I August 14, 1975 I * PEACE & FREEDOM THRU Ì'IONVIOL'ENT ACTION dÍ 1' IIcREYNOLD,S HARD lTIMEs LYND * LENDLE(TBARRETT w a Þ a g T ; "t .H HÞ 30d € t-^/ L that his remark that "second ratc minds are often the fruit of fìrst rate egos" might more aptly apply to Mr. Berrigan, himself, and that hc should look into it with somc humility. Strangely, Mr. Berrigan's obsession with the middle-east hasn't led him to concern himself about tho othcr half of the Arab guess is ' population-the slavery of women therc. Israel's patriarchal aggression in that area' will in no wise improve their lot, but it I wcnt bananas today rcading Dan Berrigan's rcmarks [-WlN, 7/24175] about Rose mary Reüthcr in his Middlc liast piecc. His statcmsnt about "sccond ratc minds with ñrst ratc cgos" rcveals a snide, petty attitudc that has no placc in Movemcnt politics. What is painfully clea¡ is that Dan is in 'thc classic "no man's land" in regard to thc womcn's movcment-othcrwise he would havc dispcnscd with thc lst rate, 2nd rate hicrarchical shit & thc consciousness that produccd that statcment. l;cminisnr providcs cveryono with equal acccss to criticism & scholarship, One does not have to bc ¿ "saint or a scholar" to comb ovcr the New Tcstament and come to ce¡tain conclusions. For that matter, one tlocsn't havc to value what those saints & scholars have or have failed to discover in their study. \ryitness how ncgligent these samc saints t & scholars have been about womcn's rolc all these thousands of yearó. The absolutc zinger has to be the phrase, "learned lady." Please, Brother, get it togethcr. As a woman in a move ¡nent we once shared I wondcr if you're still runnirig with mè or any of my sisters or if rve are on diflcrcnt tracks? Even batþ rooms arc changing from "Ladies" to "Womcn"-so stop the feudal, paternalistic, bclittling bit & the accompanying attitude. It degradcs nre, Rosemary Reuther & yourself. lt breeds the kind of divisivness that brings joy to Guy Goodwin & gentlemen of the -ANNE WALSH rvould bc comforting to have sor¡e indication that Mr. Berrigan is not the total misogynist he appears to bc. As for rabbis sitting doWn to talk to priests, this is no real surprisu they're boih in the same business, as Lenny Bruce ob sewed, Perhaps it would be wise for M¡. Berrigan to consider a consciousnessF raising session rvith Ms, Reuther and Mary Daly as well. I mean, not all the ¡abbis he's communed with have "first rate mintls," do they? Oh heresy, oh witchcraft, oh Jesus. . . wh¡, ¿orru', Mr. Berrigan devote some of his worthy pacifist attentions to the problcms in lreland? Let the Jewish and Arab .women work together on the problems of Palestine, . .wouldn't that be a treat for a change? Shouldn't we encourage that? (They speak virtually the same language). As I said above, I don't think Mr. Berii gan has demonst¡ated antisemitism, but since he is aware that his wo¡ds have inflamed it in some Catholics, he has a rEsponsibility to speak to these people and cool their ardo¡. To ignore the consequences of his words here, whilc dabbling in the niiddleeast, wdtld indicate antisemitic in- tent. -LEAH FRITZ (the undead) New York, NY night. Stoughton, MasS. I must indeed be a witch, because reading Daniel Berrigan's interview IV'llN, 1 12417 5l I felt the flames licking at my heels, How he managed to includc an attack on Rose' mary Reuther's analysis ofJhe ncw testament and the proabortion movement within the confines of a discussion on thc middleeast is a feat of Jesuitical virtuosity awesome to contemplate! Nq I don't consider Mr. Berrigan responsible for the inquisition, nor do I think he is especially antisemitic, but I do remember that, in addition to tewg millions of witches were liquidated by Catholics during the middle ages. I have not yet re¿d Ms Reuthe¡'s boo( but intend to now that.Mn Berrigan so kindly called my attention to it. My I am hêsitant âbout adding anothervoice to the controversy on abortion but feel , uneasy alrout the animosity this issue is causing bctween people who should be friends and allies. The¡e is more to this than the question of when'a human life begins, There is the questlon of power, and the rights of women ove¡ their own bodies. I know ofno woman who woutd not consider abortion a serious matter, but to asse¡t that human lit'e begins at conce ption is conceptually to reach within her body and hold he¡ captive to that life in her womb. ' He¡ freedom is rest¡icted in a most drastic way, and in a way that men have historically claimed rights over wornen, In a very rcal and practical sense the freedom ofwomen to make this thei¡ own moral decision is not assured today. Abortion is not always easy or available, and neither is it so secure that political and social actions could nor re strict it furdher. The angcr that comes from women is not that they do not value that life within them,.but that they resent being told or being limited in what they can do, in their ability to exercise their own individuality and make their own moral decisions. We should always be extremely careful of defining or linriting the individual moral choices of other people, especially when we nevet have, or could be, in the same position, Our concern should always try to. be with the real human needs of the people we -DAVID Þ:. WHITIT Somervillc, Mass. meet. Re: Chuck F'ager's hopes for,.a serious reexamination" of abo¡tion (what he calls "that area") on the left IWIN,5/221751 and his assertion thât "the definite outlincs of: . a liberal-left aiti.abortion stancc are beginning to cmergc, and. . .we will be hearing more about it." [WtN, 7/24l?51 I think that Clruck Fager is accurate in reporting on a ncw casc of nerves on thc maledominated left. Whereas not too long ago, male lefties could advocate liberalizing or rcpealing abortion laws, sincc thcre was an immediate benefit that would aocrue to them (they could fuck aìound ånd not risk nasty paternity suits, shotgun marriagcs, child support payments, etc.), now it seems. that some of these nlen are having second thoughts. And beneath the acadentic ethics, the (male) logii and objectivity, herc is what I think some of those sccond thoughts really are: "lf it truly is a woman's right to decide when and whethcr to birth a cliild (i.c,, to makc the decisions in a rnatter which most directly conce¡ns her), I might not gct to'have' nry son, my on-going self, mf imitation me. Worse yet, if nty niothe"r .had had that right,1 nright never havc been born. But worst of all, if women kecp' claiming more and rnore rights to selfdetermination, who will be left to reassure nre that I am a man (i.e., onc whosc rights to self-detcrmination are privileged, by cultu¡al definition and social and legal sanction)?" -JOHN STOLTI'INBItRG Those refìecting on the recent events in Vietnam mifnt nnA helpful the ageless wis dom of the Tao Te Ching Chapter Thirtyone statcs in part: Good wøpons ore ínstruments ol lear: all cleLtutres h^te thenl Therefore followers oÍ Tao never use thenL The wise ûan prefers the kft, The man of war prefers the rtght. i1 of fear; they are not a wise man's tools Weapons are instruments He uses thern only when he has no choice. Peace ønd quiet are dear to his heart, And vìctory øo cause for re¡oicing. If you reioice in victory, th¿n you delight in killíng; Ifyou delight in killíns; you cannot Îulfrll yourselÍ,.,,. llthen nuny people are beíng killed, They sltould be mourned in heortfelt sor- fow. That ís why a víctory must be obsened lllæ, a funeroL -LEo B,RKE GarY, Ind. CORRECTIONS Joffre Stewart wrote us po¡nting out these arrors i¡r Leslle Ann Brownriggls att¡cle aboùt ritm twtN, 6/19/751: 1. ". . ,the author fUses several poetry r€adlngs wlth one wh¡ch dicl.rove ¡from berth to berth'and whlch I did not atways head up," 2, Stewart learned about CORE durlng an earller detention while be¡ng processed at C€ntral Poilce Station for having refused to respond to induction notlces. He had no cèllmate in D cage. 3, "Persons who destroy€d draft flles ¡n Evanston & Berwyn eventually werê aF prehênded. " 4. Stewart was arrested on Lincoln, six blocks from Fullerton and HalstGd in the L¡ncoln árrest. refusal leaflet was already hanctwritten prior to the afternoon ¡t was qu¡ckprlntecl. 6. ln re; the North Atlant¡c in 1944-45, depth charges, not ..death,' charges. 7. I was sent back from Europe dlrectly to hospltals in the South before later þe¡ng shipped.to one in the Chlcago area (not Chlcaqo). 8. ln re: g€ttin9 a ha¡rcut: integration ¡s not the iivord I wd use, I regard mys€lf as attemptlng to desogregate that barbershop 1949, Raclsm belng as peÌsistent as ¡t is :¡n rln Ch¡iago, I don't know whether that barbershop €v€r became dèsegrêgated or integrated. 9. Regarding the Student Peace Unlon, the sentence structure can be migtèading ¡f It leads one to thlnk that there was an SPU ofganization at Roosevelt U, Ther€ were SPU lnd¡vlduals tike Tor Fa6gre. 10. lt is important to note that F¡nke & Chêrnow regard themselves as 2/4 of the pfêsent Omega printlng operation, not 2l2t as lmplled by the artlcl6. They thlnk of ono of thelr partners, Bob Freeston,.as being more ldentlfled wlth CAORE and its past than the name "Om€ga" whlch derlves from that past, $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 SUMMER BREAK we'll be taking our regular summer break, ln addition to dig- gingup the electric lines, we'l'í use thi-s time ts catch up on office work as üell little rest. Some of us will be travelling out to Parkville, Missouri for WRL's national conference. Hope to see you therel The next issue of WIN will have a cover date of September 18, copy deadline September 5. as get a -The WIN $30,000 4. Why Labor / Stoughton Lynd . 7. The AFL-CIO and'the ñew Depression I Ernest Lendler 9. MovingToward Revolution ! David McReynolds . 14. Hard Times-Some lnternational Aspects I Ddbid Barrett 17. Who Were the Luddites? An Open Letter to Sam Lovejoy I lohn Lam- pert¡ 18. Changes Cover: Pot¿to print by Mark Morris STAFF Maris Cakars'Susan Cakars. Chuck Faier Mary Mayo. Mark Morris . Susan Pines Fred Rosen Murray Rosenblith . UNINDICTED CO.CONSPIRATORS Jan Barry ' Lance Bolville .Tom Brucl(ar Jerry Coffln ' Lynne Coffln . Ann Davldon D¡ana Davles. Ruth Dear . Ralph OlGla Br¡an Doh€rty ' Wlll¡am Douthard. Karen Durbln Seth Foldy. Jlm Forest ' Leah Ftltz' Larry êara Joan Llbby Hawk. Ne¡l Haworth r Ed HÇdemann crace Hedemann. Hendrlk Hertzberg. Karla Jay Marty Jezer. Becky Johnson . Nancy Jbhnson Paul Johnson ¡Alllion Karpel .Cralg Kafp.6l John Kyper. Elllot Llnzer.. Jackson Mäc Lo$, Davld McReynolds, Dav¡d Morrls. Jlm Pecli Tad Richards. lgal Roodonko. Nancy Flosen ¡t. Ed Sand€rs. Wendy Schwartz. Mârtha Thomas6. ArtWaskow. Allen Youngr Bêverly Woodwârd Box 547 / Rifton i New York 12471 Telephone: 91 4-339-4585 $35,000 $40,000 .;+Íir; @ August 14,1975 / Vol. Xl, No. 29 20. Revi,ews' $29,66'.t.28 $5,000 ÌI t, He also adds: "DAY 3 lN MY 30 DAY HIROSHIMA FAST FROM TAXED AL. COHOLTC DRINK IN THE YEAR OF THE BOMB-XXX. The language you sug. gested is OK for the errors attented to but mole.errors n6ed correct¡on. ' 5. The handwrltten draft for a WRL tax- Madison, Wisconsin issue ( .. With three friends who also work with Movement for a New Sóciety, I ar' rived July 31st for a visit at the WIN farm to find the electricity out in the barn/offðe/living quarters. This meant no typesetting machine as well as no fan for the 95o heat. The next day we helped dig a trench to uncover the cahf e the electrician felt may have been damaged. No luck' A new cable may have to be strung, a new pole put'ûp. Or else the WlNners migQt be in for a' lot of digging. Then they'll have to do something about the refrigerator whose moter seems to have burnt out due to low voltage. All this happened on the day WIN was going to try to do something about the overdue phone bill, overdue printing.þill, overdue salar¡es-everything overdue. (lt was also the day Murray and Susan P. went into Kingston to get Susgn's car repa¡red, only to have the r4diator in Murray's van burst. But that's another story.) Despite all this-plus lightening knocking out the telephones the next night (fixed in 18 hours)-this WIN is comiñg to you on schedule, to enlighten and amuse you, as WIN does every week. lf where you are life has not been quite so complicated recently, won't you share your good fortune with those hard-work¡ng fol ks at WlN. -George Carns Aftcr this \l $45,000 $50,000 WIN ls published weekly exèept for the flrst two weeks ln January, the last we€k ln March, the ñrst week ¡n June, th€ last two we€ks in August, and the flrst two weeks ln Septcmb€r by the WIN Publlsh¡ng Empirewith the iupport of the war Reslsters League. Subscrlpiions ar€ $11,00 pef yeaf. Second class postage pald at New York, NY lO0Ol. lndlvldual wrlt€rs afr respons¡ble for opinlons expressed and âccuracy of facts given. Sorry-manuscrlpts cannot bc rc. turned unless accompanied by a s€lf-addrossed stamp€cl 6nvelope, 2.WrN WIN 3 , ' .1 Lenjnist sect, but his experience while at work convinced him to leave it. Summing up, Steve writes: I think the deepest needs of my friends here, the needs thqt require radicol chonges, ore those some un' cleor thìngs that brought me into the Moveryent long ogo. t felt then thot history wos.ready for the development of o whole new kind of perSon. Somehow things like community, ort, sex roles, iust¡ce' porticipotory, , democrocy, creotivity-somehow things like this were-almost remolded into o new vision, Around 1970 I begon to forget or obondon those politics, But that newer, free-er, wider, higher vision is whot the overoge people need. lt's the only thìng that Billy ond my other friends could really throw their lives into.4 ?o . 'I ll So far, all I've'said is that working people are like other,Americans, wanting the same things and natural' ly using the same words. Wìy, then, a special importance for labor? A cardinal feature of the civil'rights and anti-war movements was the ability to isolate and focus on the simple relationship at the heart of the larger social is5Ue. Thus "civil rights," an abstraction, became the human act of walking to tþe registrar's office and asking to register tci vote, ln the same way, the war þecame the draft. The war, we said;13 the draft. "Unless you can draft people, you can't run your obscene war. And we're going to stop you from drafting people." ln both cases there was an over-simplification, as there always is in singling out part of a whole. The i ¡, things the movement believed in the early '60's. A strange thing has been happening. Movement survivors, scorning participatory democracy as a pettybourgeois ideology long outgrown, have taken iobs in factories to preach Marxism-Leninism to the'workers. For their part, the workers want to talk about participatory democracy. Needless to say the conversa' tion has been halting. What do I mean, they want to lalk about participatory democracy? For instance: Our union wos created from the'top down. lle've been soddled with o "Big Daddy will take care of you, we'll moke the decisions, pie in the sky" sort of thing, It sticks in our crow not having the right to ratify contracts. lile have to |eorn how to soy "No." The average guy in the mitl thinks he con't say "No," he's got to go along wìth the big shot, The compony hos a boss over him, The union hqs a boss over him. , .So where do the people show any fìght ony more? They've got to learn how to do this all over agoin.3 The best articulation of the conclusion that working people want what the movement talked about in the early '60's is in a lust-published article by Stevtr Packard. Steve worked in a steel mill for six months. When he went to work he was a member of a Marxist- draft was not the whole of the war. Nixon was able to run the war with air power alone for several years after we had more or less closed off the option of es' calated draft calls. Yet, in neither case were we essentially wrong' We had hold of the gist of the pituation. By concentrat' ing on the essential movin$ part, we were able to have leverage on the whole machine. Now there is a consensus that a new or regrouped movement must go beyond single issues and confront the capitalist scheme of institutions as a whole. But the "cap¡tal¡st scheme of institutions" is an abstraction. How to get at it? How to begin? ln the same way that civil rights was the right to vote, and the war wos the draft, I think capitalism is the employer-employee relationship. The vision of what is and what can be that I would like to see broadcast by a new moúement-would comtrast our society's democratic ideology with the un' democratic, arbitrary powpr which private employers have over those who work for them. For instance, the American Revolution happened because the British Parliament declared: " That the King's Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritualpnd temporal ond Com' mons of Greøt Britain in porliàment.ossembled, hod,. hqth, ond of right ought to hove, full power and authority to make laws ond statutes of suffìcient force and validity to bind the colonies and the people of : America, subjects of the crown of Greot Britoin' in qll cases whatsoever,S Naturally, you say. That's intolerable! No American would stand for it! WIN 5 ì ,T Why, then, do so many Americans stand, and indeed run, bow, and scrape, for the following: The.compo,ny retaihs the exclusive right to monlge the business ond plants ond to direct the working forces, The rights to manoge the business ond plonts ond to direct the working forces ìnclude the right to hire, suspend or discharge for proper cause, or transfer, ond the right t,o relieve emplolees from duty becaus.e of lqck of work or for other legitimate reasons.6, ln a word, they can fire us, but we can't f¡re them. ls this democratic? Of courle not. But Americans are'so 'deeply habituated to thinking of the employer's power as "management," something quite different from "government," that it takes much patient conversation, experimental action, painful learning-all those things which a social movement should do and be-before the dollar signs drop from our eyes, and we see the arbitrary power of the boss as a systematic insult to demoiracy and to us, The power of the boss means that when we leave the parking lot and punch in we leave behind us most of our rights as citizens. On the outside, you are innocent till proven guilty. On the inside, you are fired first, and then have the burden of showing why you sh'ould not have been. On the outside, even high school students can (thanks to the movement of the '60's) wear.political buttons and arm bands while "at work." Try doing this ôn the\assembly line, and according to the law and tþe National Labor Relations Board, you can be cânned. The point I am'trying to make is, not that workers. are special, but that the employer-employee relationship is the heart and essence of the problem a new movement must try to solve. Every time an employee straightens his or her back and says "No" at the risk of being fired, capitalism is that much weaker. Every time a worker ceases to seek gratification and promotion from the boss, and seeks approval instead from his or her fellow-workers, a bribk in the new society has been laid. Life the song says: ln our hands there is o power greater thon their hoarde1 god, Greoter thon the power of ormies mognified a ' It is true that white-collar workers, feachers, law clerks, laboratory technicians, nurses, and (save for the absence of a boss) the editoríal staff of WlN, are workers. It is not true that this recognition relieves us of the responsibility of beginníng and sustaining a conversation with other workers. It should make the conversation easier to know that our employment scars-the humiliating job applications, the firings, the blacklistings, the ti,mes when we swallowed our dignity and obeyed, the times when we didn't-are as real as anyone else's. But the conversation should be,carried on in an awareness that, while all Americans use the same political language (and in this sense have no class culture), yet there are profound cultural differences be tween different'groups of American workers which must be translated-across, if not overcome, if a genuinely, mass movement is to be born. - How óan anyone learn those cultural nuances? There is no need to "learn" them in a sense different than the other person is learning your sub-culture. The real poin!, in my opinion, is dramatically simple: The seed groups o(a new movement should not be befun by first bringing together a nucleus of survivors of the movement of the r60's, and then, as a second . step, reaching out to "the others." Rather, each of us should plant that seed-with one or more others who were not part of fhe movement òf thé '60's, but who, through working (or studying, or living) together, we have come to feel/share the The AFL-CIO andúhe I\ew : -fN ç\ 0t}ß lf a group is begun by calling together one's old movement friends, a dynamic is set up which makes it harder and harder for new people to join in. . From the very first meeting, most of those in the room should be the kind of person whom one hopes to be a majority of the movement when it is fully built. t lf this simple rule rigorously observed, problems of sub-culture translation will take care of themselves. "Organizing," in this context, is a natural and human, rather than a strained and artificial, undertaking.8 14¡" seek to sólve common problems that arise on the job. As we do so, it becomes clear that the ' only sensible way to solve the problems is to run is I Ernest lendler The first incident is related by Liêutenant Will¡am Barton of the Flrst New Jersey Regiment, and retold ln REBELS AND REDCOATS, ed, Scheer and Rankln,-pp. 405-06, The second Inê¡dent w¡ll be found ln Joseph Plum Martln, A NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTVRES, DANGERS AND SUFFERINGS OF A REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER. l near future, have to work for íboss to make a living I will be surprised (and that person'is fortunate). Surely, this is what it means that we have ceased to be a student movement: we too are workers. To repeat, âny one who sells his or her labor power for a time to another, giving that other more-or-less arbitrary power to order, for that time, his or her I labor-is a worker. This discovery has often been misunderstood, I I I 6 WIN l I think. Sometimes people say: "Right on! And now that we know we too are workers, we neþd no lònger worry about the labor movement, and can return, guilt-freé, to doing our thing." 2, Al¡ce ancl Staughton Lynd, ed,, RANK AND FILE¡ PERSONAL HISTORIES BY WORKING.CLASS OR. GANIZERS, Beacon Pr€ss, $3.95 (paperl. 3. RANK AND FILE, pp. 267-68 (condensed sl¡ghtly). 4. Steve Packard, "Steel 1975. 5. The Declaratoty Mill Blues," LIBERATION, May Act of 1766. 6. Managemeht prerogative clause, Baslc gteel Contract. Most union contracts have a slmilar clause. 7. '¡solidarity Forever," I believe the song orlginally sa¡cl, makes us strong." Presumably this referred to the "One Blg Unlon" wh¡ch the IWW was try¡ng to build and to,be. I th¡nk lt is falthful to the or¡ginal lntent to say "our union" (small "u"), mean¡ng, our unity. "For the Union 8. The same lssue of Ll BERATION which contains Stevo Packard's artlcle ¡ncludes some modest ancl hetpfut thoughts about on-th+job organiz¡ng. I BY l. il¡ ,J same values. thousondfold, Surprise! You too are a worker. lf there is any reader of these remarks who does not now, has not in the recent past, or will not in the ,,, 9TÊ things ourselves. lile can bring to birth a new world from the oshes of the old, For our unión mokes us stronq.T \¡. t i I !' ú.u The economic cl'isis of the last few years-a combination of recession, inflation and high corporate profits, ,an impossibility according to traditional economic thinking-þ¿5 confusçd most of us. Only six years ago the unemployment rate was3.3%, the inflation rate was 4.20/0, and the gross national product was constantly climbing. Today, the natlonal unemployment rate is almost 10%, inflation is over '10%, and the gross national product dropped 9.30/oin the last three months of 1974 and continues to fall. Six years ago, in 1969, Richard Nixon, taking the advice of conservative economists led by Arthur Burns, decided the 4.2o/o annual inflation.rate was too high, and while business approved and labor watched, he took appropriate action. 'fhe goal was to reduce inflation by slowing down the economy through "tight money and high interest rates." Quickly unemployment began to rise (accord' ing to plan),,but higher lnterest rates only increased inflatidn, businessmen passed on the higher cost of 'money to consumers, and corþorate profits rose. ln "197'l a patch was placed on the cracking economy , Erneçt Lendler is ø free lonce wrlter ond consultont to.o New :Yorþ Clty bosed trqde union,) with the so-called controls on wages and prices. Wages increases were held down, but profits and prices soared. During all this the organized labor movement wäs essentially silent except for an occasional loud noise and protest resolutioís. Part of the reason for this silence and lack of affirmative actior¡ is that there is not a unified labor movement, and qrganized labor is not as strong as we are constaritly led to believe. Less then250/o of the non-managerial workforce belongs to labor unions, and only approximately 18% to AFL' CIO unions. The remainder of the organized work' force belongs to independent unions such as the United Mine Workers, United Automobile Workers, lnternational Brotherhood of Teamsters, lnternational' Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), United Electr¡cal Workers, Locomotive Engineers and Distributive Workers. Even within the AFL-ClO theref is opposition to the policies and non-action of the federation and its president, Georgê Meany. At best, Georgg Meany and the ofücial AFL'CIO statements actually represent less than half of organized labor (about 10%of the total workforce). Although George Meany hardly represents the labor movement, he and the AFL-ClO'receive all the attent¡on. wrN I ì i i I / 7 The AFL-ClO finally began to take some action in lanuary, 1975 when ít'releãsed its,,erogramloïäc_" _ However the AFL-CIO cannot be expected to the program, direcrion o. arul .l_.tf,ql1 wtrn rne economic crisis.. Their only activity prior i"tiàniî tion.'The official program is basicaliyiiãnasn of tne New Deat which fiited-the cracks ¿ri¡í.,g iñ. tasr depl::rjT. The program. inctudes u iiitlè åi'ru.ryrhing: I ax cuts for individuals and cuts in corporah îaxes" to stimulate inveirment. R reductionìn-i-nàr.rt *rìnËiãîìil;ril;. r.ut"S. Federat funds for n..* t Revitati-, zation of mass transit an¿ moäerniiätir" äf the rail_ roads. Some, bur nor extensive, Federái loans ro ciries and srates. exteí¿lnÈ t-f.,Jiirc r.r. . tiiièlãir. im ptementation of env i ron , oetng..rnetr only criteria. The AFL-ClOis current iUãri';loùs fo, ; Att" no marter how ,r"r, iäñrã"irä J|"Àgr", muddled efforrs wilt nor bring might make. Onq has to look not to the AFL-CIO head_ guarters in Washington but to ináiui¿ual ,nion, r""tãl Ëräi."iiànr. n guorl9n oit imporrs wirh no irp"iiiäã, a.nd tocals, both ,,program for Action,, looks , As far as it goes, the on. paper but, excepr for the pubtic l]:T:I1-:"g"gh serytce employment^sectio_n, is essentially to b.e ignored. The AFL-CIO itself is spending tìíne only"on .the. concept of t'pubtic service jó0, ã, iir,åriìons and -l " fi qhtþq stoga n /oås ør.A t t :ndlcaie. il'ìtra¡ gn t out of the New Deal, with referencei tó tt WorL Projecr Adm in istrarioq (weA) an J iirniur' " ñr, o.ul ms fi I I i n g A F pf o! pu O t icaiiãn r."ûn hàn, n"t.!._C lO ry tr^sla ls n.olonger 1935 and FDR isn,t thê president. l. Ar L_C|O program and actions have all the at- ^_,,-! utoures.oï running.in place. There appears to be acluon.and an expenditure of energy, btit there is no morion, No campaign is being oirlii"J.iir,.i ,t tt memÞers ot organízed labor or the general public " in support of the limited program. No"effãrì lías ueen made ro d-evetop n.* unrruià á. ff;;i åia'onu, ¡n the.face of the new realities. fn"r. ìi n"uttimpr to of the progra; ä;,üåi"r"nt,,, srress on bringing rhe unorganiz ed 7 S% of ihe llo 19 raoor rorce tnto trade unions (ofganizing the unorg1k:j[_b-.-rr_T t parts ganized). Local program, or aàiõns ai.îåi ,ponror.o and.those pursued by local unions ur" nåiãsiisiC¿. -" And no one in AFL_CIO officialdom seems to be iaking a hard look at who owns and contróts Âm"r¡ca and why there is the current economic crisis, or at, as the recen r I LWU convent¡on statàã,"t'ñe-; uãåp"n ing de pression I that] has.sev"*t t ;h; [ä;' il" iià'ü ir ity or capitalist economies,,' -!l .. Ever since a losing battte against the Taft-Hart_ tey Law ín the lare ig¿oï"ì?ãîårå"lu¡# rl"rn,, Nationat. Union of s"sp¡tåi oyees (A F L.cto). rru,'i"¿ ;h;;;;rric ;;-;Ë;rriä'ii^""ìil;ilrr];ä¿ ib urive Wor ke r5f Am¿i¡ r.n ; ã¿ãiur,:o n' or )rate, uounty and Municipal Employees (AfLcto); and Dístrict rtggli, rè"å¡';J'r;ii;;¡" gl1idne drives; and a growing nuníoåi ro."r"r_ (D istr untons are using strikes , onty lo1.u'o rngton and have IJ \) JJ +r a) FT\ (â I WrN 3 cù ñ (i BY David À/cReynolds its presiden.t, George Meäny, iãntinrãiy I 1i Photo by Davld FentonfLNS, h;äq;;;;;;s in wasr¡. s. .r only sotutioiitJ-Ãr"¡ät .economic ailments.,, and. urgedrun¡ãn- -¿;-;i:"' rLä¡î" to "write their^ Senarors and ,RãpresË-- the AFL-ct-o e+l "f"ñ;r;';"duiî o. srated in an árticte Lni¡írfi-.{ãor. Carries Fight for Jobs to public;;:-;;L;oöïà" sage-expressed in hard-hitting Congresionãl't'esti_ mony by AFL-C|O president-Ge"rsö fvluãnî and in newspaper adverrisements in eight Ë¡t¡äi_*å, ttår' ,rhe jobs represenr ol to wait. : 9f tYuyJT fi reinforcing in the pubtic mind the irug, oì u ,.cumbent movement. The AFL-ClO -stultified'labor will tesrify in fronr of more Congirrrionåi ,ä1n. , mittees, conrinue buyíng ;Ji;täinil'pi"'r, ,on_ to promóre a"d, new New oéui iãbr. I::i...: :tlcannot - program they begin to implement. Móie formidable. direcr acrion, bri";í;; ;h;', ;;;;" -iri.îr*J"ir.¿ sented 7S% of the workforr""inio tabor movemenr and rù besin;in;r'åi äii*' l"uo, approach ro rhe econom¡c rãat¡tl¿ï-"i nráirc, *¡li Congress, electing,,friends ganizing, and thul not growing. - --' À.Èt'-,-ðiò N"w, to prevent lavoffs. Atthough signifìcant, these actions by'unions both. within rhe AFL-Cto,an¿ in¿ìpeñúr,ìi' not been coordinated an¿ have uóãñ-fuñr,rr.tru. ¡rodenied impacr U.cuuie áî'u'nläiiotul l19u 1na racK of medaa attention.. TIe- media almost atways üri;i"u;;;, i; e m_ isr,", utility rates in New ¡ersey and has held a çonfe¡91ce of union stewardi on crisis. wh ich supported narionat iritioi ãiüäïä-in¿uo try and curs in military spending.'t-À. úäri Court Longshoremen (tLWu)'rohu"niìfi ;;ñ"á' ;ä, 'oit, tionatizarion of añ "r_ , evaders" and to ,,úsing "nd US mif itãrv'mrr"l, ìo make rhe wortd ,safe':fo, Us u¡condirional amnesty. Sucn unìoïs-år'o¡lir¡rt"urn Os -Ë :n the-1950,s,'tras spent-inË oeçomtng a ïtxture in. Washington, busy lob.bying Besides the near disaste.rous April 26 Rally for Jobs, rhe AFL-cto i3 continuìng''ii; uàär, non-acrion and tnã låiãersfr i p . .proposi ng sot utiõni has remembered for 40 years. -rn" ãnJ"Heii;d'äre piåäiräåiifi pt attempred to lead or even iatõ püilnãîational politicat campaign of a¡y.nature. fh. nFläö,'' after p.urging as many leit¡sts as rh;y .orlã ¿¡" fy:r añtiateã-r"lh;'äËiäid'.n¿ dependenr, tg find direct airiäni,'n.i,"ri,îtlng ¡nand even some criricism of capitalism. o¡lritï riéb, '- rhe Arab counrtes. tmport quotas to protect iobs and US rnoustnes trom unfair foreign compétition. And, most imporrantly, a full ,"it" prog;* ;¡;rbi;;;". vtce employment. j;!,ll!'"ipr'¿#*';:,5,:;i;,#ljÉ'.ïi;H;,i;:il. t o F*\ Hard ti'mes surround us. A'mi"iräerous foreign policy weighs upon the conscience of every informed radical. We are not searching for evils wíth.a microscopethey loom under us, in front of us, and over us. The problem is not seeing the problem, b{lt finding ways of dealing with it. Let me begin where môst of us began. White and middle class. I write'that not as a put dowñ but simply as a statement of fact, a starting point which helps to explain something of our strength, and of our weakness. We are not, with few exceptions, sons and daughters of workers. We may live in poverty but we were not raised in it. Our childhood and early youth were suffciently secure and affiuent that we can turn our backs on the affiuent society. But that decision, which leads some of us to commune3 and some of us to slums in the various cities of the nation, does not m¡ke proletarians of us. Even in our poverty we know the weapons available for oui survival: clinics and how to use them, friendly'lawyers and legal defense associations, parents or friends in the middle and upper classes who will come forward on our behalf when needed or shelter us if qe want a respite from our commúnes and slums. I may occupy an apartment in a slum, but what marks me out as diferent from th.e men and'women who share my building with me, ànd who live in David McReynolds is on the stoff of the lüar Resisters Leogue, o frequent contributor to WlN, ond one of the editors of thesé Hord Times issues, The second port of this orticle will be printed in September. apartments identical to my own, is that while their windows open onto grimy air shafts, and their doors open uBon a grimy street and their day stretches out to welfare ofüces or hard and alienating labor or to the task of tending childrên, from my window you can see Paris, and when I walk out the door it may be to step forth on a street in San Francisco or Philadelphia or Tokyo. Let us, therefore, have no illusions about the situation in which we have placed ourselves: for us there is always hope, options, inner realities of education and training, and'these things mark us off from those among whom we movê and with whom we may make the error of ionfusing ourselves. We may workfor a living but yet are not "workers." We may have no money but yét 4r:e not "poor" in the sense of that poverty which riddles the lives of thoSe on our blocks. How and why each of us found ourselves in the radical movemdnt is something only a series of autobibgraphies could answer. But in part we have found ourselves where we áre because we believed the values society taught us, and rebelled against a society which violated the values it worked so hard to instill. Or, more accurately, something in us, some stroke of lucK or fact of health (or neurosis-you can take your pick) gave us the willingness to choose among the values offered us, and to choose those values that a. made rebels of us. Let me spell out how our movem1ent toward iadical social change differs from thatjfor example, of Southern blacks. We were'not born into a class of oppressed people. (Even the most forceful advocate of women's liberation, or the Ínost militant of gay WIN 9 .n liberationists, was born into a situation of substantial privilege if contrasted to women or homosexuals born inro rhe working ciass). We did not view the p"iicããi enemies but as employees, as protectors. The B¡ll of Rights was written foi øs, and when we found the State ín violation of it, our,response was less fear than anger. Contrast this with the position of a Southern black born into the Jim Crow structure that existed i . , intact only twenty years ago. That young man or woman grew up in a situation where it was taken for granted that the police were agents to enforce the laws agoinst the black commuãity. The Bill of nilnts (and the whole of the Constitutión) was never in-tended for blacks. The tumulr of the civil Rights movement was centered entirely on the strugãle of .Southern blacks tb gain for themselves c€rta¡; rights , (voting¡ pubhc accorñodatloñ)-iË;r;; au tomaricat., ly enjoyed by the rest of us. Ou-r actions flowed from a sense of moral outrase. not of .class necessity. We fought to extend t, ãit eË : ll . r:glllyg : , : : '. '. oursetúes atreadf had. Thii'was trrè oi rne Llvtf Ktghts movement and equally true of the Vietnam movementr lt was always a fi!_a itJp¡¿'ãn¿ .,easily disproven lie-that the cad'rã of-ãr.it ,"r¡si*, . segfins their own way out of military ,uiu¡ré. ¡tgJg Ë.ach of the young men who risked prison-had aÞundant resources by which legal exempt¡ons could .havg been æcured. rÉe .tro¡i, *usa l-l1j ;.I.1il"l a necessary survivat r..rponj.. W. op. Jir.r¡äí.. poseo the vietnam.war because we bec¿use we would die fighting in it. felt it wrong_not Our actions often haã mas-sive blind spots. We '' ,.: .....'' fr,onted us on tv every night) an¿ i¿rniifv'wíth the i'Jü;üiänis wr,o demonstrated in ch¡cago, iá wasiinsion,äna ¡n a thousand spots around-tÉ. .ornìrv,'r*i¿ norr"ã tf,. olacKs tn their own slums and ghettoes because those of reatiry were nor iiluñrinated eactr nigtriãl ïpg:!: tetevtslon. ' Vietnamese. yer ofteir thi t.,.' I dtil We made 9gr way forward very slowly. Our educa. patct.to.r largely by others_the Vietnamese, Ir_* Tas tor example. lt is a characteristic of the middle clasó .. I t' l that when firsr confronred by criminál ulüiv-¡or on the part of the State (or any'of the agenciei the State represents-corporations, church, etå\, itdãnies the behavior is criminal. We could not at frrst really be_ lieve the evits with which we we* ãå"i-"t.a. lf black youth was shot to death in tfre ghetto iurety" the blame must rest w¡th the youth_[olice officeis would not fire without reason. lf bombs killed soine civilians in Vietnam thar was unfortJnãt"-Uui ttre real problem rested wirh agents of disordei iiained in Moscow. lf the unemployrient rate.is high, ii ¡, U._ : causg many people do not really want to work. That murder shou.[d actually be plonned, that unãmployment might be policy ãeteimined by powerful ece nomac torces, would be unthinkable. When it became clear to us that in fact some police did shoot withour cause, thar ror.'*ri, i.,ãã basis,t' our response waj that somethins had iome riomentar¡ly unhinged in the system_ñot that the fystem itself needed to be changed. lf we were unItuqqy wirh events in Chile, Rrekisinger. if we naa had bad luck with Presidents, elect a lüoman. lf local cop.s were bruhl,_get a new chief of police. Because each ot these notions has merit, they are hard to argue.with.. One must, in fact, agree with ttemruen tfiow¡ng they fail to touch the basic problem. . ;;Iúr; to wlN raising groups, women'5 consciousness raising groups' eav liberation workshops, human sensitivity sessions. Ãlí vali¿. All having merit. And all essentially middle class and, in profound ways, deflections from the strug' T_h. last thing we want.to take up on our agenda is ., the need to transform social and economic insiitutions. We think first of cha-nging ttre etites iÅ cnarge "meñ of rhe apparatus. Firing evil ana rejla"ing thõm sle to overturn the basic structure' Since I am attacking some of the ðurrent sacred ' ro*i ottl't. mouet.nf(it has become almqst an act of courage to raise questions aböut women's and gay liberatioñ movements), let me sêy I accept the merit .bf these movements, I recognize they are dealing with 'real problems, and no reJolution would be authentic that denied the issues these movemenJs are raising. To with.good men or womln. We w¡ll ¿umþ LélIWe witt impeach Nixon. We wiil uoyioäScirtTr-Âfrican diamonds. We have an atmost ¡nrtlnitlü i'toir rrortion agalnst revolutìonary change. t iãm"mOår u"ry " peace, movóment ãame momå nàrilv l,nI:l,ll1,r!: srucK and certa¡n elements withdrew_such as Róbert Pincus and the World Without Wuierorpl;S:;;;ù; ly at the point it was clear many trãä'Ërgrn to orîi point ouf that the Civil Rights.movement in the '50's and '60's or the Vietnamese lilieration struggle gave little time to these isuses, or that that United Farm Workers give little time to them now, is not an move toward chaltengìng the systen wüiri eunurut ¿ the war in Viernam, ánã not iímjiy';h;;;;;F;;;;å;" wor. That momentary confusion anA ¿i"¡lion *tlütr took place in the early ,60's was mæke¿ lütr issues such as anri-Communism, nega tó oppáiä u¡olãnce, gtc. (t9,, how coutd any of-rhe us calt ioi ùõTiti¿ruru.l from Vietnam when thât meanr a and when such a withdrawal would mean a vi"tory .answer at Cóñ";íst;ñ;i v iolen t revolutionary ^^I,|;f:f,a þy forces? ) generally pointless efforr ro find any ' posslþte middle ground in which the war misht be endect w¡thout revolutionary change. Varioris radicals from the '30's looked and sáw ttreî¡rect¡oïín which the youth were.marching and insteid oirrggårjinË-" ways to make the march easier, swifter, anð-morelertain, placed themselves in opposition to it. They were otr by the drugs, the sex, the music. Oniy a'few, ?rrt such as the late Sam Coleman, could find the politiéal and psychological insight to relate their own ,lold Lett" posit¡ons with the an_gry voices on the campus and. keep ope¡ a dialogue. Generally the,movement American.social i n s-ti tu tions deeply frightened $1'1rr peopte who ha9 thought of themselves ås radiðals. As events of the '50's and '60,s generated r.uotrtionãiyajt¡tlggl among younger pedple, so it drove many ih the Old Lefr roward vðry conieriative a statement.that these tbree movg frontatiqnal response of the '60's. This, too, was a response'shaped by the middle class nature of our ' movement. lt was spasmodic, founded on certain il' lusions, and when it failed it too swiftly gave way to the more individual respqnses discussed above..We be' gan with Teach-lns, because we honestly believed that lf only people could be tåught what we knew-if only the government itself could b-q ihformed of the facts in äüi pori.rt¡on-foticv woùld b" changed. Su.rely Kennedv and Rusk and Rostow would not deliberate' ly murd'er people in Vietnam. lf onty peopte knew the iacts! Surely workers would not build instruments of death if they knew the facts. Surely'troops would desert rather than kill innocent people. lf only people foliticï. B,lt the "movement,, itself was typicallv rn,*,, , 9la¡s.i1 the way if finany .ng'gãã1ñäi;;;;;'i; bat. we had begun by assuming the sysiem couid""r. be retormed. As it became clear the structure itself was thesource of the problem, and ttrat chine¡nãi'he leadership resolved nothing_that LB.l wai as"murderous as Goldwater, and J F K the creatór of the êreen 6erets-w€ s9ught either personal salvation from the cnaos and evil in which we seemed engulfed, or we . sought "instant revolurion." Keep in ñ,i"ã all-only ments overlooked important pioblems w¡th which they should have been concerned. ts{rt I would main' tain these are secondary movements, not a substitute for a serious thrust at the bas¡c structure of society. One can salute the formation of communes and food collectives and stil,l suggest these are not a sub' st¡tute for revolution-ónly, at their best, an aspect of a serious revolutionary movement. These all-cöm' munes, collectives, consciousness raising religious groupings, drug experiments-were forms of individu' al response to the social crisis. There was the other response, the organized con' knew the facts. But there are facts and then there are other facts. Workers, for example, were not able to pick and choose their iobs. To refuse military con' iracts meant the mortage would go unpaid. For workers to make a morãl responie to the rather (to them) abstract issues involving death in a distant would have quite immediate and (t9 them) "ouniry devastating results in their own lives-loss of work. For troopito desert meant p¡ison. For a blackyouth . to refuse conscription meant a fêlon's record.wilh.far t áìr.r"n i i mpl icaiions on iu tu t" employmerit än¿'ËÒ* sible success than such a record would mean for a'' middle class white youth. This left us often with a certain contèmpt, a cer' tain sense of elitism, and with a tendency to act as if we had power rather than as if our task was how to build a genuine base of power. Three examples: (1) During the Chicago trial there was a mass . student anti'war conference in Cleveland, in tþe course of which one of the young men working on the Chicago trial came and reported to us, and observed how uniust it was that the fate of our leaders, eÍceptional 'men such as Dellinger and Hoffman and Rubin, rested in the hands of a iury of "mere" ¡vhite workers, of reactionary, racist,,rank and file American citizens. What the young man was saying wùs that our leaders ought not to be iudged by the very American public for which we so often claimed to speak' I sus- pect he was astonished when that-and other-iuries baffled the government by refusing to bring in the string of coñvictions on which Mitchell had counted. (i) ngáin, during the '60's we had the "Assembly of Unreplesented Pèoples" in Washington, which produced the dramatic photograph of Staughton Lynd and Dave Dellinger getting splashed with red páint. The original title of that project was cute-and iymbolic of where our collective heads were at. lt was C.O.U.P.-Congress of Unrepreserited People. The objections of some of us to the implications of the titÍe "COUP" resulted in it being called an Assembly. Now, if we had sVid we are not represented by Congress, and small as we may be, were in Washington to ie4ind the American people that Congress does not thii ii,, very àature of our response to th; syst;m *iipr*unal, that we were driven by values, not necessity; and it. is.not so_surprising that many sought.s.ap" in Lsìi. lo like my friend pet'èr Stafford, oire;f th;;;ãitirs or the drug culture, who could íeriously teap'ovei tne fact of rats in Harlem buildings and urge LSO'r, tfi, uni- --" versal solvenr in which ali problemi woul¿ uinisñ.'ilt is an ínreresting sociologicàt note tñuiit;,;;ind cnangtng." drugs were not popular with ghètt-o youth, who preferred the nirvana of smack to tÉe ris'kí of seeing even.more of rheiruearity wiirr-r_sDi."iil, no, surprising that Rennie Davis enãed up a foltowár of that.youth fled inro gare fristrna,åntrur, {",ql11 or became Children of God. Nor is it surprising that so.fa.r as I know most of those involve¿ i'n ttlesi nðw religious group.s are middle class and nãt i¡,å'ð-1l-¡t¿rrn 01 workers. lt is not even surprising that the women in the movement turned on t'he ,jn-a s"rãnOãiy target.but one more easily at hand-rather than upon tne oasrc soc¡al structure. We had men's consciousness i ¡ I l That clramatic .photo of Dave Delllnger, Staughton Lynd and Bob Moses splashed w¡th palnt. ¡ wrN ll spea.k for us, that would have been legitimate. tended with unconsc.ious elitism ìá u-r?rrä*. But we' in fact speak for al "orl¿ lmeric;:'i;;;ö;;i"orrr", white racisrs, Uncle Tom blacks, ,ãripí"ãå"t youth, old peopte, an¿ ttre cuituiañv facrwar¿ l9311jon?ry mtddte ctass_i,e., the majority of Ameriia). The un- nappy ïact was that Congress, corrupt as it was, re_ u,gliql,urv as ir was, reprelentód rnorã-p.oô1, rhan did. We were an Assembly ot some iníiJlrr"ntr¿ we people. We were a very long *ay from Uãirìi able to as o w-hote'orcuèn ioi'uny '::?!-fZ:!!, malor segment of them. {3) We burned our people out with illusions of potenc.y we,did not possess. Each ,,ul_ i immediately after the invasion of Cambodia limited Ntxon's options. The inner councils of the government trembled at our numbers. We might have bõen ãiffrr" and often in error, we made corñil.ss ,irt"tär, Urt expected than had been possible. That Rennie,Davis turned to a guru was somehow logical, part pf the mid' dle class search for instant solutions and salfations, of spasmodic involvement in struggle. Let me contrast our actions, which used thb rhetoric of revolution and thereby disillusioned our peopfe, With the tactics of Ba'iard Rustin during the CiVil Rights peribd. Rustin is now sitting l'infhe camp of the enemy" and it,is risky to suggest we exâmine the merits of what he did in the-t50's and earllr '60's' But he acted with the advice and support.of A.J. teast we. were ín motion and moving with a foróe and"t power.that curbed the power of ttrõgovernmãnt. Fo.r those of us who were within äre movement to examine olr misrakes is in oràei. Foitf.,ärã *Ëä stood offat a safe disrance ano ¡uiiinä inJti iñiJtiä" ov--- se¡i¡s 9¡lv our errors trave lesi trrãn án hõnoiuLle ,.nr". of rhe history through *t ¡"r, ïrrJ i"iîä".¿. l*!.t: "åiu" action was the !.1vo.uld succeed simply uecauie ii ñaã io ,ur."r¿. This is a rheme that ìan through ouiãitìáñi an the way from the submarine jirmping i" ñ;* lãñ;on;" the Maydays in Washingtôn. it w"us_oishoulã been-obvious that the çourageous assaults on the Polaris subma rine coul d' o n ù'n"i, oã oo en t isr 6 roade, prAtií,r pport ry.o,sru.r,.ro -.J 1rncidentally, happened.) But people oïten felt lyl'9h, rna[ Dy thetr act¡ons, by their willingness to take the * iï, liil total risk of drowning ¡n tne cn¡ti.wa'iàir-Jfrr.* coutd octuaily sr-ç,p tú Þ;t;iii progrurn ano wnen they found outthe fish of death were rereased to patrol the seas there was a feeline of Again, the Maydays .gyra ñ"i pãiii'trv nuu. ,l1,ilTl:. "ctosed down_the government.,, ln fact.they didn,t evdn slow rraffic. We.llrrls{ 30,000 iourigéous youth L"lj:l-rl:t apain_sr.the : f might of Nixon', góurrnr"ni8i-tt u'u"ri, rnar rnts acilon would really work: lf you don,t close down rhe war, we wil ctoie'dówn'ir,Ë ËõüuLirrnt. lne war conilnued. The government fu-nctioned. Many of our oèoote *"r.]ãÞiilrriã,iååî"är, tr,.v had been oveisotä. Rennie ó'avll,Ëiäiäu äì. the mosr charismaric or tne yôuih Ë;ã;;;: "r ä'n¿.¿ Tl! *.rtt march., each demonstrarion, in¿îf,ãnnal convutston of the Maydays, as if thai action would to end the war. We acted because we had a certain illusion oi power. We came from.the same class ai th-oiä wno ran the machinery of dearh. We often weii iä"t-È, ,ur. coleges rhey had attended. We acted on the assump. tion that these men of power *;;;;""h;i;iulàitner m.orally or because rhe weighr otori ¡ürn6"r,rv"üi¿ frigh.ten them. When we faiïed, or,l.un[i'iñinil.ïi_ ter rhe Maydays rhey disintegi"trã. fál tf," ,ori p.rt we sought to confront power"as it*à rr.ä p"*er. our demonstrarions were oigan izeà ;; ;; i;irecte¿ at.the convenrions of thã major "rou purii.r,ìlì äi estab_ I ish i ng. som e pot i tical base of'ou i ã;;.'W.eï very differe¡t from rhe-Childieñ of Iriuuiv-flo i"rched rhe,wails of Jericho, thinkinjthæ årirort lgr.nd mustc would cause the walls of power to tumble? Let me make certain ttrat mv ãommeinüärän"r wrenched out of conrexl'.This í, nót,in ïüi"iu *iùt.n to be detivered inro rhe händs of tf.,ã.nlmiå, ãr tne movement and used against us. lf I am critical of what wq d id-what. t, at on g th oirrrir,'¿iä_iåilrüi *r¡o ren nere should detractfrom the power we did-possess. I recenrty read Michael Harringtoñl iãriäi*åu¡re_ raphy and found he coutd disciss iñ¿;ãAränä"r"rly ;; ;- îi I r.ì i '70's withour ever realizinsrh;i1i; ;o*er"äiiäLungu . was in our hands-nor ¡n tñe rrinãi oi-tüãiöño ,tooa above.rhe batte. I have suggesié¿ in, liä¡i, åiir,ut yl.9¡dt bur.wirh¡n those ti"rñits lid ø *. ;;;;lyî"i rnan our detractors. The demonstration in Washington . yolvement in Vietnam. We could not sav,e Allelde;'bnly protest against his murder. And now, at the poirf of the deepest economic crisis since thè Great Depression, the movement of the '60's is shattered, finding refqge in communes, in consciousness raising.groups, and in odd little Marxist sects that sþeak and think Múste in a limited way for sold each action as the final action. He knew that there was then no hope. of revoluticjn. The objective Was simple: Ío create sufficient political force to compel federal intervention on behalf of the Southern blacks. All the way flom the Madison Square Garden rallies, to the Washington Prayer Pilgrimages, to the final massive'March on Washington in'1963, Rustin's target was creating a political force that would compel federal protection for blacks. He was perfectly aware such action was hopelessly limited-that it would not provide iobs, would not deal w¡th the economic basís of racism, etc. But w¡th¡n the infintely repressive context of American rac¡sm, Rustin set specific targets that coúld be achieved, mobilized his forces for a long march, ànd in alliance with Martin Luther King gaine.l those limited targets. The point Rusin understoodand that in a sense we diil not understand-was that 3äi''itïxiiJff li;i[iî" ,,!ïätii.i,î,iiäi'fi losr, wirh vicrpry far disranr. Ea;h e;cd;;; *u, o"r, oT a process, not some puritanical struggle betwéen good and evit in which the good lãür¿'ünlä,irr."¿ for att time. Why did we, cõmmineU tå nä,iuiål"nrr, not better understand how comptei ,"ur, how,distant our goaf, ano how many battles we must lose before we could hope ro w¡n ihu'iiiffi áirì;rui;i'- , With¡n the context that we operated, the Maydays were.an ex rraordi nary victory. Thii ñL, g people felt it was a defear suggesrs ;;;;i' ttrat mãiå Éi¿ ur.n. revolution was not immediately possible, only reform â , ' solution, üas port of the problem. (Not the "main 'enemy"-simply part of the problem.) We set out in 1955 to reform our structures. We looked to Ralph Photo bY Nell Pablo. limited gains. He never My crucial poìnt is not at all to suggest the Maydays were wrong. Only to suggest that õur trdops would no[.nave bqen so demoralized if they had been trained in the knowledgc thar thís wis n"rrr_ ";iír;;;iwiirroui'any fhey enrered combar ^åny iri.Tl!*l?r:,td tuston that v¡ctory would be ours in that hour. The \ Today even Rustin's old allies, such as Michael l-Jarrington, haye deserted him, and I think h¡s present positio¡ is one where he ended up trapped by the structure rather than able to effect further change. But for that period he met his targets and reached them. We reached our targetalmost by aðcidentpreaching revolutionary chanþe, we managed only to reform American policy enouþh to end the direct.in- and write with such remarkable dogma that one knowó they exist outside of social reality. But I believe we are, hopefully, only pausing before '' the next step. And that step is, very broadly define{, revolutíon. I do not mean the planting of bombs, the seizure of tv stations, sudden insurrection. But I do m.ean fundamental change in the social and econqmic insiitutions that make uþ America. I db not think we could have taken on this task unless we had first been bro(en. We would not have been vüilling to contemplate a seríous struggle for socialism until we had tried the path of reform. We would not have learned of our failings and our errors if we had not lived through them. When the movement began, so long ago now, when Rosa Parlssat in.the "wrong" seçtion of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama and started the chain of events from which a new Left emerged, our responses were typical of our class. We wero born as a movement into a time when there was no longer a viable Left from which we could learn, no militant labor movement with which we could ally. ourselves. Our errors are natural. They were inevitable. f,reedom' rides. Teach-ins. Confrontations. Mass rallies, Draft card burnings. Sit-downs, sit-ins, be-ins. Yellow sub' marines and terror bombing. But I believe that from all that has gone down we have learned. We learned it is not enough to give blacks the right to bat in the best restaurant in Atlanta if they don't have the money to pay for the meal. We learned racísm is at least as deeply rooted in the North as in the Soûth. We learned that.the Peace Corps is nôt enough. That liberalism, far from being-a ñ;" ii_ I be changed. I timare" action. Each action *u, ioi¿-on'tü! basis that , within a structure that ultimately needed to Nader and'Eugene McCarthy and Bobby-.Kennedyand Eldridge Cleaver, B