Keep Up the Pressure

THE WAR in Indochina will not end this Spring. There is nothing that the American people, or the people of Southeast Asia, can do to stop the war by June. It would be politically immature, or adventurist, to think otherwise. But this should not deter those of us who say we are against the war, nor should we be discouraged by it. It is only the American people who can stop America's aggression against the people and land of Southeast Asia. No amount of courage and self-sacrifice by the Indochinese can stop raids by hundreds of B-52's based in Guam. No amount of resistance by Asian peasants can alter the decision to use napalm and fragmentation bombs against civilian targets. In the final analysis, it is we who must take responsibility for forcing the U. S. out of Southeast Asia.

No one said it would be easy. But we, as students, should recognize that we have been singularly lazy in our opposition to the war. The North Vietnamese have criticized the American anti-war movement for being too easily discouraged. We abandon tactics when they do not bring immediate success. We search vainly for something new and dramatic with which to end the war. We fail to persevere, and we fail to struggle. And our failure is reflected in the continued destruction of three Asian societies. It would be fatuous, and discouraging, to think of this spring as the beginning of "The Offensive" which will finally end the war. We have already had a hundred beginnings. What we need to do, and what the Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians have been doing, is to continue to struggle, continue to build until all American forces are out of Southeast Asia.

There is simply no excuse for continuing to drift around in an aimless, alienated, cynical, despairing fog. It is not enough to be against the war in thought only. Every person who professes to be against the war must act to end America's participation in it. The spring offers a number of opportunities for people not only to demonstrate their opposition to administration policies, but to broaden the base of opposition, and to intensify its character.

April 18 Providence:

This Sunday there will be a "Dump Nixon" rally in Providence, Rhode Island, organized by Allard Lowenstein, who organized the successful "Dump Johnson" movement in 1968. Congressmen Bella Abzug, Donald Riegel, and Pete McClosky, and Senators Birch Bayh and Edmund Muskie are co-sponsoring the rally, which will be held on the steps of the State House beginning at 4 p. m. Alex Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and Paul Butterfield will also be on hand, apparently to show people that protest politics can be entertaining.

April 24 Washington:

This year's annual-spring-protest is being organized by the National Peace Action Coalition (NPAC). It will be large, legal, and peaceful. Organizers of the rally and march are hoping for a turn-out of half a million, but two-hundred thousand seems nearer the mark. NPAC is basically a front organization for the Student Mobilization Committee (SMC), which has managed to retain a remarkable continuity of leadership and membership, while other anti-war organizations have split apart at the seams. One reason for SMC's organizational continuity has been the influence of the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA), which is not only the largest radical party on the left, but one of the best disciplined. Radical critics of YSA often accuse the party of being Trotskyist and opportunistic in its political analysis, but it is hard to dispute its sound organizational basis.

The April 24 march, which is scheduled for both Washington and San Francisco, has been endorsed by a number of liberal Congressmen, whose ranks swell daily. They include Bella Abzug, Michael Harrington, and Benjamin Rosenthal in the House, and George McGovern, Edmund Muskie, Harold Hughes, Philip Hart, and Vance Hartke in the Senate. In addition, there are the old Moratorium standbys (John Lindsay, Francis Sargent, and retired Army General Hugh Hester) lending their endorsement, if not their presence.

The Boston-area branch of NPAC is the Greater Boston Peace Action Coalition, whose offices are in St. Peters Episcopal Church, 15 Sellers St., Cambridge (661-1090). The office is coordinating transportation to and from Washington, and anyone planning to go to Washington for the rally and march should try to contact them at least a week before the 24th, so they can know how many buses to secure.

The April 24 demonstration is being co-sponsored by the People's Coalition for Peace and Justice, which had been pressing for its own mass rally until a communique from Xuan Thuv. head of the North Vietnamese delegation to the Paris Peace Talks, convinced them not to dilute the one scheduled mass march, but to appeal to as large a base as possible. But the People's Coalition (PCPJ) has not pushed the April 24 date, preferring to concentrate their energies on the two weeks which follow.

NPAC and PCPJ, while co-sponsoring the same event, are pushing slightly different demands. NPAC, taking its cue from SMC, is pushing one issue (the war), and making one demand-immediate and total withdrawal of all American forces from Southeast Asia. NPAC organizers argue that "set-the-date" withdrawal demands are illegitimate, because Americans have no right to set conditions on the Vietnamese.

PCPJ, by contrast, a multi-issue and multi-tactical outfit, is pushing three demands at the April 24 demonstration. The first is for the total withdrawal of all American troops from Indochina, with a date set for the completion of the withdrawal. The second demand is for a guaranteed annual income of $6500 for a family of four. Finally, the successors to the New Mobe (which split from SMC in 1968) are demanding that the federal government free all political prisoners.

PCPJ has its offices at 68 St. Stephens St., Boston (262-3681).

April 26-30 Washington:

The People's Coalition for Peace and Justice (PCPJ) is organizing five days of lobbying in government departments and in Congressional offices.

PCPJ's main attention is directed towards May 3 and 4, for which they have planned civil disobedience against the Pentagon and the Justice Department. It is difficult to ask people to come to Washington twice, so the five days of lobbying are viewed as filler between the legal and peaceful march on the 24th and the acts of civil disobedience scheduled ten days later. The lobbying will be low key, and it will provide people with a good sense of how the Capitol is laid out. It will also give them an opportunity to talk with the men and women who have the power to cut off transportation for the war.

May I New York City:

The Progressive Labor Party (PLP), which describes itself as a "revolutionary communist party," and is dedicated to "fighting for world communism." is organizing a march to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Paris Commune. Mayday is a traditional holiday in Socialist countries, and among communist parties. Chicago's very own Haymarket Massacre gave rise to the celebration, a fact that rarely gets into high school American history texts. Marching in New York with militant radicals on May I, even if you disagree with their political analysis and organization, is likely to have more effect on the building of socialism in the U. S. than staying home and watching the tube, or catching some rays along the Charles.

May 2 Washington:

There will be an inspirational rally" on Sunday, May 2, led by Cesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers, George Wiley from National Welfare Rights Organization, Ralph Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and Jane Fonda, who has been one of the most successful fund raisers the anti-war movement has ever had.

May 3 and 4 Washington:

The exact nature of the planned civil disobedience is not yet clear, and probably won't be until PCPJ organizers see how the previous demonstrations go. Important to watch will be the April 19-23 actions in Washington organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Organizers of the April 3 action against the Pentagon, and the April 4 action against the Justice Department, will be trying to close down the institutions for as many hours as possible. They will probably be non-violent, but a lot depends on the actions taken by the police and military, which in turn will depend on how John Mitchell reacts to this assault against the government.

May 5 BOSTON:

PCPJ and NPAC have called for a national moratorium on May 5 to commemorate the killings at Jackson State and Kent State. In Boston, there will be a rally on the Common, where members of the PCPJ (mostly from the American Friends Service Committee and MassPax) will construct either one or a series of geodesic domes to serve as information centers for local anti-war activities. Organizers hope to be able to keep the domes open through the summer, but if that proves impossible, they will attempt to open a storefront near the Common to serve as their information center.

Organizers of the moratorium hope that people will stay overnight on the Common, both to demonstrate that the Common belongs to the people of Boston, and to have everyone on hand early the next morning for the planned non-violent civil disobedience at the JFK Building.

May 6 BOSTON:

The PCPJ, led by MassPax and the American Friends Service Committee, will attempt to keep the JFK Federal Building from opening by blocking its entrances. The protest will involve non-violent civil disobedience, and arrest is not unlikely. Organizers assume the police will arrest only those directly blocking access to the building, so that people supporting the action, but not wishing to get arrested, should be able to participate without fear of arrest. Demonstrators will allow themselves to be arrested without resisting, unless the police attack the protestors. In such an event, individuals would be free to defend themselves or not, as each individual or group sees fit. Organizers of the demonstration hope to attract 10,000 people, which seems to be a fairly realistic assessment of the anti-war mood in Boston.

The American Friends Service Committee is at 48 Inman St., Cambridge (864-3150), and MassPax is located at 65a Winthrop St., Cambridge (492-5570).

May 4-7 Washington:

This is the most confusing spring event yet scheduled. At the Ann Arbor Conference, which endorsed the People's Peace Treaty and gave some kind of legitimacy to the PCPJ, there was spawned Students and Youth for a People's Peace. It is increasingly unclear what Students and Youth for a People's Peace does, except to sign the bottom of Mayday notices. The Mayday Tribe, which seems to be the "action-arm" of the SYPP, is planning to shut down Washington for all or part of May 4-7. Local Mayday Tribes will be responsible for specific targets, and will decide their own strategy. Some will fight the police, others will leave when confronted with the prospect of arrest. The major strategy seems to center around the highway system feeding Washington. Most federal employees, it seems, live in the suburbs surrounding Washington. Mayday's strategy is to block the expressways where they feed into the city. No workers: no work.

The dates of the Mayday events conflict with local actions planned by area-branches of the Coalition, and there is some friction between those organizing local demonstrations and those who want as many militant radicals in Washington as possible. How many will sit on the freeways remains to be seen.

May 16 BOSTON:

May 16 is GI Solidarity Day across the nation. Plans are still unspecified, but in Boston civilian groups will be supporting actions planned and organized by GI groups themselves.

The list should go on, but these are the major demonstrations already scheduled. It is vitally important for people to participate in any way they can. And it is important for individuals to take the initiative themselves. Sending postcards and telegrams to Congressmen is not every exciting, but it's these people who can deny funds for a continuation of the war. And with 73 per cent of the American people in favor of an American withdrawal by December 1971, and Hale Boggs calling for an investigation of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, 1971 just might be the year that historians will write mark the end of the war.