The Mail: SDS Replies to Landau

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The condition of the student movement right now is a complex one. Last spring's Cambodia strike saw the largest, most mass-based, most militant student movement in recent U.S. history. Dozens of ROTO buildings burned hundreds of campuses were shut tight. And yet, despite some limited successes, the Cambodia strike was basically a failure: look at a news paper these days. A mood of cynicism grew out of that strike, which had two sides; on the one hand, there is a lot more radical sentiment on campus. Many more people think that the system stinks. But, on the other hand, many of these people see no real way of changing it. The liberal politician's refrain "wait till next year!" is being met more and more with the realization that what we are being asked to wait for is to be "channeled into responsible processes" (McCarthy's avowed intention), that is, sold out.

But what else can we do than "give peace a chance?" Terrorism? The few crazies who put that forward can be forgotten about (except, of course, by the bourgeois press, which loves to smear the movement with them). The outlook of SDS is that a student movement must reach out to the majority of American people (and that means working people); people who are among the most sharply oppressed, and the most consistent fighters against oppression. A student movement which fails to do that will always be whipsawed between liberalism and terrorism.

So we put forward the idea of a worker student alliance, an alliance around the ways in which the system oppresses us: the war, racism, unemployment, male chauvinism, etc. This idea of a worker-student alliance (for which the Progressive Labor Party is originally responsible) was a novel one in the "new left' and, in putting it into practice, for example in fighting racist apprenticeship and "helpers" programs, anti-war issues like the CFIA may have gotten temporarily shifted to the back burner.

We made, and make mistakes. We have not done nearly enough to make the worker student alliance real to the anti-war movement, or a mass issue relevant to the lives of most Harvard students. But M. David Landan's vile article in the March 8 CRIMSON is worse than useless in understanding SDS or any of its strengths and weaknesses. Landau blames the Progressie Labor Party for the relative smallness of SDS, ignoring the disappearance of virtually every other group which considered itself on the left (e.g. Student Mobe, NAC).

In attempting to defend this absurd position, Landau is forced to a series of distortions and lies. Here are just a few of them:

(1) He characterizes the split in SDS in the spring of 1969 as between worker-student alliance proponents and the SDS national leadership, who believed "that students should demonstrate in support of the NLF." This is a pretty dishonest characterization of the people who became the Weathermen!

But, making it clear who this "NLF support group" was might have made the issues clear. Support for the NLF was only one of several issues, and certainly was no more significant than support for working class struggles. SDS at present has no official position pro or con on the NLF leadership, but supports the struggle of the Vietnamese people concretely by leading militant fights against the war in this country (against ROTC, CFIA, military recruiters on campus).

(2) Landau implies that SDS is "racist" because it criticizes the Black Panthers. Again, there is no official SDS position on this matter, but many members of SDS feel that the Panthers have very serious political flaws that has greatly hindered the fight against racism. And Landau does not point out that these criticism are not those of bystanders, but of active participants in the struggle (e.g. Painters Helper campaign; support for Welfare Mothers struggling against the Flat Grant and price hikes in ghetto supermarkets when welfare checks come out; support for the Polaroid workers; fighting racist unemployment; support for Charlie McNeil, Kurt Bridgman and others in struggles against racist apprenticeship programs).

Given these and other distortions, and the complete omission of the positive side of SDS, is there anything we can learn from this article (other than the obvious, that bourgeois ambition can have bad effects on your judgment)? Yes, this: that anti-communism is alive and kicking. It is remarkable how, often the allies of McCarthy (Gene) end up sounding like McCarthy (Joe): and there is Landau talking about a "vibrant," "free-wheeling" organization infiltrated and "taken over" by a "crude," "intolerant," "bitter" communist party!

This scenario describes "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" better than it does the history of SDS: Landau neglects to mention that the slogan of SDS in 1964 was "Part of the way with LBJ!" This "free-wheeling" organization somehow never wheeled its way to political radicalism and an alliance with the working class.

However, this is not to say that in struggling around what they believe to be a correct analysis of issues PL members and friends have always been free from some "mechanical" or "sectarian" errors, but perhaps Landau could point out a political group that has. What is important is that a group undertake a continual self-critical appraisal of its actions: which PL does.

This is what constitutes the true danger of Landau's piece. Take the mistakes and failings of some PL members and supporters and present them in a distorted, incomplete format that plays heavily on an anti-Communist stereo type that is as much a part of us all as racism or male chauvinism, and what you've got is a red baiting smear of an organization that has consistently fought militantly in support of just struggles, even those of groups with which it deeply disagreed (e.g. Chavez Lettuce Boycott, NAC's campaign of last spring against the CFIA).

An extremely important example of SDS's activities is the March on Washington, which will take place this Saturday. This is a qualitatively new development for the movement: a march that will be led by thousands of workers and welfare mothers against unemployment (stressing its racist character) and the war. Our work on this march is the reason for the belatedness of our reply, the best answer to attacks being in actions not in lengthy replies.

There is no better concrete example of what can be done towards building a worker-student alliance, and we urge you to support it and come.

For more information, bus tickets, etc., call 542-8749 or 536-4950. There is no better example of the possibilities for continued life and growth in SDS and radical movements generally.