Win Magazine Volume 6 Number 13

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HOME FOLKS

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Marilyn Albert

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Maris Cakars

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Joar

Susan Cakars

1969v

Bruce Christianson
Donna Christianson

charge,

Bill Crawford

attack

Diana J. Davies
Dena Davis

Ralph DiGia
Karen Durbin
Jen Elodie

was

menu

se'

confesl

ary

4t)

arreste

Leah Fritz

Neil Haworth
Jim Hayes

page

Changes

hold-u
$5,00(

Hendrick Hertzberg
Martin .Iezer
Peter Kiger

page

Sunrise Hill

arreste

page

Rhode Island Draft Board RiP-Off

Dorothy Lane
Marty I-auritsen
Jackson Maclow
Mary Mayo
David McReynolds
Peter Merlin

Don Mochon
Jim Peck
Lana Reeves (Photos)
Paul Rilling
Igal Roodenko
Bonnie Stretch
Steve Suffet
Mayer Vishner
Linda Wood
Mike Wood

page

20'.

page 22:
page 23:
page 24:
page 25'.
page 26'.
page 32'.

the

Pa

acy to

Chicago 15 Trial Ends

and Nr
was

Christopher Street Liberation Day

se

in the

Women Workers and

the

Sym the Equal Rights Amendment

ofher

Straight Shooting

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in Beer CitY

lawyer

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Reviews

admiss

Letters

beaten

has yt
trial is

Cover Burton LeVitsky

Tht

therr,

Denis Adelsberger (Box 7477, Atlanta, Ga.)
Taliesin House (7012 Sycamore Ave., Tacoma Park,

the

73 Market St. No. ll, Venice, Calif.)
Seth Foldy (2232 Elandon Dr., Cleveland Heights, Oh.)
Jim Giddings (1028 E. 6th St., Tucson, Ariz.)
Erika Gottfried (4811 NE l07th, Seattle, Wash. 98125)
Paul & Becky Johnson (206 Closson, Santa Fe, N.M.)
Wayne Hayashi (1035 University Ave., Rm. 203,
Honolulu, Hi.96822)
Rose LaBelle (713 NE Adams, Minneapolis, Mn.)
Timothy Lange (1045 14th St., Boulder, Co.)
Mark Morris (3808 Hamilton St., Philadelphia, Pa.)
Paul Obluda (544 Natoma, San Francisco, Ca. 94103)

Volume VI, Number 13, August 1970

I

During

IN THE PROVINCES
Md. 20012)
Ruth Dear (5429 S. Dorchester, Chicago, Ill.)
Paul Encimer (c/o Venice Draft Resistance,

I

W

Bird,

CL'II)
-

still

of

so

the

city's

peace and freedom

I

scEr

through nonviolent action
339 Lafayette Street
New York, New York 10012
Telephone (2121 228-027 O

OF

Ay

of

WIN is published twice-monthly (except July, August, and January
when it is published monthly) by the War Resisters League in

cooperation with the New York Workshop in Nonviolence.

cor

a stru
tucky
A1

Subscriptions are $5.OO per year. Second class postage paid at New
York, N.Y, 1OOO1. lndiv:dual writers are responsible f or opinions
expressed and accuracy of facts given. Sorry-manuscripts cannot be
returned unless accompanied ty a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

helpet
gainst

Press

They
U.S. T
Th

Printed in U.S.A., WIN is a member of the Underground
Syndicate and Liberation News Service.

each

tional

Clellan in March, 1969, they refused to
surrender the records. They were cited
for contempt of Congress and indicted.

JOAN BIRD BAILED OUT AFTEH
15 MONTHS IN JAIL

On July 6, Joan Bird, one of the
New York Panther 2l jailed in the
Women\ House of Detention for over
year was freed on $100,000 bail. The
Committee to Defend the Panther 2l
raised $40,000 which purchased municipal bonds that will be worth $100,000
a

when they mature. There was relatively little difficulty getting the city

to

to this unusual bail method.
Joan was arrested on January 17,
agree

1969 when two men she was with were
charged with being involved in a sniper

attack on police. After her arrest

she

was severely beaten and coerced into a
confession. She was released on February 4th on $5,000 bail and was again
arrested a few days later on a phorlV
hold-up charge - again released on

$5,000 bail. On April 2nd she was
arrested along with other members of
the Panther 2l on charges of conspiracy to blow up the Botanical Gardens
and New York department stores. Bail
was set at $100,000 and she remained
in the Women's House of Detention for
the next 15 months to the detriment
of her physical and psychological healttr.

During the pre-trial hearings, defense
lawyers fought to have the admission
made by Joan on January 17 ruled inadmissable as evidence because she was

beaten by the police. Judge Murtagh
has yet to rule on that matter. The
trial is set to begin in the fall.
The Committee to Defend the pan-

thers, 1l E. l6th St., New York and
the Women's Committee to Free Joan
Bird, 36 rN. 22nd St., New York are
still soliciting contributions for the bail
of the Panthers who remain inside the
* M.A.
city's jails.
SCEF OBGANIZERS CONVICTED
OF CONTEMPT OF CONGBESS
A young couple have been convicted

of contempt of Congress, as a result of
a struggle three years ago in the Kentucky mountains.
Al and Margaret McSurely, who

helped

to

organize major battles

a-

gainst stripmining in Pike County, Ky.,

each face a possible year in prison.
They will be sentenced late in July in
U.S. District Court here.
The Southern Conference Educational Fund (SCEF), for which the

McSurelys worked as organizers in
Kentucky, called it a "temporary vic-

tory for the coal

operators.,, SCEF
spokesmen said the convictions will be
appealed and that, if they stand, they
could set precedents for attacks on all
organizations that protest injustice.

"It's just the beginning," the Mc-

Surelys said. "We're going to keep on

fighting."

The McSurelys were originally arrested in August, 1967, in a midnight
raid on their mountain home by a poise
of county officials, led by Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas Ratliff,

a

founder of the Independent Coal Oper-

ators Association and then candidate

for lieutenant-governor of Kentucky.

They were jailed under a state sedition

law, charged with trying to overthrow

the county government by organizing
poor people. The arrests followed a
successful campaign by a group ofpike
County citizens to stop the bulldozers
of stripminers from destroying their
homes.
A three-judge Federal court declared
the sedition law unconstitutional and
freed the McSurelys and others arrested
with them. Sen. John McClellan of Arkansas then sent an investigator to Pike

to

make copies of private
in the midnight raid on
the McSurely home, and McClellan

County

papers taken

issued
Surelys

his

a subpoena ordering the Mcto turn this material over to

Senate Permanent Investigating

Subcommittee (the old Joe McCarthy
committee). He said he needed it for
an investigation of the Nashville, Tenn.,
ghetto uprisin g of Aprl, 1967 .

By this time, SCEF and the McSurelys charged, what had started as an
attack on a few mountain organizers
had broadened into an attack on the
"entire movement of the 1960's." The
McSurelys wero ordered to give McClellan all their records and correspondence
pertaining to SNCC, the Southern Stu-

dent Organizing Committee, SCEF,
SDS, Vietnam Summer, the poverty
program and other groups. Margaret

McSurely worked for SNCC in the
early 1960's: Al Mcsurely worked for
the poverty program before joining the
SCEF staff.
Court battles against the subpoenas
went on for a year and a half. When the
McSurelys finally appeared before Mc3

The recent trial in Washington was
an unsuccessful five-day struggle by
Defense Attorneys Morton Stavis and
Nancy Stearns to get this three-year
story before the jury. Dan Jack Combs,
Pike County attorney who assisted in

part of the defense, told the judge:

"Nothing would have happened to the
if they had not tried to aid
our loca1 citizens who were attempting
to stop the destruction of our mountains. So the coal operators, in conspiracy with the Chamber of ComMcSurelys

merce and the Commonwealth,s attorney and others, had them thrown
into jai1, invaded their home, and

of all their rights.,,
But District Judge John L. Smith
ruled that the only issue for the jury to
deprived them

decide was whether or not the McSurelys surrendered the material.

Margaret McSurely told the jury:
"The material McClellan wanted contained names and addresses of many
people we had worked with-many of
them very poor people. I would never
turn those names over to McClellan and
subject these people to what we have
been subjected to." (The Mcsurelys
finally left the mountains after a mid-

night dynamiting of their home nar-

rowly missed killing their year-old son.)
The jury deliberated two hours before
returning its guilty verdict.
Meantime, another SCEF organizer
arrested in the 1967 Pike County sedition raids has been fighting effortls of
his Louisville draft board to imprison
him. It ordered him to report ior induction within a week after the sedition
law was nullified. In June of 1910,
after a nationwide campaign in his
behalf, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed his conviction and set aside his
five-year sentence.

-

SCEF

CONCERNED OFFIGERS DISSENT

America's military involvement in
Indo-China has generated organized dissent from many areas of American so-

ciety, but to this time, the military
ranks, especially the Officers' Corps,
have remained silent. News-media reports of the Concerned Officers Movement (C.O.M.) which was founded in
Washington, D.C., spurred a group of
active duty junior officers to form a
local chapter at Grand Forks Air Force
Base,

35

North Dakota. Within two weeks,

members made their presence
known, with 20 signing the open letter
of group policy and aims; they all feel
continued on page29

SUNRISE HILL: POST MORTEM
Gordon Yaswen
1966, was one of the jirst of the new communes in the East, As Gordon Yaswen,
one of the members of Sunise Hill, details in his article, it wqs also among the first to fail But words like "success" and
"failure" don't really apply to communities. At least not at this stage. Sunise Hill failed, but mony of its people went on
to start new communes in New England and New Mexico. Some of these also failed, but the people involved keep trying
again and again. Once involved in community it's very difficult to give the idea up.
The lessons of Sunrise Hill have been learned by other communities" In 1966 it wqs the only commune in its areo- Now
there are dozens-some with formal nameq most of them just a collection of friends living together as "family". Despite
having to confront many of the same problems that plagued Sunise Hill, most are thriving. Because they have learned
through experience and because the general level of awareness of the counter-culture has grown, they are better equipped for

Sunise

:

Hill Community, begun in

sumival than Sunrise

Hill

was.

Why do communes break up? Marty Jezer says that there are basic reasons, The first is that many people move to farms
not because they love nature but because they lrute the city. Once they find that rural life is often dull and that cultivating
an ocre or two of corn by hand is boing, tedious work, the romance of the new life style is quickly shattered. The second
reason is impatie4ce. Marty lives on a farm that has been descibed by visitors as one of the most successful communities in
New England. But for the lirst two years everyone on the farm would probably have been htppier living somewhere else.There
were numerous times when they allwanted to iust give up the idea and split. Some did, usually to return after a week,a
month or, in Marty's case, four months, to try to work it out. It took time and patience but they finally did come to work it
out.They leamed to tolerate the worst in each other and to love one another despite themselves.
Gordon Yaswen's report of what happened at and to Sunrise Hill is the most complete account that we've ever seen of
the forces working for and against community. Anyone thinking of getting into communes shoud read it with care. Then
go ahead and do it. frien if youhovenointentionof joininga commune, we think that Gordon's account will give youan
exceptionally clear understanding of what the commune movement is all about.
At Marty's farm they have a book that all the members of the commune write in. Under the title What the Community
Needs is written: "The community needs trust beyond reason. Trust with reason is good enough for neighbors, but not for
lovers. One must refuse to believe the worst of his brothers in the face of conclusive damning evidence. Incidents or remarks
which might be insulting or hurtful among ordinary citizens must be suffered and forgiven within the community."
I,lhich is to say, "love by any means necessary."
- Eds.

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To tell the story of Sunrise Hill Community, we must
begin by telling of the June 1966 Intentional Community
Conference (sponsored jointly by the School of Living and
the New York Federation of Anarchists) for it was here
that Sunrise Hill was spawned. That meeting (at the School
of Living's Heathcote Center in Maryland) was not merely
a conference but a happening and historical event as we[.

For so many of the people involved in that ten-day
it became a crucial milestone in their lives.
Among the people grouped at Heathcote Center that
spring, there seemed to occur a miraculous merging, not
only of persons but of their causes as well into an inter-.

experience,

locking whole that constituted a complete life-way, with
the furtherance of each cause contributing to the furtherance of the others in a seemingly perfect symbiosis. Peace,
new leftism, natural diet, rural living, sexual freedom,
mysticism, nudism, psychedelics, psychotherapy, art, crafts-

mansntp, Summerhillism, and many other such causes
seemed to be attracting and merging with each other.
For many of us there, it was as if, after years of aloneness and feeling hopelessly out of place everywhere, we
realized that there did, after all, exist others of our kind;
that we were not mavericks from all orders but rather the
seeds

of

a newer one"

The culmination of the conference came upon its last
night. A huge campfire was kindled, and beer and wine
were availabie freely. As darkness drew over the dell a
spontaneous music of voice and percussion - wordless and

- began emanating from those assembled there.
After it had gone on for quite a while, many of the participants broke into a wild and spontaneous dancing, inter:
spersed with embracings and "heapings" of exhausted

tuneless

I

i

bodies comfortably atop one another. It was plain by now
that we had something on our hands that was decidedly not
programmed, and it was anyone's guess as to where it was
headed. Something awfully powerful was working its will
among us, and the night soon was swept into a frenzied
and ecstatic blur.
The following grey dawn found sleeping people strewn
over the meadow like bodies upon a battleground. I think
that as people limped away from the Center that day at
the Conference's end there was in most a gladness and
wonder at what had happened in just one week. I think we
all left Heathcote buoyed and strengthened, and with a
sharp vision that was to radically change the lives of many
among us.

The common concept of Sunrise Hill itself came at a
particular meeting well on in the Conference's progress.
when I asked the assemblage, "Given this strange and strong
feeling among us, where do we go from here?" B, a middleaged man with a wife and three children, rr. sponded by
offering his forty acre homestead near Conway. Massachusetts, for the use of a community. B had made this
proposal before to other groups, only to be ignored. But at
Heathcote the idea had struck fertile soil at last. From
there, one suggestion led to another in a dizzying and growing excitement, until a vague but tangible scheme had been
outlined. By this time the general spirit of r:ptimism and
jubilation was such that few involved could then have
abandoned the idea without the danger of life-iong regret.
Thereafter those interested (about 20) attended several,
special meetings during the Conference, at which they
attempted to further explore the particulars of the situation. The land and buildings were there to be contributed
to the community. A garden was growing, goats were
milking, chickens maturing. Jobs of a wide variety were to
be had nearby. Several vehicles were owned by the people
who had indicated interest in the project, as were other
tools and equipment. A nurnber of different skills and
talents would be coming with them as well as some money.,
The garden would be enlarged. A home industry of some
sort would be set up. Private shelters of a beautiful earthform concrete-shell type were to be erected before winter.
A school would be established for the members' children,
and eventually for outside, paying children as well. It was
assumed that huge quantities of money and effort would be
saved by the collectivization of our lives. This would assure
lus of realizing our various goals and ensure that we wouid
have ample free time for leisure as well.
Attempts were made at these special meetings to arrive
at some general consensus on just what sort of community

it

was that we were

to establish so shortly;what were our

major goals in establishing it; and along what lines it would
be established. These meetings were not overly successful.
To begin with, we were rather impatient because we were
so excited about actually beginning the community, and
somewhat tired of iust talking about it. For another thing,
as the discussions wore on and dove into actualities, their
tone was likely to become less than joyful and the inspirational tones of our first meetings were missing. They
became "bring-downs" and none of us wished to be brought
down.
These meetings concerned themselves primarily with two
subjects: policies and personalities. In the area of personalities, we attempted to learn more about one another and to
draw out the first reactions that people had to each other at
that early stage of familiarity. Although we did come up
with some significant communication - iu which some mild
interpersonal conflicts were uncovered - no one thought
much of them. We felt assured that, on the basis of the
great 4.mounts of love which we already felt for each other
and the importance of the endeavor we were commonly
undertaking, all such petty conflicts could somehow ultimately be resolved. Also there was precious little, at that
point, to dislike about each other, for in truth we really
did not know one another.
The issues of community policies, however, proved somewhat more difficult. We began by asking each prospective

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member for his reasons for joining the community and
what he expected of it. What followed was a sequence of
some of the most beautiful descriptions one could hear of
the plight of our kind in the mass-society and of the
potentialities of utopia. It was a sharing of visions, an
occurrence painfully lacking afterwards. But the trouble
--1r)t. It is very easy
was that visions are vague.
to feel commonality with a person when he says that what he wants are
'peace, truth, health and beauty. But the problem of
how
best to strive for them remains (as it has for millenium).
When we tried to tac?Je that problem, the paths disturbing
ly started to divide. First of all, we had to define what we
meant by such terms as peace, truth, health and beauty. As
might be expected, the various vriews represented were far
more multiferious than we originally thought. The discussion of the least particle of them promised to be without
end and, moreover, without even the possibility of an end.
It was indeed frustrating for people with such fire and
,enthusiasm to have to sit upon their hands and quibble
infinitely over the picayunes of how their great vision
'should crystallize. This was combined with the sense in all
of us that, in spite of our particular differences, we shared
something so deeply unutterable as to make such discussions pedantic and unnecessary. So we abandoned these
fiscussions before the fact. We felt that there was no alternative to the actual working-out of our differences through
activity rather than debate.
So when the Conference ended, Sunrise Hill stood as an
extremely nebulous though intensely exciting idea. Those
further interested were to meet at the site on July 4,1966.
If later events proved the sagacity of the Sunrise Hill
project questionable and the groundwork spindly, we who
were involved must be pardoned for having partaken too
headily and unreservedly of that intoxicating "Yes" spirit
that pervaded the Heathcote Conference. The founding of
Sunrise Hill was mainly an act of faith; there was little of
prudence in it.
Just what the motives of these people were in choosing

to join a community is very difficult to ascertain. Most of
us had been scarcely able to find any place or peace in the
mass-society, and this was true. of us in a number of
diverse realms: economics, geography, technology, spiritu-.

ality, politics, religion, sex, psycholory, etc. Previous to
Sunrise Hill many among us had led a nomadic and variable
existence, making little commitment in any area because we
felt alien in all of them. Thus we had wandered from situation to situation, ever seeking but never tinding a place
wherein we could feel comfortable.
A person can be out-of-odds with his society for one of
two reasons: either that society is unhealthy (which ours is)'
or he is. I think we at Sunrise Hill made a sizeable mistake
6

acres
a

of mixed woods and overgrowing pasfure upon
hillside overlooking a portion of the Deerfield

River Valley. Eastward across the valley could be
seen the long Pocumtuc Ridge over which the
sunrise broke to flood the entire property and to
inspire the site's name. We were surounded only
by pasture and woods, with no neighbors in vfuw,
and were reached via a seldom travelled

dirt

road.

The town of Greenfield (pop. 17,frD) was seven
miles away, and the Northampton/Amherst college
and urban complex, fifteen. Upon the land were a
drinkable brook and a dug pon{, a modern nine
room house with electricity and running water, a
goat-barn, chicken-house, garden, and part of the
foundation for a large building. B had built this
all from scratch in the five years he had lived
there and all who partook of this site and the
creations upon it would, I think, agree that it was
a substantial and promising basis upon which to
build a community - even an inspiring one.
Would that our human foundation had been likewise substantial. The land, at any rate, is acquitted
of any responsibility for our failure.
-G.Y.

in

assuming that our alienation was due almost entirely to
the former reason. Even externally generated conflicts are
bound to create internal ones, and it seems a rare individual
who can escape these conflicts without the scars, maimings

and weaknesses intrinsic to them. A neurotic society must
produce neurotic individuals, and this is no less true for its
rebels than it is for its conformers. Where the incompatibility
of individual and society arose (in the individual or in the
society) matters little, for it winds up in both. It is small
wonder, then, t}tat the people who came to Sunrise Hill
bore "hang ups". Who else would be attracted to community, such a radical solution to their dilemmas? It is said that
happy people do not volunteer to go to war. Neither, I say,
do they join communities. The roots of this unhappiness
may lie in either themselves or their world. We at Sunrise
Hill did not know how to determine one from the other,
and so we hardly tried; we accepted virtually all who came.
In addition, it must be confessed that more than one
couple among them had already experienced cl:'ficulty with
their marriage, or at least were not fully satisfied with it. I
suppose that some were uncomfortable with the idea or
actuality of monogamy, either because they had never
experienced polygamous relationships

- or because they

had. To such couples with marital problems, community
seemed to offer some relief but, as things turned out,

little

mending.

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The summer of 1966 was mostly a happy and even
joyful experience for those involved in Sunrise Hill. There
was still the first flush of excitement and infatuation. A
strong sense of self-importance and self-confidence permeated the community. Weekly the news of our birth spread
ever further bringing letters, help, and people who came
from all about to become involved in the community. Most,
of course, came simply to visit; some to stay a short while;
and a handful to eventually become members. In all, many
people wrote and/or visited Sunrise Hill, and contributed
work, materials, praise and encouragement. The community
thrived upon these. The flames of our egos were voluminously fanned. To us, our situation seerned perfection and
we the perfect people. Sunrise Hill was, in our minds, a
very spindle of the universe. As vanguard of the new community movement we were the scene, the innest crowd.
We were proud of ourselves and proud of each other. We
were - to ourselves - a collection of beautiful people, and
I believe we each stood a little taller for the companionship of the others. I can yet recall the feeling of standing
among our group as we all lounged naked about our
swimming pond on a hot day after work, and being proud
of and somewhat in love with each of my fellow rr(embers,
men and women alike. Each of them was different; and in
each was a beauty all his or her own. We were all so diverse,
and we had all come from such different origins and
experiences; and yet through all of us seemed to run a
thread of continuity so profound that we appeared as a

multitude

of soul siblings.

There was, too, the dizzyirg

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sense that the beauty and strength of each member belonged to each other member, and that the combinecl
abilities and powers of those assembled were an overwlelming force to nurture and protect each member.
We thrived upon a daily diet of working out-of-doors,

interspersed with icy plunges into our delicious pond. We

ate ravenously of the fresh greens, vegetables. chickens
and goat milk which were produced on our farm and com-.
bined them with cheap but wholesome natural foods

bought elsewhere. We took rides and walks in the unspoiled
countryside, and partook of the sweet visions of grass. And
all day long the phonograph blared out the music of the
new people of whom we felt we were an integral part. We
held many meetings and, at least in the beginning, these
could be guite exciting, for in them we plotted out and
grappled with the problems of utopia itself.
There was, too, the excitement of a liberalized sexual

code under which members were free to consummate
sexual desires that under other circumstances would have
had to be painfully aborted. Just how much this freedom
was used is not accountable though it was far less than

might have been expected. Some among us did not partake
at all, but the mere potential of such activities, I believe,
added vibrancy to the entire memberstrip.
It should be noted here that the limited plactice of
group nudity in the community (begun in Maryland)
proved itself a genuinely valuable insttument for the promotion of a sense of warm and frank familiarity among the
members.

It

was, moreover, a symbolic act

of communion

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seemed to rne that this group nudity also helped

on tht
-of n

of the natural curiosity people had in
I believe this practice let us all breathe a little
easier * not having to constantly try to undress one
another mentally. I do not believe that it was a source of
alleviate some

ing.N
tifully

each other.

any appreciable sexual arousement. In fact, I fancy that the
reyerse was true. We knew that we could easily see each
other naked, display signs of affection toward each other,
and that it was even possible here to make love to each
other vrithout precipitating great conflicts. The relaxation
of ali these sexual taboos did not, as some might expect,
make of us perpetual sexual adventurers. On the contrary,
it seerns to me that the abolition of these taboos made such
sexual adventurism significanfly less necessary and alluring.
Another group practice that seemed beneficial to our

"group being" was what we called "group meditation."
This would come either by itself or as part of a larger
meeting, and was done simply by being together silenfly
fbr periods of from one to perhaps fifteen minutes or
longer. During this time a participant could - if he felt
"called upon" to do so - break the silence to make a
statement which he felt would aid the group awareness. The
benefits of this simple process were sometimes arnazrng.
Many times these meditations succeeded in soothing interpersonal tensions, developing perspective on problems, and
bringing people closer. Occasionally these meditations produced revelations that elevated the entire community.

looker

upon

bout'

<--fr

*.->)

struck
learnir

and I
status

The whole phenomenon of the community was giddying

to us all. Consider it: here at last was a piece of soil to sink
our feet into and hold onto. Here wai a place we could
stay - not merely a place to hide for a time and then flee.
Here we had the option of sinking roots and gaining from
the very'ear.th some of the power to survive in obedience
solely to our own principles. Here was finally a solid footing to our revolution of life-ways, a place where we could
actually begin to build that civilization we had dreamt
about

so. long.
Thus, while the summer was a joyful time for Sunrise
Hill, an experienced eye could have seen the early signs of
the group's inviability, disguised as it was in a bright aura of
glowing mental images. To hear what the community sard
was one thing, but to see what it was doing was often
another.
For instance, it was apparent to all that additional housing was sorely needed before cold weather arrived, and the
original plan had been to build a number of separate one- or
two-family shelters near the original house. True to this,
idea a sizeable tract was excavated by hired bulldozer and'
mounds of earth were heaped for the forms of the concrete
necessary for the project. But the plan developed no further
for reasons I cannot precisely explain. In general, one can
surmise that the work was abandoned mainly due to a
lack of initiative. Whereas people had been for lhe plan
when it was an idea, whet it became a reality they simply
fid not want it badly enough. So the mounds were bulldozed out into a grade.

to

star

shoulc

of mer

In
coordi

was er

the

bu

startec

materi

tl
tobel
fore

ment
gether

In

they

but

r

p:

some

crucia
house

their
Sudde
some

r
large
Work was then taken up on the foundation of a
begun
been
previously
,tonr-una-roncrete house, ihut ftud
a joyous
LV S. Witl, the builfing of this structurelhere.was
was the
then'
This,
activity'
the
noise-of
,6te in the very
',"Gti.
.riA.n". of a community a-building and the fact
thai the slow-rising walls were of native stone-in-concrete
;;r ;; signal thit the community was to be no fly-byifti"*. Those walls could still be erect centuries after"fuirt
*irJ;i.ng, fong indeed after Sunrise Hill had fled andallgone'
in my
I can recall no more happy sight and soundwhen
work
walls
thost
of
nfe tttan during the construcii'on
industry
multiple
of
sounds
The
swing.
fufl
;; th.; was ii
bent in"common labor-were overwhelm-"i*-V beings
more beaui";. N;*'h.;. cluld the idea of community be
how it
forget
never
I
shall
,ii"ny displuyea than here'
sun
strong
the
with
women
and
men
io.f.Ia as semi-naked
clambored abodies
fine
and
beards,
hair,
f"rg
,fr.ii
being
"p"t
o'"rt ttt. site fke bees about their hive' I remember
middle-class-urban-intellectuals
;;;[ ;y the sight of those
bodies'
ieuiring'to worf primitively, with their hands and

for the
i?""U feeling that thii was catastrophic news
legs
and
grew
feet
Juiu qro, for uniil such "intellectuals"

*O

i

for

physicai meeting-ground

*a
;;l

everyone

in the community

cruit *ut perhaps the loss of -that that was even more
on
Work
itself'
building
of
the
loss
eventual
tfi.
ii;

abantftt t"ifamg gradually petered out and at last was
been
had
shelter
one
winter'
of
;;;J *itf, tf,e cominf
completed'
ever
andnone
beg-un,
,".a"4, three werc
.were
hammer

Wtrut

mournful note was the sound of a solitary
reNovember crispness, puttering about the
Hill
build'
Sunrise
did
Thus
a beginning'

;-;ht " early
*"ir"
"'lio*ura,
"it"

:oyous

enO of-the sJmmer one of the first major
reared its gruesome-head between
conflicts
irt*pttt"..f
ensuing turmoil almost split the
the
and
men
ttt.
ii
t*"
-itl

t}ti

question-revolved about the
of the
an older married man and contributor
married'
also
man'
younger
a
J,
and
property,
Sunrise Hill
between them rei"ti *rr"t *u, itt. source of the trouble could
not seem to
finally
but the two men
*"i"t
to go"' the
was
""*pfex,
"who
of
issue
the
in
i"i"*tt "".t oiher and
consensus became thal
The
ducked'
usual)
(as
;;;;.il
the other, nor even both should leave' Instead'
;;;;;;q,

.onni"t in

;;il;Jy
;;;;;;'B,

should depart tn
ii *"t ielt that the intire community
a sense-the path
was-in
decision
This
site.
;.c1i oi-u ,.*

iJl

q.SS,*r.i.
:3.

the
to stand upon the Earth themselves-instead of upon
trap
the
then
chance;
had
a
Mass-Utopia
the
shoulders of

of mediocritY was sPrung.

and
building of this house, some lack of unity
visible' Work
already
was
members
the
urnoirg
.ooiAinution
Work on
was erratic: no certain schedules were established'
to get
hard
frequently
Ur. Urifairg-as other projects-was
and
tools'
pe-ople'
the
all
betting
started and easy to stop.
beof
action
plan
clear
and-a
site,
the
at
er
*li.ii"ft t"gett
discovered
fore them, was no easy task and if anything was

In the

L

i
I

I

involve;;-;.l;"kirg o. u protl"- came up or some other
altocease
to
likely
ioo
all
was
-.nt o"."rt""d, the work
gether.

decided
In addition to these troubles some members building'
communal
a
in
to
live
all-wish
tfr.v^ aiJ
Similarly'
".t-after
Urri pr"f.rrrO a separate shelter forthemselves'
more
projects
other
st\ll
some members came to consider

W
7

enjoyable-than the building of the communal
wise' but of course
"ru"iut-o,
il;;;. Theseludgements may have been
disastrous'
project-was
iii"ii-t.t"ri on ti. main building
onlv for
but
all
fo1
not.
was
i"di.,rfv ,rre new building
longer a
no
was
It
accordingly'
slowed
;;;; ;;'d the work

B

i+i;'l'-'r''1"

ofleastresistanceasitdecidedagainstand.penalizedno

mainly
one (save the entire membershipi' lt was based
belligertwo
the
between
ill-feeling
the
that
;;;"'td iJea
about
.nt, luu, due in large part to B;s possessive-attitude
poin
the
was
B
as
long
ai
for
J,
ffrfi, ut it ufi""itO

S"*ft"
the land and building he would
riii* "f having contributedpossessive
towards the property'
and
ae"nacious
b;
;;;lly
and use of
development
,"riJlt"p.Oe the comm"nity"
atmosphere
unfavorable
an
cast
and would
the facilities,
^thl;i;rp.rronut
within it' None-the-1ess' the

;;t

relations

and wan-sentiment thai Sunrise Hill should leave Conway me and
seemed-to
site
,rottttt
iiiiitt'"r
A;;fi;''i,;;'ii,
opro*" ottt"t members sheer madness and we vigorously
to
ready
really
was
anyone
it. Actually, I don't think
bro
finallv
was
"or.O
deadlock
The
;;;;;trk. the wandering.
ken-without the community's having to reach any decision
'l;
he
iil t""nger man's resignation' Shortly thereafter'
be(as
later
community
moved to a place nearby to ttre
came
--'Affa pattern for community refugees)'
pret.utf',ed a sigh oitttitf, butie knew that a'bad
with
met
had
Hill
cedent had been set and that Sunrise
vision
first clear-cut failure in human relations' The shining
tria dreaay bden smudged.
9

I
!

When the summer finally drew to a close many of the
people who had been around in the warm months flew off
to other commitments. For those that remained, a fearful
moment of truth came when we stood in that thinned
group that was left and recognized the fact that it wasafter all-just we few, that the whole success or failure
of Sunrise Hill rested upon so few and such imperfect
shoulders as were now present. We were not so much a
part of a movement now, but simply an isolated band trying to make out under trying circumstances. We were on
our own. Autumn was indeed a sobering time. By the time
September came the community had dwindled down to a
population of twelve, composed of three couples, one single
man, one single woman, and fbur children. During the summer the comrliunity had once boasted a membership of
over twenty. Those who were left, by the fa1l, now turned
to the task before them in greater humility. There was
much to be done, for pitifully, little of what had been supposed to be the summer's work had actually been accomplished.

By fall one could gather some tangible notion of just
what Sunrise Hill was all about. Ideas, however chaotically,
were crystallizing into practices. What, then, were the
practices of Sunrise Hill Community?

Sunrise Hill received some money thru donations, but
by far the bulk of its income came from the performing
of "outside" jobs by members, either individually or in
groups. Such jobs included construction, food-vending,
carpentry, mechanics, waitressing,' photo lab assistantship,
artist's modelling and clean-up contracting. (It might be
noted here that communities hold some intriguing advantages in marketing labor-especially of a temporary nature.)
Some additional funds were gained thru "home industries",
but Sunrise Hill never really broke into this promising field

in an adequate way.
Most money earned by individuals at various jobs outside the community was pooled. Members contributed
what they could and drew what they needed. Though we
had resolved that each adult member be entitled to receive a minimum of $2 a week, in actuality this was rarely
drawn from the precarious amounts of money on hand. We
all lived-I suppose-at or below "poverty" levels, but because it was for a purpose we did not seem to mind it much
and we did not feel impoverished.
One might conjecture that great disputes might have arisen from so casual and communal a system of sharing
money, but somehow they did not. I can only suppose that
this was because in our zeaL for community such matters
were not given great weight and each member was fairly
conscientious and reasonable in the handling of his finances. Tho such might not always be the case with communities, at Sunrise Hill we were fortunale.

Initially, little effort was made to accurately anticipate
expenses and make assurances of sufficient income to meet
them. Money was simply spent as needed until it waegone

and then everything waited until more was available.
No "reservet' was ever attempted, and unexpected large
bills (such as auto repairs) usually meant going further into
debt. In the confusion of the summer Sunrise Hill's indebtedness had grown steadily. Eventually we did evolve an
adequate system of accounting and financial planning. Thus
we could be assured that when an urgent (unexpected) expense came up the money earned for it was unspent.
to

Money that was spent was noted on the "expenses" sheet,
and at the end of the month broken down into categories
to help us anticipate future needs in each category. At the
beginning of each month projected income and outgo for
the coming month were compared and our money-earningand soending activities adjusted to suit. Had the community continued, it seems likely it would have eventually become more financially solvent and I believe that the accounting system which made the total financial situation of
the community readily comprehensible to any member at
any time would have proved a contribution to community
solvency.

Of course Sunrise Hill's most successful economic ploy
was not in making money but in contriving not to spend it.
Monetary expenses were generally contained by obtaining
our material needs in as crude and unprocessed form as possible, supplying our own labor wherever possible, andlargely-by simply doing without. Were it not for the sav-

Sut

ings thus rcalized (and the collectivization of consumption)
Sunrise Hill would have undoubtedly gone under financially for income was always meager.
Sunrise Hill Community was legally. organized (in accordance with the laws of Massachusetts) as a "Trust" with all
members being "Beneficiaries" in whose interest (and at
whose bidding) a group of three "Trustees" (themselves

ventio

resident beneficiaries) legally owned and administered all
communal property. Land and buildings (which had been
donated to Sunrise Hill by B) were officially communally
owned, while other things such as vehicles, equipment,
many tools, books, etc. were communally owned by practice (and so maintained at community expense). "Private"
property pertained mainly to items which were essentially
personal in nature and/or usage. Communal use of this private property was at the option of the owner. Individual resources-acquired previous to community membershipwere not required to be pooled, and were left to their owners to either donate, partially donate, or hold in personal
reserve. This did lead to some tensions as some people who
had donated virtually everything they owned to the venture
became queasy when they learned of others who held funds

all

.in abeyance.
The issue of the use of marijuana within the community
was among the first to clamor for attention. As an announced community we were especially liable to polrte activity in
response to any "illegal" practices and on this practice in

particular. In addition, until the property was officially
transferred from B's to Sunrise Hill's name, B remained
legally responsible (and punishable) for the actions of anyone upon that property. Therefore it was originally decided
that if "grass" was to be used or kept on the property it
would have to be in a highly secretive and sacramental
manner. But eventually a moratorium was placed upon its
use altogether until the land could be transferred and tactics of secrecy perfected. Such tactics never were evolved and
so the use of drugs remained forbidden. Community was
evidently even more important to us than "pot".

sensus

comm
partne

the

w:

severa

towar
Ma

there
more

to

eac

,tices.

mates

Ip
many
ventul
prove
been

rural
lieve

For o
,all to,

life.

I

that r

to

ear

other

love
work
that

1

such

r

Th
practJ

and

a

severi
NESS

one

I

extra
relati
cipita
comn

"affa
confl
hand

destr
expe(

rI

L
)

t-

I
)f

lt

I
ly
It

!8
rS-

Y-r
D
t-

1_
11

rt
)s

ll
n

v
,

i-

in practice more
in theory. The community

Sunrise Hill's sexual mores were

conconsensus was for a sort of group inter-love, wherein all
community members were lovers, tho stable and permanent
partnerships were seen as valuable and co+xisted with the
the wider love. Such an extension of a person's love-among
several or many individuals-was t'elt to be a stepping-stone
towards a genuine sense of kinship and brotherhood with
all Mankind so needed for a New Age of Man. In practice,
there was not uncommon expressions of affection, and
more occasional love-makings between persons not married
to each other, tho not everyone participated in these prac,tices. Sex still mainly revolved around couples who were
mates to each other.
I personally think that offering the possibility of having

ventional than they were

many love relationships was one of the most worthwhile
ventures

at

Sunrise

Hill. For the few

single members

it

proved unassessably valuable, for otherwise they would have

l-

been effectively celebatized and unutterably lonely in our

rl

rural location. For all .members-single or coupled-I befieve that the practice provided something of great worth.
For one thing, it gave us a sense of intimacy and romance
,all too sadly lacking from our other realms of community
life. For another, I think that it eased certain anxieties

0

1s

:-

n
n
Y

rd

r
d

it
rl
ts

,d
ts

il
-l-!

that married couples had with each other, by enabling them
to ease their social, emotional, and sexual demands of each
other. Further, there seems small doubt that what interlove there was helped the community. members to live and
work with each other for it is at last Love-in some formthat must be the matrix of any tightly-integrated group
such as our community tried to be.
The most serious conflict that resulted from this sexual
practice was one which involved a married man, his wife,
and a single woman, and it was thought-at that time-by
several persons that the difference in the status of matedness between the married man and the single woman was
one source of the difficulty. It eventually shattered the
extra-marital relationship, nearly shattered the marital
relationship, disrupted the community for a time, and precipitated the single woman's explosive departure from the
community. For as long as all parties had been willing, the
"affair" had worked very satisfactorily for all. But when a
conflict-of-interests arose the individuals were unable to
handle it adequately and then volatile tempers arose and
destroyed what remained. In retrospect we could not have
expected such an important and delicate a system as the

group inter-love to function without repercussions, especialamong people who had been conditioned by another,
far different system of sexual values. The practice, therefore, of such "group inter-love" remains potentially profitable, but undeniably dangerous. It is something to be cautiously approached and carefully watched.
At Sunrise Hill we were highly concious of the necessity

ly

of preventive hygienic practices, and-tho we suffered a
disgustingly high amount of minor illnesses-the community as a whole was never ravaged by any serious ones. We
made our diet of as pure and unprocessed loocls as practrcal
and many fortified their diets with nutritional supplements.
Tho meat comprised a minor part of our diet, we did not
totally abstain from it. Whenever possible individually necessitated fiets were honored and provided for and no protr.ibitions were placed upon the use of tobacco or alcohol.
Our relations with the people of the locale were entirely
friendly, and often warmly cordial. We could boast of having an effective "outreach" among the students of the several nearby colleges, as well as with many other individuals.
Our good extra-community relations were, of course, greatly enhanced by the previously established contacts of the
original owners of our site and, I suppose, also by the fact
of our own geographical isolation. We supposed that the
New England familiarity with "eccentric" activity-throughout its long history-was a help in this.
The children (of whom there were four by Autumn)
lived, ate, slept, and were ministered to together with sever-

community members taking turns at caring'for them.
Each child did, however, have frequent and easy access to
his^o1 her own parents (and vice-versa) and normally spent
a considerable portion of his or her time with them. The
a1

"nest" program (group care of children) later came into
conflict because of competitiveness among parents and
differences in child-rearing practices, and was abandoned.
This was indeed unfortunate, for such a program had been
one of the primary goals of the community.
Tho our "religion" was undefined and mostly uncodified, our religiosity was a fact felt by us all. We wished
to believe that Life itself was holy and so our living was
religious. There were the individual practices of a number
of codified religions at Sunrise H111: Zen, Quakerism and

Russian Orthodox Catholicism and an interest in stiil
others. But there was never the compulsion-on any member-to participate in or desist from any. Group religion
was evidenced solely

by meal-time blessings and occasional

group meditiation, tho we all hoped that some more extensive group religious practices would eventually and spontaneously arise. However, they never did.
There are (and will be) many who will mock the efforts
of Sunrise Hill, and all of the other vain and "foolish" attempts at the ideal of community that have and are taking
place. Surely we must look a crowd of gullible and naive
idiots in retrospect and it will be easy for the reader to pick
out the glaring blunders we made at Sunrise Hill and the
obvious disadvantages of community as they are uncovered
in practice.

The affairs

of the "Outside World"

suddenly did not

burden me so gravely for not only did I not consider myself
really a part of that world, but also, whatever untoward events were happening there, there was now at least some-

thing effective that

I could do about them and that

"doing" was thru community. I felt that we-there on that
hillside-were taking the first timid steps along a path that
later the world would follow. This sense of the signilicance
and radicalness of the venture at Sunrise Hill was itself one
of the chief rewards of community living. On one trip to
New York City in late summer, B and I strolled along the
Canal St. hardware shops selecting various sundries for the
community. No Wright Brothers could have purchased the
humble materials for their world-jarring creation with more
of an ironic sense of history being bought so cheaply! You
can buy a hammer for the same price whether it be a chair
or a nation you desire to build with it and no one could tell
the difference between them. So we felt was the secret significance of everything that Sunrise Hill incorporated into

its life.
A.nother factor

happiness of that Fall lay in the
fact of my awareness of the people about me. Anyone who
was at Sunrise Hilt will testify that my habits there were
largely reclusive; yet that the presence of the other Sunrise
Hillites was iltensely important to me. In that awareness I
was sampling an almost unknown quality to modern American Man: that of a group identity. After all, the great bulk
of Man's history on Earth has been spent in small, tribaltype groups and, I think, for good reason. At Sunrise Hill
we seemed to have-however cursorily-attained this groupness again.
-terms

In

in rny

of interpersonal

relationships,

I

could

much as I would prefer, and yet seldom offend anyone, and
quite commonly even have their approval.
Also in the area of work, community offered me a far
more diverse gamut of roles than I ever incurred elsewhere.
Here, in a single day, I could be a farmer, mechanic, carpenter, driver, accountant, writer, dishwasher, laborer, and
committeeman and never feel "stuck" in any one of them.
For some people I suppose this might have been anathema,
but for me it was bliss. For once I felt whole;my life was
balanced and my growth, even.
So much of my happiness that fall seems summed up in
one particular episode of Sunrise Hill's history when, in
early fall, we contracted to clear a 200 year-old lumber
mill of debris and sawdust. I recall so fondly our daily
excursions to that ancient place as three or more of the
men of Sunrise Hill-in rugged workclothes-rode out under
the Zestful blue mornings on the back of the old VW pickup, piled with tools. All day long we worked as a crew in
that wonderful five story relic of a forgotten age, with its
traces of a lost technology of wood and water power.
Often we were waist-deep in the literal sawdust of centuries
and when we returned at the end of those days it was with
a real note of triumph that we rode up into our own Sunrise Hill yard loaded high with firewood, lumber, garden
sawdust, ancient tools, and useless relics. And when we
arrived there were the women greeting ud in unison. Later
we would all sit down together to a lusty supper of live
greens, fresh bread, home beer and whole rice.
I cite these evidences of the "goodness" of community
life to display that communities are not only a goodideal,
but can be a good reality. That is why people are willing to
face incalculable odds in the struggle towards community
life. lt is-after all-well worth the effort.

have

felt before. For one thing I had never been in a situation
which held so many opportunities-real and potential-for
creativity in my paid work. Furthermore, since the membership of Sunrise Hill usually held values fairly similar to
my own, I could-in effect-work, speak and live pretty
l2

questir

ing

cor

make
of the
wish,
econol

brougl
those '

the
I

)
l

co:

nevel

tions
againsl

retaine
ownerl
ahvays

his

fan

munit,
was e'
relianc

about
Pol:
cases,

comm

full

he

their

r

often
meetir

frictio

'Mu

policit
an ins

on ke
able s
mune
memb

with

e

survivl

began to emerge in crisis propbrtions.

I felt a joy in my work I had never

happer

of arri
that v
to "w,

happiness.

Hill,

ofagr

voting
tyranr
on the

But despite the many rewards that life at Sunrise Hill
brought to its members (to say nothing of its visitors), the
fall was a time when Sunrise Hill's many deep problems

Sunrise

own n
took c

decisic

concerning them, and whether or not this is good-or
desirable-for persons and their families, it certainly secrned
so at the time and contributed significantly towards my

At

the

time,
could

desired nothing more. I felt I was in love with my wife, and
somehow all the more so because she was not so much

mine alone. On the other hand, I felt all the more fulfilled
and loved because .I was not so much solely hers I also had
a child whom I was coming to appreciate and feel more
comfortable with, likely because I now did not have to live
at such close quarters with him, and because the responsibility for rearing him was not so greatly mine. This is all to
say that the community, thru alleviating the intensity of
my family relationships, also abated some of my anxieties

of

creater
off pa

For one thing B was getting more uptight about the
individual money teserves as well as about many other
things. He likely began to rcalize lhal no one else was
making (or was going to make) any material or financial
commitment nearly as substantial as his own. Really no
significant material increments had been added to the assets

other;
word
our vz

bit of
Hill er
of dir
decisir

.result
strugg
taneor

of the community: people

came mostly with little, and
little. Materially the community was actually living
off past accomplishments and these were not even of its
own rnaking. Sunrise Hill's t'ailure to add to the assets it
took over at the outset was telling of the low productivity
of a group of otherwise high-energy-level people. What was
happening to that energy, might well have been a revealing
question. In this light B's driving urge to see the new building completed, even if at a risky cost and effort, begins to
make a sort of sense. He wished-perhaps-to see evidence
of the other members commitment. I opposed him in this
wish, feeling that such an effort would only worsen our
econornics, our workload, our life, and our tempers. B also
brought up the fact, several times, that he wished that
those who retained cash reserves would contribute these to
created

the community as he had done with his. This, however, was
never done (tho I in several emergencies contributed portions of my reserve to the community). The argument

=:+
E
E
I

I

4

s

against such complete donations was that individually
retained reserves constituted a "safety cache" for their
owners in the event of Sunrise Hill's break-up, which had
always been admitted as a possibility. This "cache" B and
his family also possessed, for at such dispersion of the community they would, naturally, get back the property. Thus
was evidenced one of the ways in which Sunrise Hill's
reliance upon a single member's benificence proved a yoke
about the community's neck. As indeed it had to be.
Policy decisions were made only as needed and, in many
cases, only when actually urgent. Thus, unfortunately, the
community's policies were left to be hammered out in the
full heat of the sometimes volatile situations that sigrralled
their necessity. As might be expected, therefore, meetings
often followed in rapid succession and quite usually such
meetings were broken up without having reached the
decisions they were intended to make because of lack of
tirne, exhaustion, or simply because no meeting of minds
could be achieved. We shied from simple majority-rule
voting procedures because we feared it lent itself to a
tyranny of the majority to which we had all felt subjected
on the "outside". This naturally compounded the difficulty
of arriving at communal decisions. But in general it seems
that when decisions are left to be made "spontaneously",
to "work themselves out", lhey do so with much attendent
friction between the moving parts, wtr-ich likely are people.
'Much of the chaos
and indecision which marked the
policies and activities of Sunrise Hifl were-I think-due to
an instinctive caution about confrontations with each other
on key issues for fear that they would erupt into unbridgable schisms and leave the mutual good-will of the commune in shreds. And so, tho on the surface Sunrise Hill's
members were pledged to constant and deep confrontation
with each other, some more subconscious instinct for group
survival bade us tread more softly in our dealings witlieach
other; for it was not long before it became evident that the
word n'community" is an enormously wide one and that
our various opiniorls on what it should mean needed every
bit of that width to accomodate them. Therefore, Sunrise
Hill evolved a pattern of trying to allow maximum freedom
of direction for all its members and avoiding the making of
decisions which might set limits upon that freedom. As a

.result the community's actiyities reflected a constanti
struggle to evolve in a spread of different directions simultaneously (tho the longer it lasted, the more Sunrise Hill

One interesting note about the community is that
throughout its history we were all involved in a curious
game of "musical rooms". It seemed as though each
time the "music" stopped people switched rooms.
Changes of room occupants, shapes, furnishings, and
functions were both frequent and unceasing as the
community groped for the most adequate living and
working arrangement in the limited space available.
Such changefullness was typical of Sunrise Hili in
many other areas of functioning as well, and made
any sense of stability and security a difficult catch
indeed. Doubtless, this was especially true for the
children involved. Of course, a large portion of the
reaaon for the rapid room-umge changes lay in the
gradual collapse of the "nest" practice of comrnunal
G.Y.
child living and rearing.

was forced by circumstances to limit freedoms and make
decisions). Consequently, the energies of Sunrise Hill were
always spread thin. This diversity of direction and rnovement within t}re community may weli have had advantages,
but among its dls-advantages was the fact that it prevented
the community from acting decisively, strongly, or well in
any one direction. Even the random oozitigs of an ameoba
must achieve some unanimity and coordination, if the
organism is to locomote.
Because organization and planning called for people to
step forward and suggest limitations to the range oi activi
ties of members-and because everyone feared possibiy
alienating other members by such action*organizacion and
planning were left to shift for themselves. Wlrrk schedules
were not made, finances were not considered seriously,
goals were not established, and policies were left to the last
minute. There was in fact an adversity on the parts of a
number of members to any attentpts at organization, coordination, and planning. These activities were looked upon
as encroachnrents of authoritarianism and standardization
into our budding utopia of freedom. And so we mainl-v
stuck to the path of least resistance and allowed things tr:
happen as they would.
There was a large sentiment at Sunrise Hill thar cornmunity work, for example, not be structured, scheduled, or

delegated,

but rather left to be "spontaneously" accomp

lished by the people who felt most concerned, at the time.
they wished, and in the manner they desired. One can
easily understand how such a sentiment could have eyolved
as reaction to the severe and soulless standardization
commonly laid upon remunerated work activities in the
general society. However, it was my feeling that such a
"system" (or lack of it) worked very badly, allowing jobs
to be left undone, done late, poorly, or wastefully;and not
infrequently done out of anger and resentment anyway.
.Meals prepared. thusly were likely to be late, often hastily
and unimaginatively thrown together at the last minute by
someone who was suddenly apalled by the fact that no one
else was rnaking any meal at all and so they had better!
Food was often left to spoil because no one really knew
what was on hand to use. Dishes, under this system, were
likely to be left to accumulate until none were left and
t3

then done only partially, mmy utensils beiirg-by this
time- brittlely crusted and so left to "soak" for undefined
periods.
We had a large and well-equipped kitchen at Sunrise Hill,
blessed with ample storage and counter space; yet it was
usual to find the countertops so thick with used and unwashed utensils that they had to be pushed aside to make
space to lay down a single plate. There was-at first-no
schedule for the washing of dishes; they were left for the
unspecitied person who at some time felt "called upon" to
undertake washing them. They might be done directly after
supper, but they might also be left for the following morning when everyone had to scramble thru them to scrounge
for something with which to cook or eat their breakfasts.

The resultant chaos disturbed me and so at Iirst I often
took it upon myself to clean the dishes. I did them with no
sense ofthe joy ofvoluntary labor; I did them because they
bugged me, and since I felt little satisfaction from it unless
I could see bare countertops at the end, I undertook to
clean all the dishes that had been left to accumulate there.
Therefore my dishwashing experiences were usually long
and exhausting and it wasn't very long before I began to
refuse to do any dishes at all while such a "system"
prevailed.

Thus, fisorganization in living and work can be not only
inefficient, but expensive as well. For instance, some
people felt it a linritation upon their freedom to have a
common breakfast prepared in the morning which each
individual could dig into whenever he arrived to eat. So
instead these people took to each individually cooking their
own separate breakfasts. This led not only to the usage of
more utensils and cooking fuel, but to the practice of preparing breakfasts mainly of foods which were prepared
fastest and easiest-like eggs-but which were also among
the most expensive. However, when this became evident,
the practice was stopped voluntarily.
In addition it is my impression that whenever tasks are
undertaken by groups and there is no attempt to decide
who wi7 do what, there seems always to be a natural tend-

ency for each person to assume that some "other" person
will take care of any specific areas or to shy away from
taking it upon themselves for fear they may be usurping
someone elses prerogative. Then, when the task is left undone or done poorly, everyone tends to blame the other
person rather than themselves. There is also, even when
people are working together simultaneously, the tendency
of each person to assume that the other knows what he's
doing and a reticence to "butt in" on what may be another
person's "area". In ttris way one head may be better than
two for lhe one head knows he must consider the task in
its entirety. In an effort to rectify these flaws in such a
system of work, the resulting "adjustment" communications may turn out to arouse just as much disgruntlement
as would be the case had all this been decided beforehand.
I suppose we could term this a problem in "group
dynamics", and there seems a fundamental lesson to be

learned here. In a community where the emphasis is upon
"anarchism" and a basic equality of the membership there is
a certain reticence for individuals to take on "leadership"
roles. This, of course, holds true for group work as well and
in practice can result in a number of people working on the
same projects in an equal number of differing ways and
rates, with no one considering the totai picture. For work
to be done best, therefore, I think it indispensible that
someone take a position of responsibility, initiative...and

authority. This authority may be changed from person to
person, and it may be challenged, but I feel it is better to
have it than not. Tho we are born with two hands-each
potentially equal in capability-nature grants one of them
an edge and authority over the other; is there not a lesson
in this?

But credit must be given where due, and in some projects-where the need was really pressing-the community
came thru proudly. Such it was with the laying in of the
winter's firewood supply. Rather alarmingly late in the fal1,
it occurred to the Sunrise Hill members that winter was
indeed a cold time and if we were going to survive thru it
we would need firewood. That decision, at least, required

it

vir

winte

it

up.

the la

Gr

evolv
to tal

muni'

that

i

doing

famil'
zatior
simpl,

comr

minul
comfl

muna
To
let m

non a
Unlat
which

the

no meetings and work was quickly and steadily begun. So
many of my fondest memories of Sunrise Hill centered
about its group work, and the cutting, hauling, and pre

probl

the

k

wish

r

cessing

of the firewood out in the spicy autumn woods was
certainly one of them. When sufficient firewood was lain

the h

up in piles thruout the nearby woods the problem remained

spent

of getting them back to the house (unless we wished to
wander thru the winter from one pile to another). The
roads were rough and muddy and in trying to maneuver
one of our jalopies along them we succeeded in getting it

thoroughly stuck. What now? If only we could borrow a
tractor and cart, we sighed. Only several nights later we
heard an engine laboring without progress in the wootls.
When we arrived on the scene, we found that a neighbor, in
hauling out his own firewood thru the darkening woods
'with tractor and cart, had tried to detour our stalled jalopy
and gotten finely mired. We had caught a tractor in our
tractor-trap.

"Could you fellers give us a hand?" asked the driver.
"Certainly." we replied in unison, hiding the smirks.
When-after we had helped the tractor out*its owner asked
there was some favor he could do us in return, we all
hemmed and hawed and pawed the mud with our toes.

if

"We111........"
So a week or so later our

neighbor-in a couple of days of
intensive work*helped us load and haul out our frewood.
And what a triumphant event it was as we durnped load
after load of tremendous logs before the house. We had
overdone it and had created so prodigious a woodpile thal

n

propc
them

tofi

count
back
coura

take i
after
throu
meml
waite
Well,

in

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life-er
memt
,comn

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of

prJ

At

Sr

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stress

wl

is nqt

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away

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4, l0
spacer

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auton

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IS

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it

virtually equalled the house it was to heat. Two hard
winters with all the stoves going constanfly might have used
it up, but again it might not. When I visited Sunrise Hill for
the last time it was still very much there.
Gradually

a

system

of loose

evolve at Sunrise Hill, with certain individuals volunteering
to take charge of this or that regular function of the community. Nonetheless, it gradually began to dawn on me
that as far as "getting things done" was concerned we were

doing worse as a group than we had done as individual or
family units. There seemed litfle economy in our collectivization of these functions. Things which were automatic and
simple for a family to accomplish became hassles for the
community to effect. Decisions that could be made in
minutes by an individual took hours of conferencing by the
community. Where then, was the "efficiency" of communal living?

. To portray a rather trivial example of such inefficiency,
let me cite another interesting and illuminating phenominon at Sunrise Hill. I will call it '.The phenomenon of the
Unlabelled Jar". The various jars, cans, cups and plates in
which things were stored (both in the refrigerator and upon
the kitchen shelves) were at first rarely labelled and the
problems they caused were both numerous and comical. I
wish someone could have done a time and mofion study on

the handling of those damn storage vessels, and computed
the man-minutes (and maybe hours) that ultimately was

spent on them. The confusion they caused was way out of

proportion to their value. Since no one knew what was in
them and for what end they were destined, no one wished
to disturb them, and so with each use or cleaning of
countertops and refrigerator shelves they were shuttled
back and forth and cleaned around. When, however, some
courageous soul wished to solve their mystery it might iust
take asking everyone in the entire community. Often (only

after such lengthy process) its contents were summarily
thrown out after having fust received the ok of every adult
member of the community. Just as often, such containers

t.

until tlreir very stench made such discarding crucial.
Well, so what? Why write about unlabelled jars? Just this:
in such little ways, compounded hourly, is the valuable
life-energy, peace of mind, and tempers of community
members drained and wasted, and the probability of
.community success somewhat lessened. With jars it does
not matter too much, but with more crucial tools it can be
of prime importance that such details not be overlooked.
At Sun Hill two automobile engines were ruined thru
neglect and the resultant costs of their repair placed great

d

stress on the community's finances.

I

What is needed in such situations seems obvious, yet it
is nqt so to many of the sorts of people commonly involved
in communities. One person can perhaps use a room in a
completely disorganized and unstructured manner, and get
away with it. Two people can perhaps also do so, but there
likely will be conflicts arising from it. But when you get 3,
4, 10, or 20 the need for organization and structuring of
spaces and procedures becomes that much more critical.
Architects and business managers will understand this
automatically, but "anarchists" seem not to.

II

r.
s.

d

I
s.

rf

I

It would be well to note here that it was the use
of the kitchen that spawned many of the worst conflicfs in the,work realm and I believe that this was
not only because women seem to have more difficulty
in close sharing than do men, but also because the
kitchen was the first and most intensiyely use{ common
work area of the community. The conflicts that arose
over the use of the kitchen facilities would have cropped
up in other areas as they became similarily used. G,y.

labor specialization fid

_y_qled

And so Sunrise Hill entered winter with a number of
strikes against it. Our number had dwindled to a dangerous
level, due both to normal rural community hardships and
also to the tensions which often made our environment
tenable only with conscious effort. We were in debt, our
income was meager, and our living facilities cramped. yet
none of these problems represented lhe reol burden under
which we struggled, for that was something that could not
so easily be seen or touched; it was rather in our minds and
our hearts, and in the air between us.
Outward affections of member-to-member had decreased
and the amount of sexual activity between members ncmates to each other had likewise declined to a bare trickle.

Groug meditations-at first such a well-head of communality-became ever rarer and the spirit of the final
night at Heathcote Center had never been revived in
Massachusetts.

The general trouble that lay between us by wintertime
suppose we could term a lack of communication among
us. There was no more tragic and accusatory example of rt
than shown by the fact that tho there were at Sunrise Hill
a number of people well talented in diverse au.ts; the community never developed ony significont program in any of

I

the arts, nor eyen did the members but rarely shari the
fruits of their artwork with each dramatics, graphics, were never really made more than a
spasmotic and occasionaT part of the Sunrise flill lif'e,
usually reserved tor those times when guests were present.
Why not? What could explain such an ironic waste, such a
negation of qualities we so desperately needed?

I dare try to answer this question only with great
timidity, but I think it was because we were too afraid of
one another and we were so afraid because we were so
intimate. It was not only our art-life that suffered for this
reason, but our love-life as well. It is easy to share your soul
with a stranger who is passing thru your life, but it is much
harder to share it with someone who is staying on in your
life-closely-into the indefinite future. I think that this
factor, generally, was what was responsible for our failure
at communication.

Life at Sunrise Ffill had become drudgery. We were
operating upon a material plane alone. We shared what we
had to and because we had to. But otherwise we seemed to
have drawn the lines of a tenuous truce. We were much like
feuding siblings who grow up in the same household and
yet never really discover one another. How we awaited the
weekend visitors because we could somehow get from and.
thru them what we could not get from and thru each other.
l5

@ty's

off on

lifospan we found it

have various of our members
travels for a variety of reasons, not

necess:rry

to

uni

ber

-

int

of which was simply that of having
for
a while so that inter-personal tensions
absent
in which they were involved cotrld be alleviated'
Most of these journeys were initiated by the
individuals themselves, but there were also trips
which were largely the idea of the community-

Th

the least

aw
we

veI

ate

wa

Thus-tho poor we were-we were a
well-traveled bunch, and the community consis'
tantly forked up what cash it could towards

eth
the

as.a-whole.

these travels.

the
we

G.Y"

not too much after this sthge had set in that I
wrote to some friends of mine who were considering joining the community, imploring them to come immediately
to Sunrise Hill. I wrote that we were "stewing in our own
juices", by which I meant that we had reached a state of
stagnation in our interpersonal affairs; that we were only
re-breathing exhaled air in a closed space; that we had
fouled the waters about us and no new waters were
egrtering. I wrote that what we seemed to need was "new
blood", some new pdople to freshen and revitalize the
social relations between us. In retrospect I am fairly certain

It

was

would have been (had they come) only new blood for the
,;ommunity to dri.nk up and t}en one more couple would
be in the stew along with the rest of us. Somehow our
inspiration had evaporated; our spirit had been drained by
the months; our love for, and faith in each other had curkid
up like the flowers before the frost. We had been hurt by
eich other; we were afraid of each other; yet we could not

it

escape each other. We were a handful of demoralized
propt. stumbling about the wreckage of a beautiful &eam'

-

By Christmas sti1l another couple moved out (if only
down the road from us) and we were left with only five
adults and four children. Yet we had a joyous Christmas

day and dinnet, with many friends from the area converging upon flre community for the celebration' It was a brief
,*rirul of the old spirit. Visitors often seerned to give to,
and get from us, far more than we did from each other'

nut Uy the time the new year dawned virtually

all

about Sunrise Hill had been abandoned'
positive
-sunrise illusions
Hill was now simply a "holding action";a stand to
preserve the community until spring when it was hoped
that new people would bring us new strength and insight'
Or would they? I asked each member to agree to a truce;
an amnesty to our conflicts; a rctreat from each other so
that we could survive the rest of the winter and effect that
holding action. I suggested we all leave hands offeach other
and each others' lives and affairs and temporarily junk our
"brotherly" criticalness of each other for the sake of our
survival as a group. When B could not agree to this it was
suggested thaihe feave Sunrise Hill for the remainder of the
*i-r,*t.r, which he was prepared to do. But that really was

it is doubtful that we could have managed
without him. At any rate, Sunrise Hill's end came before he

unrealistic for

could have left when, one quiet January Sunday morning,
my wife finally exploded and left. This was the death-knell
of th. community or perhaps I should say its coup de
grace.
A month oi so afterward the belongings were sorted,
.-the
property was signed back over to its original owners,
and Sunrise Hill Community was buried in a quiet ceremony of the few who were left.
t6

And so Sunrise Hill was and is no more. But what was it,
and even more important; why is it no more?
Of course the immediale reason for the actual breakup

was due to the fact that it was founded
of Sunrise
upon the beneficience of one member; i.e. the site, shelter,
and much of the money, equipment, and leadership were
provided by B. This naturally made it so that there was one
hember who could never ethically be asked to leave the
community, almost no matter how severe the ili effect of
his staying within it. As it happened in our situation B was
a very-valuable community member and a very formidable
p"rron to live with, and many of the other Sunrise Hillites
iound great difficulty in doing so. Had he not been the
major contributor to the community, he would have doubtlesily been asked to resign at any of several points in Sunrise Hill's history and had this happened Sunrise H{l mav
have survived a while longer. Some have f'elt that this was
all lhat was needed to put Sunrise Hill in good health, but I
definitely do not. It would have taken far more than that
simplistic answer. However, I do think that it is a serious
liabitity for a community to be dependent upon, and obligated io, any one person, particularly an active member'
[ut all this speaks only of the immediate reason why Sunrise Hill's conflicts caused it to be discontinued' The

Hill

reasons for the conflicts themselves were
and rnore complex.

far deeper and

For one thing, the very idea of Surrrise Hill was a
uomposite of greit complexity with many of its ingredients
in seemingly hopeless contradiction to each other' For one'
example, ttt"t" *ut the dicotomy of our intended degree of
involvement with each other. On the one hand, we felt that
we were to be an "extended family" and should act as each
others brothers, sisters, and lovers too. This called for

intense communication and constant cross+riticism and
analysis wherein all members were to be scrupulously
honest concerning their feelings about and responses to one
another. Many, many hours of meetings were pursued.
towards this end, much in the manner of "group therapy"
or "T group" sessions, but these often ended with very un-

-

successful results.

i

the

,i.

ratl
rea

lor

rea

coI

tea

esc

ful

of

caf)

ind
rRu

ran
sor

difl

Ber

reg
an)

Ber

wh
nar

wh

wh
reb

finr

soc

at

$fi

fPr

hor

can

to

tha

fail
oul

hal

On the.other hand we were likewise committed to an
"anarchistic" ideal which seemed to incorporate a laissez'
faire practtce towards each other with minimum inter-

ma
mu
cot

to

col

each other's progress 1or lack ofit). The idea was
allow each person his maximum freedom insofar as it did

i...n".

in

not infringe upon the freedom of another. Clearly

the

former of these aesthetics is a communal one and the latter
a separatist one: a blatant contrddlitlon.

pussyfooted liom the commonActually, Sunrise
ality goal towards the anarchistic one (instinctively and

Hill

al
to

put

arr:

cu

unaffnittedly, and with a grcat sense of defeat) as it
became evident that we could not make the original
intended goal of intimate community brotherhood work.
This process possibly preserved Sunrise Hill as an entity
awhile, but it could not save us because-in part at leastwe were by our very life-way committed to continue in a
very communal way;i.e. we could not have become separate enough from each other. We had set ourselves up in a
way that deeply committed us to an intensely communal
ethic. \tlllren that ethic failed-or when we failed that ethicthere was no place to fall back upon; we were trapped in
the sinking bulk of the ship we could not keep afloat and
we had provided no life-boats.

r

j

When people set out to build a utopian community,
they are starting out with an image constructed mainly
of ideas of what they do not walt the community to be,
rather than what they do. lt is an image created mostly of
reactions tb negative societal norms and the intensity of the
reactions are likely to be great indeed. People endeavoring

communal life, therefore, are usually in a slale of overreaction from those societal norms they are trying to
escape; or shall we merely say a state of reaction so powerful that it is untempered by other considerations. This state
of over-reaction can be therapeutic for the reactor, but it
can also be ruinous for the community as a whole for many
individuals would be ready to sacrifice an .entke comrnunity in pursuit of a single ideal.
A community, however, is a complex of ideals of wide
range and varying priorities in which some ideals must be
sometimes sacrificed for the sake of other ideals and
differing ideals must be compromised with each other.
Because contemporary society is structured to the point of
regimentation, its rebels are likely to be intensely wary of
any form of organ2ation, schedule and planning whatever.
Because contemporary society is specialized to the point
where everyone must live within the crimping confines ofa
narrow stall from which he can attain no sense of the
whole, its rebels are likely to refuse any specialization
whatsoever. Because this is a money+lutching society, its
rebels are probably going to try to disregard the matter of
finances entirely. Because this is a sexually smothering
society, its rebels may see the need for no sexual restraint
at arLy time. No wonder communities f.al, they are consumed in the ftres they set, to ftght the fires they flee!
Love, spontanaity, freedom, creativity, psychedelics, sex,
honesty. These are the counter-flues. Let us be aware they
can burn us just as fiercely as those other fires we are trying
to escape, when we fail in our judicious use of them.
It seems that communitarians frequenfly tackle far more
than they are capable of and this perhaps is their chief
failing. They are apt, for instance, to try to build a house
out of raw, natural materials with primitive tools without
having had the experience of building one of prepared

I

:

t

materials witlr convenient tools. In such a manner a community is apt to continually choose tlte more difficult
course in eoch reilm of activity, and this is unrealistic.
Another danger seems to lie in the fact that when people
come together within the context of a community, there is
a tendency for them to try to surrender to each other (or
to the group) something that cannot be surrendered: the
pursuit of their own destinies. If this happens, they must
arrive at a stage where each looks to the other for what he
can only provide for himself, and the community becomes

an atefia of vapid cross-stares. This is a rerun of the old "I
don't know, what do you want to do" syndrome so prevalent among adolescents and equally as unproductive in
adults. People who join communities, therefore, cannot
expect the community to provide them with happiness nor
fulfillment or they will quickly encounter a frustration that
focuses upon imporper objects: the community and its
other members. Optimally, therefore, community members
ought each have their own "thing"-their own private pursuit of what to them is good, their ownwork-before they
enter the community.
Another way of saying all this is that communities of
people who come to a community in pursuit of something
other than community seem to have a better chance of
survival than those where community itself is the goal. In
still other words: community ought be not an end but only
a means to a greater end in the minds of its members.
When I think of this factor in "communology" my mind
keeps returning to the image of a circle of people, and the
crucial factor in that image is the direction in which these
people are faced. If it be towards the center of the circle in
which there is nothing present then it follows that what
each person is going to see is other persons, A far safer
arrangement-for the sake of group harmony-would seem
one in which the members are turned it any olher possible

direction: outward from the center, all in a common
firection, at a central common object (perhaps it was for
this that idols were originally created) or each inward
towards himself. In other words, the best focus for community members would seem ls ls anlwhere but upon
each other. I do not believe we had this at Sunrise Hill.
For its lack we took to concentrating instead upon each
other and when that starts happening...look out! So we
strove towards each other, and 1o! we bumped into each
other. That is not a common direction but a common

collision.
So what was the trouble with Sunrise Hill? In attempting to answer that question, I keep coming back to the one
general thought: we attempted too much, too fast, and
with too little; and I think that-in essence-is the most
comprehensive truth of the matter.
Consider if you will what it was that we attempted and
consider what we attempted it with. First, the essence of
what we were endeavoring was, of course, change: a
revolutionary change upon a whole series of fronts. We
were attempting to take a collection of people who had
never seen each other before, and build close friendships
between them. We wished to take people raised in a com-

It might be well to note that we came to feel
that the number and length of meetings had become
oppressive, while yet remaining inadequate to our need.
It was beginning to evolve in my own mind that the
formation of committees and the delegation of
might prove valuable. It also occurred to me that
meetings concerned solely with special problems of
specific members should be limited to those specific
members (with the addition of mediators where
necessary). Such steps seemed urgent in order to
put a curb to the number of hours each member had
to spend in various meetings in any given week, which
G.Y.
h_ad indeed becorne bur&nsome.

l,

petative society and have them cooperate; people for whom
love had been restricted, and have them share love; people
who had been used to urban physical ease and comfort, and
have them adapt to rural-even primitive-conditions; people who had been used to private ownership and use of
tools and shelter, and have them share these; people who
had always been sharply individualistic and even antisocial,

and have them give up a great piece of their egos to a
collective one; people who had tremendous fears of the
effects of others upon their lives, and have them penetrate
each others lives in the very deepest senses;people who had
been raised in a lack of faith and love, and have them
evince both. And how much time did we allot for these
changes? None, for the situation we entered immediately
demanded that such individual revolutions be virtually
completed and applied continual pressure if they were not.
And what was it with which we hoped to bring all this
about and surmount the 'problems involved? Faith, love,
and good intent. And not much else. The love we found at
Maryland had not failed us; it had simply run out, or
cracked under the strain. It is a difficult thing enough for
two people to attain and maintain a love relationship between them. We at least all have had some experience with
one-to-one relationships, however unsuccessful; and there
is counsel available to help couples in their difficulties. But
there is little help available for the troubles of community
groups andjust as little experience.
The "love" we founded the Sunrise Hill venture upon
was bound to fail. What then did we have to back up that

it thru difficult times? Very little indeed.

When I visited the Sunrise ltril1 site for the last time it
was early spring. The spring we had so ferventlv praved for
had finally come, but there was no community left to greet

it in thanksgiving and relaxation. Impossibly the warmth
had come. At long last the frozen ground had thawed and
come bare and there were the fossilized artifacts of the
previous fall with all its hopes and joys implied. It was a
cemetery of dreams that I walked amid there; it was the

quiet ashes of a once-brilliant flame that had seemed it
would kindle the world. Now only the choruses of spring
peepers could be heard. This was to have been my first
"permanent" home yet, as it turned out, it had lasted a
shorter time than most of my temporary ones' There,
revealed beneath the snow, was the incompleted remains
of the "new" building, its stone walls still solidly awaiting
the superstructure that was never to come. It seemed to
speak the whole tragedy of the community.

a

bc

de

And I had a dream that spring in which on a joyous
Sunday the Sunrise Hill crowd was all jammed snugly into
the microbus as it headed out the road that had been
blocked all winter. We were on our way to Friend's meeting
and the people's laughter and good spirits implied that Sunrise Hil1 had made it into the warm weather. But suddenly,
there in the pine-shadowed road ahead, a pack of wolf-dogs

an
CT

all

AII
ap

Se

lurked out of hiding and blocked our way. The laughter

cc

ac

stopped.

IU

And I woke up.

in

SC

The

dt

whole community project was founded .upon that emo
tional strength of "love" and if that collapsed the entire

sil

love; to help

thing had to come down in a deafening roar. As it did. We
had conjured up a proposed heaven for ourselves but it
took angels to live in it, and we surely weten't such. We had
taxed our love and faith and good intent and ability to
change ourselves to the breaking point. Since there was
nothing else for the roof to be supported by, the whole
house fell in.
Is not love a tender thing that needs support and nurturing and all the help it can get? And is it not also something that musl gradually grow up between people? If love
is these things, theh how could we have ladened it so
heavily so immediately, and expected to get away with it?
The point of dragging all these depressing problems into
view is not to proclaim communities impossible, but simply
in the hope that their display will instill some caution into
the minds of those bent on attempting it. It would seem
only common sense that a group endeavoring community
would try to tackle these problems one at a time if possible
and leave room for crisis and fal1s and defeats. We-as so

many other budding communities-attempted the full
utopian community dream all in one immediate package;
assumed our success and left no retreat for ourselves if we
were not thus successful. Reason would tell us to use
extreme caution in endeavors of this nature; yet the usual
practice seems to be that even /ess caution is exercised in
the formation of communities than in that of marriages,
business corporations, and perhaps any other current type
of groups. It is indeed ironic that the most difficult and

crucial sociological venture of these times should be gone
about with the least amount of preparation, caution, and
organization. Yet it is.
t8

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longer enough to think the war is wrong, to demon-.
strate that belief, and not to act oi the basis of that
belief.
Secondly, I wanted to call into question the
tendency toward violence in the Movement today. I
wanted to show that pacifism is not passive-ism, that
nonviolence does not mean inaction, and that direct
action that is nonviolent can also be damned effective.
I realize that there are pacifists who continue to
question whether property destruction, even of draft
records, can be seen in terms of nonviolence. I've already
suggested my own view: weore nonviolent. We're non-

I

l
l

i

*k{P.Uffi"fl!:,{r

boards, as well as the State Headquarters-all in Providence-parted company with their essential records: l-A
and l-Y files, files of new registrants, all portions of the
cross reference system, including chronological ledgers,
alphabetical file cards, minutes of draft board meetings,
and (in the state headquarters) duplicate records, and
appeal files. In all, 30 percent of Rhode Island Selective
Service is inoperable

As of this writing, five days later, no one knows who
committed this act. Tomorrow, Dave Chawes and I will
accept public responsibility for it. This means, of course,
running the risk of arrest, and beyond that trial and
imprisonment. However, having left no evidence at the
scene of the "crime", we will also surface with no ev!
dence beyond the statement of our acceptance of responsibility for the act. We feel the need to act, but this
does not mean that we will help the government prosecute us, or give the F.B.I. evidence to use against us. We
accept public risk despite the fact that we aren't bent
on being-or seeming to be-martyrs.
First of all, honesty and openness is largely what
we're all about, and accepting public responsibility for

the public-serving acts of one's. life is part of that.
But there is also the need, we feel, to encourage
others toward comparable acts..Which means that people
have to hear about what's happening and relate those
events to actual persons.
A1so, we want to join in demonstrating that the
Movement isn't intimidated by the repression that's
coming down now-on the Panthers, on other draft
board liberators, on many others. Judge Robson may

find that his'let-this-be-a-warning-to.others' sentencing
remarks for the Chicago 15 draft board liberators were
more of a match than a damper to the liberation struggle.
In doing the action I hoped to emphasize some of
my own thoughts about the Movement-concerns relevant
to the decision that may make me a certified felon.
First, I'm very much concerned by the lack of seriousness of many in the Movement. I don't have to talk
about the times-Cambodia, Augusta, Jackson, Kent: these
words are shorthand for something we know a lot about.
And they help explain the unprecendented size of the
Movement today. And yet, I say that we in the Movement must consider our responsibility to gel seriou*
Many who are against the war are willing to voice their
opposition, or demonstrate their dissent. Yet, how willing are they to accept some measure of public risk in
order that others may have q chance at life? It is no

violent because our action is rooted not only in an
understanding of the sacredness of life, but because in
no sense of the word did we do harm to life-most
especially human life. Not a bruise was left behind. We
destroyed inanimate property, yet great care was taken
that no people would be hurt.
Are these actions elitist? Are these things that only

a rare few can do?

Wel1, Dave is 19, and I am 18. When the action
occurred, neither of us had been out of high school a
year. We're not professional religious types, or professional anything. We've got no super-human skills. We
are no more extraordinary than human beings generally
are extraordinary. So maybe one of the things we are
saying with this act is-If we can do it, hell, anyone can.
Are these actions simply symbolic? Are they only

moral witnesses?
Yes, these actions are symbolic, but they are more
than that. In fact, what I like so much about this kind
of action is the extent to which witness and effectiveness ilre combined. There is obvious meaning and weight
about persons risking much in order to stand in the way

of murder. We think there is an essential hopefulness and
freedom that's communicated by people who try to forge
with their lives some hope for the future. Blut lhe effectiveness of that forging is crucial.
Thirty percent of Rhode Island's draft system is
presently a memory. And it's happening again and again:
Boston, Milwaukee, Chicago, Twin Cities, Philadelphia,
New York, Silver Springs, Catonsville, LA, Baltimore...
actions that have always been open, norvioletl and
effective.

Rather than to tireak

it

down, talking about specific

of the system, let me just point out that, at most
recent report, the SS admits being 20 percent short of
its nationwide quotas. Wry? Because in this and other
ways, people are beginning to express their realization
that it's we who allow the draft to go on.
areas

There were once 4,100 functional draft boards in
this country. 3,900 or so are still in the conscription
business. They are waiting.
Tomorrow we surface.

-

Jerry Elmer

(On June 19, Dave Chawes and Jerry Elmer held a press
conference in a downtown Providence park. Beside a
numbei of movement supporters, including some from
Itlew England CNVA, the FBI und local police (all in
plainclothes) were heavily in ottendance, including the
city's chief of police and the U.S. Attorney. A statement
wos read, certain issues discussed (as in Jerry's article)*
but there were no busts" Press and TV coverage was
reported as good * Eds.)

t9

engi

dr1x t'r rx $

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i7
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pro

At five a.m., May 25,1969, when the 15 stood gleefully around the burning draft files in the alley behind
tive Service headquarters at 63 and Western, they
re all ready to say "Here I am" and tell their message
:o the world. One year later, only 1l appeared in court.
Perhaps events have convinced John Phillips, John Pietra,

John Loll and Thomas Smit that they would not have
their day in court.

It is a low key trial, not of persons who accidentally
came together during the dramatic 1968 anticonvention
demonstration but of persons who quietly acted in concert to cripple the draft system that victimizes poor
ks and whites in the South Side of Chicago. All live
what they believe. Fullenkamp, Durkin, Gargan and
Sweeney work

with the Casa Maria Catholic Workers

Coinmunity in Milwaukee. Katroscik, Muse, Chase,
Hoffmans, Quint, as well as Gargan and Fullenkamp,

CHICAGO15 TRIAL ENDS
"lle

love you people." Keep on, brothers and sister&"
"Goodbye, Margaret." - Farewells to the Chicago "15"
from a shaken public, June 5, 1970, after the quickie
verdict (on? and three-quarter hours!) and a tirade from
Judge Robson who said he would do "oll in my power
to protect our institutions from being burned down-.They
[defendantsJ are crying for the overthrow of our goyemment..,.a menace to this community, this state, and this
nqtion" As Bill Sweeney said, four days later, before
sentencing: "You told the iury we were not on trial for
our beliefs, but we were refused bond for our belief*"
On Tuesday, lune 9, the judgb who had said he
would not allow the triol to become a political forum,
opined that the defendants "think we should bing ourselves

down to the people of the third world"

whereas

Ameica is in Asis to bring equality and to correct events
there. "I see cynical looks..." So, to prevent revolution
ond to keep buildings unde/iled and whole, he sentenced
Fred Chase, Bill Durkin, Chorles Fullenkomp, Ed Gargan,
Margaret Katroscik, Joe Mulligan and Bill Sweeney to
five years and the three who had skipped to t0 plus t0
years probation for sll This last was later modified to
ftve years. Fred Chase, of course, got 297 days for his
refusal to stand in respect for the court. All were led
awoy except Joe Mulligan-until the judge was reminded
that he had omitted his name. Ed Hoffmans hss been
taken to Spingfield to a mental hospitol, the others are
in Cook County JaiL
20

have done draft counseling or resistance work. Riddell
and Quint have organized in the ghettoes. They sit
4t the defense tables with their 4 or 5 lawyers-casual,
informal, in workaday clothes, lackiig a unified
\
defense strategy, tolerant and supportive
of one another, generally sober, somewhat
subdued bv the court. They grin
infectiously7 an occasionally vivid description of their
action, tense when the question of motivation is
blocked; gratified when their message gets through.

A Jury of Their Peers?
To go into the Ceremonial Courtroom where 200
prospective jurors were seated was to experience a cultural shock, a confrontation by middle class, middle-aged,
Middle America. Probi4g _questions were submitted by the
"Do you think the people should be permitted to demonstrate publicly against the foreign policy
of ou-r duly elected president?" But they were never
asked by the judge. "The Constitution does not provide
that the jury have the same opinion as the defendants,"
he said. He did ask if anyone had views on the Vietnam
war or war in general which would effect their judgment.
Two men and a woman who were for it were excused as
were three women who were opposed. Persons were exdefense such as

cused on their own say-so. People rose to excuse themselves on the war issue during other routine questions as
though a process of reflection had been started and
people were examining their real thoughts and feelings.
The result was that the more conscientious ones r'emoved
themselves on the assumption that to feel sympathetic
toward the defendants was to be prejudiced. Fewer unsympathetic ones felt called upon to declare themselves.

On the suggestion of urging of defense lawyers, Robson
asked one man, who had declared himself unprejuficed,
"Did you make comments to the effect that the defendants were guilty?" "I believe I may have said that,"
he replied.
By the time the prosecution had peremptorily
challenged a woman with a graduate son, a bearded man

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engaged in film-making and two young persons, there
was a jury whose average age is probably 50, including

BLUETAY (2 VARIATIONS)
three blacks. The'defendants are in their 20's except for
Nick Riddell , 40, and Ed Hoffmans, 32.
The prosecutioir case centers on the destruction of
properb/ over $100 in value, thq mutilation and removal
it is something I do not write easily
of government records and documents, hindering and
a feather from a bluejay
interfering with the administration of the selective serof all our birds the most American
yice act by force and violence, and conspiracy. Their
this matter
picture
of
effective
opening statement drew an irnpressive
of a feather
3
5
a.m.,
and
25,1969,
between
May
On
action:
Sunday,
weighs heavy
the defendants raided one of the largest draft offices in
in a land where shit is
the country at 2355 W. 63 St. covering 400,000 regisfor the birds
gaso'
trants. They removed 1-A files, doused them with
Pound writes of bluejays
&
Daily
Chicago
Two
in
the
alley.
them
afire
line and set
"the wild birds wd not eat the white bread"
News reporters and a reporter from the New York Times
in Canto LXXIV
were alerted and brought to the scene. They found the
hugging
cheering,
defendants singing, "We shall oYercome,"
tempus bquendi
one another.
Since the defendants stood by then and do not contest the physical facts now, a kiy question is motivation. &Jeffersonhadno'userforbluejays
nor cared 2 cents for
But rnotivation is what the prosecuiion has bitterly rethe people
sisted from the moment thaf the defense tried to estab
I
mean
how cd he while Lincoln orden the state's
iish in cross examination that a reason for choosing this
be emblazoned on all the cuEency
to
writ
composition
particular draft board complex was the racial
in the "fewest & temest words possible"
bf tn. registrants. Although the prosecution referred to
our rutional recognition
actions in April to show planning for lhe event and alGod bless the few wd not be dragged to paradise by their
&
thougl Muiligan testifiecl ior the defense as to his motibatls
permiited.
It
suddenly
vation, Fullenkamp was not so
became a Z4.-hour conspiracy arrd intent was allowed only but continued to fight
& to the grave knew
in relation to the irnmediatb action-the destruction of
spoke
w/ the forked tongue
they
property, etc. The Cflicago 15 public statement, a governofvipen
prevented
read
in
its
from being
rnent exhibit, was
entirety.
The insanity plea by four defendants offered a way of who continue to lie not so much to us as to themselves
presenting motivation. Each of the defendants testified to
In God We Trust
the mental illness of the other three as evidenced by
their strange beliefs and life styler It was a mindblowing
DON,T GIVE ME ANY OF THAT BULLSTtrT
tactic. The prosecutor, Howard Hoffman, tried to estab
lish that beliefs and life style are not evidence of deviant
to raise the standard of living?
behavior in his cross €xamination of Nick Riddell.
tempus loquendi
Had Nddell seen pictures of the Beatles with long
to redeem the American dollar?
hair? - "I recently saw one with a crew cut."
Is McGovern mentally ill because he is concerned
a white ox walks on the road
about the war? - "That's not insanity but hypocrisy."
a bluejay steals the gold bell from his neck
Is not Rev. Jesse Jackson, who said that America is a
o'I don't know him.'?
racist country sane? When Dr. John Werry, a psychiatrist with the Illinois
Il
Department of Mental Health, took the stand to testify
as to what constitutes abnormal behavior, the prosecution
it is something I do not writb easily
asserted that minority belief is not an indication of ab'

normality.

a feather from a bluejay

And, of course, the whole question of what is normal, to let it be a feather
who is insane, who suffers from delusions has been raised. found in the wilds of Annandale by my wife
However, a pragmatic court has ordered psychiatric exam- given me
for my use
inations for the four-Drrrkin, Gargan, Quint and Riddell.
Attorney Locricchio presented the case more directly O blueiay I have one of your feathen
for his clients: The jury has to choose between two fact bluejay
it is ftom your tail
situations. One involves a man following the law of the
I
if
ever meet you bluejay
Robson
In
nation and the other, the law of conscience.
know you
wilI
Witch
peace
no
buttons,
no
where
no
laughter,
country
-1,
willwewalktogether
masks, no reading, nJsle"ping, no leaning forward,
.,r,/
ffi
"o 'VrrE
& will you sing
leaning backward, no note taking, no cameras are per^\\%'
Ruth
*itt.a, what are the
-Hantey Bialy

odds?

-

"rrr'r4rrrHileyourobme

ffi"

ing eyes and snapped their

cameras.

Sorne of us couldn't help wondering if
we would soon be part of a rerun of
last years Stonewall riots, engineered

by

straight heavies and the police.
As the march up Sixth Avenue be-

gan, we felt a tremendous sense of
unity. Every gay $oup from conseryatiye to revolutionary was marching. We
waiked in rows with our arms linked.
We were radiant with the happiness of
being in love with other women and
ourselves. Say it loud, gay is proud.
When we got to the Central Park

Sheep Meadow we stood on a hill
wnazed at our numbers, making plans
in our heads for next year, next month,
next week, Then we rested in the grass

,X

|

*rl

d

and embraced

ti:
CHRISTOPHER STREET

At

LIBERATION DAY
a time when other movement

people talk about "going underground",

the gay moyement has come outnames, faces, voices in a society that
would gladly keep us invisible. Coming
out implies an incredible faith in the
power of the truth, the force of our
numbers, the strength that being in a
group has given al1 of us in our individual lives.

The women of Lesbian Liberation
(GLF women and others) know that
gay women need a place of their own
where they can speak to and spend
time with other gay women. We set up
a Lesbian Center open all day Friday
and Saturday where women could also
sleep if they needed a place to stay(Some stayed through Tuesday).
Women came from Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, D.C., California and
other states as well as New York. They
came from gay bars where everyone is.

We danced again until late. During the
dance there was a call for everyone to
make posters for the Sunday march.

"'lnjt

ro

ter in GLF

BOSTON: C0MINc OUTWITH lT
Appropriately for a city that used to
ban books, Boston's homosexual scene
has traditionally lacked any semblance
of a community. Its gay population has
hadto rely chiefly upon the handful of
bars (some of them Mafia-controlled)

Women thought of the things they
wanted to say and lettered 35 posters
with: Hi, Mom/ Your daughter is
marching with us today I I am a 1es-

bian and I am beautiful/ Everything
you think we are, we aref The opposite
of gay is sad/ Sappho was a right-on
woman. A woman had brought a large
sheet of white material for a banner:
we all lettered in the words LESBIANS

UNITE. One woman later said it was
the most meaningful banner she had
ever marched under.

streets around Sheridan Square with a
crowd of several thousand women and
men-by the end of the march we numbered GlO thousand. We were watched

dan

Our

Homophile

frol

that Boston, too, had a homosexual
population.

The Gay Liberation Front, an offshoot from the basically non-political

c,

a

B

were no bars and women had never

.S

a

danced together.

On Friday evening there was a discussion involving women from our

q

group, Women's Liberationand Daughters of Bililis on the connection between
feminism and lesbian liberation. There
was dancing afterward.
On Saturday there was a Communal

&

o

Dinner and another dance. People
brought so much food to the dinner
that nobody could quite believe it. We
ate and talked about Coming Out, kar-

22

eral

atl

4

Week

Hat

The history of local organizations
goes back less than two years. The
Homophile Union of Boston was formed early in 1969. The Daughters of

combat our invisibility by interviewing
of these groups and suggesting

say much, just stared with hard, laugh-

Qhgflie Pit-ts and Pete l|ilson host

I

at1

leaders

by the Village straights who had kept
us down ali these years. They didn't

Pide

few

Bea

mel
i1le1

l,eague followed a year later. And the
sometimes cooperative media helped

side

anonymous and homes where you

[ewspapers, the places we came from.

pa{
he4
and

and the bushes of the Esplanade for

Can't TeIl Your Parents and when you
do, they beg you to keep it a secret.
They came from places where there

ate. conscious raising, underground

SH1

velc

contacts. Thele were no organizations,
social or political, to provide an alternative or campaign for homosexual
rights. It was an "inyisible" minority.

Bilitis and the Student

Sunday June 28, 1970, was a clear,

hot day. We assembled on the

o"

o

forum on IilBAI in honor of Gay

O@t

we thought might be sympathetic to us.

Nothing, just the usual dose of liberal
bullshit.
Several alternatives for the dance
were discussed. We talked with Yarying
degrees of seriousness of seizing a building at the University of Massachusetts
or liberating a park. We had to diY
courage a couple militants who simply
wanted a confrontation. Finally we decided to have a gay-in Sunday afternoon at the weeklY Cambridge Common rock concert, a meeting place for

!*ii9!;

area freaks.

trri&i

Y
!'

SHL, was formed in March and has de-

the Meetinghouse for June. But

heigtrt, there were over 100 ofus, gays
and sympathetic straights, including a
few members of Women's Liberation.
We have sponsored two successful
dances. The first was held in late April
at the Free University, an abandoned
Harvard lecture hall that had been lib'
erated by a cornmune of street people.
Our second dance was a month later,
at the Charles Street Meetinghouse on
Beacon Hill. Although dancing with
members of the same sex is, predictably,
illegal in Boston, we had no trouble
from the police.
We had planned another dance at

their nei$tborhood. That Beacon Hill
was popularly nicknamed the "Swish

veloped slowly. Our first action was
participation in the Moratorium. At its

the

Brahman aristocrats who lived on the
Flill bitterly resented a gay dance in

Alps" and was infested with freaks was

insult enough to their sensibilities.
There would be no dance. And so pressure from the Mayor's office upon the
minister forced us to cancel it.

Our plans for a dance later that

month were also stifled. The coordinating committee of the local homophile
organ7ations had proclaimed the 28th
asi gay liberation weekend. We wanted

a dance-somewhere-the highlight of
the weekend'sactivities. We approached
all the area churches and colleges that

We also planned some seminars for
Saturday afternoon-"Dialogue with a
Straight World." How much of a dialogue we got I'm not sure. Despite extensive publicity, I found the turnout
somewhat disappointing. Our best session had about fiftY PeoPle.
Maybe two dozen of us came to the
gay-in at the Common. We had our
"Gay Liberation" banner and passed
out balloons with the wording, "Gay is
love," on them. We held hands, danced,
and occasionally freaked out the little
old ladies in the Passing GraY Unes
buses, who acted like they thought the
whole Common scene a zoo. Nothing
hke that in Sioux CitY!
I suppose the weekend was a limited

success. Our turnout, it is true, was
small; but the fact that we were able to
pull it off at ali means that Boston's
trafitionally apathetic homosexual
population is stirring. Gay Liberation is
beginning to do things in a city noted

for its Puritan heritage. A small start.

oETEATTHE EOUALRIGHTS

-

John Kyper

orlo or}o 6 orro @ o
AMENDMENT !

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6

Since its inception about three years ago, the women's

liberation movement has concentrated primarily on the
problems of middle class women-sexual objectification,

1860-Seastaesaea florked
L0 to 12 horc'a a day

frm

consumerism and exploitation through advertising, job discrimination, birth control, abortion, and health care' Which
is not to say that these issues do not affect working class
women, but the fact that middle class women have dominated the movement, both in terms of developing theory
?3

and programs and

in

practical working situations,

has

meant that the emphasis has been on how sexism affects
those women, and the particular problems of housewives
and women workers have been largely ignored. The rnost
blatant and visible example of the middle class orientation
of the women's rnovement has been the National Organization for Women's campaign in support of the Equal
Rights Amendment to the Constitution, which simply
states that within the boundaries of the United States,
there shall be no discrimination in regard to sex. The passage of the ERA would severely hurt working women by
endangering the decent labor standards for which unions
fought for many years.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which calls
for no sex discrimination in employment and equality on
the job. has already been used in several places to exploit
women workers. In the Antioch, California paper mills of
Fiberboard Corporation, members of Women, Incorporated
(a women's caucus of the independent union, the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers*) have been made
to work 16 hours a day, straight through (in addition to a
second shift of child care and housework with which most
working'women are burdened every day), lift 150 pounds a
minute in three lifts of 50 pounds each, and in one mill,
had their lunch hour eliminated. Instead, they get three ten
minute breaks staggered across the day during which they
eat and go to the toilet, which cannot be done at any other
time. All this is being done in the name of "equality." The
Equai Rights Amendment would further this victimization
of women workers: the federal Attorney General has given
his interpretation of the ERA-its passage would mean immediate suspension of all protective laws.
What are the state protective laws? Passed in 28 states,
they are laws to protect liom hazard, exploitation, unsafe

and unsanitary work conditions. They include adequal.e
space, light, ventilation fiee from poisonous fumes or substances, rest room facilities, water, cleanliness and healtir
and safety lneasures, hours limits, minimum wages, prelniurn pay for overtime, lunch hours, rest periods, lifting requirements, no child labor, and so forth. They were passed

approximately

60 years ago, and while only

covering
women and children have nonetheless tended to affect and

improve working conditions for men too. Not all working
women are covered by them. For example, domestic workno protection.
Laws are not passed in a vacuum. They are passed in a
specific historical period under concrete material condi-

ers have

tions tlmt determine how they will be interpreted

and

implemented. Women, especially working class women, do

not hold power. The laws affecting women such as those
dealing with abortion, divorce, alimony, protective laws,
etc. are all made and unmade by men. In addition to the
sex ratio, most politicians are employers, sympathizing
with, identifying with, and in many cases acting in the

of corporations.

We are living under conrecessiirn and a contracting labor market when

specific interests

ditions of
there are not enough jobs to go around and people are
fighting for those that are avai-lable. Under these conditions
people will give up rights in order to obtain or hold a job.
Employers in an expanding labor market supported protective laws because they had to give decent working conditions to attract latror and wanted to insure that their
competitr:r:s had to pay the same costs of production so as
2e

not to undercut their prices or make a greater surplus
profit. Now, in a contracting labor market, they all call for
suspension

of the laws, by claiming that they

are in conflict

with the Civil Rights Act, which calls for equality between

sexe.s on the job (when state and federal laws conflict,
federal laws take precerlence). A contracting labor market,
weakens the positinn of'the workers and pushes unions into
conflict with employers. Under these conditions the employers have chosen to attack what they believe to be the
weakest sector of the working class, women.
They are doing this in three ways. The first is direct
attempts to destroy established working conditions on the
job. The second way is to make a direct legal and poli.tical
assault on the laws covering women's working conditions.;
The third way is to divide the women themselves, to maneuver somc women into the position of fighting the companies' battles for them, to provide a screen behind which
the corporations can hide to protect their selfless images.
'To do this they have enlisted the aid of public relation
men who hypocritically espouse "equality" and that also of.

the

the working women {rho most closely associate with

management, the business and professional women. They
have succeeded in creating confusion among working
women and the women's liberation movement, especially
in the National Organization for Women, who believe that

protective laws are a threat to women's equality. Some
wornen cannot seem to grasp that equality doesn't mean
greater exploitation, but could mean better working conditions for everyone by extending protective laws to men.
NOW's pclsition seems to be particularly ambiguous.
'They call for passage of the Equal Rights Amendmenf but
.refuse to amend it to exterrd the state protective laws to
men. If passed without such an amendment, it would be
interpreted to destroy the protective laws for women. If
it were amended to extend the protective laws to men, it
would be clear that "equality" did not mean greater
exploitation.
NOW's campaign is particularly insidious because they
push the ERA without explaining the probable ef'fects for
working women, particularly for unorganized, non-union
women. However, there js a wing of working class women
within the women's liberation movement who are trying to
air these questions publiciy and clearly pose the dangers
involved. We call for extending the state protective laws to
men and no support to the ERA unless it is amended to
extend the state protective laws to men.
-compiled by Marilyn Albert from "Protective

Legislation", Joan Jordan; "The Destruction of
Decent Labor Standards, the Protective Laws
and the ERA", Joan Jordan; and "Women, Inc"',
Breud and RoseslLNS

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* 85% of wornen workers nationally are not organized in trarle
unions and are not covered by law or negotiated contract. Separate
women's unions are non-existent. One method of making a strong
stand on women's rights open to women wt.o ore organized in trade
unions is to caucus within an already existing union, as Women, hc.
has done. Women, Inc. was formed in 1966. Most of these women,
many of whom are the sole supporters of their families, had never
been active in the local union, a typical phenomenon among women
workers rvho are taught to think of themselves as women and not as
workers. Despite harassment from both the company and the union,
Wornen, lnc. has continued to organize, particularly around the
issue of job discrimination.

h

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,

Trying to put together a coherent account of the

recent

{June 2G2B) Milwaukee conference is going to
be difficult.
The idea for the conference grew out of a New
Mobe Steering Committee meetiig held in Atlanta
during the Augusta to Atlanta March and on the heels
of the May 9 demonstration. The conference was seen
as a method of gathering dominant sections of the
movement and learning together how to relate to the
dangerous new period created by the Cambodian in_
vasion. Unlike the single issue June 19 Cleveland con_
ference called by Trotskyist elements, the Milwaukee
conference was seen as having a multi_issue orientation
and as such it was hoped the conference could draw
together elements not previously part of the anti-war
coalition such as blacks, Chicanos, native Amerieans,

Welfare Rights groups, etc.

The call for a "strategy Actioir Conference', went out
over the names of heavies from the Black panther party,
SCLS, Chicano Moratorium, Corky Gonzales,s Denver
based Crusade for Justice, National Welfare Rights
organization, various religious groups, and unions and,
of course, the usual New Mobe stars. Somewhere between
six and eight hundred people registered for the ..Strategy
Action Conference".

Welfare Rights starts out. Mrs. Johnnie Tilden, a
of Welfare Rights lays it out.

yety_, very together leader

"It's time you out there, you wfute itiddle

class

peace people start showing where you,re at. you
need to start getting in the streets with us and
start demandinq just welfare for the people of

this country. Nice words don,t make

it. Sure,

we're against war. We suffer the most from it.
But we can't take time from our welfare rights

fight to help out the peace movement. you have
to help an-d support us. Not words, actions, then
maybe we'1l have some time to work against the

war."
The conference voted to support and participate in the
June 30
_Welfare Rights demonstration (I wonder how
many did). The conferelce_ voted to puih the .,g5,500
or Fight" program for $5,500 pa y.i. annual income

for a family of four.

The long march-changed to .,disruption of Washing_
because of anti-marching sentiment_went next.

ton"

Presented for information wai the workshop report.
No
action was requested. Boiled dowtuthe proposal called
for a week of intense, nonviolent, amritl* of the war.
making apparatus in Washington using civil disobedience
as a tactic. The action was projected for the fall.
The
workshop asked the conferenci to return home to discuss
the proposal and then organize regional conferences to
further discuss the propoial. The ionference voted to

Friday night started out all right. A couple of big
rooms werc found. and the entire printed fiiday schedule
was ripped off for a Women,s meeting and a Men,s meeting. The women decided to brook no sexist bullshit and
organize regional conferences.
the men decided they would really try hard not to be
The reports went on. The women,s liberation worksexist. It turned out to be a damn creative start since
shop made_ a two part report. A woman reported lust
many of the men really did try to behave as people
and urged local work to make the movement stronger by
instead of as supreme arbiters, and the usual hasslis of
including women at all levels and by women gettin[ to
"you're a sexist, no I'm not, yes you are, etc,,, were for
gether and dealing with their own iisues. A man
finisnea
the most part avoided and replaced by comradely criticism the
report and urged men locally to learn to listen and
succinctly stated and generally well taken.
respect women and support their struggles. The workshop
people kind of wandered to the biggest
made an important point when it salO that male domi_
.hall.OnonSaturday
campus and found the conference. The firsl*
nation weakened the movement by depriving it of the
plenary_ drew up a list of about thirty workshops
and
talents and intelligence of women. On&ng .iul.-rup.r*u"y
wrote the list on a blackboard and found rooms to
in the movement is the responsibility of -movement men.
hold them in (every room was too big or too small for
Reports went on and on and on and the people left
th1.yo1k;hop assigned) and people wert to workshops.
in
ones and twos and tens and when there were about a
Workshops were the guts of the conference. The iist
hundred people left the session ended.
was long. Some workshops died and some grew. About
regret I had was that the Saturday night
the most intense was '.The Long March,'. Ifour after
.. Tl. biggest
event" (read rock band, dancing, no speech-es)
hour of^discussion, argument, agreement. Coming to
lgytlurat
didn't ever come off. My biggest hope is"ihat the regional
gether, falling into pieces. A final rush to put together
conferences do come off though at ihis time, to my
some kind of report for the last plenary.
knowledge, only philadelphia ii talking aboui one.
.. The regional workshops are mostly busts. The
. We, the movement, need so *uny thirgr. I think
"revolutionary" caucus mostly bullshit.
time is short for Indo China and I don't Ihirk th. *ou._
The last plenary is on Sunday. The thirty some
men-t is responding to the time imperative. I don,t
like
odd workshops are to make their reports. Ii,s obviously
conferences. I don't like to go to ihem. But I,m going
impossible for thirty reports, discussions and plenary
to work on building these regional conferences beiause
actions on the reports, to take place. Almost an hour
that's the only thing I see that may get us together.
is spent on balloting to establish for priority workshop
reports.

-

Jerry Coffin

revtews
FAMOUS LONG AGO: MY LIFE AND HABD
TIMES AT LIBERATION NEWS SEHVICE
by Ray Mungo, Beacon Pres, Boston,1970.
Hard cover and paperhack editions.
The author of the following book review joined the staff
of Liberation News Service in November 1967, a few
months after it was founded by Ray Mungo and Marshall
He still works for LNS in New York.
- Eds.

If

Ray Mungo is famous at all,

it

is in doston, where he

of the Boston University News in 1966-67. I
didn't know Ray Mungo then, but anyone who read the
daily papers in the Boston area knew about him. As editor
of the Boston University News, Mungo helped mobilize
thousands of students and other young people to protest
was editor

the Vietnam war, the draft, and the Johnson administration
(the "impeach Johnson" editorial in the News was a citywide scandal), and to fight against Massachusetts' archaic
laws on birth control.
Now Ray Mungo has left all that behind. He lives on a
quiet farm in Vermont, and he has bequeathed to us a book
whlch is a brightly-written brief for dropping out of the
movement. Specifically, it is a tale about the first year of
Liberation News Service, 1967-68, with the emphasis on
Mungo's own activities during that period.
Some people might object to this autobiographical work
on the grounds that someon'e so young (born in 1946) has
no right to produce a work about himself. I do not agree.
Age is not the issue-I am 29 and I learn things every day
from people who are ten years younger than myself. Why
shouldn't young people write books, too?
What is at issue is Mungo's attitude toward his life. He
does not present his experiences to us in order to convince
us to join the struggle for change which is sweeping our.
nation and the world. Rather, he describes a series of very
bizarre, very personal adventures, and spends much of his
energy 'rexposing" the alleged dogmatism, violence, and

inhumanity

of Movement

people (like many

of us stil1

working at Liberation News Service).
The personal adventures of Ray Mungo, laid out much
like a picaresque novel, with the author as the leading
picaro or rascal, are neatly removed from the context of
the events around us. Sure, he talks about his visit with the
Viet Cong in Czechoslovakia, the guerrilla theater zap
against Sen. Eugene McCarthy, the experience of white
people in Washington, D.C., while black people were using
flames to express their rage at the assassination of Martin
Luther King.

But these social forces-war, racism, revolution-are
virtually forgotten by Mungo as he moves into the Vermont
hills. "My goal," he writes, "is to never have to do a damn
thing for the rest of my life; and while many would call
that immaturity, irresponsibility, or sloth, I call it freedom," Later, speaking about me, he says, "He and LNS are
'in the struggle' now, while I and Montague Farm are living
the postrevolutionary life....I'll just go my solitary way and
strive to enjoy'what may well be the last days of this
beautiful but deteriorating planet."

My goal, I think, is not so different from Mungo'sto live an unfettered postrevolutionary life. But along with
26

the rest of the staff of Liber'ation News Service and millions
of people in motion the world over, I don't think such an
existence is possible in 1970.
The time has passed for any American, especially a
white American male, to devote his time to raptures over
the trees and flowers of Vermont (which Mungo does frequently in this book). We have learned too much already to
,find peace in such deliberate amnesia.

The Vietnamese-Ray met the Vietnamese-are still
struggling against all traditional odds to oust the American
Goliath. Yet Mungo recalls the Vietnamese he met as,
"musical and poetic," which they are, without following
through to see how much more time they'd have for music
and poetry if we could get the U.S. troops out of there.
That won't happen unless millions of people-at home and
abroad-move.
How can we find peace of mind while white people are
oppressing blacks or while men dominate women (Ray

treats his female friends and the women at LNS with

cavalier casualness)? And, as a homosexual, I personally
have no choice but to fight with the gay liberation movement against the social order which fears and outlaws very
human forms of love and to work for a revolution that will
free all oppressed peoples.
It is not surprising that Ray Mungo should come up with
an ideology for change based upon the proliferation of
rural communes. Ray came to politics through moral out-

rage-a legitimate road indeed, the beginning for many
movem€nt people of Roman Catholic origins. But while
most people in the movement learned from their experiences*learned about power and historical forces of changechange-Ray failed to move beyond moral outrage. He lost
touch with a lot of people. He began to see his movement
rivals as cops. And now he urges us to leave the filth of the
city behind and move to \6rmont (or Iceland. the place, I
have heard, that is Mulgo's new mecca). Are Vermont and
Iceland for the people of Harlem, too?
There is no need for a detailed point-by-point refutation
of Mungo's account of the famous LNS split, which occurred in August of 1968. Suffice it to say that Mungo's account
if filled with distortion and exaggeration. Most disturbing is
his inability to understand our desire to restructure Liberation News Service along collective lines-to create a new
way of working together that is a family, yes, but a family
of equals, not the kind of family so well known in
America-with one man on top. Maybe we haven't succeeded entirely, but we're working at it. And that process
began during that split.
Mungo casually passes over the fact that the LNS farm
operation died within a few months after the split, while
we in New York have kept a real counter-institution alive.

He describes a visit to our office in the spring of 1969,
noting, "The office seemed the same as always, phones
ringing and people rushing about attempting to get this or
that piece of information down in print." Indeed. And
now, in the summer of 1970, the scene is the same. We are
not, however, fools in a rut. Each "piece of information"
is part of the history of our times. We are radical journalists attempting to break the barrier of lies and distortions the establishment media have built for the American
people. This is a pursuit.which will survive Mungo's attempt
to ridicule our strengths and our weaknesses.
Disturbing also is Mungo's attempt to equate the values
of the radical Left with the values of the establishment.
Thus, LNS is described as "an entirely businesslike publishing operation just like Time magazine"; the people who

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attempted to reclaim the stolen LNS presses are described
as "assuming the role

of cops themselves,,, and there is a
reference to those "who make a life of seeking power,
whether they are members of SDS or the DefensJ liepart_

ment."

This is perhaps the most destructive and dangerous part

of^ Mungo's book (enough to make me virtually Iorget how
much I was entertained by other portions of ii, sucir as the
time Ray and Verandah Porche confronted Lynda Bird
and her escort at an anti-war play, and the comic confron_
tation with Sen. McCarthy at a student editors conference.)
There can, of course, be no equation between the radical
movement and the forces that run America. The radical

kft

may make mistakes, may use stupid rhetoric, may set

off bombs when it shouldn,t-but it is ;til the most human,
the most progressive force in our country. It cannot be
compared to forces like Time, the cops, and the Defense
Department, which rely on lies, brutality, and the weapons
great destruction to protect a system of exploitation

of

and competition.
It's sad that Ray's autobiographical work doesn,t include

those times of excitement and vitality at the Boston Uni_
versity News, when Ray's words and deeds were mobilizing
thousands of kids. He says he,s happy with his friendi
"on the farm in Vermont". I wonder if that,s really true.

- Allen

Young

PEBSONAT CENSORSHIP AND
PORNOGBAPHIC ART PRODUGTS
Censorship

in Denmark: A New Approach

to

stock? Isn't the deepest abuse of sex a vehement uselessness
and driving pursuit of depletion, a vacuum, a tedious abyss

eating through every cell in your body? I,ve been there,
plundering every last work-unit in my body for sex, and it
was death on the flight-deck when I tried to land. There
was nothing left but gasoline fumes, and a wretchedness.
that had no palate for the food-like love-feelings I,d sought
with such vanity. The harder I clutched, the rpore I drove
love away. Dr. Frankenstein was much less coarse and cruel
to his monster than I was to my body, that poor mechani_
cal and aimless beast I whipped daily.
Censorship in Denmark is demonically cannibalistic in its
display of sucked organs and gobbling orofices, and yet it,s
quite mild compared with what is available on the sex
market in Denmark. Denmark recently rescinded its porno_
graphy laws and now any movie or book can be sold to any
customer sixteen or over and any actor who wishes can be
exploited by moneyminded pornographers, if the boy or
grrl model is eighteen or more. Most of the girls, lesbians
and prostitutes in the movie are in their teens or earlv
twenties, being more photogenic. The men appear to bL
-only
are

repre_

.^

_ I'm writing this for my own enlightenment, to see how
film pornography relates to sex in my own fiction
and in a movie I'm sketching. The questions I ask myself
are: Do these films inspire? Do they leach? Do they debill_
tate? Do they degrade? Do they deny my sexual con_
science? Are they artistic models in some ways worthy of
the- new

oi,.,

,uorrhip

is at hand, it's clearly sensible to admit that a new art is
aborning in our film temples-one with its own rituals.
Artistic conscience is forever reborn out of the ashes of
tradition, and sexual conscience finds its survival in heated
resistance to whatever hopes to dissipate its strength. For
me, love is oneness, not manyness; focus, not dissipation;
an annealing heat, not a wild spending. I,ve spent foui years
trying to climb out of a bottle, and I,ve no wish to sur_

render to

a new drug.
Nonetheless, my imagination is piqued. Who is to be the
Wagner of pornography, the Mozafi o1 the orgasm? Dare I

hope to be the light-bringer of essence, diath_giver to
mechanicalness? It's my view that a sophisticated mechani_
calness
9f sex only obscures the essence sought for in
orgasm. I live by this view.

in sex. Can
be positively denied by anyone desiring the
-this
best spirit for
his sexual being? Am I selling blue_Jkies

sented by their erections.

Love

imitation? Since public and legal acceptance

being we admire most in ourselves...the renewing spirit so
open to abuse. Sex alone, separated from emotion and
instihcts, is always healing and pleasant. It is unclean emo-tion and diseased instincts which abuse the healing pleasure

healthy youngsters also, although many

Marital Fulfillment
The Zodiac Couples
Freedom

energy of a new goal begins to crystallize within us. These
pictures merchandize sex like Christmas at Macy,s, but
their coarseness can shock us into a fine lorre that saves the

However, I don't expect you to live by my view. It,s
naive of me to think I might lead you out of an admiration
for skilled screwing such as these films induce. I can only
free one man at a time from the hypnosis of mechanical
love-making, starting with myself. you are as thick_headed
a dog in your sex attitudes as I am when the Jehovah,s
Witness rings my bell with her free copies of The Watch_
tgwgr
lnd Awaket I prefer my own slavery to someone
else's. But perhaps we can both be shocked into a sexual
awakening more vibrant than we know now, once the

The film-presents itself in the guise of a documentary on
Denmark's Sex Fair last summer and strikes a glancing blow
at U.S. censorship. This altruistic suggestion deceives no
one, since the real thrust of the movie is toward the ticket_
booth-the theater was the most packed grind house I'd
ever been in. One measure of altruism is what the film_
makers decided to leave out. Not even they could face up
to the financial terror of showing bestiality (screwing anh
blowing animals) and animal masturbation on a Manhittan
screen, which the Danes now accept as less than stomachturning. Their reticence is quixotic in that anyone who has
been in the service has heard plenty about this from South_
ern servicemen. Even so, as I watched the film, my mind
frankly seethed with subjects for which this picture has
blown open the door. It was as if I'd never heard of sex
before, at least not in a commercially distributed movie.
Although excremental sex is also avoided, and there are
,only a few token flashes of homosexuality, both rear_entry
and anal sex are shown, as well as a mind-burning still of a
girl with both her vagina and rectum pierced at once with
heavy erections, one black I seem to recall. Or perhaps that
mix was the shot of a smiling girl with a white cock in her

mouth and a black one waiting. I've made my point.
Female masturbation with vibrators and hand dildos,
orgasming lesbians in daisy chains, male masturbation, all is

graphic and heaped like pie on cake.
Danes are ridiculed throughout Errope

for their devo_
tion to the physical life, extending both to the orgiastic and
to casual masturbation during working hours, but this ridi_
cule goes unmentioned by the filmmikers, who are inter_
ested in the mock objectivity of their stance and in
,suggesting that Danish free porn may be the vanguard of
lively new reforms in the Siates. They cite lowered crime
,statistics

in Denmark and state that free porn is ,.dangerous

27

only for the ignorant." But Denmark is not the States, nor
have long-term results

ofliberalization been seen, such as an

disease and rise in cancer of the prostate brought about by orgiastic behavior. Perhaps these are
red herrings on my part, but it is a fact that the subjects of
film porn are very young people with a greater capacity for
increase

in venereal

rutting than the older consumers who are the big market
for porn in Errope and the States. And I'11 add that the
States, with its 50 millions with an IQ of 90 and below, is
very ripe indeed with the dangers of ignorance, whatever
these should turn out to be. I think it is a commercial fact
that porn films are essentially masturbation aids rather than
intrasexual stimulators; that they are mainly for lonely men
and that their graphicness does little to satisfy the fantasy
hunger of women. What man wants strongly enough, he will
have-but what about women? I think porn only makes the
lonely more lonely and even more deeply divides the sexes.
And as a drug, the stupified, half-lidded chase of the
orgasm and visible ejaculation for the camera turned me
off. Rubber souls indeed when the most private waters of

the spirit are a public fountain for dogs to drink

at.

With whom should we identify in Marital Fulfillment,
the actors, the director, or the producer who's putting up
the cash and will take the biggest cut of the profits? Again,
the veneer of objectivity seduces no one who sees this
marriage manual on screwing positions. It's all for Mammon. 'Good taste' apparently indicates that actual entry
(or an erect penis) not be shown, although a vagina you
could drive the producer's new Caddy through fills the
wide-screen like a mucal sunrise. Occasionally the actors
rise above the director's furniture-ad approach and get
carried away in the saddle, beyond satiety but ready to
spend one last spasm for science. This reminded me of a
reformed addict toying with recollections of his last fix.
The idea that this long-distance exhaustion has something
to do with marital fulfillment is like suggesting that a
spoonful of cyclamate has something to do with sugar. Perhaps the same slaver pours forth, but the following malaise
is not the comforting lassitude of a lovers' union. But this
is to suggest too great a power of images inMarital Fulfillment which has all the power of a sponge in dishwater.
Deepest sex is weak as smoke. The Zodiac Couples, with
its slow-motion pastel coupling and gentle hippie lovers,
seems ready to attempt genuine relevance to spiritual
matters until its spirit quickly reveals itself as more corn
than porn. I find about fifteen seconds ofvibrant sexuality
in it, when a longhaired lass timidly strokes her lover to
erection, as if she might be violating a film taboo. This act,
at the film's beginning, becomes a measure of the picture's
failure to rise above the lavender star-gazing of its premise.
Of the movies I've mentioned, this is the only one that
might pass muster with suffragettes, since the passive and
aggressive sides of the love act are about equally divided.
No, I take that back. The flick is still very much about
women's bodies as sex objects-the flowing female lines
and spilling princess-length hair are, by design of nature,
Jnore visually alluring; the hope of seeing a lovely girl erupt

ecstasy (it never happens) is more attractive than
straining to catch sight of the erections which are continually masked by shadow or lost in the camera angle; and
because, fellow filmgoers, that's where the money is. The
picture pretends to relate types of screwing (I take this
from Sally Kempton's article on Women's Lib in Esquire)
with heavenly conjunctions, but nearly all the illustrative
positions are interchangeable with any other zodiacal sign

into

2A

being illustrated, which fractures the movie's premise. Is
there anything really to recommend about this movie? Only
it has the negative virtue of being the least offensive
and the most open to fantasy. And it offers the most pretension when Peter Sellers gets around to parodying sexmanual movies with the high gloss only Hollywood money
can buy.
Freedom to Love is the only film in this group that my
wife happened to see, and leaving the preview she laughed,

a

that

@n

tha
sive

Vie
gan

wide-eyed, "Those Kronhauses-they're forcicolt" The
Grove Press film is by Drs. Eberhard and Phyllis Kronhausen, the sexologists who wrote The Sexually Responsiue
Womon, among other lightweight studies. N{y wife meant
that the pleasure-seeking Kronhausens are earnestly silly
with objectivity while narrating an uninspired moneymaker
in the guise of an attack on censorship. The attack is impo.
tent indeed, since it offers the viewer no program but to
attend more grind films and perhaps to arrange on his own
for an intimate home orgy with friends. Their attack on
abortion laws is less outdated than feeble, and their plea to
have the customs department allow their collection of
erotica into the States remains unspoken. The film asks for
complete freedom of sexual pleasure and expression, fully
liberal attitudes towards homosexuals and lesbians, and for
revision of antiquated sex laws. Perhaps they want us to
write our Congressmen, but they fail to suggest even this.
I suspect that the actors weren't paid nearly as well as the

acl
easl

l

mer

ject

good Drs. K.

The situations depict baby-simple sex problems in a
baby-bland manner and left me preferring Gerber's to
girls. Not a frame of the flick implies that sex is anything
. but pleasure. The K's artwork shown failed to fire me to
letter-writing to Senators Javits or Goodell. Indian temple
bas-reliefs are hastily passed over to hurry to pop cocks
fastened to chairseats, and other novelties. Nor are the K's
paintings lingered over. You have to take it on faith that
the artworks shown are euphoric. The film's chef d'oeuvre
'is
a fairly explicit group orgy among several married couples
during which it's pointed out that group sex is much less
likely to lead to divorce than is adultery, since adultery
leads at times to an overfondness for your partner. This
implies both that adultery's not bad if you don't have emotions and that screwing in a group is casual as kisses. My
deepest objection here is that I want my sexual desire
focused on my wife and not on three other girls I screwed
last weekend, or the weekend before, or before that. Fantasy vitiates my whole life in marriage. I resist turning my
wife into a dummy. That's not easy but I get a little help
from my heart. Someday I will find a perfect focus. The
very worst that can be said for Freedom to Love is that
it's inoffensive except when the K's speak. No, there's one

ane

thr<

lots
the
stre

cha

diss
can

tary
resr

PI

P]

Sur

viol
the
lina
ex-l

hos

worse. I think Grove has a bummer.

That's

it.

Provisionally,

qua

I think I'11 wait for the peter

by

sellers of Hollywood. The grind world is for zombies. A
film pornography which takes strength from the emotional
genius of poetry, the thoughtfulness of Thoreau, the vision
of Picasso, the sleepbreaking of Lawrence, the celebrations

age

pea

ita

Ch:
Chr

of

Solomon, the understanding of Jung, the force of
Wagner, or the spiritualization of Mozart, awaits its own

ma

genius. This catalogue merely suggests the binding of spirits

between lovers which pornography must strive for in
quality-if shared experiences in art really do bind except
cumulatively and in enriching the tone of our being. A1l art
is tragic to the same degree that it exalts, and perhaps the
future of pornography lies in the death of goatishness.

-

Donald Newlove

bec

.

refl

fro:
mer

wel

:: ?changes

oontinuod lrom

that

pq: !

it

is no longer possible to be passive and silent about U.S. activities in
Vietnam and Cambodia, and have organized their efforts towards affecting
a change in American policy in South-

atteinpting to make the transition from

theory to the actual practice of nonviolence.

Intensely emotional discussions exposed some rewarding revelations. Horace Champley, just back from Vietnarrl
related the dehumanization of his experiences. In his own words, the Marine
Corps had fashioned hirn into a nonthinking "green fighting machine".

east Asia.

In an open letter to the press and
mernbers of Congress, the overall objectives of the group were stated.
l: The U.S. Government must
re-evaluate its policies in IndoChina and work towards rapid
disengagement of military per-

sonnel.

2. Concerted efforts must be
made to work towards solutions to the immediate problems

of the

arms race and

domestic policy.

3. Military personnel must

have

the freedom to dissent in

a

responsible manner within the
military system without fear
of reprisal or harassment.

The first project of C.O.M. will be
an effort to help register military voters
through applications for absentee ballots. Encouragement of others to know
the issues and vote will be individually
stressed

by each member. C.O.M. is a

challenge to see ifresponsible organized

dissent of established national policies
can be tolerated from within the military structure and hopefully heard and
respected in the Government.
Ofelia Alayeto

PEACEMAKER O RIENTATI ON
PROGRAM IN NONVIOLENCE
. The Peacemaker's second annual
Summer Orientation Program in Nonviolence was held near Biyson City in
the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina, June 22-Jtly 5. Monroe Smith,
ex-president of Youth Flostels, was the

host, and his ranch was the

The presence

of 60 hippie-types

stimulated the curiosity of local residents, the consequence of which was
a throng ofyoung, curious, and friendly visitors, including the local media
reporters.

As the two-week conference drew
to a close, the general consensus, although some were disappointed at not
having learned all they had hoped, was
that it was a successful and valuable
enough experience to warrant future
* Karen Balzer
meetings.
DELAWARE DBAFT
BOARDS BLEACHED
On Wednesday, June 17, 1970, Selective Service files were destroyed at
Local Boards No. I and 2 in Dover and
Georgetown, Delaware, Anti-personnel
weapons were disrupted as well at the

'Georgetown

National Guard Armory

where Local Board No. 2 was located.
Simultaneously, the state headquarters

of the Selective Service System
Prices Corner

in Delaware

at

was "bleach-

ed away". Portable wading pools and
wastebaskets, placed on the floor of the
DuPont Company Office, were filled

with a bleach solution, into

which
draft records were dumped. Located on

the same floor as the Selective Service
office, DuPont was specifically chosen
as the cite for the destruction of the
death papers because of that corporation's active role in the destruction of
human life.
Those involved in this latest action

will

assume responsibility for it at a
tirne and place of their own choosing.

head-

quarters. The conference was attended
by people representing every possible
age group. In attendance were veteran
peacemakers including Wally and Juanita Nelson, .Ernest Bromley, Horace
Champley of the Phoenix, Fred Moore,
Chuck Matthei, and Suzi Williams, and

many people who just recently have
become involved in draft and tax
refusal.

The daily discussion topics ranged
from draft and tax resistance to Women's Liberation. Extremely significant
were the experiences of those persons

OMAHA SCHOOTS PUSHING DOPE
"If you can't lick 'em, dope 'em."
That seems to be the new education
method in the public schools of Omaha" Nebraska, where between five and
ten percent of the 60,00Godd school-

children have been led by their teachinto taking "behavior modifying"

ers

drugs.

Musselman to single out those "hyperactive" a4d "unmanageable" students
who seem prone to disrupt regular
classroom routine, and to recommend

that those students go on drugs. Alof the students thus led to
pill poppirrg are in the first six grades
most all

of public schooi.
The drugs, in all cases technically
prescribed by private doctors, are usu-

ally one of five types: Ritalin, Dexedrene, Deaner, Aventyl, and Tofranil.
All the drugs usually seem to have a
stirnulant tendancy in the users.
But in a recent interview with Rob-

ert Maynard of the Washington Post,

school board head Musselman admitted he knew little of' Ritalin, the most
frequently prescribed and used of the

"I did learn recenthas a paradoxical effeot on
children. Where it would stimulate an
adult, it works on the central nervous
dnrgs. But, he says,

ly that it

system to calm children."
Musselman, who is also an M.D. and

chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Nebraska college of Medicine, also confessed to

having little knowledge about the "be-

havior modification" program under
which the drug use is encouraged.
He admits, moreover, having made no

effort to learn about the program because, says he, "I have great confidence in the competence of Dr. Oberst. He's a very competent man."
The confidence - competence man
mentioned is Dr. Byron B. Oberst, an
Omaha pediatrician active in forming
the drug use program. In Decernber,
1968, Dr. Oberst attended a seminar
at Syracuse University on the problems of seemingly "hyper-active"
children at which several physicians
talked positively of the quietive effects
of Ritalin and dexedrene. When Oberst
returned to Omaha, he deterrnined to
crusade in behalf of the medications.
According to Dr. Oberst, "Ritalin

increases the ability to concentrate.
How it works is still the sixty-four dollar question. On any of these, even
Dexedrene, nobody precisely knows
the mechanisms of how they function.
But, at the other end of the line, we
know these children become mor€ successful. They become more self-confi-

dent."

Ritalin is indeed a mystery diug,
the product of early efforts to create

The drugs. in all cases technically
prescribed by private.doctors, are usu-

an amphetamine-like drug without the
negative effects of "speed". But as Dr.

School Board and its president Merle

Richard Burack, physician and author
has pointed out, Ritalin might not be
the success its makers hoped; in Swe-

For a little over a year teachers
have been encouraged by the Omaha

21t

o'amphetamine

abusers
den, he notes,
are beginning to ask for it. Sweden has
banned its sale."

Doctors have been urged to be
cautious in prescribing the drug by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration

because of the danger of addiction and
because it seems capable of producing

as side effects anxiety, tension and
agitation. Such questions, as yet unanswered, about the drugs involved in
the "behavior" ptogram have led some
parents

to fear that their

children

might become junkies with
help.

By

November

school

of last year other

problems had become apparent. Thousands of elementary school children
were wandering campuses with drugs

in their pockets, sometimes overdosing
themselves, often swapping pills with
classmates. Teachers are legally prohibited from administering drugs to
students, but in reported instances
teachers have exhorted children to
"take their pill" whenever problems
occur; other teachers allegedly have
upgraded children who they believed
to be taking the tranquilizing drugs,
thus encouraging the idea that medication and mentality are not necessarily related. At the very least, the program seems likely to encourage students to depend on such drugs in
coping with social problems.

nomic priorities.
Other recommendations of means to

oppose the war included working for

repeal

of the draft, support of

draft

resisters andpreventing the draft system

from functioning; telephone and federal tax refusal; support of peace and
freedom candidates; and support of the
demands of all minority groups.

The women's war on war conference, held last Wednesday and Thursday July &9 in Washington, included
about fifty women from labor, church,

student and peace groups united by a
desire to plan actions that would reflect
the urgent need to end the war in Indochina. The conference was initiated by
the Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom (WILPF), with
Coretta King, Bess Myerson Grant, Jane

Hart and Jeanette Rankin among'the
signers of the invitation to the conference.

DART GUN "MOBE DEVASTING
THAN DUMDUM BULLET"
Since 1962 the Army has been developing a dart gun which, according to

Representative Richard Ottinger, is
"much more devastating than the dum-

dum bullet," outlawed by the 1899
Hague Declaration Prohibiting the Use
of Expanding Bullets. The gun shoots
flesh-ripping darts instead of bullets.

In tlie

course

of his recent

Sena-

in New York, Ottinger
- Lowell Ponte torial campaign
made public a 37-page General AcEMERGENCY CONFERENCE OF
counting Office report on the darl gunknown officially as the Special Purpose
WOMEN CALLS SHOPPERS'
Individual Weapon and intended as a
STOPPAGE
Women at an emergency planning substitute for standard Army weapons.
conference to end war called upon the He charged that the Army had acted
President to renounce American use of in secret, without the knowledge of
any type of nuclear weapons in Indo Congress. A Pentagon spokesman de-,
china and to remove all nuclear arse- nied this but admitted that the weapon
nals from Southeast Asia. The state- is being developed. The cost of such
ment cited evidence of such arsenals in development to date is over $26Okinawa, Thailand, Korea and aboard million.
- J,P,,
ships in the China Sea.
INDUCTION CENTEB ACTION
Noting that we are all prisoners of
IN SACRAMENTO
war, the conferees appeale{ to women
In Sacramento on June l0th, two
everywhere to express their outrage at
the continuing war and war preparation persons were arrested when they tried
by launching a "Shoppers' Stoppage" to stop the inductees'buses leaving this
the first Saturday of each month start- city for the Oakland Induction Center.
ing August l. Instead of shopping, Forty or so individuals participated in
women will hand out anti-war leaflets the initial events of leafleting the inin shopping centers which will include ductees as they arrived or picketing in
lists of consumer items manufactured front of the draft board. As the slrby defense industries. This shoppers' wheeledslave ships started their engineq
stoppage will be a method by which about fifteen persons casually sat in the
millions of women can show their re- path of the vessels. After some Peace
sistance to war and their commitment Officers gave the order to disperse,
to a reordering of this nation's eco- only two remained. One is a draft

counselor and the other is a student
facing induction. The two were arrested
and charged with disturbing the peace,
failure to disperse, illegal assembly, and
pedestrian in front of a vehicle failing
to yield right of way. When their trial
does come up, they will plead innocent
to all charges. Sacramento Area Resistance will continue to take direct nonviolent action against the War Machine

and the politics of murder that
quite evident

'n'n

uuu'

I

will
SECI

SUPr

byr

rol

thre

ap

are

solr
Yor

,rrory Kester

flag
pub

ECOLOGICAL LAWNOBDER
It is now possible for anyone to get

said

ing

involved in the battle to save our environment and profit by it at the same

too

toti

time.

I

The 1899 Refuse Act prohibits
anyone from dumping or discharging
any kind of refuse into any navigable

Isla

tee,
Pea

rivers, lakes, sireams or their tributaries
unless a permit has been obtained from
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Any

Uni

A

person discovering such an act being
committed and'who provides the U.S.
Attorney with sufficient information
leading to a conviction of the violator,
can receive one-half the fine set by the

I

Arn
fish
wor

court. Finesrange from $500 to $2,500
for each day or incident of violation.
When providing information to the
U.S. Attorney, the following information should be included:
l. nature of the refuse discharged
2. source and method of discharge

the

cest

and

bvl
reje

tht

3. location, name, and address of
the offender
4. name of the waterway involved
5. name and addresses of persons

was

inc
ed

casl

who saw or know of the discharges and who could testify

hor
Jerr

about them

6. a statement showing that the fischarge was not authorized by a
permit

7. photographs and samples of the
refuse

if possible.

int

More inforrnation concerning this
Act can be obtained by writing to Rep
resentative Michael Harrington, 1205
I-ongworth Building, Washington, D.C,
2051

5.

*

,(

Go
ma

file

lav

*

President Nixon, in a half-hearted
attempt to apply law and order to the
industries raping our environment, has
established the National Industrial Pollution Control Counoil. It consists of
fifty-five men who are all-without exception-top executives of such companies as General Motors, Standard Oil,
Republic Steel, and Ford Motor Company.
- Bruce Chistiansgn

Yo

int
chr

on

thr
pr(

lea

sta

WI

30
'S

f
information on its citizens in the fol-

FLAG-WACKY D.A. LOSES
Nassau CountY District AttorneY

William Cahn, who has pledged to pro'
secute anybody wearing

a

peace symbol

superimposed on the flag, was deterred
by a recent decision of a 3-judge federal'

court.

"Our citizens are entitled not to

be

threatened with prosecution because of
a particular' interpretation given to a
somewhat vague statute (a 1905 New
York law against disfigurement of the
flag) by a Prosecutor whose views on
prrbiic irsrres may differ from others,"
iaid the majority opinion. "The wielding ofsuch individual power approaches
too closely that exercised in so-called
totalitarian countries."
Supporting the defense was the Long
Island Vietnam Moratorium Committee, Nassau CountY Women Strike for
Peace and New York Civil Liberties
Union.
- J,P.

ABMY'S BASIC TRAINING CAN
TUBN MAN INTO CO
Michael Stap, who claimed that the
Army's training in advanced infantry
fighting had turned him into a CO, has
won his release with a general discharge.

The discharge was granted

desPite

the fact that the Army was in the pro-

of appealing a habeas corpus writ
and restraining order granted to Stap
by U.S. Judge Lawrence Whipple. After
rejecting his appeal for release as a CO,
the Army ordered Stap to Vietnam. He
was taken to McGuire Air Force Base
in civilian clothes. While officials search-

cess

ed for a uniform to Put on him,

he

casually walked away and hitchhiked
home. The next daY StaP's attorneY,
Jerry Friedland, obtained the writ.
- l.P.
COMPUTERIZE D IISCARTHYISM

"The police, securitY and military
intelligence agencies of the Federal
Government are quietly compiling a
mass of computerized and microfilmed
files here on hundreds of thousands of
law abiding yet suspect Americans."
So stated Ben Franklin in a New
York Times feature story out of Washington lune 2'7. Senator Sam Ervin,

of the Senate Subcommitee
on Constitutional Rights has charged
that this "mass suryeillance system unprecedented in American history" is
leafing the country toward a "police

chairman

state."

Outlining the sPecifics, Franklin
writes: "The Government is gathering

lowing reservoirs of facts:

A

Secret Service com7uter, one of

the newest and most sophisticated in

ln

its memory the names
'malcontents"
activists,
and dossiers of
persistent seekers of redress, and those
of potential assassrns and persons convicted of'threats against the President.'
A data bank comPiled bY the Justice
Department's civil disturbance grouplntelligence on peace rallies, welfare
protests and the like provide the'data
base' against which the computer mea'
sures the mood of the nation and the
nation and the militancy of its citizens.

Government.

A

huge file of microfilmed intelli'

gence reports, clippings and other mat'

erialson civilian activity maintained by
the Army's Counterintelligence Analysis Division in Alexandria, Va. Army
lntelligence was ordered earlier this
year to destroy a larger data bank and
to stop assigning agents to 'penetrate'
peace groups and civil rights organizations. But complaints persist that both
.J.P.
are being continued.

them by killing them. The attitude is
the people are dirt. Trucks hit-and-run
kids or do it iust for the heck of it.
If the mother comPlains, she's a VC
sympathizer. Even PeoPle who don't
like war, feel you get off quicker bY
killing. That's why I feel we should end
the war as quick

as

Possible."

How long were You in the armY?
"Eight years. I came in 1956 and
served til '64 and went back in again
in '67, expecting to go to JaPan but
was sent to Vietnam' I made it to
Sweden in '68, contacted the American
Deserters Committee. After six months,

I felt I

wanted to bring mY message
home. The Swedes were interested but

couldn't do anYthing. I went to the
U.S. Embassy in Stockholm and was

told I'd get a six-month special court
martial if I returned.
"Instead, I was accused of desertion.
My defense was a militarY lawYer who
came to the stockade and asked me to
sign an agreement to a six-month prison
term. I refused. "Well, you know you're
guilty," he said. So I got two civilian
lawyers, Stephen Arinson and Harvey

Anderson

of

PhiladelPhia, both ex-

INTERVIEW WITH
EDWIN ABNETT
Ex-U.S. Army Sgt., Edwin tunett is

army. They argued that intent was perfectly clear: I had returned voluntarily

just out of Ft. lravenworth Disciplin-

found guilty of desertion and sentenced
to four years at hard labor and a dishortorable discharge plus being busted

ary Barracks, having successfully fought
a 4-yet sentence for desertion. He's in
Chicago to tell his story, an interesting
one as it unfolded in interviews on

hne

22-23'.

"I want to see what I can do to
help GI's that are in jail because of
neglect by military lawYers."
How rtid you come to be interested?

"By getting screwed myself. I've got

to go all the way back to Vietnam, to
a massacre incident at Cam Ran BaY, a
cove on the China Sea. Our company
wanted that village to extend the base.
They asked the people to move three
times and the village chief said no.

Did the army offer an

alternative

place?

"No, theY just said get out. TheY
hung 'em in the air, decapitated them,
tied hands and feet of some and ihrew
them in the baY. That was December,
1967. After the incident, they blamed
it on the VC. Stars & Stripes said the
enemy annihjlated a village, but the VC
were nowhere near the Place."
As far as you know, the armY did these

things in 1965-1966?

"They did it all the time. The armY
doesn't like the civilian population'
They get in the waY so theY "free"

with all of my identification. I

was

in rank and forfeiture of all pay and
allotments. The Military Board of Review reversed the time to one year after
15 months. I was released from Ft.

kavenworth June 10, 1970, theY returned all money except one year's pay,
the lawyers are still fighting the

dis-

honorable discharge.

"With civilian lawyers you're halfway represented. \Uth a military lawyer, there's no representation at all; it's
for show. I want to help to represent
the other GI's that don't have funds

for competent lawyers. They usually
listen to a civilian lawyer. At least a
GI has a chance'"
You'll be hearing from

U!,i;fit;:;;

Edwin Amett was imqisoned in the
Fort Dix stockade duing the rebellion'

of the Fort Dix 38. lle
was'called by the Army as a material

one year ago

witness duing the court martial of Bill
Brakefteld, allegedly one of the "lead'
ers of the rebellion, and helped con'

tribute to Brakefield's conviction by
testifying against him Brakefield wal
sentenced to three years at hard bbor.

-

Eds.

3l

There it v,as, and hcre I am. Started
walking on the Summer Solstice lrom the
coast of Maine; spending July 4th traversing
our time developing our political program
the heart of Nerv ltrampshire. The coast was
to as high a level as possible. We don't
always cool with breezes, but now I'm
attempt to drive people from radical pacifism, ultra-leftism or liberalism through heated starting to set by rnid-afternoons for long
polemics. They do a good enough job themsiestas" Harly mornings are for walking
Dear WlN,
rnost of ail, and Cod the evenings! As a
I'd like to comment on the Seth Foldy- selves. We seek to provide a viable alternakid there used to be a feeling that would
Jerry Coffin exchange in the last few issues tive to those who have become disgusted
sweep through me as I'd walk summer
with capitalist politics on the one hand,
of WIN in particular, and on the anti"frotskyist mania of the radical pacifists in
evenings along the country-road-side riverand adventurist tactics on the other.
winding parks out in the mid-west-sweep
At the National Anti-War Conference,
general.
through me and turn the rippling waters
PL-SDS spent their speaking time attacking
Unlike Seth, I stdrted out as a rudical
into liquid Life, the fireflies to fairies. I'd
pacifist, working with him in the Cleveland us. They also spent our speaking time
like to feel that five or ten more times
attacking us, through constant chanting and
Resistance, but then found myself agreeing
points of procedure. However, we spent our before the martial music of another civil
more and more with the concepts of revowar can claim these quiet, humid evenings.
lutionary socialism. I especially became corr' speaking time explaining our politics. It's
not surprising that each upsurge in the con- I'd like to feel out which of these paths
vinced .of the YSA-SWP strategy of mass
inside me has a heart.
stant growth of YSA occurs at the end of a
action in regard to the anti-war movement.
As I walk I read sometimes, or write,
demonstration or a conference. We try to
There is one specific aspect of radical
or talk with people. F'or food there's fruit
pacilist opposition which I feel is importaflt rely on the validity of our position to win
and vegetables from grocery stores. For
people to our point of view.
enough to devote this letter to.
sleep
at night the fields and woods.
that
YSA:
'7
What
I
the
New
Left
is
it
ln
ask of
Seth says, in tegard to the
So many memoties are out there waitcriticise on a rational, political level.
no way attempted to attack their policies
ing to be touched-so many places that I
Seth smirks, in regard to the ultraas a whole." This is the Achilles heel of
want to see again before the sky starts
pacifist opposition to YSA-SWP. What
lefts, "They were the most relevant group
falling. And friends: old friends and thsse
of the evening, chanting'Bullshit'." ReleSeth has said points out why after l0
who've yet to be. So before supposing that
years of existence, the YSA is the most
vance does not consist of who can think up
stable and fastest growing youth organizathe wittiest slogan, nor in boycotting a con- I'm out of my poor mind-if not because
I think the sky will fa1l, then anyway
ference, or mud-slinging. Erding the war is
tion on the left. While radical pacificts
because I think just walking could do anyhave seen fit to attack every possible
the single most relevant task the radical
thing to mitigate it-let me recomrnend that
movement has in front of it. This cannot
aspect of Trotskyism..."The SMC has a
you try out some meditative walking on
be accomplished unless we speak to each
suspicious habit of sticking solely to massyourself. Just try a day or two devoted
other with respect and with the aim in
marching (which is now respectable enough
purely to awareness of the world, and of
mind of developing the strongest political
for Trotsky-ites)"-Seth Foldy, or..."We
yourself as you move through it. Along
program possible to meet our goals. We
have probably all had the uneasy feeling
toward evening maybe buy some apples and
must learn to communicate in this way if
in listening to certain 'revolutionaries'
a bag of unshelled walnuts, almonds, filfor no other reason than the task of ending
speak that they have in mind taking over
berts and brazils from some passilg store
the war is a great one and demands every
the current system and substituting them.
and spread your sleeping bag out underbit of our energy.
selves for the current bosses."-Paul Obluda.
neath the naked stars and let yourself
In Peace,
You'd have to dig pretty deep to find a
forget you ever thought you had an ego.
principled political analysis in these stateSandy Knoll
Whether laying, sitting, walking, humming
Cleveland, Ohio
ments.
it's called meditation. Godspeed.
I'he fact that the New Left has failed
F.P. Salstrom
Dear Folks,
to launch a successful political struggle
Rock Island, Ill.
I recently got the first copy of my
against Trotskyism, something which Seth
compliments himself upon, was one factor
subscription and I've come to the conDear WIN,
which caused me to become disheartened
culsion that you guys arc gteatt I mean,
you can't have all that much money to
John Holt in his letter to WIN in the
with the Resistance and became a catalyst
June 15 issue does a serious disservice to
toward my joining the YSA.
throw around, but there are obviously
the back-to-the-land movement by criticiz^
One instance of this unprincipled
several fons of talent at work.
ing Paul Johnson's article. Holt speaks with
opposition: At the February conference
One aside-Leah Fritz, you are
little knowledge of how things work in the
the Independent Radical Caucus, in which
beautiful!
Love to You,
rural situation. This is particularly harmful
the radical pacifists took part, embraced
Lloyd MacDowell
every conceivable representative of the
Los Angeles, Calif. in Holt's case because he is considered by
sonle to be a voice of knowledge.
lunatic tiinge of left politics, all united: in
Irirst of all, this population thing. Holt
opposition to Trotskyism. Granted, the
Dear WIN,
says, "there is not enough idle land, in New
proposal that came out of this caucus
On the morning of February 15, 1970
Mexico, Vermont, or anywhere else to sup
succeeded in including everyone's favorite
it had flashed through my head to devote
port more than a very small part of our
demand, but lacked the slightest degree of
myself to a Prayer Walk across the United
population." What is "Idle Land"? All
coherency. The downfall of the proposal
States, to spend this Year of the Dog layland is owned by someone in this eountry
was that no one could figure out its politics. ing one dog in front of the other, covering
so nong is idle in that sense, but there's a
An emotional alliance had been launched
the country east to west, and conceivably
lot of land for sale. In Nlaine, where we
in opposition to YSA, rather than a political thereby heading off some tiny fraction
live, a chunk can"be bought for $50 an
of America's vast karmic debt.
alliance.
(Incidentally, later checking MY
acre-or even less. That's not much of an
Another example of "in no way attemptinvestment.
FORTUNE HOROSCOPE (LEO) for that
ing to attack their policies" was exhibited
Look at a map of the U.S. Then look
day, I read, "Travel prospects which should
in and around the National Emergency
at New York City-just the five boroughsConference to End The War just last month, further your career could makc unexpected
not all the rest of the junk around it. Elight
The radical pacifist leadership of New Mobe appearance. Take them up if otfered."
million people live there. That's five per(Davis, Dellinger, Waskow, etc.) didn't feel
Simply coincidental no doubt.)
cent of the LI.S. population. It's certainly
Unless I'm deluding myself, the failure
confident enough to go into a massive anti.
not five percent of the land mass. And a
war conference armed with a wellthought
of the abortive Pax Americana overseas is
large percentage of the remaining 95 perout strategy that could attract thousands of going to precipitate the breakdown of
cent live in places like Los Angeles, Chicago,
people. They systematically refused to confederal control here at home. When that
Detroit, Washington, Philadelphia and Boshaipens, one trillion dollars worth of
vene a broad conference. When the Cleveton--where I{olt lives,
land Area Peace Action Council finally
highly-desired junk goes up for grabs, and
Things could obviously be a lot more
took the initiative to call the conference,
it's going to take some pretty fancy mobilspaced out than they are now-a lot more,
not only did New Mobe abstain from it,
ity to stay out of the way of the contendI;or everybody. Not just a small part oi our
but urged other activists not to attendl
ing parties.
32

letters

This very weakness of the New Left
ls the strong point of the YSA. We spend

popt

for t

ghet

tow

situa

hom

theil

job

r

fion

I

Johr
live

zine
one
1,20
gard

estin
at le

feet
peol

the

I
thin

Extt
(yor

cultr

tivel

mos
can

the

l

I

san

Mel
age

IESi

Jin
out

Wis
ran

can

Enl
Pet

ser
doi

bur

aga

hel
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Pet

tint
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len

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De

7
population. That means instead of working
for better ghetto housing, ghetto jobs and

stores all winter. Dried beans do tbo. And
so do grains. The Nearings' Living the Good
Life (Social Science Institute, Harborside,
Matne 04642) talks about this in depth.
HoIt doesn't believe the soil can be kept

ghetto education, perhaps it might be better
to work towards spacing people out in a
sifuation where they can build thefu own
fertile without rotating the crops nor does
home instead of live in some cubicle, grow
he believe that you can garden in New
their own food instead of work at some
job and learn from the trees instead of only Mexico or in rocky New England. These
beliefs are unfounded. With organic gardenfrom books.
ing methods you "build soil" by adding
Next thing: food yield. Holt says Paul
organic materials high in nutrients and
Johnson couldn't grow enough food to
minerals. We are in Maine and our soil
live off an acre, Organic Gardening magazine which is a reliable source states that
is thin and rocky. But by taking out the
rocks and adding things like manure, seaone person can live for one year off of
1,200 running feet of vegetable row in a
weed, rock phosphate, granite dust and
garden. I personally think that's a high
mulching with hay we'll have beautiful soil
estimate. But anyway, one acre supplies
in a year. And we won't have to rotate our
at least 24,000 running feet (spaced 2
crops because we will continue to add
feet apart). That's enough food for 2.0
organic materials-everything left over goes
people. And with successive plantings in
into the compost pile: corn stalks, human
the same garden, that's food for even more. waste, scraps from the table. Organic
Preserving and storing vegetables Holt
methods of gardening not only allow you
thinks it's hard. Pick any Agricultural
to use the same plot year after year, they
Extension Bulletin on storing vegetables
demand it: the soil gets better and health(you can get a copy from any state agriier every year. Again, the Nearings'book
cultural office) and you'Il see it's relais a good one to consult.
tively easy. There's all sorts of ways. The
Holt feels that Paul Johnson will be
most common is a root cellar where you
forever tied to the industrial set up because
can store root vegetables and members of
he can't make his own tools. But I can't
the cabbage family all winter long. Squash
possible see how a hammer, a saw and a

you to the industiial complex.
Holt contends that you can't heat
without coal, oil or gas How about wood?
At least until we find. efficient ways to use
spade ties

solar heat. You don't need much wood if
the house'has got big southern windows to
let the heat in from the sun during the
winter and you\e got a good efficient
stove like an Ashley.

Holt finally agrees with Buckminster
Fuller that we're going to need all sorts of
new technology to keep things going-"we
to find ways to collect, store, and
distribute in large quantities power from
things like the sun, the wind, the tides and
perhaps other sources-including even the
heat from the inner.earth itself."
Why? To keep things going like they
are? Why do we need all this technology?
Primitive societies have been doing quite
well for centuries. We don't need any new
technology. Technology and all that goes
with it is precisely the problem and to say
we nqed new technology to get rid of the
need

old stuff is just as foolish as saying we need
new wars to bring about peace!

I agree with Paul. We've got to learn to
space ourselves out. Get out of Boston, Mr.

Holt, and join the Aborigines!

Kip

Shaw

Jefferson, Maine

MOVIN'ON...Don Baty, who took
sanctuary in the Washington Square
Methodist Church in Greenwich Vilage, has done his two years for draft
resistance and is on the outside again...

Jim Forest, of Milwaukee 14 fame, is
out of jail also. He served a year in
Msconsin, part of the time doing
ranger duty at the state forestry prison
camp...And Phil Stiles of the New
England CNVA is out of Allenwood...

Peter Kiger

is in

Bellevue Hospital
serving in a blood experiment in lieu of

doing three months for draft card
burning. When the DA was arguing

against letting Peter do the experiment
he said that Peter is a "professional agi-

tator who's been arrested 15 times."
Peter corrected him-it was over 25
times. He'lI be out of the hospital the
beginning of this month.

BLACK AND WHITE...Dave Dellinger's book, Revolutionary Nonviolence, is available starting this month
from WRL for $7.50. It's a compilation of his writing since 1943 when he
served his first sentence for draft resistance...Paul Johnson, WIN's editor-inthe-grass has written a book also. It's a
novel called Iy'aked Junction, published

complete with music by Brad Burg to
Bentley's lyrics...And if you want to
publish your own great work, contact
One Big Union at 14 Cooper Square,
NYC. It's a movement typesetting out-

fit run by some

members of the Liber-

ated Guardian collective...Black Mountain Press, Box l, Corinth Vt. 05039
is offering a reprint for seven cents of
Clarence Darrow's address to the pris-

of the Cook County jail in
1902. lt was printed in WIN last year
and freaked everybody out because
there's no time-gap in the piece at all.
Darrow could have been giving that talk
to the Conspiracy Seven people this
oners

year,

PUSHING PEACE...Peace Brigade,
a group in Berkeley, is offering a series

of three day sessions on nonviolence,
to be held throughout the summer.
The workshops are held at their commune, and there's no fee other than

that needed to cover expenses. Write
for their brochure to 2400 Bancroft
Way, Berkeley...The telephone operator who hassles with the WRL account

by Olympia

to pay federal tax
asked Ralph DiGia to send her some
phone tax refusal cards. We win converts in strange ways...The Jeanette

Liberaiion is devoted to Eric Bentley's
"The Red White and Black-A Patriotic
Demonstration". It's a movement play,

commemorate their leader's ninetieth
birthday, has set up an annual peace
award program. Two awards will be
given each year: one to a person who

Press, and is not available
from the movement because it's male
chauvinist porn...A special issue of

because we refuse

Rankin Rank and File,

in

order to

in the committee's opinion contributed
the most to further Jeanette Rankin's
goals ofpeace and equality, and one in
the form of a scholarship to a young
person who has shown the same inter-

est...The American Mathematical So
ciety has set up a program (called

Mentor) to "help advanced mathematics students maintain their mathematical interests...during enforced absence from the mathematical community." The plan was originally conceived
of to help draft resisters in prison (the
Bureau of Prisons promised full coop
eration), but it will reach a much wider
body of people also, particularly those
in the mfitary. For additional information contact R.C. Buck at the University of Wisconsin...A letter signed
by 139 law professors opposing a bill
which would enact a new Defense
Facilities.and Industrial Security Act
has been sent to each member of the
Senate. The bill, which already passed
the House, authorizes the Secretary of
Defense to designate defense facilities
and to designate sensitive areas of employment within such facilities. In
other words, people considered for such
jobs would be screened thoroughly for
contacts with "Communist" agencies,
and witnesses would not be made available for cross-examination by the potential employee's counsel. The law
professors hold that the bill is a direct
violation of the first amendment.

FINAL REMINDER...Be friendly,
visit your neighborhood draft board
today...Think peace.

-

lUendy
33

THOU SHALL NOT KILL
YELLOW AND WHITE
25d Ea.;5 or more 2Od Ea.
END THE WARI Student-faculty group
at the University of lllinois, Chicago,
presently doing research on the feasibility
of an effectiv.e nation-wide economic boycott. We have a short questionnaire and
need people to fill it out; whether you
favor boycotting or not, please help us.
write: THls wlLL woRK, 1034 North
Richmond, Chicago, lllinois 60622
UNION OF RADICAL SOCIOLOGISTS
promotes radical analysis and practice.
Membership and subscription to THE.
INSU RGENT SOCIOLOGtST, $3.OO.
David Colfax, Sociology, Washington
University, St. Louis, Mo.6313O.

Two kids-Don, 18 and Janice, 14need a free school. Grew up mostly in
Micronesia free as birds. Can read and write
after a fashion. Creative. Janice likes all
kinds of dancing and creative arts; Don is
a rock freak with some talent for singing
in rock bands, Will have to board at school
or in someone's loving home. Contact Wm.
V. Vitarelli, Saipan, Mariana lslands, 9695O,

OUTSIDE THE NET: A new magazine in
education needs manuscripts and subscriptions ($4.0o/year). Write 223 Delta St,,
No. 112-E}, East Lansing, Mich. 48823,

..LIVING THE GOOD LIFE',. Write for
free leaflet describing Scott and Heten
Nearing's book on natural foods, organic
gardening, stonehquse building. Forest
Farm, Harborside, Maine 04642.

Editing revision, rewriting, from somebody

who learned the HARD uay-at

trVlN.

Super-reasonable rates; my noeds are small,

pressing, Will consider any job that
doesn't require leaving the Southwest. Write

but

to: Paul Johnson, Somewhcre in

Write to:
Robert Calvert
817 East l6th St.

Brooklyn, N.Y. 11230

fu'Q?
t,fi*
tr- -.V
9r rU

WIN IS

EXPECTING
AGAIN
Our office cat, Tabby, is
expecting another litter
(Probably six) of kittens.

They will be gray and
black striped and adorable. They should be

ready for their new homes
about September 1Oth.

TAKE N.Y. TELEPHONE
OUT OF THE WAB

Please come take one
home. Also, if anyone
has a good home' for
Tabby, the mama, contact us at 1212l. 228-

at 11:30 AM
there will be a demonstration
at theNY Telephone Co.,269

o270.

5thAve. Peace Parade Comm.,
War Resisters League, Greenwich Village Peace Center and

DIRECTORY
Di.rectory of Communes - $1,
Directory of Free Schools -$1.

Directory of Social Change -$1.
Directory of Nudist/Sex - $1.
Directory of Personai Growth-$f.
A11

5 for $4.00 ptus newspaper:

ALT ERNATTYES -5:6 , t5z6

Gravenstein, No. , Sebastopol, Calif.

New

Mexico, c/o WIN.
Wanted: position open for executive secret4ry for the Capital Area Peace Center, Albany, New York. Duties: coordinating
peace activities in community, technical
draft counseling, public appearances as guest
speaker, newspaper contributions. Apply
Mr. Frank Snow, 16 Waverly Place, Albany,
New York.

HELP WIN
Sell WIN on your campus or in
yout community. weu send
you a bundte (as hrye or stull
os you con use) od charye

Couple young 30s + 2 kids desperate for
sane, creative life. lnterested starting/ioining commune or co-op Vancouver Area.
Bob Gasoi
5783 Mosholu Ave.

opies for crdit. l4trite WIN,
3i9 Lafayette St., N*l York,
N.Y. 10012 for further details.

you

151

'em

for

Wr copy. You sell

30(. Renm unsolL

'Bx., N.Y. 10471

WIN classified adsreach more than 8,000
lovely, turned-on people! Advertise your
thing in WIN! Rates per ad, per insertion:
first 15 words $2; each 10 words thereafter $1. Make check or money order
payable to WIN MAGAZINE. Payment
must accompany order.

August 18

Amsterdam Ave. (between
72nd and 73rd Sts.), sponsored by War Tax Resistance,

others.

Instead of paying phone
bills by mail we will pay the
bills in person (minus the excise tax which helps finance
the war in Indochina).
Ourgoal is to have as many
people as possible paying their
phone bills at the same time.
Tax resistance is a movement;

to make it successful we must
make it grow. We must make
ourselves heard.

A similar demonstration
will take place on Sept. 15 at
the phone company office at
195 Broadway.

People hope that the government will change national
priorities. Tax refusers still
hope, but also realize that
they must take action. If the
government is to change, the
people must change it.

For further information
contact;
WAR TAX RESISTANCE
399 t afayette St.
New York, N.Y. 10012
477-2970 or 777-5560

Pr

flr
br

Fr

m

l

iterature
THE ESSAYS OF A.J. MUSTE. Compiled bY Nat
Hentoff.

Includes sections

I

of

A.J.'s uncompleted autobiography

Finally in paperback, $3.45.

TRIALS OF THE RESISTANCE. Compiled from the
New York Review of Books.

\-

Accounts

of

recent political trials with commentary by

Chomsky, Ferber, Kempton, and others. 246 pp. $2.45.

L,v

SAIGON, U.S.A. Alfred Hassler, Executive Secretary,
FOR
An account

of the U.S.-supported Theiu-Ky dictatorship;
introduction by Sen. McGovern. 320 pp. $3.25.
SEARCH FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. AMCT.
ican Friends Service Committee.

or969

Concrete proposals based on a 2-year international sur-

Put this decal in your cai wrndow and let the American

vey. 68 pp.15d

flag freaks know where you stand. The best idea since the
bumper sticker, it comes in patriotic red, white and blue.
Four and a quarter inches in diameter so that it can't be
missed at any speed. 751 each, three for $2. Order from
WIN, 339 Lafayette St., NYC 10012.

THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.
Lens.

Analysis pius

a

complete reassessment

ol

Sidnev

U.S. loreign

policy. 161 pp. $2.95.
WEAPONS FOR COUNTERINSURGENCY

A rnanual for organizitrg local proje cts 1o protest aspects of
thc military-industlial cotnplex. 104 pp. S I .

SAL SI PUEDES: CESAR CHAVEZ AND THE NEW
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Peter Mattiessen.
".A.t a time when violence seems to have become a fact ol
public 1ife, Chavez has maintained the principles of nonviolence," (l'1"Y. Times) Hardcover, 372 pp. $6.95.

emerge into the light with

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Hurndn b;n n d.re rr.rorth & ri5Y klrt iz
iotto $y,ua#'rr,&ioi., (hw7, {Wu, +, tl"
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