w o rk ­
ers are opposing H U A C ’s K la n
investigation. A u th o r Louis Lo ­
m ax countered conservative at­
tacks on SNCC at a meeting of
the U rban League itse lf. A t the
46th A n n u a l U rban League of
G reater Boston meeting, Lom ax
said:
“ I am personally annoyed at
those news media and persons who
a tte m pt to d iscredit the c iv il-rig h ts
m ovem ent b y the smear o f com­
m unism and the beatnik-characters w ho are a ffilia te d w ith some
o f the c iv il-rig h ts organizations.
W ith o u t these young people, who
m ore than anyone else have
b ro u g h t the movem ent ‘down
fr o n t’ — we w ould be in trouble.”
(B a ltim o re A fro-A m erican, A p r il
17)
M a rtin L u th e r K in g and the
SCLC issued a statem ent opposing
the H U A C investigation o f the
K K K , and c a llin g fo r a Presiden­
tia l Commission comparable to the
W arren Commission to investigate
“ the present crisis in law enforce­
m ent and the na tio n ’s patterns of
violence.”
The SCLC statem ent ca re fu lly
q u a lifie d this recom mendation by
adding th a t “ such investigation
should be concerned o n ly w ith
o ve rt acts and not thoug ht p ro ­
cesses.” A t the A p r il 17 M arch on
W ashington, Bob P arris, a SNCC
spokesman, also dealt w ith c iv il
rig h ts and red-baiting:
Loaded Question
“ They ask an organization, ‘H ow
do you kn ow there are no com­
m unists in yo u r organization? Do
you check people?’ Then i f the
organization says ‘No, we don’t
screen’ they te ll you th a t there are
comm unists in yo u r organization.
T hey establish th a t they are there
because you have not screened
them out. Then th ey te ll you th a t
the com m unists are in in flu e n tia l
positions because they w o rk ha rd ­
e r than anybody else. I call this
the theory o f the in flu e n tia l in ­
fin ite sim a l. I th in k i t has to be
fough t and th a t you are able to do
it, because the theory is exa ctly
the th eory th a t we had to fig h t in
M ississippi before we could break
through some of the fe a r and par­
alysis th a t binds our people.”
P a rris said th a t K K K types were
not m erely an isolated group o f
rejects fro m society, b u t “ ve ry
m uch a p a rt o f a ll the structures
of the Southern com m unity.” They
are accepted and protected be­
cause o f the anti-Negro, anti-Comm unist hysteria pervading the com­
m u n ity . The en tire country, he de­
clared, could see its e lf as i t re a lly
is by loo king at the Deep South.
The U.S. position tow ard Vietnam ,
he added, was the same as th a t of
M ississippi w hites tow ards c iv ilrig h ts w orkers — they believe
th e ir w ay o f life is threatened, so
i t ’s ju s tifie d to k ill and m u rd e r or
to a llo w the K K K to do so w ith
im p u n ity.
Celebration
O f M a y Day
In New Y o rk
N EW Y O R K — M ay Day w ill be
celebrated at the M ilita n t L abor
Forum on S aturday evening, M ay
1, w ith a b u ffe t din n er and speak­
ing program th a t w ill re fle ct the
h o lid a y’s m eaning as a celebration
o f the s o lid a rity o f vic tim s o f op­
pression everyw here.
The speakers w ill include:
•
C lifto n D eBerry, Socialist
W orker’s P a rty candidate fo r ma­
yor. As the 1964 SWP presidential
candidate, D eB erry was the fir s t
Negro to be nom inated fo r th a t
office by a p o litic a l pa rty.
• Peter Camejo, national secre­
ta ry o f the Y oung Socialist A l­
liance. Camejo p articipate d in
the recent Selm a-to-Montgomery
M arch. He has visited Cuba sev­
eral tim es and is fa m ilia r w ith
social and p o litic a l developments
in Latin-A m erica.
• B illy K ochiyam a, chairm an
o f Students A gainst Social In ju s ­
tice, a m ilita n t, in te rra cia l New
Y o rk teen-age group.
• Carlos Cambando, a repre­
sentative o f the Angolan G overn­
m ent in E xile, one o f the forces
fig h tin g fo r Angolan independence
fro m P ortugal.
• A representative of the Movim ie n to Pro-Independencia, P uer­
to R ico’s leading group w o rk in g
fo r independence fro m the U.S.
The celebration w ill be held at
116 U n iv e rs ity Place. The b u ffe t
is at 6 p.m., the program at 8:30.
D ancing w ill fo llo w .
THE MILITANT
M onday, A p r il 26, 1965
Page Three
Interviews With D.C. Marchers
I w en t to the W ashington M arch
fro m N ew Y o rk on one o f the
tra in s chartered b y the Students
fo r a D em ocratic Society. On the
w a y to W ashington, and again on
the w a y back, I in te rvie w e d a
num ber o f young people. I f those
I selected at random to ta lk to
w ere a fa ir sam pling of the dem­
onstrators — and w h a t I observed
in W ashington suggested they
w ere — then there are a good
num ber o f th in k in g , qu ite w e llin fo rm e d people in the high
schools and colleges today who
see through the hoax o f an A m e r­
ican w a r of “ lib e ra tio n ” in V ie t­
nam. They are opposed to U.S.
in te rve n tio n in V ietnam not only
because they fe a r the nuclear h o l­
ocaust i t can lead to b u t also be­
cause they are convinced th a t it
is a d irty , u n ju st w a r th a t the U.S.
is waging.
They understand th a t the w a r in
V ietna m is essentially a c iv il w a r
and th a t justice is on the side of
the gue rrillas. A ll w hom I spoke
to saw Johnson’s B a ltim o re “ ne­
gotiations” speech as demagogy.
A n d a num ber o f them, in te re st­
in g ly, p u t th e ir fin g e r on the same
key point — that Johnson hadn’t
been serious about negotiation be­
cause he refused to negotiate w ith
the South V ietnam N ational L ib ­
eration F ro nt. They made this
p o in t w ith o u t solicitation.
D iffe rin g Reactions
The college students w hom I
talked to tended to be on the o p tim ­
istic side about the prospects fo r
doing som ething effective about
V ietnam . The high-school students
and those above college age, on
the other hand, tended to be pes­
sim istic about w h a t could be done
b u t fe lt th a t as a m a tte r o f p e r­
sonal conscience they m ust try
anyway.
They w ere generally anti-estab­
lishm ent and radical in th e ir
th in k in g , b u t not in the tra d itio n a l
sense. F o r most o f them M a rxism
is som ething ye t to be discovered.
A n unusually a rticu la te g irl of
13 fro m the New Y o rk H ig h School
o f Commerce said a n g rily : “ We’re
there fo r the w rong reasons. No
w a r is rig h t. This one in p a rtic u la r
is w ron g.”
W hat did she th in k o f Johnson’s
speech? “ He generalized. He d id n ’t
say anything. He contradicted
him self. He talked about ‘outside
interference’ there!”
She, too, was dubious, as to
w h a t the march w ould accomplish,
b u t said: “ I hope i t w ill show that
m any people feel th is w a y and
m ake President Johnson th in k
about negotiating.”
H er companion, a boy of about
15, explained they were m em­
bers o f a school club called “ S tu ­
dents fo r E q u a lity ” and th a t about
20 o f them had come on the march.
He noted w ith emphasis: “ We
don’t have an ad ult adviser.”
He said there were perhaps a
hundred in the school w ho shared
th e ir ,views on V ietnam . “ A lo t of
the kids feel we should expand
the w a r,” he said. “ B u t most of
them are re a lly unsure about it.
They don’t know i f Johnson’s rig h t
o r w rong.”
A high-school student o f about
16 said th a t most of his fe llo w
students “ believe in w h a t’s going
on — up to a po in t.” He was not
o ve r-o p tim istic about the results
of the march. “ Maybe i t w ill show
the co u n try some people are
against this,” he said. He reflected
and added: “ Maybe i t ’s fu tile . B u t
maybe people can be woken up.”
He thought the proposals in
Johnson’s speech w ould be “ desir­
able i f he carried them th ro u g h .”
B u t, he added a n g rjly, “ I t ’s r id i­
culous n o t to include the V ie t
Cong.”
He spoke w ith a thoughtfulness
and awareness th a t seemed fa r
beyond his years.
O f the need fo r negotiations
w ith the g uerrillas, he said: “ This
w ould p robably be a defeat fo r
us in the im m ediate sense, b u t in
the long ru n i t w o u ld n ’t be. I t
w ould help erase the bad image
we have in Asia.
“ People in A sia,” he continued,
“ have been hostile to us ever
since we dropped the Bom b on
Japan. W hether i t ’s tru e or not,
they feel w e’re using ye llo w peo­
ple as guinea pigs fo r our wea­
pons.”
R e tu rn in g to the nature of the
g u e rrilla struggle in South V ie t­
nam, he commented, “ Sure, th e y’re
p robably getting some help from
Hanoi. Since the M id d le Ages
there’s never been a pure re v o lu ­
tio n a ry movement. A ll of them get
some outside help.”
Discussion Topic
A young Negro woman, w ho is
a dance m a jo r a t the Boston Col­
lege o f Music, said there w o u ld n ’t
be too m any people fro m her
school on the m arch b u t assured
me there w o u ld be a good re p re ­
sentation fro m H a rva rd , M IT and
o ther Boston-area colleges.
She said V ietnam was a chief
topic of discussion on the cam­
pus and th a t the people involved
in try in g to do something about it
were la rg e ly the same ones th a t
w ere concerned w ith c iv il rights
and o ther social issues. She said
they a ll fe lt stro n g ly th a t the
troops should be sent to Alabam a
instead o f V ie tn a m and added em­
p h a tica lly, “ T h a t’s c e rta in ly m y
opinion.”
A young school teacher and her
husband, a graduate student, were
dubious about w h a t the march
w ould accomplish. “ I don’t th in k
i t w ill re a lly do any good,” she
told me. “ I t w on’t accomplish
a n yth in g in terms of stopping the
w a r. B u t I feel i t ’s m y respon­
s ib ility to go.” She added: “ I feel
v e ry stro n g ly about th is .”
“ I t ’s a m a tte r of w h a t you be­
lie ve in ,” she continued. “ A few
thousand
people, parading
in
Marchers' P e titio n to Congress
| T h e fo llo w in g is th e te x t o f th e p e titio n s u b m itte d to C o n ­
gress b y th e M a rc h on W a s h in g to n to E n d th e W a r in V ie tn a m .]
W e, th e p a rtic ip a n ts in th e M a rc h on W a s h in g to n to E n d
th e W a r in V ie tn a m , p e titio n Congress to a c t im m e d ia te ly to
end th e w a r. Y o u c u r r e n tly ha ve a t y o u r d isp o sal m a n y schemes,
in c lu d in g re c o n v e n in g o f th e G e neva C o n fe re n ce , n e g o tia tio n
w it h th e N a tio n a l L ib e r a tio n F r o n t and N o rth V ie tn a m , im ­
m e d ia te w ith d r a w a l, and U N -s u p e rv is e d e le ctio ns. A lth o u g h
those am o n g us m ig h t d if f e r as to w h ic h o f these is m o s t d e ­
s ira b le , w e a re u n a n im o u s ly o f th e o p in io n th a t th e w a r m u s t
be b ro u g h t to a h a lt.
T h is w a r is in f lic t in g u n to ld h a rm on th e p e o p le o f V ie t ­
nam . I t is b e in g fo u g h t in b e h a lf o f a succession o f u n p o p u la r
regim es, n o t fo r th e id e a ls y o u p ro c la im . O u r m ilit a r y a re
o b v io u s ly b e in g d e fe a te d ; y e t w e p e rs is t in e x te n d in g th e w a r.
T h e p ro b le m s o f A m e ric a c ry o u t fo r a tte n tio n , and o u r e n ­
ta n g le m e n t in S o u th V ie tn a m postpones th e c o n fro n ta tio n o f
these issues w h ile p ro lo n g in g th e m is e ry o f th e p e o p le o f th a t
w a r - t o r n la n d .
Y o u m u s t a ct n o w to re v e rs e th is s o rry sta te o f a ffa irs . W e
c a ll on y o u to end, n o t e x te n d , th e w a r in V ie tn a m .
fr o n t o f the C apitol, isn’t going to
change things. The papers w ill
ca ll us ‘student radicals.’ B u t
maybe i t w ill a le rt people to the
fa c t th a t there are some w ho are
against th is.”
C o m m e n t in g
on
Johnson’s
speech, she said caustically: “ I t
was ty p ic a l — v e ry flo w e ry and
w e ll-w ritte n . B u t i t dodged the
issues. He should d e fin ite ly ne­
g otiate w ith the V ie t Cong! I t ’s
ridiculous!
“ I t ’s not a m a tte r o f w hether
th e y’re rig h t o r w rong,” she added,
“ or o f w h a t I th in k about them.
They sim p ly have a rig h t to de­
cide things fo r themselves. I ’d
w a n t the same th in g fo r m yself.”
Photo b y F in e r
Propaganda M achine
W hy was she skeptical about
w h a t could be accomplished by
those in opposition to the war?
She described to me the th in k in g
o f her fe llo w teachers w ho u n ­
c ritic a lly accepted the lies o f the
propaganda machine, and she
added th o u g h tfu lly :
“ I t ’s te r rib ly d iffic u lt to con­
vince a people — any people —
th a t th e ir co u n try is g u ilty o f mass
m u rd e r.”
“ Besides,”
she added, “ this
co u n try is fat, w e ll-fe d . The peo­
ple don’t feel threatened and they
w o n ’t do a n yth in g u n til they feel
th e y are.”
In an interesting aside, that
th re w lig h t on the reaction among
ra d ica l-m in d e d people to K h ru s h ­
chev’s placing missiles in Cuba
and then w ith d ra w in g them, she
observed: “ This co u n try has no
ju s tific a tio n fo r w h a t i t ’s doing in
Vietnam . Cuba was at least in this
sphere. I ’m fo r Cuba and I was
against w h a t was done d u rin g the
m issile crisis but at least they
could p o in t to a base o f a foreign
pow er in th is sphere. B u t w h a t
can they p o in t to in V ietnam ?”
Seeking to m ake her views on
V ietnam clearer, she said w ith
strong feeling: “ D on’t m isunder­
stand me. I ’m not a p acifist. I be­
lieve in people fig h tin g fo r w h a t’s
theirs. B u t th a t c e rta in ly isn’t the
case w ith us in V ietnam .”
B igger Than Expected
She added, “ A c tu a lly I ’m a so­
cialist. I ’m convinced th a t sooner
o r la te r, one w ay o r another, this
co u n try w ill have to go socialist.”
On the w ay back fro m W ash­
ington everyone was tire d b u t
there was a sense o f deep satisfac­
tio n w ith the dem onstration, stem­
m ing m a in ly fro m the fa c t th a t i t
had tu rned out to be much bigger
than most people expected.
A drow sy teen-aged g irl perked
up im m e d ia te ly w hen I asked
w h a t she thought of the march.
“ I t was fantastic,” she said. “ The
tu rn o u t was amazing. No one e x­
pected more than 10,000.
“ I t was needed,” she continued,
“ b u t I re a lly d id n ’t expect that
so m any people w ould take i t on
themselves to come. I t makes me
glad to feel there are so m any
people w ho feel this w ay and
th a t there are so m any outside of
New Y o rk .”
On the other hand, a graduate
student fro m the U n iv e rs ity of
W isconsin said he was pleased
and heartened b u t n o t surprised
by the tu rn o u t. He explained th a t
he knew there w ould be a t least
three or fo u r busloads com ing a ll
the w ay fro m W isconsin so he as­
sumed the same th in g w o u ld be
happening on the other campuses.
“ I d id n ’t expect th a t they w ould
a ll ju s t be fro m N ew Y o rk ,” he
said. “ There’s a change ta kin g
place on the campuses. There’s a
m ore liv e ly debate going on. The
teach-ins indicated th is.”
A young man w ith a Southern
accent termed the dem onstration
“ great.”
“ Johnson b e tte r take
note,” he said, and added: “ I ’m
g la d th e y w ound up by m arching
on the C apitol. I t ’s im p o rta n t th a t
Congress should realize he’s bam ­
boozling them .” .
“ I was c e rta in ly glad,” he con­
S T A R A T T R A C T IO N . A h ig h lig h t of the M arch on W ashington to
End th e W a r in V ie tn a m was this group of actors fro m Bread and
B u tte r Puppet T h e a tre w hich perform s fo r neighborhood groups
such as ren t strikers on N e w Y o r k ’s L o w e r East Side. Led by
grotesque fig u re in arm or brandishing sword, the players, m a n y
w e a rin g gas masks, m arched to beat of bass drum and attracted
w id e attention. T h e ir d ram atic message was much appreciated1'by
o th er demonstrators. Sign on rig h t says: “P resident of N one of
the People A ll of the T im e — G et O u t of V ie tn a m . Stop K illin g
th e W o rld ’s People.” As they m arched along, one student quipped:
“ M c N a m a ra ’s band!”
tinued, “ to see you th out in such
num bers.”
A radica l-m in ded social w o rke r
echoed his words: “ I t was e x­
tre m e ly excitin g ,” she said, “ to
see young people out in such n u m ­
bers.”
She saw a re vo lu tio n a ry sig-
■'■y j..
nificance to the march. “ I t was the
people against the governm ent in
a pointed w ay,” she said. “ I t was
much more pointed than the c iv ilrights M arch on W ashington. I t
was the biggest m e aningful ac­
tion I ’ve seen people take. I t was
lik e a strike .”
— H a rry R in g
... March on
Washington
( Continued fro m Page 1)
ton, a sm all college outside of
M inneapolis, fille d the th ird .
There was a busload o f battletested c iv il-rig h ts figh ters present
fro m Indianola, Miss., along w ith
members o f the Canton, Miss.,
Freedom D em ocratic P arty.
A ll o f these and m ore poured
onto Pennsylvania Avenue and
headed to w ard the W h ite House.
W ashington cops succeeded in
spreading the dem onstrators out
over a four-block area. I t was s till
an im pressive sight. U p and down
the A venue the sp irite d pickets
m arched w ith th e ir signs held
high.
The signs declared: “ We P ro­
test the W ar in V ie tn a m ” ; “ W ar
on P overty, Not on People” ; “ End
the W ar in V ietnam N ow ” ; “ I
W on’t F ig h t in V ie tn a m ” ; “ SelfD eterm ination, N ot U.S.-Imposed
D ictato rship.”
A fte r several hours, the pickets
joine d in a long lin e (h a t made
its w ay to the S ylvan T .ieater at
the fo o t o f the W ashington M onu­
m ent fo r a scheduled ra lly .
Songs and Speeches
The m archers file d up a long
w a lk to the base o f the monum ent
and proceeded to f i l l the long,
grassy slope facing the stage.
There w ere songs b y the Free­
dom Voices, P h il Ochs, Ju d y Col­
lin s and Joan Baez.
The speakers at the ra lly were
R obert P arris, SNCC fie ld secre­
ta ry ; I. F. Stone, publish er of
I. F. Stone’s W eekly; Senator
Ernest G ruening (D -A la ska ); and
Paul P otter, president o f SDS.
Iva Pearce, a Cleveland Com­
m u n ity P roject leader, was unable
to be present as planned because
one o f her ch ildren had been in ­
ju re d in an auto accident. H er
rem arks w ere read to the ra lly by
a frie n d .
Staughton Lynd, Y ale history
professor and one of the sponsors
o f the march, presided at the ra l­
ly.
The audience was q u ick to re­
spond to every fo rth rig h t attack
on U.S. p olicy in Vietnam .
They applauded I. F. Stone w hen
he charged th a t th e U.S. was not
in V ietnam “ on b ehalf o f the peo-
pie there” and w hen he declared:
“ L e t us make the fir s t m ove
tow ard frie n d sh ip w ith China.”
Senator G ruening d re w heavy
applause w hen he said “ the U n ite d
States has no business in V ietnam ,
no business w hatsoever.”
E q u a lly appreciative applause
was extended to Staughton L y n d
w hen he pointed to the lessons o f
the
German
experience
w ith
fascism and declared th a t he spoke
fo r those professors w ho are “ re­
solved th a t the treason o f the
intellectuals w ill not be repeated
here.”
R obert P a rris described the
struggle against oppression in the
South and in V ietnam as a com­
mon one and h it out at those cur­
re n tly m ounting a red-baiting cam­
paign
against
the
c iv il-rig h ts
movement.
T reatm ent of Poor
The statem ent read fo r Mrs.
Pearce said th a t as a poor person
and a m other o f fiv e she was-cpncerned w ith the treatm ent o f poor
people in Cleveland and in V ie t­
nam. N either, she said, “ are a l­
lowed to make th e ir ow n deci­
sions.”
P aul P otter was listened to at­
te n tiv e ly w hen he developed the
theme th a t to oppose the w a r in
V ietnam e ffe c tiv e ly i t was neces­
sary to understand and to change
the system w hich breeds such
w ars and the m any other form s
o f oppression and injustice.
“ The people o f V ietnam and the
people on this dem onstration,” he
said, “ are united in m uch m ore
than a common concern th a t the
w a r be ended. In both countries
there are people strug gling to
b u ild a movem ent th a t has the
pow er to change th e ir condition.
The system th a t frustrates these
movements is the same. A ll o ur
lives, ou r destinies, ou r hope to
live, depend on our a b ility to over­
come th a t system.”
The day-long dem onstration end­
ed w ith the spectacular sight of
the huge th rong o f marchers m ak­
ing th e ir w ay, banners' and p la ­
cards alo ft, down the side o f the
long slope tow ard the C apitol,
w here a petition to end the w a r
was a ffix e d to the closed door of
Congress.
Page Four
THE MILITANT
THE
M ILITANT
E d ito r: J O S E P H H A N S E N
M anagin g E d ito r: G E O R G E L A V A N
Business M anager: K A R O L Y N K E R R Y
Published w e e k ly , except du ring J u ly and A ugust w h en published b i-w e e k ly ,
b y T h e M ilita n t Pub lishing Ass’n., 116 U n iv e rs ity P I., N ew Y o rk 3, N .Y . Phone
C H 3-2140. Second-class postage paid at N e w Y o rk . N .Y . Subscription: S3 a year;
C anadian, $3.50; foreign, $4.50. Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily
represent Th e M ilita n t’s views. These are expressed in editorials.
V o l. 29 - N o. 17
345
M o n d a y , A p r il 26, 1965
. . . The Student March
(Continued from Page 1)
b u t th e e n e m y is cle a r. I t is th e c a p ita lis t system . D riv e n b y its
need to e x p a n d its m a rk e ts , c a p ita lis t im p e ria lis m is im p e lle d to
seek areas o f in v e s tm e n t and c o n tro l o v e r th e w o r ld ’s resources to
m a in ta in its d o m in io n o v e r a w o r ld in w h ic h re sista n ce to c a p ita l­
is t e x p lo ita tio n a nd op p re ssio n c o n tin u e s to m o u n t.
U n d e r c o m p u ls io n to ste m th e tid e o f re v o lt, c a p ita lis m is b e ­
c o m in g m o re and m o re w a rlik e , re a d y to w a g e w a rs a g a in s t people
fig h tin g f o r in d epe nd e n ce and fre e d o m — as in V ie tn a m .
P a r t an d p a rc e l o f c a p ita lis m ’s in c re a s in g ly w a r lik e s ta n d has
been th e d e v e lo p m e n t o f a hug e m ilit a r y m a ch in e . A n u n h o ly a l­
lia n c e b e tw e e n b ig business and th e m ilit a r y has been fo rm e d . A t
th e ape x o f th is m ilit a r y - in d u s t r ia l c o m p le x stands th e p re s id e n t
as its c h ie f e x e c u tiv e a n d c o m m a n d e r-in -c h ie f.
T h is c a p ita lis t p o w e r s tr u c tu re is m a in ta in e d th ro u g h th e tw o
c a p ita lis t p a rtie s . B o th th e D e m o c ra ts and th e R e p u b lic a n s are
c o m m itte d to m a in ta in and p e rp e tu a te th e system re sp o n s ib le fo r
th e w a r in V ie tn a m .
B y t h e ir s u p p o rt o f th e Jo h n so n a d m in is tra tio n , th e lib e ra ls ,
la b o r leaders, lead ers o f m o st o f th e c iv il rig h ts g ro u p s, th e r ig h t
w in g o f th e p a c ifis t m o v e m e n t and th e m e a ly -m o u th e d C o m m u ­
n is t an d S o c ia lis t P a rtie s , are, in r e a lity , le n d in g s u p p o rt to th e
syste m w h ic h is w a g in g w a r in V ie tn a m . T h e y act as agents o f
th e p o w e r s tru c tu re , p re v e n tin g th e o rg a n iz a tio n o f an e ffe c tiv e
o p p o s itio n a g a in s t th is system .
T h e m ass o f y o u n g p e o p le w h o jo in e d th e m a rc h on W a s h ­
in g to n a g a in s t th e w a r in V ie tn a m w e re in fa c t p la c in g th e m se lve s
in o p p o s itio n to th e Joh n so n a d m in is tra tio n a n d th e w h o le system .
I f th e y fo llo w th e lo g ic o f th e ir o p p o s itio n to th e w a r in V ie tn a m ,
th e y w i l l b re a k e n tir e ly w it h th e s y s te m ’s p o litic a l p a rtie s and
in s titu tio n s w h ic h are c a rr y in g o u t th e w a r. B y d o in g so th e y can
le a d o th e rs to do th e same.
T h e A p r i l 17 d e m o n s tra tio n is o n ly a b e g in n in g . T h e n e x t step
is to c o n tin u e w ith o u t le tu p th e ca m p u s d e m o n s tra tio n s and d is ­
cussions on a lo ca l, state, a rea a n d n a tio n a l scale a g a in s t th is w a r,
and to t u r n th e cam puses in to c ita d e ls o f o p p o s itio n to th e w a r.
B u t th e o rg a n iz a tio n o f p ro te s t sh o u ld n o t stop th e re .
T h e s tu d e n ts are to d a y in th e fo r e fr o n t o f th e fig h t a g a in s t
th e w a r in V ie tn a m , b u t b y th e m se lve s th e y c a n n o t stop it. T h e
p ro te s t a g a in s t th e w a r s h o u ld be c a rrie d to w id e r sections o f th e
p o p u la tio n w h o do h a ve p o w e r — th e w o r k in g people, o rg a n iz e d
and u n o rg a n ize d , a n d th e N e g ro fre e d o m fig h te rs .
T h e m o n s tro u s g ro w th o f m ilita r is m bodes n o good fo r th e
la b o r m o v e m e n t, c iv il- r ig h t s m o v e m e n t o r academ ic fre e d o m . J u s t
as T ru m a n ’s w a r in K o re a re s u lte d in th e d e v e lo p m e n t o f M c C a rth y is m , th e w a r in V ie tn a m has s tre n g th e n e d th e m o s t re a c ­
tio n a r y force s in A m e ric a . T h e fo rce s w h ic h a re th e m o s t v o c i­
fe ro u s s u p p o rte rs o f th e w a r in V ie tn a m are th e same fo rce s
w h ic h a re in th e fo r e fr o n t o f th e d r iv e to h a m s trin g th e la b o r
m o v e m e n t, tu r n b a c k th e c iv il- r ig h t s m o v e m e n t, and d e s tro y
c i v il lib e rtie s .
T h e la b o r m o v e m e n t, th e N e g ro p e o p le a n d th e s tu d e n ts a ll
sta n d to lose b y a re su rg e n ce o f M c C a rth y is m w h ic h is b o u n d to
be th e re s u lt o f u n ch e c k e d e s c a la tio n o f th e V ie tn a m w a r. T h e
la b o r m o v e m e n t and c iv il- r ig h t s m o v e m e n t, in th e ir o w n in te re s ts ,
s h o u ld n o w jo in th e s tu d e n ts w h o h a ve le d th e w a y , and f ig h t
a g a in s t th is d ir t y w a r in V ie tn a m .
... T he U.S. War in Vietnam
(.
(Continued fro m Page 1)
nique A p r il 18 declaring th a t the
Soviet U nion w o uld give “ a ll neces­
sary assistance” to N o rth Vietnam ,
in clu d in g volunteers, i f Hanoi
called fo r them. Soviet P rem ier
A le x e i K osygin A p r il 19 denounced
the use o f gas and such weapons
as napalm and phosphorus bombs
and said the use o f these o r other
a tro c ity weapons “ m ay in v ite re­
ta lia tio n in k in d .”
In London, some 50,000 persons
demonstrated in T ra fa lg a r Square
A p r il 19 against nuclear weapons
in general and U.S. aggression in
V ietnam in p a rticu la r. T h is was in
sharp rebuke to the bought-andpa id-for support b y B ritis h Labor
P a rty P rim e M in is te r H a ro ld W il­
son o f Johnson’s w a r p o lic y in
Vietnam .
The complete ille g a lity and in ­
h u m a n ity o f th a t p olicy was p o in t­
ed o u t by Senator Wayne Morse
in his comments on Johnson’s
h y p o critica l A p r il 7 speech at
Johns H opkins U n ive rsity . Morse,
whose rem arks appear in the A p r il
8 Congressional Record, said:
“ The President is qu ite w rong
in th in k in g th a t he can ca ll upon
others to observe the 1954 Geneva
agreement w h ile at the same tim e
he insists th a t South V ietnam must
be guaranteed as an independent
nation. The 1954 agreement did
not create a sovereign South V ie t­
nam. I t created one V ietnam , d i­
vided in to tw o zones, to be re ­
un ite d w ith in tw o years by elec­
tions supervised by the In te rn a ­
tio n a l C ontrol Commission . . .
[T h e U.S.-backed D iem regime re ­
fused to a llo w the election since
it was clear the vote w o u ld go fo r
a Hanoi-supported governm ent.]
“ B u t we cannot have it both
ways unless we are expecting
o n ly to use th is lin e as an excuse
fo r w a r, and th a t is how we have
been using i t fo r ten years . . .
A n d I fear th a t to continue the
w ar, as we have been doing, is
going to help com m unism make
even m ore gains in Asia, because
ou r p o lic y te lls the people o f Asia
th a t w e w ould ra th e r see them
dead than see them liv e under
C om m unist control.”
M onday, A p r il 26, 1965
Highlights and Sidelights of March
Members o f the arm ed forces
on leave in W ashington stared at
the dem onstrators w ith an a ir of
d isbelief w h ich suggested th a t it
had never occurred to them th a t
some people m ig h t be opposed to
w h a t the U.S. is doing in V ie t­
nam. One group of young M arines
crossed the street to heckle the
pickets. Some o f the pickets
stopped and engaged them in de­
bate. The M arines ke p t arguing
th a t V ie tn a m w ould go “ Com m u­
n is t” i f the U.S. w eren’t there. The
pickets hamm ered one p o in t: V ie t­
nam isn’t o u r country. We have no
rig h t to decide w h a t the V ie tn a ­
mese should or shouldn’t do. The
argum ent tapered o ff and, as they
le ft, one young M a rin e was heard
to say re fle c tiv e ly : “ I t ’s true, i t ’s
n o t our c o u n try.”
The W ashington cops prevented
m any o f the dem onstrators fro m
massing in fro n t o f the W hite
House. Instead they were blocked
o ff in to groups over a fo u r-b lo c k
area. One group o f New Y orkers,
stopped several blocks fro m the
W h ite House, stood fo r a mom ent
not kn o w in g w h a t to do. A t th a t
p o in t a ta ll young Negro w ith a
Southern accent stepped out and
to ld them : “ We came here to p ic k ­
et the W h ite House. D on’t let
these ca p ita list police stop y o u !”
S ingling out one o f the dem onstra­
tors, he said: “ Y o u ’re w earing a
SNCC button. Be a m an.” Some
people in fro n t stepped o ff the
curb and the group marched
across the street w ith o u t in te r­
ference. They got w ith in a block
o f the W h ite House and were
stopped again. This tim e the d y ­
nam ic young man was n o t there
and th a t was as fa r as th e y got.
L a te r there were reports he had
been arrested.
The hundred u ltra -rig h tis ts who
plodded in a circ le across the
street fro m the massive student
dem onstration at the W h ite House
w ere a m otley crew in composi­
tio n and in the signs th e y carried.
V a rio u sly described as the Young
Am ericans fo r Freedom and the
Delaw are V a lle y Citizens fo r V ic ­
to ry over Communism, the group
was m a in ly adult. T hey carried
such placards as “ P in k Colleges
T u rn O u t Y e llo w Reds.” One eye-
w ith a banner th a t p ro u d ly pro ­
claim ed: “ The W ar Has Reached
C in cin n a ti.”
A m ong the re la tiv e ly few nota­
bles at the m arch was the d is tin ­
guished s u rg e o n , D r. Samuel
Rosen, w ho is fam ed in in te rn a ­
tiona l m edical circles fo r develop­
ing a surgical method o f e lim in a t­
ing a p a rtic u la r fo rm o f deafness
w hich was p re vio u sly incurable.
D r. Rosen was in the news recent­
ly when the State D epartm ent
validated his passport fo r tra ve l
to C hina so th a t he could teach
the operation to surgeons there.
The Chinese, however, w ith d re w
his visa fo r the present when they
realized the State D epartm ent was
e x p lo itin g the incide nt as p ro o f of
U.S. “ hu m anitarianism .” D r. Rosen
was ve ry g ra tifie d b y the b ig tu rn ­
out at the march. He seemed
pleased to fin d th a t an ope ratingroom nurse w ho used to assist h im
was among those present.
*
m
Photo by F in e r
catcher held a lo ft b y a heavyjo w le d man in his fiftie s , de­
clared:
“ S w arthm ore
Supports
V ie t Cong K ille rs .”
*
*
*
There was an ample supply of
s im ply-w ord ed, legible S D S -prepared placards fo r the dem onstra­
tors, b u t there was also a good
s p rin k lin g o f home-made ones.
Some of these were: “ Yankee
Come Hom e” ; “ U.S. C om m itm ent
in V ietnam : M u rd e r and T o rtu re ” ;
“ Gas and N apalm ! A m erica Has
Gone M ad!” ; “ N egotiate w ith the
N L F ” [S outh Vietnamese N ational
L ib e ra tio n F ro n t], One young man
c a rryin g an SDS sign declaring, “ I
W on’t F ig h t in V ietnam ,” had
added in crayon: “ E xcept W ith the
N L F ."
*
*
*
A group o f young Ohioans e x­
pressed th e ir feeling o f accom­
p lishm ent in being on the m arch
1,07 8 New Readers Gained
In Militant Circulation Drive
By K a ro ly n K e rry
A p r il 20 — Since the opening
o f our special in tro d u c to ry sub­
scrip tio n campaign on M a rch 15
our records show that 1,078 new
subscribers have been added to
our lis t o f M ilita n t readers. W ith
a p p ro xim a te ly tw o m ore months
to go before the June 15 deadline,
we can co n fid e n tly lo o k fo rw a rd
to reaching our target o f 3,500
new subscribers in the in tro d u c ­
to ry sub campaign.
A M ilita n t A rm y contingent
joined in the M arch on W ashing­
ton protest against U.S. in te rv e n ­
tio n in the V ie tn a m c iv il w a r and
sold over 1,500 copies o f The
M ilita n t together w ith a num ber
o f in tro d u c to ry subscriptions. This
was in a d d ition to a mass o f lite ra ­
ture, magazines, pamphlets,* etc.,
sold by M ilita n t supporters deal­
ing w ith the socialist opposition
to Johnson’s w a r on the insurgent
people o f V ietnam fig h tin g fo r
th e ir independence fro m the im ­
p e ria lis t aggressors and th e ir paid
puppets.
I t was an e x h ila ra tin g e xp e ri­
ence fo r the thousands o f young
people w ho gathered in W ashing­
ton fro m a ll parts of the country
to voice th e ir protest and demand
th a t Johnson w ith d ra w a ll A m e ri­
can troops. I f we can judge by
previous experience, m any new
subscriptions w ill be m ailed to us
as a re su lt o f the large sale at
the M arch on W ashington.
O u r D e tro it group heads the
M ilita n t A rm y lis t a t this stage in
the campaign and seems deter­
m ined to lead the w ay rig h t down
to the deadline. O the r areas are
ju s t ge tting started and we can
expect an increased tem po of sub
cam paigning, especially in those
parts o f the cou ntry w h ich have
been plagued w ith
extrem e ly
harsh w in te r w eather. Even our
sm all b u t v e ry active Texas group
w rite s th a t a “ n o rth e r was b low ing
and i t was cold,” th e ir last tim e
out fo r subs. We tru s t th a t w ith
the advent of spring there w ill be
m uch m ore sunshine and many
m ore new subs.
Scoreboard
A rea
D e tro it
New Y o rk
Cleveland
Boston
O akland
T w in Cities
Los Angeles
Chicago
D enver
San Francisco
P h iladelphia
Seattle
N e w a rk
M ilw aukee
St. Louis
San Diego
General
T o tal to
A p r il 20
Quota
Subs
500
500
200
275
250
175
200
500
100
100
125
75
200
100
15
50
—
310
244
80
70
50
46
43
42
40
38
30
15
10
10
7
3,440
1,078
_
43
*
*
In organizing the m arch, the
SDS took the position th a t a ll sup­
p o rtin g groups were welcome to
circulate th e ir lite ra tu re and such
lite ra tu re was present in abun­
dance and v a rie ty . The M ilita n t
was w e ll received b y the m arch­
ers, w ith m ore than 1,700 copies
sold, plus a num ber o f subscrip­
tions. The most e ffe c tiv e ly c ir­
culated p ublica tion a t the march
was the Young Socialist. A large
contingent o f members and sup­
porters o f the Young Socialist A l­
liance fro m the East and M id w est
join ed in selling over 2,000 copies
o f the magazine. As the marchers
w ere dispersing one fa v o ra b ly im ­
pressed young student commented
to another: “ Those Y oung Social­
ists are re a lly organized. They
w ere a ll over the place!”
*
*
*
The M ilita n t’s headline in 2"
block type, “ GET G I’S O U T OF
V IE T N A M ,” was given added c ir ­
culation b y an active young man
o f ten or eleven w ho darted
through the crowds w ith the head­
lin e scotch-taped to the back o f his
jacket. On the tra in fro m N ew
Y o rk, a young school teacher took
the issue and p u t i t u p on the
w in d o w by her seat. A M ilita n t
repo rter was somewhat le t down
w hen she explained, on in q u iry ,
th a t she had p u t i t up because the
shade w asn’t w o rk in g and the sun
was annoying. She made up fo r
i t by g iv in g h im an interesting,
th o u g h tfu l in te rvie w .
*
*
*
There was o n ly one union del­
egation of any size th a t turned out
in support o f the m arch. T h a t was
D ru g and H ospital W orkers Local
1199, A F L -C IO , in N ew Y ork.
There w ere close to a hundred
members o f the local w earing iden­
tify in g overseas caps. P a rticip a tin g
was the local’s president, Leon
Davis, and a nu m b e r o f the loca l’s
organizers. There was also a
s p rin k lin g of members o f D is tric t
65, RW DSU, id e n tifie d b y hats.
/
*
*
*
The cafeteria and rest rooms at
the W ashington M onum ent Lodge
did a la n d -o ffice business. One
near-sighted re p o rte r found h im ­
self in lin e fo r the ladies’ room
instead o f the lunch counter. He
had been m isled by' a num ber of
young men in the lin e w ho he
fin a lly realized were sim p ly keep­
ing th e ir g ir l frie n d s company
w h ile they w aited.
A key pamphlet
In Defense of the
Cuban Revolution
A n A nsw er to the
State D e partm en t
and Theodore D rap er
B y Joseph Hansen
32 pages
250
P IO N E E R P U B L IS H E R S
5 East T h ird St.
N e w Y o rk, N . Y . 10003
THE MILITANT
M onday, A p r il 26, 1965
Peruvian Peasant Leaders
To Go Before Military Court
L IM A , Peru ( W orld O u tlo o k) —
A fte r being held in prison in A re ­
quipa fo r alm ost a year and a half,
tw o leaders o f the P eruvian peas­
antry, A n to n io C a rto lin G uillén,
25, and M áxim o M olina, 35, have
fin a lly been told they are to face
a m ilita r y court. They are ac­
cused o f being the in te lle ctu a l
authors of an “ attack by armed
force” at Ongoy on Oct. 24, 1963.
The tru th is th a t the assault at
Ongoy was organized by armed
bands under police protection.
T h ir ty men, women and c h ild re n
were k ille d . The peasants had
taken over th e ir ancestral lands
and the landlords decided to d rive
them o ff at gun point.
A rrested in L im a
C a rto lin and M olin a were a r­
rested in L im a as they le ft the
Palace o f the N ational Congress
where they had sought to appear
before pa rlia m e n t to denounce the
massacre.
C a rto lin is president of the Fe­
deración de Campesinos [Peasants
Federation] of the D epartm ent of
Ayacucho, the organizer and lead­
er o f m any “ take-overs” or “ re ­
cuperations” of the land by the
peasants. He has the re p u ta tio n of
being a p o w e rfu l orator in Que­
chua, the language of the Incas
s till spoken among P e ru ’s In d ia n
peasants. He is a mem ber of the
P artido R evolutionario Obrero y
Campesino [R e vo lu tio n a ry W o rk ­
ers and Peasants P a rty ] w hich
Counter-Dem onstration
A neo-fascist student organiza­
tion, inspired by fo rm e r members
o f the Nazi SA and SS, decided to
organize a counter-dem onstration
under the excuse o f defending
“ academic freedom .” The real na­
tu re of th is assemblage, however,
was clear fro m its slogans alone.
F o r the fir s t tim e in 20 years, the
streets of Vienna echoed to shouts
of “ Death to the Jews” and “ Pup­
pets o f the Jews!” Some o f the
armed neo-Nazis even shouted,
“ Long L iv e A u sch w itz!” (one of
H itle r ’s e xte rm in a tion camps).
The police did little , m any of
them in d ica tin g sym pathy w ith
the neo-fascists.
The m u rd e r o f E rnst K irc h -
NEW STATE DEP'T CURB
Cuba Off Limits to Campus Press
adheres to the F o u rth In te rn a tio n ­
al, the w o rld -w id e organization of
re v o lu tio n a ry socialists founded
b y Leon T ro ts k y in 1938.
M olina, like w ise a mem ber of
the PROC, is vice president of the
same peasant organization. He was
elected by the Com unidad o f On­
goy where the massacre occurred.
Both men have been held in the
same prison in A requipa as Hugo
Blanco, P eru’s outstanding re v ­
o lu tio n a ry fig u re , whose leader­
ship they acknowledge and whose
exam ple in organizing the peas­
ants they were fo llo w in g when
seized by the governm ent.
A p re lim in a ry hearing in th e ir
case is scheduled fo r the end of
A p ril or the fir s t p a rt of M ay.
According to th e ir legal counsel,
D r. A lfre d o B a ttila n a , th is m ay
last o n ly a few days since i t is
occurring in a m ilita r y court.
Face 20 Years
U nder the m ilita r y code,, the
tw o, i f found g u ilty , can be given
up to 20 years. I t is n o t y e t know n
w h a t sentence the prosecution is
demanding.
Defense counsel are dem anding
th a t the chaiges be dismissed as
la ckin g any substance.
Funds are u rg e n tly needed fo r
the defense and the tw o defend­
ants have appealed fo r fin a n c ia l
aid. C ontributions can be sent to
the fo llo w in g address:
Ism ael
Frias, A venida Manco Capac 239,
La V ic to ria , L im a , Peru.
Vienna Worker Is Murdered
By Fascists in Street Clash
V IE N N A (W o rld O u tlo o k )— For
the firs t tim e since the end of
Nazi ru le in 1945, A u s tria n fascists
w ere in the streets here M arch 31
in a m ob of 1,000, out to break
up an anti-fascist dem onstration.
A rm ed w ith knives, tear-gas, stin k
bombs, bicycle chains and even
explosives, they wounded several
anti-fascist
dem onstrators
and
k ille d a 67-year-old working-class
fu n ctio n a ry, E rnst K irch w e g e r, a
mem ber o f the C om m unist P a rty
of A ustria.
The o rig in o f the street battle
is significant. F or some tim e a n ti­
fascist groups here have been
cam paigning fo r the ouster o f one
Professor Taras B oradajkew ycz
fro m the V ienna College fo r W orld
Trade. The 62-year-old professor,
a self-avowed fo rm e r m em ber of
the Nazis, the SA [B ro w n S h irts ],
and the SS [storm troopers], has
been openly propagandizing fo r
the Nazi regime, sounding many
fascist and anti-S em itic themes in
his classes.
The Social C hristia n m in is te r of
education procrastinated. The A us­
tria n Resistance M ovem ent, an
anti-fascist organization w ith a
fo llo w in g o f left-socialist trade
unionists, Socialist youth, Com­
m unist w orkers and radical-m ind­
ed students, organized several p ro ­
test dem onstrations. The M arch 31
ra lly was the second. Between 4,000 and 5,000 people participated
in it.
Page Five
weger, the firs t working-class m ili­
ta n t to be k ille d by A u s tria n
fascists since the Nazi regim e was
toppled, aroused deep feelings
among the A u s tria n w orkers.
The le ft w in g o f the Socialist
P a rty has called fo r protest strikes
and fo r the fo rm a tio n o f an a n ti­
fascist w o rke rs’ self-defense o r­
ganization.
These proposals are
now being discussed in the fac­
tories and in the Socialist P arty.
So high did in d ig n a tio n m ount
th a t the re fo rm is t leadership of
the A u s tria n Trade U nion Federa­
tio n proclaim ed a general strike
A p r il 5 to protest the m u rd e r o f
E rnst K irch w e g e r. The union lead­
ers showed th e ir stripe, however,
b y lim itin g the s trik e to fiv e m in ­
utes!
U n d er Pressure
The re fo rm ist leadership of the
A u s tria n social democracy [So­
c ia lis t P a rty ] is caught between
the pressure o f w orkers, who
fa v o r an energetic reaction against
the neo-fascists, and some m iser­
able election maneuvers. Jonas,
the social-democratic m ayor of
Vienna, is scheduled to ru n against
a Social C hristian candidate in the
coming presidential elections. The
electoral strength of both parties
is about the same. The b ra in -tru st
in the Socialist P a rty headquarters
fears th a t the neo-fascists m ig h t
vote against Jonas i f s tiff action
is taken against them. The Social
C hristians, moreover, are openly
w ooing the neo-Nazis. Fascist P ro­
fessor Boradajkew ycz, w h o tr ig ­
gered the present crisis, boasts of
protection in the “ highest circles”
o f the Social C hristian P arty.
On the other hand, feelings are
ru n n in g so high among the w o rk ­
ers th a t a vigorous campaign in
fa v o r o f self-defense guards in the
factories and working-class dis­
tric ts w ould prove a ttra ctive to
m any C atholic w orkers, d ra w in g
them tow ard the Socialists.
B u t such a course is n o t to be
expected fro m the class-collaborationist, u ltra -re fo rm is t leaders of
the present A u s tria n
Socialist
P a rty. In comparison to them,
even the ce n trist A u stro -M a rxist
leaders o f the pre-1934 Socialist
P a rty seem lik e extrem e leftists.
F R IG H T E N IN G ? The S tate D e p a rtm en t is a p p a re n tly upset by the prospect th a t U .S. campus jo u r­
nalists m igh t be exposed to scenes lik e this one in th e n ew Cuba. T h ere the governm ent and en tire
people consider the w e lfa re of children p rim a ry .
B y B a rry Sheppard
The State D epartm ent recently
tu rned down a request by the
editors of 13 college newspapers
fo r perm ission to v is it Cuba over
the Easter weekend. The student
editors wanted to report w h a t they
saw in Cuba in th e ir campus
papers.
In th e ir le tte r to the State De­
pa rtm e n t the editors said: “ A
knowledge of the conditions w ith in
Cuba is prerequisite to our fo rm ­
ing in te llig e n t opinions as to our
relations w ith th a t country. As
student editors in a free and
dem ocratic society, we consider
the freedom to tra v e l a necessary
condition fo r the freedom to
le a rn .”
When the State D epartm ent firs t
imposed its ban on tra v e l to Cuba
several years ago, i t claim ed an
exception w ould be made fo r re­
porters. However, i t has been ve ry
d iffic u lt, and in m any cases im ­
possible, fo r reporters fro m the
le ft press to get such permission.
Now the State D epartm ent is
placing even fu rth e r restrictions
upon w h a t k in d of newsmen can
go to Cuba.
In re je cting the request o f the
student editors, the State D epart­
m ent said th a t i t w ould p e rm it
only “ fu ll-tim e w rite rs and jo u r­
nalists” to go to Cuba and th a t
the student editors d id n ’t f i t this
category.
This fu rth e r re strictio n can be
used by W ashington against fir s t­
hand coverage of Cuba b y maga­
zines lik e the N ation and the New
R epublic. The w rite rs o f th e ir a r­
ticles, fo r the most p art, w o u ld not
q u a lify under the State D epa rt-
Whitmore’s Attorney Stands Mute
In Protest Against Judge’s Bias
N EW Y O R K , A p r il 21 — The
fram e-up o f George W hitm ore, a
22-year-old Negro, w hom the police
beat and in tim id a te d in to “ con­
fessing” to three m a jo r crimes,
reached scandalous new heights
th is week. The conduct o f Judge
D om inic S. R in a ld i o f B ro o klyn
Supreme C o u rt has resulted in
W h itm o re ’s defense counsel declar­
in g th a t fo r the rest of the c u rre n t
tr ia l he w ill stand mute.
I t was R in a ld i w ho shocked
c iv il-rig h ts and c iv il-lib e rtie s c ir­
cles e a rlie r this m onth when he
ordered young W h itm o re to tria l
fo r the th ird crim e to w hich he
had “ confessed.” This follow ed the
state’s dropping of the prosecution
o f W h itm o re in the h ig h ly pub­
licized W y lie -H o ffe rt m urders on
the grounds th a t his “ confession”
was false. S im ila rly , a new tr ia l
was ordered fo r W hitm ore in the
second case, attem pted rape, to
w hich he had also “ confessed.”
Nonetheless, in a p re -tria l hear­
ing, R in a ld i ruled th a t the th ird
“ confession” extorted fro m the
Negro yo u th by the same police­
men in the same 24 hours of
g rillin g was v o lu n ta ry and that
W h itm o re m ust stand tria l fo r the
“ confessed” m urder.
In the course o f the tria l R in a ld i
has displayed such animus against
the defense th a t on A p r il 19 A t­
to rn e y Stanley G. Reiben told the
fu rio u s judge th a t his “ antip a th y
and antagonism ” against the de­
fense made i t “ im possible fo r any
defense la w y e r to adequately par-
ticip ate in this tr ia l o r represent
a c lie n t p ro p e rly.” Consequently,
“ The defense rem ains m ute fo r
the du ration o f this tr ia l.”
When the U.S. Supreme C ourt
last June rule d th a t th is state’s
methods of intro ducing confessions
as evidence was unconstitutional,
and th a t a judge m ust firs t ru le
on th e ir voluntariness, m any de­
fense attorneys hailed this as a
m a jo r v ic to ry fo r defendants.
W hat has happened since is caus­
ing them second thoughts.
U nder the new procedure, fiv e
confessions have been ruled v o l­
u n ta ry despite stunning testim ony
o f coercion by defendants. Such
confessions arc now p u t before the
ju r y w ith the judge’s stamp of ap­
p ro va l on them, as it were. M any
defense attorneys are now, accord­
ing to an A p r il 14 New Y o rk Times
article, o f the opinion th a t this
new procedure makes it even more
d iffic u lt to convince a ju r y of a
“ confession’s” phoniness.
The key p o in t is th a t the p o lit­
ic a lly chosen judges are strongly
lin ke d and under obligation to the
police departm ent heads and dis­
tr ic t attorneys — a ll of them are
usually in the same po litica l
machine w ith them. F or a judge
to give the police and prosecutors
a p u b lic black eye by ru lin g a
confession coerced w ould be tanta­
m ount to p o litic a l betrayal.
The solution is to m ake a ll con­
fessions be inadm issible in court
unless they have been made by
defendants in the presence of
th e ir attorneys.
m ent’s new d e fin itio n o f those i t
w ill p e rm it to v is it Cuba. M ost of
them are in te rm itte n t free-lance
authors or n o n -jo u rn a lis t experts
in various fields. Indeed, the fe w
firs t-h a n d accounts o f Cuba w hich
have appeared in independent
jou rn als in th is co u n try since the
tra v e l ban have been m ostly b y
such people. The State D ep art­
m ent is thus ta kin g another step
tow ards its real goal — a llo w in g
none b u t a fe w hand-picked w r it ­
ers fro m the d a ily press tQ v is it
Cuba.
The governm ent imposed the
tra ve l ban in the fir s t place be­
cause i t doesn’t w a n t A m ericans
to fin d out fo r themselves what
is re a lly going on in Cuba. The
tru th about Cuba doesn’t match
the propaganda and h o rro r stories
cooked up by the State D epa rt­
m ent to ju s tify U.S. im p e ria lism ’s
hostile policy to w a rd Cuba.
Student Reporters
F or the same reason, the gov­
ernm ent fears honest re p o rtin g
about Cuba. I t especially fears
student reporters, because the
campus press, w h ile generally n o t
radical, is m ore honest and h arder
to control than the d a ily press.
The mood on campus is general­
ly more p o litic a l than among the
population as a whole, and an
honest p ictu re o f Cuba w o uld be
seriously studied on the campus.
I t w ould undercut the lin e on
Cuba presented by the State De­
partm ent, and could spark opposi­
tio n to the governm ent’s policies.
The request fo r perm ission to go
to Cuba was made by the editors of
M ain Events and O bservation Post
o f the C ity College o f N ew Y o rk ,
the Spectator and O w l o f C olum ­
bia, the H a rva rd Crim son, the
D a ily P rincetonian, Yale D a ily
News, N e w Y o r k U n iv e rs ity
Heights D a ily News, H u n te r C ol­
lege A rro w , Queens College Phoe­
n ix , B u ffa lo U n iv e rs ity Spectrum ,
and the U n iv e rs ity o f W isconsin
D a ily C ardinal.
Yours for the Asking
For b o o b and pamphlets on Cuba,
the Freedom Now struggle, the labor
movamant. socialist thaory, land for
a fraa copy of our catalogue.
PIONEER PUBLISHERS
5 East Third Street
N e w Y o rk,
N.
Y.
10003
TH E M IL IT A N T
Page Six
Monday, A p ril 26, .1965
Algerian Report on A ttem p ted Viet Parley
Union Urges Viet Peace
U Thant Sought Aid of Ben Bella And Boycott ofAlabama
[T h e fo llo w in g e d ito ria l, in ­
dicating the position o f the A l­
gerian governm ent in re la tio n to
the crisis precipitated b y the U.S.
attack on N o rth V ietnam , ap­
peared in the A p r il 8 issue o f the
A lg ie rs d a ily Le Peuple. The edi­
to ria l is o f unusual interest be­
cause o f its -revelations concern­
in g U N S e c r e t a r y
General
U T h a n t’s e ffo rts to open negotia­
tions w ith P eking and Hanoi,
using A lg ie rs as an in te rm e d ia ry.
The e d ito ria l was e n title d “ A l ­
geria ’s co n trib u tio n to w a rd restor­
in g peace in V ietn am .” The trans­
la tio n is by the labor-press serv­
ice W o rld O utlook.]
*
*
*
On A p r il 1, the A lg e ria n chargé
d ’affaires at the UN, H adj Benabdelkader Azzout, m et M r. Thant,
secretary general o f the U nited
N ations. A lth o u g h both o f them
m aintained complete silence about
th e subject o f th e ir discussion, i t
was believed to be lin k e d w ith
Chou E n -la i’s tr ip to A lg e ria at
the tim e and to the la te st develop­
ments in the A m erican aggression
against ‘ V ie tn a m .
Tuesday [A p r il 6],., M r. B ouat­
toura, the A lg e ria n ambassador to
the U n ited Nations relayed a mes­
sage fro m P resident Ben B ella to
the secretary general of the U n it­
ed Nations and confirm ed in a
press release th a t A lg e ria had
played the ro le of in te rm e d ia ry
between C hina and U Thant, who
is seeking to arrange a conference
o f a ll the interested parties in the
problem o f V ietnam .
M r. B ouattoura, who held tw o
conferences w ith the UN secretary
general before leaving fo r A lgeria,
refused to reveal any details about
the conferences.
P resident Ben B e lla ’s message
to the secretary general o f the
U n ite d Nations provided p a rtic u ­
la r ly im p o rta n t cla rific a tio n s and
specifications on the position of
People’s C hina w ith regard to the
w a r being conducted by the U SA
A hm ed Ben B ella
against the Vietnamese people and
on the means b y w h ich th is con­
flic t m ig h t be settled. The press
and jo u rn a lis ts have speculated
considerably about the nature of
P resident Ben B e lla ’s message.
M uch o f th is lacks any foundation
and some of i t is obviously in ­
spired by subjective considerations.
As in the case of the fir m and
energetic position adopted by the
F L N [F ro n t de L ib é ra tio n Na­
tio n a le] d u rin g the national re v ­
o lu tio n [in A lg e ria ], the govern­
m ent of People’s C hina holds th a t
the basic problem in V ietnam is
clear and unm istakable.
In V ietnam a colonial w a r is
being waged by the USA against
a people w ho are seeking only to
exercise th e ir rig h t to p o litic a l and
economic independence.
I f the U S A re a lly w ants to b rin g
the w a r to an end, o n ly one road
is open: to negotiate w ith the V ie t­
namese revolutionists w ho are
fig h tin g arms in hand.
No other pow er and no other
Warsaw Reporter Describes Reaction
Of North Vietnamese to U.S. Attacks
T he U.S. a ir raids on N o rth
V ietnam have turned th a t little
co u n try in to a land w here peo­
ple go around w e a rin g bunches
o f w illo w s fo r camouflage and
re g u la rly avoid crow ded places.
T h a t is the report o f Polish cor­
respondent D aniel L u lin s k i in a
dispatch fro m N o rth V ie tn a m to
the W arsaw paper T ryb u n a Ludu.
- - L u lin s k i r e p o r t s
tra v e lin g
thro ugh the southern p a rt o f the
cpuntry, along the key n o rth -so u th
H ig h w a y One, d u rin g the raids:
“ The fa rth e r south I w ent, the
m ore people I
saw ca rry in g
bunches o f w illo w s tied to th e ir
backs, or bamboo, o r banana
reeds . . . A ll ch ild re n camouflage
themselves: i t is req uire d in N o rth
V ie tn a m ’s schools.”
“ I noticed a ir-ra id shelters in
sm all fish in g villages. Even small
ch ild re n in s tin c tiv e ly ju m p in to
Now Available
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shelters w hen they hear the w o rd
‘ L ’M a i-B a i’ (a irp la n e ). T hey react
the same w ay at the w o rd ‘A m e r­
ican.’
“ Because of the danger, m a r­
ke tin g goes on in the shade of
palm woods a few miles fro m the
villages. Trains and buses stop
away fro m the villages. Streets
and squares come a live o n ly in the
evenings, since the usual tim e of
the raids is between noon and
5 p.m.”
L u lin s k i said his tr ip along the
h ig h w a y by the coast of the South
C hina Sea was in te rru p te d by
m any stops because of the A m e r­
ican strafing. He said th a t the U.S.
planes’ m ain targets in the villages
attacked had been schools, hos­
pitals, and churches — because
they are “ the biggest b u ild in g s in
those reed-thatched villages.”
Viet Priests Charge
U.S. Bombed Church
T h ir ty C atholic priests in Nghe
A n P rovince in N o rth V ietnam
have condemned the U.S. bom b­
in g and stra fin g o f a v illa g e there,
reports the V ietnam News A gen­
cy in Rangoon, B urm a. The priests’
statem ent said th a t U.S. planes
dropped 15 bombs, fire d m any
rockets and strafed the C atholic
church, the vicarage and houses
o f Phu X uan, a ham let o f o n ly 50
peasant households, on M arch 15.
S ix women and ch ildren — a ll
Catholics — w ere k ille d by the
U.S. attackers. Three others w ere
seriously wounded.: \ The priests
term ed the attack op the church
“ prem editated” because i t “ stands
on h igh ground and its surround­
ings are v e ry sparsely in h a bite d .”
co u n try has any rig h t to nego­
tia te th e ir fate except the V ie tn a ­
mese people themselves.
Observers a t the U nited Nations
believe th a t M r. T hant asked M r.
Bouattoura, before leaving fo r
A lgiers, to ta lk w ith the Chinese
p rim e m in iste r, to sound out w h a t
possibilities
fo r
success there
m ig h t be in his ta k in g a tr ip to
the F a r East, p a rtic u la rly to Pek­
ing and Hanoi.
B u t i t was fe lt th a t i t w o u ld
be useless fo r the secretary gen­
eral o f the U nited Nations to un­
dertake a tr ip to P eking and
Hanoi. Because the solution to the
problem o f V ietnam is not to be
found in e ith e r P eking or H anoi
but in Saigon; th a t is, between
the Vietnamese people represented
by the N L F [N a tio n a l L ib e ra tio n
F ro n t, called “ V ie t Cong” fo r
propaganda purposes b y U.S. gov­
ernm ent and press] and the im ­
p e ria lis t pow er com batting them.
The Vietnamese people have
the rig h t to ask, as a precondi­
tion, th a t th e ir rig h ts be recog­
nized, th a t th e ir re v o lu tio n a ry
leaders be recognized as th e ir rep­
resentatives, and th a t the colonial
na ture o f the problem and its
meaning be recognized, and th a t
any settlem ent of the w a r m ust
necessarily be made w ith them.
The fa c t th a t re v o lu tio n a ry
A lg e ria was chosen by the secre­
ta ry general and People’s C hina to
undertake a re sp o n sib ility th a t no
other co u n try o f the th ird w o rld
was in position to assume, is to
be noted.
Ju st as the A lg e ria n people
made recognition of th e ir rig h t to
self-determ ination
a
condition
sine qua non [indispensable] be­
fore any negotiations w ith France,
so the Vietnamese have the rig h t
to do the same w ith the U SA. I t
is now up to the U SA to accept
this and to enter into d ire ct nego­
tia tio n s w ith the genuine repre­
sentatives o f the Vietnamese peo­
ple, th a t is, the N LF.
B y A le x H a rte
r te
The recent convention o f the 65,000-member In te rn a tio n a l Long­
shoremen’s and W arehousemen’s
U nion denounced U.S. po licy in
V ie tnam and called fo r a cease­
fire . I t also imposed a boycott on
the han dling o f Alabam a-m ade
products in support o f the S outh­
ern c iv il-rig h ts movement. The
u n io n ’s members w o rk the docks
on the Canadian and U.S. West
Coasts and H a w a ii. The actions
were taken at the union’s 16th
b iennial convention w h ich took
place in Vancouver, B.C., ea rlie r
th is m onth.
The un io n ’s resolution on V ie t­
nam calls upon “ P resident John­
son and ou r Congressmen to stop
the k illin g in V ietnam .” I t fu rth e r
declares:
“ We say, le t the Vietnamese
people decide. T hey have suffered
w a r and foreign in te rv e n tio n too
long already: fir s t fro m France,
now fro m the U.S. L e t them have
the supervised free elections w hich
they w ere prom ised b y th e Geneva
Agreem ent o f 1954 w h ich ended
th e ir, w a r w ith France. Those
elections w ere prevented by the
c o rru p t D iem regim e w h ich we
supported.
“ The Geneva A greem ent p ro m ­
ised freedom fro m foreign arms
and interference. There w ou ld be
no w a r today i f the agreement had
been live d up to. O u r co u n try
violated i t fo r years, c a llin g our
troops ‘advisers.’
“ U nited States p o licy now fo l­
lows the in crcd ib le path o f ‘ne­
gotia tion through escalation.’ This
te rrify in g concept is b u t one step
rem oved fro m escalation to a
w o rld holocaust! . . .”
The union proposes a fo u r-p o in t
program fo r ending the V ietnam
w ar: “ 1) C ease-fire; 2) W ith ­
d ra w a l o f a ll foreign troops; 3)
Negotiate; 4)
S ettlem ent and
peace.”
The resolution im posing the
boycott on Alabam a-m ade goods
was passed unanim ously. IL W U
President H a rry B ridges said the
union w ou ld refuse to handle a ll
A labam a goods. The m ain p o rt fo r
shipm ent o f such goods is at
M obile, A labam a, w h ich is organ­
ized b y the In te rn a tio n a l Long­
shoremen’s Association. The IL A ,
w ith ju ris d ic tio n on the East and
G u lf Coasts, is n o t jo in in g the boy­
cott. P roba bly the most im p o rta n t
shipments affected by the IL W U
boycott w ill be A labam a goods
destined fo r H a w a ii, since these
m ust pass through the hands of
IL W U members.
The IL W U resolution points out
th a t the State o f A labam a its e lf
“ has pursued a course o f v io le n t
and b ru ta l action against peace­
ably assembled citizens seeking
realization o f th e ir rig h t to vote.”
M eanw hile,
tags
id e n tify in g
Alabam a-produced p o u ltry and
egg products are being rem oved at
the request o f na tional chain stores
in an atte m pt to evade the boy­
cott.
Japan C rew Says No
In protest against U.S. im p e ria l­
ism ’s d ir ty w a r in V ietnam , the
crew o f the Japanese fre ig h te r
B unan M a ru refused to tra n sp o rt
a U.S. m ilita r y cargo fro m O k i­
nawa to T hailand. The crew
term ed the 1,400-ton cargo, w hich
included
tanks,
machine-guns,
rifle s and m unitions, “ m u rd e r
weapons.” The shipowners were
fin a lly forced to scrap th e ir con­
tra c t w ith the U.S. N avy and a
n o n -m ilita ry cargo was p u t aboard.
U.S. escalation has involved
T hailand m ore and m ore in the
spreading Southeast Asia w ar.
Planes from the big U.S. base at
U d o rn , T hailand, take o ff re g u la r­
ly to bomb Laos and probably
N o rth Vietnam .
RIGHT-W INGERS ROUTED
Detroit Rally Hits Vietnam War
B y Jay G arn ett
D E T R O IT — Some 400 to 500
W ayne State U n iv e rs ity students
attended an A p r il 14 campus sendo ff ra lly in support o f the A p ril
17 M arch on W ashington. The
meeting, sponsored by the Wayne
Com m ittee to End the W a r in V ie t­
nam, m arked a new phase of stu­
dent a c tiv ity because i t was the
fir s t outdoor ra lly there since a
free speech fig h t in e a rly 1962.
Speakers
Speakers included P rof. D avid
H erreshoff; M ichael Kerm an, trea­
surer o f the D e tro it C om m ittee to
End the W ar; Roger K eeran; M a ri­
an Edmonds; Rev. A lb e rt Cleage,
fo rm e r gu b e rn a to ria l candidate of
the Freedom N ow P a rty ; Helga
Herz, daughter of A lice Herz who
im m olated herself last m onth in
protest against the w a r; Todd G itlin , o f Students fo r a D em ocratic
Society; F ra n k Joyce, D e tro it co­
o rd in a to r of the N o rth e rn Student
M ovem ent; U n iv e rs ity of M ichigan
Professor F r ith jo f Bergman, an
organizer of the h ig h ly successful
teach-in
there;
P ro f.
W illia m
Bunge; and James G r iffin , mem­
ber of the Y oung Socialist A llia n ce
and a spokesman fo r the D e tro it
Committee.
Wayne C om m ittee chairm an Ro­
ger Keeran said: “ We are not
defending freedom because there
is no freedom in South V ie tn a m .”
Keeran exposed the equal-blame
theory. U pon investigation, he said
“ w e usually fin d in such conflicts
th a t .one side is m ore o r less fo r
progress, one side more o r less fo r
reaction. In this w a r, the U.S. is
on the side o f reaction.”
Rev. A lb e rt Cleage indicted U.S.
in te rve n tio n in South V ietnam
and bom bing o f N o rth V ietnam as
“ m o ra lly w rong, p o litic a lly naive
and m ilita r ily stupid.” He declared
the brainw ashing o f the A m erican
people by the U.S. pow er structure
was shown by its acceptance o f a
“ w a r o f o b lite ra tio n ” even a fter
everyone knew
the patterned
bombings o f W orld W ar I I had
w iped out the men, women and
c hild re n in en tire areas.
D u rin g the meeting, rig h t-w in g
students, led by three or fo u r non­
students w ho are members o f a
group called B reakthrough, at­
tem pted to heckle the speakers.
The existence of a defense guard,
made up o f supporters o f the ra lly ,
was enough to keep them quiet
through most of the meeting.
He pointed o u t the self-defense
aspects o f the Vietnamese lib e ra ­
tio n struggle. “ The Vietnamese
were forced to make the same
choice th a t the Negro people in
the South m ake when they are
forced to arm themselves against
the m id n ig h t rides o f the K la n ;
the same choice s trik in g w orkers
are forced to m ake w hen thugs . . .
attem pt to break through th e ir
lin e ; the same choice th a t we make
w hen threatened by a rig h tis t
goon squad such as B reakthrough,
w hich tries to violate our rig h t to
protest.”
H ecklers Heckled
The C leveland branch o f the
N A A C P has come to the defense
of D onald Freeman, Negro ju n io r
high school teacher, fire d because
o f his connection w ith a black na­
tio n a list magazine. Freem an’s sus­
pension and subsequent dismissal
follo w e d a w itch -h u n tin g “ exposé”
by the d a ily P la in Dealer o f the
fact th a t he had w ritte n an a rticle
fo r B lack A m erica, p u b lica tio n o f
the R e vo lutionary A ctio n M ove­
m ent (R A M ). CORE and other
c iv il-rig h ts groups in Cleveland
protested the p u n itiv e measures
against Freeman.
The N A A C P charged th a t the
newspaper w itc h h u n t “ created a
pu b lic opinion o f g u ilt w hich
served to violate the due process
of la w as it concerned M r. Free­
m an.”
W illia m Bunge, a geography
professor, le ft aside the academic
discussion and shouted a t the
hecklers, “ W hy don’t you enlist?”
The Y oung Am ericans fo r Free­
dom and the John B irc h Society
w ere cowards, he declared, fo r
th ey sought to send others to die
in fo reign w ars w h ile they sat in
th e ir offices egging them on. B y
repeatedly asking, “ W hy don’t
you enlist? W hy don’t you v o lu n ­
teer?” he was able to silence the
u ltra -rig h tists. Feeling themselves
discredited
and
isolated, they
slipped away.
The fin a l speaker was J im G r if­
fin . Discussing the significance of
the protest ra lly , he said i t was
“ not m erely fo r peace in general,
b u t a protest against a p a rtic u la r
armed struggle . . . A nd the ac­
cusing fin g e r is pointed at Wash­
ington; the onus is placed where
i t should be placed.”
Cleveland NAACP Backs
Fired School Teacher
THE MILITANT
M onday, A p r il 26, 1965
Page Seven
¿C etieM J'Äom O w t tR&adsihA
[This column is an open forum
for all viewpoints on subjects of
general interest to our readers.
Please keep your letters brief.
Where necessary they w ill be
abridged. Writers’ initials tr ill be
used, names being withheld unless
authorization is given for use.]
Insight on Arms Race
E vansville, Ind.
The A p r il 12 issue o f U.S. News
and W o rld R eport features a most
revea lin g in te rv ie w w ith Secre­
ta ry o f Defense M cN am ara en­
title d “ Is Russia S low in g D ow n in
A rm s Race?” The answer: “ There
n n u iiM iiim ii i a M f i i i n a n i i ii i i i ii i i ii i i ii i > i ii i i ii i i ii ! > i i i ii i i i> i i ii i m ii i i ii i i i ii * ^
| 10 Y ears A go |
|In The M ilita n t!
fiimiimiimiimmmiiiimiimmiimi
in;
“ On A p r il 16, the Emergency
C iv il L ib e rtie s Com m ittee, a na­
tio n a l organization dedicated to
the support o f the B ill o f Rights,
held an all-day conference on the
them e ‘A n Appeal to Congress fo r
a R e b irth o f Freedom.’
“ The Emergency C iv il L ib e rtie s
C om m ittee is the sole action group
stru g g lin g fo r dem ocratic rig h ts in
the U.S. th a t (1) defends a ll v ic ­
tim s of the w itch -h u n t; (2) enlists
a ll w ho fig h t the governm ent’s
police-state measures regardless o f
p o litic a l a ffilia tio n ; (3) rejects the
prem ise o f the w itch -h u n t th a t the
U n ite d States is menaced by a
‘C om m unist conspiracy.’
“ These three principles are v ita l
to the success o f any u n ite d -fro n t
group fig h tin g to uphold free
speech . . .
“ Present at the A p r il 16 confer­
ence were victim s O’Connor, Lam on t and A n n Braden. James
K u tch e r, legless veteran, a mem­
ber of the Socialist W orkers P a rty
w ho is contesting the ‘lo y a lty ’
program
fo r
governm ent em­
ployees in the courts, also at­
tended.” — A p r il 25, 1955.
<iiiiiii»iiiiiiiuiiimi!iimiiiMNMMiiHimimiiiiiniiniiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiii£
20 Y ears Ago ii
iiim im im iiiiiir
“ The mass arrest o f 101 Negro
officers o f the 477th B om bard­
m ent G roup o f Freeman F ie ld , In ­
diana, is the latest dem onstration
o f J im C row action in the U.S.
A rm y . A ll 101 officers w ere a r­
rested fo llo w in g
th e ir protest
against d iscrim in a tio n at the base
and transferred un der guard to
Godman F ield, K entu cky. There
they are being confined in a
stockade u n til the W a r D epart­
m ent completes its investigation
in to the case.
“ When the 477th B om ber Group
came to Freeman F ie ld on A p ril
5, the Negro officers found tw o
o fficers’ clubs there, one assigned
to O fficers T ra in in g U n it person­
nel (w h ite ), the other, to Base
and S upervisor personnel (N e­
g ro ). R ealizing this plan was
m e re ly a J im C row device, groups
o f Negro officers attem pted to en­
te r the w h ite officers’ club.
“ S ixty-one Negro officers were
p ro m p tly arrested, b u t a ll were
released except three o f th e ir
leaders. These three men . . . were
held under technical arrest, charg­
ed w ith ‘jo s tlin g ’ a provost m a r­
shall . . .
“ Pressure was p u t on the 58
Negro officers w ho had previously
been arrested to sign a statem ent
declaring th e ir intentions to obey
the J im C row orders. W hen they
refused to do so, the comm anding
o ffic e r . . . ordered th e ir tra n sfe r
to
Godman
F ield,
K e n tu cky,
w here th ey w ere re-arrested. A p ­
p ro xim a te ly 40 other Negro o f­
ficers at Freeman F ie ld w ho
joine d in the refusal to sign the
statem ent w ere like w ise arrested,
b rin g in g the to ta l num ber under
arrest to 101.” — A p r il 28, 1945.
is no in d ica tio n th a t they are
catching up o r p la n nin g to catch
up” w ith U.S. strategic nuclear
forces. In fact, continues M c ­
Namara, “ there is no indication
th e y are in a race at th is tim e .”
I f th is is true, shouldn’t A m e r­
icans expect a reduction in m ili­
ta ry spending, in v ie w o f the o ver­
w h e lm in g
m ilita r y
s u p e rio rity
w h ich M cNam ara brags we w ill
m a in ta in fo r the rem ainder o f this
decade? D on’t be naive. Since
1961, he says, w e’ve been “ ru n ­
n in g an average o f $5 b illio n a
year higher . . . and w e’l l ru n es­
se n tia lly the same in 1966.”
W h y is this? Because of some
possible S oviet b reakthrough in
weapons technology? A gain, don’t
be naive. The U.S. W a rfare State
grows n o t in re la tio n to the need
“ to deter a p o te n tia l aggressor,”
as w e are a ll told, b u t in re la tio n
to “ a percentage o f gross n a tional
product.” In o ther words, M c ­
Nam ara p ra c tic a lly adm its th a t oIn­
arms budget is determ ined by the
need to support and stim ulate an
otherwise decadent, d efunct eco­
nom ic system.
Since th is has always been s e lfevident
to
M a rx is t - Leninists,
aren’t the Soviet leaders being a
b it naive in advocating disarm a­
m ent and dropping out o f the arms
race? W hen asked, “ Do the Rus­
sians have solid-fuel missiles such
as the M inutem an and P olaris on
the horizon?”
M cN am ara an­
swered: “ I can o n ly assume th a t
they m ust be w o rk in g on it. Cer­
ta in ly I w ould be i f I w ere in th e ir
shoes.”
A n d he should know , i f anybody
does, how m uch the USSR can
tru s t our peaceful pretenses.
released a report e ntitled, “ Age
o f D e fla tio n? ”
The Goodbody R eport pinpoints
a key source o f an xie ty: H ow long
can the U nited States continue to
ru n a d e fic it in its in te rn a tio n a l
balance o f payments w ith o u t be­
in g forced to resort to d e fla tio n a ry
m onetary policies? The re p o rt goes
on to state: “ There are forces o f
enormous strength at w o rk to re ­
verse the in fla tio n a ry character of
the economy demonstrated fo r the
last q u a rte r century.”
The D em ocratic m a jo rity on the
Jo in t Economic Com m ittee o f Con­
gress, cautiously approaching this
problem , stated delicately: “ Since
the ris k is o f continued excessive
unem ploym ent ra th e r than in fla ­
tio n , preference should be given
to a d d ition a l excise ta x cuts . . .”
The R epublican m in o rity o f the
C om m ittee was m ore b lu n t: “ We
m ay be headed fo r a w o rld eco­
nom ic collapse th a t w ill cause eco­
nom ic distress at home greater
th a n a n ything we have seen since
the 1930s.”
M eanw hile, the Federal Reserve
Board reported th a t the U.S.
m onetary gold stock had declined
to $14.563 b illio n , the lowest level
since December 28, 1938.
W o rld capitalism , forced back
on its e lf by the ris in g tid e o f the
colonial re vo lu tio n , is cle a rly in an
increasingly
d iffic u lt
situation.
The post-war economic re v iv a l in
Europe and Japan has in tensified
com petition fo r markets. W h ile the
exact date o f the crisis cannot be
forecast, the notion o f continued
economic prosperity stands ex­
posed as m erely another lib e ra l
m yth th a t is due to be ru d e ly ex­
ploded.
Reader
Robert H ill
Sees Free-Speech Gain
Shorter W ork W eek
N ew Y o rk , N.Y.
I w o u ld lik e to comm ent on the
rem arks of P ro f. Staughton L yn d
at w h a t sounds lik e a ve ry re ­
w a rd in g symposium held b y the
New Y o rk M ilita n t L a b o r Forum ,
as reported in the A p r il 10 M il­
ita n t.
P ro f. L y n d re p o rte d ly expressed
the b e lie f th a t the U.S. is in dan­
ger o f fascism: “ N ever before, I
th in k , have infringem ents o f acad­
emic freedom been so great . . .
N ever before have such attacks
against freedom o f speech taken
place” in th is country.
I th in k such a v ie w is m is­
taken. I th in k the rash o f fre e speech fig h ts ' on campuses and
elsewhere in the last few years is
a v e ry positive sign. I t is not so
m uch
th a t
infrin g e m e n ts
are
g ro w in g greater, b u t th a t students
and professors, in fa c t people in
a ll w alks o f life , are at la st fig h t­
ing back against the thought-contro l atmosphere th a t became an
in s titu tio n d u rin g the M cC arthy
era.
As often as not, these free
speech fig h ts are being won. A nd
every v ic to ry encourages more
such struggles. F o r example, the
actions at B ro o k ly n College and
St. Johns in N ew Y o rk w ere in ­
spired b y the victories o f the Free
Speech M ovem ent in Berkeley. A ll
the more reason to press these
fig h ts w ith confidence and vigor,
w ith o u t despair. The forces of
thought co n tro l are on the de­
fensive.
Orange, C alif.
I th in k one o f the reasons we
don’t have a s ix -h o u r day is be­
cause the employed w o rk e r is u n -
Charles G ard n er
U.S. Financial Problems
Chicago, 111.
A lth o u g h , o ffic ia lly , the leading
fin a n c ia l in s titu tio n s o f w o rld cap­
ita lis m continue to exude th e ir
custom ary aura o f self-confidence,
leading bourgeois economic circles
are p ro fo u n d ly w o rrie d . F o r e x ­
ample, Goodbody & Co., the na­
tio n a l securities house, recently
w illin g to give up a n yth in g to
help his unemployed brother. Sure,
he is w illin g to go on a s ix -h o u r
day fo r eight hours pay. Is that
sacrifice, I ask you? B u t the em­
ployed w o rk e r is s till a large
m a jo rity o f any union so no union
o ffic ia l is going to ask them to
give up anything ju s t to help his
b ro th e r — th a t w o u ld be social­
istic.
So I suppose the o n ly w ay we
w ill get a s ix -h o u r day is w hen
over h a lf the members are out o f
w o rk. Then 30 hours a week
w ould look be tte r to them.
C a rl A . G regory
Copper in Puerto Rico
N ew Y o rk, N.Y.
Y o u r readers m ig h t be in terest­
ed in some recent in fo rm a tio n
about the possibilities o f m a jo r
copper deposits in P uerto Rico. A n
a rtic le in the English-language
San Juan R eview of January 1965,
by K a rl Wagenheim, reported:
“ F or generations the farm ers in
the rugged
m ountain cou ntry
south o f Utuado and Lares have
scratched out a meager trib u te
fro m the soil, never dream ing th a t
buried beneath them la y a b illio n d o lla r treasure o f copper ore . . .
as m uch as the island’s annual
production o f coffee; nearly h a lf
the am ount Puerto Rico collected
in personal income taxes in 1963.”
The rep orter also points out: “ In
January 1953, in a book on Puerto
Rico by the A m erican Academy
o f P o litic a l and Social Sciences, a
host o f experts contributed essays
dealing w ith a ll facets o f the Is­
land. Yale professor W a lte r Ha­
m ilto n (w ho was a t the tim e w ith
the C om m onw ealth’s W ashingtonbased la w firm o f A rn o ld , Fortas
and P o rte r) w rote: “ I f na ture was
allow ed to take its course . . .
P uerto Rico m ig ht as w e ll cancel
its date w ith destiny . . . N a ture ’s
god has failed to provide resources
in adequate v a rie ty and q u a lity .”
Sociologist K i n g s l e y D avis
w rote: “ Puerto Rico has no fossil
fuels and few ores.”
E m inent economist John K .
G a ilb ra ith w rote : “ In Puerto Rico
the good land is now producing a t
som ething reasonably close to both
its technical and its economic op­
tim u m . . . there m ust be fe w parts
o f the w o rld w hich nature has en­
dowed m ore sparingly . .
Social scientist H arve y S. P e rlo ff talked about P uerto R ico’s
“ n iggardly n a tu ra l endowm ent,”
c a llin g i t “ a sm all, crow ded is­
land w ith p ra c tic a lly no n a tu ra l
resources other than its h a rd w orked soil . . .”
In other words, P uerto R ico was
a poor place and its people a poor
people. T h a t idea was p ro m u lg a t­
ed, in m y opinion, to m ake Puerto
Ricans gra te fu l fo r any scraps
U.S. im p erialism m ig h t th ro w th e ir
way. P uerto Ricans w e r e . to be
g ra te fu l th a t such em inent people
had deigned to study them and
th e ir island’s resources.
The discovery o f copper m ay
not change things v e ry m uch fo r
Puerto R ican busboys, dishwash­
ers, garm ent w orkers and fa rm
laborers in the U nited States b u t
i t m igh t make them w onder w h y
a ll those nice N o rth Am ericans
w ho w en t to Puerto Rico in th e
w in te rtim e and stayed a t hotels
lik e the Concha o r the C aribe H il­
ton w ere so ve ry interested in
“ poor Puerto R ico” and the “ poor
P uerto Ricans.”
I t ’s interesting to note th a t
Wagenheim says in his article,
“ A m ilita n t independentista im ­
m ediately suggested th a t the cop­
per m ine be ‘nationalized.’ ”
A frie n d o f m ine recen tly back
fro m P uerto Rico to ld me th a t the
independentistas had reported this
copper discovery over the radio in
order to w a rn farm ers about sell­
ing th e ir land too cheaply to
A m erican companies.
R ich ard G arza
It Was Reported in the Press
Iri W h ite Suburbia — Speaking
at a P resbyterian C hurch sym ­
posium in New Y o rk on the p rob­
lems of Negroes w ho have m an­
aged to secure homes in Long Is­
la n d ’s w h ite suburbia, M rs. R alph
W atkins said: “ The m ost devastat­
in g th in g is the neighborhood de­
c la rin g w a r on our youngest [s ix y e a r-o ld ] son. We had to restrain
our 18-year-old son fro m sta rtin g
tro u b le and fin a lly signed h im in to
the M arine Corps. The older boy
w ould become v io le n t when he
saw the s ix -y e a r-o ld scrubbing
h im se lf ra w in the bathtub, c ry ­
in g th a t God hated h im and made
h im black.”
Those Ingrates — A b itte r ly worded news ite m in the A p r il
16 New Y o rk H erald T rib u n e re ­
ported th a t on the ve ry same day
th a t the U.S. shipped some bed­
ding and clo th in g to Chilean
earthquake victim s, students at
C hile’s U n iv e rs ity School o f Eco­
nomics burned a U.S. fla g in p ro ­
test against Johnson’s w a r in V ie t­
nam.
Baez Balks — As she has since
1963, fo lk -s in g e r Joan Baez has
refused to pay the 60 per cent of
her income taxes w hich she estim ­
ates is used fo r w ar. She to ld the
In te rn a l Revenue Service: “ This
co u n try has gone mad. B u t I w ill
not go m ad w ith it. I w ill not pay
fo r organized m urder. I w ill not
pay fo r the w a r in V ietnam .”
Progress Report — Perhaps in
observation o f the h u ndredth an­
nive rsa ry of E m ancipation, the
Senate and House o f Representa-
Thought fo r the Week
“ M y head’s been bowed since I was born.” — Y oung Negro m other
whose baby has ju s t died in James B a ld w in ’s play, “ The Am en C orner.”
tives have each appointed th e ir
firs t Negro page. The house page
is F ra n k M itch e ll, 15, o f S pring­
fie ld , 111., and the Senate page is
Law rence B radford , 16, o f New
Y o rk. L e ft to th e ir own devices,
the Congressmen m ig h t appoint
another tw o on the n e xt centen­
nial.
Logicians a t W o rk — T e stifyin g
before the House Commerce Com­
m ittee in support o f the tobacco in ­
d u s try ’s stand against health w a rn ­
in g in cigarette ads, a D r. W il­
lia m C risby said such a w a rn in g
w ould cause some people to smoke
more, not less. This, he said, “ in ­
cludes young people w ho are in
re b ellio n against a u th o rity ; i t also
includes those w ho m ay have some
subconscious w ish to cause in ju ry
to themselves.” A D r. W illia m
O ber chim ed in th a t those who
saw a lin k between sm oking and
cancer had a P u rita n streak in i'
them. “ I f one starts w ith the no­
tio n ,” he g rave ly opined, “ th a t
an yth in g a man does w h ich gives
h im pleasure is p robably s in fu l, i t
is only one step to th in k i t h a rm ­
fu l and the next th in g to do is to
pass a la w against it.”
A n ti-In d e x — Students a t F a ir­
fie ld U n ive rsity, a C atholic school
in F a rfie ld , Conn., made th e ir w a y
in to a padlocked room in the
school lib ra ry and tran sfe rred to
general d is trib u tio n shelves lbO
books th a t the church has decreed
to be “ h a rm fu l to the fa ith and
m orals o f the fa ith fu l.” Some o f
the books on the C hurch’s In dex
w hich the students m ixed in
among the re gular books w ere
w orks by Spinoza, Balzac and S ar­
tre. A Jesuit priest at the school
commented to le ra n tly : “ W e ll, i t ’s
spring.”
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th e
Page E ig h t
MILITANT
M onday, A p r il 26, 1965
C O RE OFFICIAL RAPS J O H N S O N
Workers Joining Union
Troops Urged for Bogalusa In Miss. Cotton Fields
B y W illia m Bundy
' A P R IL 20 — A vice chairm an
¿f the national Congress o f Racial
E q u a lity has called on President
Johnson to send federal troops to
Bogalusa, Louisiana, to protect Ne­
gro dem onstrators fro m attacks by
the K u K lu x K lan.
CORE o ffic ia l W illia m Ussery,
speaking fro m Bogalusa, said the
President had pledged “ to take on
the K la n and i t ’s tim e fo r him
to face up to the re sp o n sib ility
in Bogalusa.”
• Ussery declared: “ I'm sick and
tire d o f the President sending
troops a ll over the w o rld to de­
fend some p eculiar k in d of free­
dom and not face up to his re ­
sponsibilities in Bogalusa.”
■: F or over -a week, Negroes have
been p icke tin g stores in dow ntow n
Bogalusa dem anding jo b oppor­
tu n itie s and an end to segregation.
The dem onstrations have had to
face counte r-p icke tin g by w h ite
supremacists, and K lansm en have
been allow ed by local police to
harass, curse and in tim id a te the
Negro demonstrators. The black
neighborhood in Bogalusa is pro­
tected by a group o f armed local
Negroes called Deacons o f De­
fense and Justice.
No Jobs
• In Bogalusa there is no em ­
plo ym en t o f Negroes in dow ntow n
stores save in m enial jobs, no Ne-
Another Church
Burned in Miss.
Arsonists
destroyed
the
M o u nt Pisgah Baptist Church
in R ankin
C ounty, Miss.,
A p r il 12. V o te r-re g is tra tio n
classes had been held in the
Negro church. T he fire was
set the night of the day on
w hich the firs t contingent of
six members of th e church
com m unity w e n t to the coun­
ty courthouse to attem p t to
register. This is th e fifth N e ­
gro church to be burned in
R a n k in County since e a rly
last year.
gro policemen, no desegregated
restaurants o r p u b lic accommoda­
tions, and no desegregated schools.
A ll th is despite the federal c iv il
rig h ts laws.
The C ivic Voters League, the
local Negro group leading the
demonstrations, announced A p ril
17 th a t i t w o u ld discuss an end to
the p icke tin g o f stores o nly i f
negotiations w ere agreed to re ­
garding equal em ploym ent oppor­
tu n ity , equal education, desegre­
gation of p ublic accommodations,
and other problems. The demon­
strators are local Negroes, most of
DeBerry Hits N.Y. Sales Tax Hike
As Discrimination Against the Poor
N EW Y O R K — “ The new sales
ta x ju s t passed by the state legis­
la tu re in A lb a n y w ill h it the poor
harder than anyone else,” declared
C lifto n D eB erry, Socialist W o rk ­
ers P a rty candidate fo r m ayor of
N ew Y o rk C ity.
“ T h is new state tax, coming on
top o f the c ity sales tax, w ill mean
th a t N ew Y o rk C ity residents w ill
now pay a fiv e per cent ta x on
the everyday necessities o f life —
on clothing, fu rn itu re , pots and
pans, soap, gasoline, appliances,
toys, movies — on almost every­
th in g they buy.
“ Sales taxes h it the poorest the
hardest,” D eB erry explained. “ The
poor spend almost a ll of th e ir
money on the o rd in a ry goods
w h ich are covered by the tax,
w h ile the ric h spend o nly a fra c ­
tio n o f th e ir incomes on such
goods.- So the poorer you are, the
greater percentage o f yo u r income
you pay u nder a sales ta x. I t ’s ju st
lik e an income tax, b u t w ith peo­
ple m aking less than $4,000 pay­
ing fiv e p er cent, and people m ak­
in g $15,000 or m ore paying less
than one percent. The v e ry rich
pay an in s ig n ifica n t percentage.
I t ’s graduated the w ro n g w ay.”
Shows Hypocrisy
The m a yo ra lty candidate de­
clared, “ The vote on this new
soak-the-poor
tax
demonstrates
the h ypocrisy o f the ‘lib e ra l’
Democrats — above a ll the liberals
fro m N ew Y o rk C ity . W agner’s
henchmen in A lb a n y voted to a
m an fo r this new burden on the
poor. A lth o u g h the tax was p ro ­
posed and backed by m u ltim il­
lio n a ire R epublican G o v e r n o r
R ockefeller (w ho ce rta in ly w o n ’t
be h u rt by this tax p e rsonally), it
was given the support of the
Democrats. In fa ct m ore Demo­
crats voted fo r it than Republicans.
In the state Assembly, 59
Democrats voted fo r the tax, and
29 voted against it. In the Sen­
ate, 21 Democrats w ere fo r i t and
11 were against. Republicans voted
against the ta x 38 to 23 in the
Assembly, and w ere evenly d ivided
11 to 11 in the Senate.
“ T his
vote,”
D eB erry
said,
“ was Dart of the deal cooked up
between R ockefeller and Wagner,
w hereby R ockefeller th re w his
support behind W agner’s men fo r
Senate M a jo rity leader and As­
sem bly Speaker so that Wagner
could control the pork-barrel of
soft jobs and patronage. I f a ll the
g ra ft, patronage jobs, padded
salaries and co rru p tio n were done
aw ay w ith in th is c ity and state,
we probably w o u ld n ’t need any
new taxes.
“ A n d i f we do need them ,” the
SWP candidate continued, “ the
poor should not be burdened w ith
them. Too m any people liv e in
p o ve rty in our city, and too m any
others struggle ju s t to make ends
meet. The taxes should be paid
b y the rich , fro m the gia n t p ro fits
th e y boast of. L e t’s ta x the big
corporations, the banks, the slum ­
lords — those w ho amass great
w ealth fro m the w o rk of others
— i f new taxes are needed.”
D eB erry then explained his
p a rty ’s opposition to a ll form s of
taxation, in clu d in g sales taxes,
w h ich ta x the poor m ore than the
rich . “ Instead, we should place a
c e ilin g on income, and p u t a 100
per cent ta x on a ll income over
$25,000, and scale i t dow n fro m
there, w ith no taxes on the poor.”
them students and m anual w o rk ­
ers. CORE w orkers fro m C a lifo r­
nia and New Orleans are a iding
in vo te r registration in the Negro
com m unity.
A P R IL 20 — Those who may
have thought the national atte n ­
tio n around the Selma, Ala., dem ­
onstrations w ould at least assure
th a t the m urderers o f Rev. James
Reeb w ould be b rought to justice
have another guess coming.
In a transparent attem pt to take
the heat o ff fo r the tim e being, a
Dallas County grand ju r y A p ril 13
indicted three o f the fo u r accused
murderers. B u t at the same tim e
i t was announced th a t the tria l
probably w o u ld not be held u n til
n e xt October, and the three were
released on $10,000 bonds the same
day they w ere arrested.
In his charge to the ju ry , m ore­
over, C irc u it Judge James A. H are
delivered a 50-m inute speech de­
nouncing the c iv il-rig h ts m ove­
ment and asserting th a t the segre­
gationists o f Selma had shown
“ unbelievable re s tra in t” d u rin g
the c iv il-rig h ts demonstrations.
Rev. Reeb was fa ta lly clubbed in
Selma a fte r going there fro m his
home in Boston last m onth to
demonstrate.
Denounces Demonstrators
Judge Hare called such people
who had come to Selma “ self­
anointed saints,” and said they
should “ stack th e ir picke t signs
and get back in to the p u lp it.” He
also made pointed and derogatory
reference to demonstrators who
had come to Selma fro m D etroit,
the home o f Mrs. V io la Liuzzo.
Mrs. Liuzzo was shot to death
M arch 25 on H ig h w a y 80 between
Selma and M ontgom ery. Judge
H are’s speech and the planned
postponement o f the tr ia l o f Reeb’s
accused , m urderers a llo w lit tle
hope th a t justice w ill be done in
th is case. The three indicted on
the m urder charges are W illia m
Hoggle, Namon Hoggle and E lm er
Cook. A fo u rth man, R. B. K e lly ,
also accused o f the m urder, was
not indicted. A ll fo u r have been
accused on federal c iv il-rig h ts
charges in connection w ith the
m urder. These charges w ill be sub­
m itte d to a federal grand ju r y
when one is im paneled fo r the
d is tric t.
SNCC: Don't Buy
Hammermill Paper!
ERIE, Penna. — The m ain p la n t
o f the H a m m e rm ill Paper Co.
here has been picketed by c iv ilrig h ts supporters protesting the
com pany’s plan to b u ild a $35 m il­
lio n
p la n t
near
ra c ia lly -to rn
Selma, A la.
Student N on vio le n t C oordinat­
ing Com m ittee C hairm an John
Lew is called the H a m m e rm ill
move “ a d ire ct support to the
racist policies o f the state and its
peoples.” Lew is called fo r “ a ll
freedom lovers not to buy H am ­
m e rm ill products and to send le t­
ters to H a m m e rm ill’s president
protesting the move to A labam a
and stating th e ir in te n tio n n o t to
buy H a m m e rm ill products.”
The SNCC leader added: “ I t is
most im p o rta n t to encourage your
local stationery stores, college,
union, school. board, and c ity not
to buy H a m m e rm ill products.”
D onald S. Leslie, chairm an of
the board o f directors o f H am m er­
m ill, said his company decided to
locate in Selma because of the
“ character of com m unity and peo­
ple.” Rev. Robert Spike of the
N ational Council o f Churches
called Leslie’s statem ent “ eith e r
the h e ig ht of naivete o r the depth
o f racism .”
C O U L D U S E A U N IO N . T e n -y e a r-o ld cotton p icker hauls a 35pound bag of cotton through field .
G R E E N V ILLE , Miss. — O ver 60
members o f the new ly-form ed
M ississippi Freedom La bor U nion
(M F L U ) picketed a U.S. D epart­
m ent o f Labor-sponsored meeting
here e a rlie r this m onth. The meet­
ing, co-sponsored b y a num ber of
state agencies and the M ississippi
D elta Council,
a farm ow ners’
group, dealt w ith fa rm la b o r in
the cotton-grow ing Delta.
The pickets protested the fact
th a t no Negroes were in vite d to
speak o r p a rticip ate in the con­
ference w hich, according to a un­
ion organizer, “ dealt w ith the fate
o f thousands o f Negroes and none
o f us w ere in v ite d to particip a te .”
500 Mem bers
The union was form ed A p r il 9
o f this year among cotton-field
w orke rs in Shaw, M ississippi. I t
already has 500 members in six
counties. Members o f the union
have signed pledge form s calling
fo r: a $1.25-per-hour m in im u m
wage; an eight-hour day w ith
time-and-a-half fo r overtim e; c h il­
dren under 16 and people over 60
not having to w o rk ; sick leave and
free medical care; fu ll compensa­
tio n fro m the governm ent fo r
those w ho cannot get jobs; healthand-accident insurance; and equalem ploym ent practices in wages,
h irin g and w o rk in g conditions.
U nion members have pledged to
use a ll form s o f d ire ct action in ­
c lu d in g “ strikes, p icke tin g and
boycotts,” to w in th e ir demands.
Some members are already on
strike, according to George Shel­
ton, a resident o f Shaw and an
organizer fo r the M F LU . “ The idea
fo r the union came out o f a Free­
dom School m eeting,” Shelton said.
“ We fe lt we should be g etting a
fa ir price fo r w h a t we were w o rk ­
ing fo r,” he added. “ People down
here get $1.75 a day fo r chopping
cotton fo r a ten-hour day,” he
explained.
>
SNCC Assists
The M ississippi union has o r­
ganized w orkers in B o liv a r, Sun­
flo w e r, W ashington,
Issaquena,
Sharkey arid Holmes counties. “ We
have been contacted b y interested
parties in a num ber o f counties,”
said R obert W eil, a w o rk e r fo r
the Student N o nviolent C oordinat­
ing Com m ittee w h ich is assisting
the union in getting organized.
Bail Won in N.Y.
By Five Victims
Of Witch-Hunt
N EW Y O R K — F our men and
one woman, w ho have been im ­
prisoned since M arch 22 fo r refus­
ing to answer questions by the
w itch -h u n tin g grand ju r y “ inves­
tig a tin g ” la st year’s H a rlem riots,
were released on bail A p r il 15.
T h e ir lawyers, S anford K atz and
Stanley F aulkner, had argued the
excessive nature o f the four-m onth
w orkhouse sentences.
The fiv e are W illia m McAdoo,
chairm an o f the H a rlem Defense
C ouncil; V iv ia n Anderson, a H a r­
lem school teacher; D avid Douglas,
a w rite r; N athaniel B a rn e tt and
M ichael Crenovich, both printers.
Required to A nsw er
They are among 17 v ic tim s who
have been indicted to date fo r
contem pt o f the grand ju ry . New
Y o rk la w provides th a t witnesses
granted “ im m u n ity ” are required
to answer a ll questions p u t to
them — thus abrogating th e ir
F ifth Am endm ent rig h t o f protec­
tio n against self-in crim ina tion .
The grand ju r y was summoned
by N ew Y o rk D is tric t A tto rn e y
Hogan last Aug. 3 to smear the
H arlem outbreaks by “ p ro v in g ”
th a t the dem onstrations o f thou­
sands o f dissatisfied ghetto resi­
dents were actually the re su lt o f
“ le ft-w in g agitatio n.” M an y o f the
members o f the Progressive L abor
Movem ent have been hounded by
this “ a ll-w h ite a ll-ric h ” grand ju ry ,
but they have steadfastly refused
to co-operate w ith the attem pted
frame-up.
P e rm itted to go unchallenged,
this outrageous piece o f w itchh u n tin g by the W agner adm inis­
tra tio n can prove a serious th re a t
to the en tire c iv il rig h ts and la ­
bor movements.