B.U. Student Runs for City Council; Platform Centers on Vietnam Protest

A 24-year-old Boston University graduate basing his local campaign for City Council on national issues.

Gershon Horowitz may be the state's only socialist candidate for elective office this year. His platform is primarly a protest against the war in Vietnam.

It is necessary to engage in independent political action to avoid voting for candidates one day and picketing against them the next. This is the lesson of the 1964 election," one of his campaign handouts declares.

Horowitz will stage several anti-war street rallies--one in Central Square and one in Harvard Square. In addition, he plans to distribute thousands of pieces of campaign literature with the heading, "Make Your Voice Heard: Vote-in Against the War in Vietnam."

But his election effort is distinctly low-key. Thus far he has spent $100 and done almost no door-to-door campaigning. In contrast, James McGovern '64, making his first try for the Council, estimates that he will spend close to $5000 before Nov. 2.

If elected, Horowitz would ask the Council to go on record opposing the war and support a public campaign against it, he said in a recent interview.

His campaign literature hardly mentions local issues. "Many of these problems cannot be solved on the local level," he said. "It's the whole system we live in."

Public Works

He calls for a "massive public works program," replacement "of all slums with low rent public housing," and a "30 hour week with no loss in pay to provide jobs for all."

He did criticize, however, plans for the $60 million National Aeronautics and Space Administration's research center in Kendall Square. The clearance of 29 acres for NASA will leave thousands of workers without jobs, and almost nothing is being done to help them, he said.

Although he is a member of the Socialist Workers Party, Horowitz is not running on a party label because Cambridge city elections are non-partisan.