Rev. King Here Sunday For Anti-War Statement

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will be in Cambridge Sunday to make a major announcement about strategies for the anti-war movement.

At last Saturday's anti-war rally in New York, King called for a national drive this summer -- led by college students -- to organize and educate communities against the war in Vietnam. He is expected to expand on this proposal Sunday.

After King makes his statement, he will be joined in a press conference by Dr. Benjamin Spock, the pediatrician and co-chairman of SANE, and Robert Scheer, editor of Ramparts. Spock and King were leaders of the New York rally. It is not yet known where the meeting will be held.

An outline for national organizing against the war first appeared in a pamphlet by Gar Alperovitz, fellow of the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics. Entitled "Teach Out," the pamphlet was distributed to peace marchers in New York and San Francisco.

"We aim at more than changing a vote or two in Congress," the pamphlet reads. "We seek to defeat Lyndon Johnson and his war."

Alperovitz and others from the Harvard faculty have formed a committee for this purpose. They plan to train groups across the country to organize their own communities and weld people opposed to the war into an independent, political bloc.

They are currently trying to raise $200,00 to set up a national office and hire 200 field-staff members.

Alperovitz's pamphlet details a three phase "prototype model" for community organizing. A group headed by Michael L. Walzer, associate professor of Government, is testing the model in North Cambridge.

Walzer's group, the "Cambridge Neighborhood Committee on Vietnam," is presently undertaking the model's first phase: searching out local residents opposed to the war. The 40 committee members -- including Harvard faculty members and radical and moderate students -- will be out ringing doorbells in three Cambridge precincts this Sunday.

Once they find people who oppose the war, Alperovitz said, the next phase will be the formation of "discussion-action" groups in the community to study the war. After studying, the discussion group members will be urged to speak to their neighbors about the war and undertake "basic political action."

Basic action includes forcing local Congressmen to hold open hearings on the war in the community and getting statements opposing the war on the ballot in local elections.