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Not one more Dead!

Hugh Fyson a member of the Socialist Action League, and editor of their fortnightly newspaper, Socialist Action. In 1969 his brother, George, was the Socialist Action League delegate to the Ninth National Convention of the YSA. Last year Hugh carried of the family tradition.

J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, came in to back the efforts of Nixon and Agnew last year in their campaign against students' political rights. In an "Open Letter to College Students" which was sent to 900 university administrators together with a covering letter from Nixon, Hoover called attention to the "extremist" groups which are most dangerous. He singled out the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) as being, in his view, a particularly severe threat.

When I travelled to North America and attended the Tenth National Convention of the YSA, held in New York City December 27-31, I was able to observe at first hand the success of the YSA in relating to the deepening radicalisation. This of course is what's worrying Hoover so much. In a special article for the VFW Magazine (VFW Veterans of Foreign Wars), he gave out a dire warning; 'The Trotskyists ... have shown a vast membership growth and resurgence in the last 24 months until YSA is today the largest and best organised youth group in left wing radicalism." 1200 people participated in the convention, during which 125 more asked to join the YSA.

One of the important reasons for this is that the YSA has proven itself capable of withstanding the pressure that the ruling class, both Democrats and Republicans, imposed on the student movement following the massive student strike that swept the country last May. This pressure was of a dual character: a variant on the well-tested combination of the velvet glove and the iron hand. The velvet glove came in the form of a whole array of "peace" candidates in the two main parties who tried to get the students back into "the system" by turning their efforts away from building the mass antiwar movement that was becoming an increasing threat to the ruling class, and towards getting these "doves" elected. Instead of doing this, the YSA supported the campaign of the Socialist Workers Party, which called on the "doves" to come out for immediate withdrawal from Indochina, rather than "gradual" withdrawal which in practice means more or less supporting Nixon's war policy. Politicians opposed to the war should help build the antiwar movement, and not the other way round, said the SWP.

The iron hand was wielded in an unsteady fashion by Nixon with the aim of restricting students' political rights and whipping up hysteria against the student "bums." I came across a good example of how the YSA responded to this attack while I was in Portland, Oregon. Portland State University has about 12,000 students, and during the May events the biggest street march was 10,000 strong. YSAers there told me how shortly after this they were singled out and thrown off campus, charged with the heinous crime of using the facilities at PSU to hold classes on socialism. Instead of going "underground" or resorting in desperation to violence (which would nave suited the administration), they immediately launched a broad civil liberties campaign, demanding their democratic right to function as a legitimate campus group at PSU. It wasn't long before the administration had to give way.

There are three main questions around which the radicalisation is deepest in America today: the war, women's oppression, and the oppression of Black and other national minorities.

A Gallup poll released January 30 found that nearly 70 percent of the American people want the U.S. troops out of Vietnam by the end of the year Nixon's policy of calling every escalation a step towards peace is loosing credibility all the time and today awareness of the need to take action to force Nixon to withdraw is deepening.

This sentiment is reflected in the growth of the National Peace Action Coalition, which has adopted the strategy of mass action in the streets as the most effective way of ending the war. NPAC is the strongest coalition that has existed since the antiwar movement started in 1965 Right now it is organising a mass march on Washington and San Fransisco set for April 24, for which it has already gathered a record number of prominent sponsors, including such personalities as Carl Stokes, mayor of Cleveland, the novelist Norman Mailer, and the Black comedian Dick Gregory who was banned from entering Australia last year.

Opposition to NPAC and April 24 from within the antiwar movement comes from a loose grouping of individuals and organisations associated with the apparently now defunct National Coalition Against War, Racism and Repression Their only unifying policy is a dislike of mass action in general and of NPAC in particular. Many of those in NCAWRR prefer civil disobedience tactics, some of whom have put forward a grandiose proposal to "trash Washington" on May 1. These forces fail to understand that the key task in ending the war is to mobilise the largest possible numbers in action against it. Demonstrations that aim at disruption only turn people off.

The Student Mobilisation Committee, on the other hand, is among the advocates of mass action and one of the main supporters of NPAC. The correctness of its policy is reflected in the fact of its steady growth, making it by far the largest antiwar organisation on the campus and in the high schools. Not surprisingly, SMC was singled out along with the YSA for special mention by J. Edgar Hoover.

The radicalisation among the troops has reached a point where it is hard to find a GI who supports the war. This has enhanced the perspectives of the GI antiwar movement. I caught a glimpse of the feeling among the soldiers when I took part in a demonstration outside the induction centre in Oakland, California. The draftees arrived in busloads, and as they entered the building many took our leaflets, and gave the peace sign and the clenched fist salute.

When Ed Jurenas of the Seattle YSA was drafted, he gave notice of his intention to continue his antiwar activity inside the army. Later he received orders for Vietnam. Then the brass must have decided that they had made a mistake. While in Oakland waiting in transit for Vietnam, his posting was suddenly and without explanation changed to - Alaska.

Just two years ago the women's liberation movement consisted almost entirely of small groups which met to talk out their common problems in private. Today, in demonstrations like the August 26 strike, we see thousands of women pouring into the street to demand their liberation. The women's liberation movement has grown at an astonishing rate, reflecting the depth of the radicalisation that is sweeping America today.

The large scale demonstrations on August 26, which included a march of 35,000 in New York, indicated for the first time that the demands of women's liberation have mass appeal. Women protested that day in nearly every major city and in smaller towns to demand: free abortions on demand - no forced sterilisation; free, community controlled - 24 hour childcare; equal opportunity and pay on the job; and equal opportunity in education.

The YSA has been in the forefront in recognising the revolutionary nature of this movement, supporting feminist demands, and building feminist groups and mass actions by women.

Connected with the rise of women's liberation is the gay liberation movement, which is being joined by increasing numbers of homosexual women and men determined to bring to an end their status as pariahs in American society today. Already the pressure that the movement has exerted has forced certain state governments to remove reactionary legislation which prohibited individuals from determining their own sexual relations with one another.

Another important aspect of the women's liberation movement has been the development of Third World (ie, Black, Chicano and other oppressed nationalities) women organising around their oppression as women. Third World women suffer from the triple oppression of being women, belonging to an oppressed nationality, and being workers. This movement is now beginning to have a profound impact within the Black and other Third World communities.

Nationalist consciousness is spreading and taking hold of every sector of the Black population, and surfacing in many different forms. Last year's postal strike is a clear example of the combativity of Black people in America; the appearance of militant Black Gl organisations among the U.S. troops stationed in Germany is another; the recent revolts of Black prisoners in jails across the country is yet a third.

Despite the government campaign to liquidate them, the Panthers are still a force among the more politicised layers in the Black community and on the campus, which is a further indication of the strength of Black nationalist sentiment. But their lack of any strategy of how to defend themselves or the community from racist violence, or how to further the movement for liberation has posed a crisis of leadership in the Black struggle.

Preoccupied with "picking up the gun", the Panthers have failed to see the need for self defence in conjunction with mass action With the continuation of police attacks on all forms of Black protest, there is an urgent need for a mass Black political party capable of mobilising the entire community in defence of its interests.

A political party of this kind has indeed begun to emerge among the Chicano people: La Raza Unida party. It has grown rapidly, and is already established in Colorado. Texas and California, the main areas of Chicano population. In several areas it campaigned in the 1970 elections, and drew significant support despite the bitter hostility of the Democrats and Republicans. Its attractive programme of far reaching reforms and its vigorous approach to politics will undoubtedly bring La Raza successes in the coming period, strengthening it as the key element in the mobilisation of the entire Chicano people in their national liberation struggle.

In Southern California the super-rich white ruling class has already begun to feel threatened by the growth of the Chicano movement, and has expressed this in its ready use of the Los Angeles police force to attack Chicano street protests. On August 29 they killed two people and wounded many others when they attacked a peaceful march of up to 40,000 Chicanos. The demonstrators were demanding the withdrawal of all their 'carnales' (brothers) from Vietnam. (Chicanos suffer the highest proportion of casualties in Vietnam of any nationality in the United States.) Another rally of 10,000 against the war on January 31 was followed by a brutal assault on the East Los Angeles barrio, in which one Chicano demonstrator was killed and at least 25 wounded.