B y The EditorsThere is a m ounting d rive afoot

to destroy the Student Nonvio lent Coordinating Committee. The most ominous move in th is d irection has been the A tlan ta ind ictm ent of SNCC chairman, Stokely C arm ichael, and 14 others on fram e-up charges o f in c itin g to r io t. SNCC’s A tlan ta P ro ject d irector, W illia m Ware, has been indicted fo r in c iting to r io t and fo r creating an “ in surrection.” Under a Georgia statute, the la tte r charge provides penalties up to death.

Police ShootingThe arrests were made as out

breaks occurred in A tla n ta ’s ghetto. The f irs t outbreak occurred a fte r a w h ite cop shot an in nocent Negro. F u rthe r demonstrations wer% touched o ff when a b lood-th irs ty racist drove in to the ghetto and k ille d one Negro youth in cold blood and wounded another.

The outbreaks were intensified by savage police repressions.

A statement by SNCC declares: “ B y try in g to pu t the blame fo r the A tlan ta b lack revo lt on the Student N onvio lent Coordinating Committee, M ayor Ivan A llen becomes a pawn in a national conspiracy to destroy SNCC and the grow ing m ilitancy in the black com m unity . . .

Black Power“ We are fu l ly aware that every

w h ite racist po litic ian in th is countr y w ould like to see SNCC crushed fo r its stand against Johnson’s po licy in V ietnam and the sending o f black mercenaries to fig h t an illega l w ar. We know these same forces are a fra id of black power, black un ity , because i t is a th reat to the ir stranglehold on the black com m unity.”

SNCC has ample reason fo r m aking th is charge. Ever since i t declared itse lf against the V ie tnam w a r and fo r b lack power, i t has been under m ounting attack. The halls o f Congress have resounded w ith v ile denunciations of SNCC and demands fo r investigation o f it. Newspaper editoria ls have smeared the organization. Politic ians N orth and South have denounced it. In Philadelphia, c ity o ffic ia ls have a “ dynam ite” fram e-

THE

MILITANTPublished in the Interest of the Working People

Vol. 30 - No. 33 Monday, September 19, 1966 Price 10c J

Appeal Prepared For Fort Hood 3

Stokely Carm ichaelP hoto b y C ha rm ian C hap lan

up going against SNCC. Philadelphia police o ffic ia ls have branded

Carmichael a dangerous agitator who should be kept out of town.

In Chicago, a num ber of people w ork ing w ith SNCC have been arrested. In Watts, a SNCC sta ff member has been the target of police harassment.

Opponents o f the V ietnam w ar and partisans o f b lack power obviously have a stake in ra lly in g to SNCC’s defense. B ut everyone concerned w ith freedom, justice and equality has an equal stake,

regardless of the ir v iew of SNCC’s policies. C learly, i f the attacks against SNCC are successful, they w il l not stop there.

SNCC has urged tha t telegrams protesting the persecution of Carmichael, w ith copies to SNCC, be sent to M ayor Ivan A llen and Police Chief H erbert Jenkins, A tlanta, Ga.

SNCC is also in urgent need of funds to carry on the figh t. Contribu tions should be sent to: SNCC, 360 Nelson St., S.W., A tlanta, Ga. 30313.

A series of legal moves are underway to w in freedom fo r the three GIs court-m artia led by the arm y fo r the ir opposition to the V ietnam war.

The three servicemen, known as the F o rt Hood Three, were convicted in courts-m artia l a t F o rt D ix Sept. 6-10 of refusal to obey an officer. They had refused orders to board a plane fo r V ie tnam because they had a c iv il su it pending seeking to bar the arm y from sending them to fig h t in the “ illegal, un just and im m oral w a r” being waged by the U.S.

P riva te Dennis Mora, the firs t of the three to be tried, was sentenced to three years at hard labor, fo rfe itu re of pay and a dishonorable discharge. Pfc. James Johnson, a Negro, and Pvt. David Samas were given the m axim um sentence of five years, even though the charges against them were the same as M ora’s. Each of the three were tr ied by a d iffe ren t board of officers, a ll of whom arrived at the ir verdicts in less than a ha lf hour.

T he ir convections are subject to automatic review w ith in 30 days by L t. General W illia m F. Tra in, commanding general of the F irs t A rm y. He has the option of up

hold ing or reversing the conviction. I f he upholds it, he also has the option of reducing the sentences.

I f he does uphold the conviction, an appeal w i l l be made to. the U.S. M ilita ry Board of Re-, view. I f tha t appeal fails, the case w il l be taken to the M ilita ry C ourt of Appeals, w hich is roughly equivalent in the m ilita ry legal h ierarchy to the Supreme Court. .

Meanwhile, tw o other legal approaches are being pressed in the c iv il courts. The whole case began, last June when the three GIs, through the ir attorney, S tanley Faulkner, applied fo r an in junction enjo in ing the Secretary o f Defense and the Secretary of the: A rm y from sending them to fig h t in Vietnam.

The application fo r an in junction was denied by the U.S. C ircu it Court and an appeal was im -- mediately file d w ith the U.S. Court o f Appeals. W hile th is appeal, w hich is s til l pending, was before the courts, the arm y moved to obstruct the legal challenge in the c iv ilia n court. They did so by. ille g a lly detaining the three GIs and then entrapping them by. ordering them to board a special

(Continoed on Page 4)

Peru Trial of Peasant Leader Under Way( W orld O utlook ) — As feared

by the defense, the Peruvian governm ent opened the tr ia l fo r Hugo Blanco Gald6s, the w e ll-know n T ro tskyis t peasant leader, w ithou t adequate notice; and selected a court in Tacna, a small town, where even routine press coverage is d iff ic u lt.

Aug. 29 was set as the opening day fo r the tr ia l. B u t the three L im a defense attorneys, D r. A lfredo B atillano Maggiolo, Doctora Laura Caller Ib erica and M arcia l Chalco Reyes, were not registered in Tacna. Proceedings were held up w h ile provisions were made to register the three attorneys locally.

T w enty-e ight defendants were brought in to court Aug. 30. (Tw o days later, the num ber was in creased to 29.) N ine others were named in the indictm ent, bu t have not been apprehended.

The tw o leading figures in the case are Hugo Blanco, who is being defended by D r. Batillano; and Pedro Candela Santillana, who is being defended by Dra. Caller. The la tte r attorney, to

gether w ith M arc ia l Chalco, is a lso representing the 27 other defendants.

The prosecuting attorney, L t. Col. Oswaldo Paulin ich, demanded 25 years in prison fo r Hugo Blanco, 22 years fo r Pedro Candela and from 2 to 20 years fo r the others.

The demand was not w ithou t sinister im plications. The Peruvian press had free ly predicted in advance tha t the prosecution w ould demand 25 years fo r Hugo Blanco, b u t tha t the judges w ould hand down the death sentence. The press prediction proved to be accurate as to the opening moves of the prosecution, g iv ing rise to forebodings tha t the tr ia l w il l end w ith m artyrdom fo r Hugo Blanco.

Defense Objections D r. B atillana objected to the

tr ia l being held in Tacna because i t “ lacked the necessary guarantees” fo r a fa ir hearing. He also charged tha t the defendants were brought to Tacna hastily and w ithou t previous notice.

The defense also filed objections over a series of legal “ omis

sions and errors" in the case. They argued fo r dismissal o f the case; and, when th is was denied, demanded its postponement. This was denied inasmuch as the M il ita ry Code does not provide fo r postponements.

In addition to a ll the other d if ficu lties facing the defense, the government placed the case under the Code o f M ilita ry Justice, a l

though the alleged crimes actually come under c iv il law .

The defense also charged tha t the tr ia l was un fa ir, since 80 percent of the defendants speak only Quechua, ye t the tr ia l is being conducted in Spanish. When the court read the charges to the defendants in Spanish, Dra. Laura C aller objected. She pointed out tha t the M ilita ry Code provides

Blanco's Co-DefendantsBesides Hugo Blanco and Pedro Candela, the 27 other

defendants being tr ie d w ith them are: An iceto Munoz P in ares, T ibu rc io Bolanos Davalos, Fortunato Vargas Guzman, Jose Z u - ftiga Letona, V icente O rtiz Quispe, F ide l Orue O rtiz, Bernard ino Zarate Ramirez, Crisologo G o rd illo Almandoz, Moises Paz Huacao, E m iliano Semordes Ojeda, Francisco Cayo Palomino, Nemesio Bocangel Zavala, Juan Pando Paucar, Basilio A lvarez, Jose Pereyra Paucar, Lu is A g u ila r V illaco rta , Gerardo Carpio M olina, Hum berto Caraza Moscoso, Leonidas Carpio Jordan, M arcelino Rosa, Pascual Z arate; Ramirez, Lucio Bengolea Torres, Fortunato Torres Paniagua, Andres Gonzales Tejada, Antonio Huaccoc Leon, Gregorio Surco Quispe and Bernard ino Quispe Lav illa .

in such instances fo r an in te rp re ter.

The head of the m ilita ry t r i bunal, Col. Roberto Acosta, said tha t a fte r the charges were read in Spanish a copy translated in to Quechua w ould be handed to the defendants.

When Hugo Blanco was brought in to the small, crowded courtroom at 8:30 a.m., he shouted the slogans o f the peasants whom he had led in the va lley o f La Con- venci6n in the heroic struggles o f 1961 and 1962.

The presiding judge became very angry and ordered silence on penalty o f being sent out.

Hugo Blanco remained seated u n til 12:30 p.m., when the hearing was suspended. He then rose to. shout again, “ T ie rra o M uerte !" [Land or D eath!] Pedro Candela and the other 26 loud ly echoed the slogan before the appreciative spectators who had jammed in to the courtroom.

Hugo Blanco was dressed in & simple b lack leather jacket. A p parently, he le t his beard grow

(Continued on Page 5) ■:*.

Defend SNCC Against Attempts to Destroy It!

Page Two THE M IL ITA N T Monday, September 19, 1966

a itiiim m iiiiiiii ii' THE NATIONAL PICKET LINE

Inflation Sparks StrikesThe f irs t s ix months of 1966 re

vealed a rise in rank-and-file union m ilitancy tha t was to ta lly unexpected b y a ll the so-called labor experts, who had earlie r predicted a year o f labor peace. These predictions were p a rtia lly based on a U.S. Labor Departm ent report th a t exp iring union contracts covering 5,000 or more workers w ou ld invo lve a to ta l o f less than a m illio n union members in negotia tions th is year. This compares w ith a projected figu re o f mome than 2,000,000 in 1967.

A m ore recent report b y the La bor Department, however, showed th a t w o rk stoppages have actually Increased nearly 15 percent over the recession year of 1960. For the m onth of M ay alone, before the s ta rt o f the a irline machinists’ Strike, some 2,870,000 man-days were lost as a resu lt o f strikes. Th is is the highest M ay to ta l in seven years.

The p rinc ipa l demand in these strikes is fo r h igher wages to combat a soaring rise in the cost of liv in g . The cause of the strikes, however, is the greed of the bosses w ho are jealously guarding contin u in g record p ro fits by stiffening th e ir resistance to w orkers’ demands. One of the levers they are using is President Johnson’s 3.2 percent wage-increase guideline , w h ich was projected last year precisely fo r th is reason.

Wage IncreasesDespite th is sweetheart deal

w ith Johnson, most o f the companies struck th is year have been forced to make concessions, and wage increases are reported ly averaging around fiv e percent. Th is modest v io la tion of Johnson’s wage guidelines s t i l l fa lls fa r short of the continuing in fla tio n a ry b ite in to the rea l wages o f workers.

A sample of the a ttr itio n of w orkers’ liv in g standards was conta ined in a m id-Ju ly report by the Bureau o f Labor Statistics. I t re ported tha t after-tax average earnings o f a ll fac to ry w orkers in June had remained unchanged from the previous month, bu t tha t the rise in the cost o f liv in g had taken a 25-cent-a-week b ite out o f spendable income. The report added tha t the weekly income o f a facto ry w orke r w ith three dependents rose from $96.99 in June, 1965, to $99.22 in June o f 1966. In th is one year, the spendable in-

The rate for advertising In thii column b 40 cants a line. Display ads ara $2 a column Inch. Thora Is a tan percent discount for regular advertisers. Advertising must reach us by the Monday prior to the data of publication.

DETROITO U R TIMES A N D THE NUREMBER6

TRIALS. Speaker, Ernest Goodman, C iv il L iberties A tto rney. Fri., Sept. 23, 8 p.m. Debs H all, 3737 Woodward Ave. Ausp. Friday N ig h t Socialist Forum.

v . LOS ANGELESTHE W H ITE M A N RETURNS — Neo

colonial Coups in Africa. Speaker, Hayden Perry. Fri., Sept. 23, 8:30 p.m. 1702 E. Fourth St. C ontrib . $1.00. Ausp. M ilita n t Labor Forum.

MINNEAPOLIS FRANZ J. T. LEE, member o f the

A frican People's Democratic Union o f Southern A frica , executive secretary o f the Alexander Defense Com m ittee, speaks on The Fight Against Apartheid in South Africa. Fri., Sept. 23, 8:30 p.m. 704 Hennepin St., Room 240. Ausp. Friday N ig h t Socialist Forum.

N EW YORK WALTER SCHNEIR, co-author o f In

vitation to an Inquest, speaks on THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ROSENBERS-SOBEL CASE. Fri., Sept. 23, 8:30 p.m. 873 Broadway a t 18th St. C on trib . $1. Ausp. M ilita n t Labor Forum.

come, a fte r taxes and cost o f l iv ing adjustments, had declined 21 cents a week from $88.09 to $87.88.

In the face of these facts, even some union o ffic ia ls are being prodded in to conceding there is jus tifica tion fo r the grow ing mood of rank-and-file m ilitancy. AFL- CIO research d irector N at Gold- finger, fo r example, recently said: “ The trade unions have taken a clobbering over the past few years. A ll the figures show a sh ift in income d is tribu tion tow ard profits and away from wage and salary payments.”

W illia m B lackburn, president of a Pennsylvania local o f the In ternationa l U nion o f E lectrica l W orkers (IU E ) claimed three months ago tha t recent rises in the cost o f liv in g have eaten up h a lf the pay increases tha t local members have obtained since 1960. “ Every tim e the cost o f l iv ing index comes out,” said B lackburn, “ we get a lo t o f grum bling.” He indicated th is “ g rum bling” was not the resu lt o f a change in po licy by union leaders, however, and tha t grievances were “ coming in no t at our urg ing.”

W orkers’ grievances are not confined to wages alone, and there is substantial evidence to show tha t dissatisfaction w ith w ork ing conditions is the second-most reason for-grow ing unrest. The New Y ork- based Am erican A rb itra tio n Association (A A A ) recently reported tha t i t had 4,097 labor grievances file d w ith i t in 1965, about 27 percent more than in 1960, and higher than any previous year in its records. The A A A claims tha t grievances th is year are continuing to pour in at a near-record level.

Tenna Strike

A n example o f th is was the one-day strike at the Tenna Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio, last spring when workers w alked o ff the job a fte r allegedly protesting tha t i t was too hot to w ork. The company claimed they w ent out because “ i t was ju s t a beau tifu l day.” I t subsequently turned out tha t the strikers were actually protesting a new speed-up procedure the company was in troducing.

The w a lkou t was so solid that the company was unable e ither to f ire o r suspend any workers. They paid the strikers fo r the tim e they were out and agreed to accept grievances file d during the strike. Am ong these were the demands tha t workers be treated w ith more

m :

m m :-

respect and tha t in fu tu re w a lk outs, the company should “ not pu t a car at the foot o f the drivew ay to the park ing lo t so the workers can leave the p lant.”

A n example o f grow ing company resistance to on-the-job grievances is cu rren tly occurring at the Lockheed Shipyard in Seattle w hich employs 5,000 and is referred to as the “ snakepit” by fo rm er Lockheed workers. Conditions are so miserable tha t there has been almost a 100 percent tu rn over o f young trainees in one skilled c ra ft alone.

Many QuitThe Boilerm akers Union, w hich

supplies most o f the skilled mechanics in the Shipyard, reports tha t approxim ately 200 Boilerm akers e ither qu it in disgust or were fired since Jan. 1. One of the threats used by Lockheed against the workers is tha t they are ine ffic ient, and the company is considering im porting Japanese workers to f i l l th e ir jobs.

Another symptom o f discontent in the unions is opposition to sweetheart contracts negotiated by union leaders. IU E members in Johnstown, Pa., fo r example, returned to w o rk in J u ly a fte r a six-week strike against the Pennsylvania E lectric Company. D u ring th is lengthy w alkout, they turned down three company o ffers and, in each case, pressured union negotiators to go back fo r a better settlement.

A nother factor not to be overlooked is tha t rank-and-file w o rk ers are showing an increasing w illingness to strike at a tim e when Johnson and the boss class are escalating th e ir d ir ty w a r in V ie tnam and try in g to bleed the m u lti-b illio n do lla r cost o f the w a r out o f the hides o f the American w ork ing people.

The ir phony wage guidelines, combined w ith the war-bred in fla tion , are chewing up modest wage increases won by workers almost as fast as they are received.

One effective w ay to combat th is attack on liv in g standards is fo r rank-and-file m ilitan ts to begin to push fo r a s lid ing scale of wages clause in a ll union contracts. Under such a agreement, wages w ould autom atica lly rise every tim e the cost o f l iv in g in dex w ent up. This demand w il l help p u t some real meaning in to the w orkers’ struggle against in fla tion.

— Tom Leonard

Role of Nazis in Fanning Chicago Racist Attacks

B y H erm an PorterCHICAGO, Sept. 11 — A fte r

creating an unexpected s tir fo r the past month and a fte r much pub lic ity , the heralded march and ra lly organized by George L inco ln Rockwell and his Am erican Nazi P a rty yesterday turned out to be a flop.

Rockwell and the Nazis moved in to Chicago last month to t r y to bu ild th e ir fascist organization through an e ffo rt to m obilize the racists and u ltra -r ig h t-w in g elements in th is c ity . Rockwell presented h is racist agitation as an answer to M a rtin L u the r K in g and the Chicago Freedom Movement and as an answer to “ b lack revo lu tion.” The Freedom Movement, w h ich is made up o f K in g ’s Southern C hristian Leadership Conference and the C o-ordinating Counc il o f C om m unity Organizations headed by A1 Raby, has been engaged in a campaign to w in open housing since K in g ’s massive ra lly in Soldiers F ield, J u ly 12.

K in g ’s strategy in the campaign has been to pressure the Daley adm inistration to give concessions by exposing the deep-going racism tha t underlies Chicago’s segregated pattern o f housing. K in g has led his fo llow ers in marches in to some o f the most notoriously racist sections o f the c ity and immediate suburbs. The marchers, committed to nonviolence, were m et by how ling racist mobs w ith bricks and bottles.

First MovesThe f irs t b ig march occurred on

Ju ly 31, and large ones were held on succeeding Sundays. Rockwell and the Nazis intervened early in August in an e ffo rt to gain publicity and adherents to fascism by w inn ing the leadership o f the racists and m obiliz ing them in action against the c iv il r igh ts movement. R ockwell’s in it ia l success in evoking a response among racist and righ tw ing elements came as a surprise to almost everyone. No one suspected tha t these selfavowed fo llowers of H itle rs w ould gain any sign ificant fo llow ing.

A t firs t, the Nazis handed out large numbers of p rin ted signs w ith ju s t the slogan “ w hite power” and the swastika on them. These were taken up in the racist neighborhoods and were carried by the hostile spectators along the route of K in g ’s marches.

On Sunday, Aug. 14, John Pat- ler, R ockwell’s chief lieutenant and the editor of the “ Storm Trooper,” succeeded in w h ipp ing up a crowd of several hundred

young w h ite racists. The ra lly was held in M arquette Park, in the heart o f the neighborhood tha t had responded most v io len tly to the marches.

Rockwell called another ra lly in M arquette P ark the fo llow ing Sunday, Aug. 21, at w hich some 1,500 people appeared. A considerable section of the crowd was made up o f fore ign-born, profascist elements who were ready to shout such slogans as “ K i l l the Jews.” A t th is meeting, w h ich represented R ockw ell’s greatest success, he announced tha t he w ould lead a march in to the South Side ghetto fo r “ w h ite power” on Sept. 10. The march was to be fo llowed by a ra lly a t the Coliseum w hich seats 5,000 or more people.

Big PublicityThough Rockwell and the Nazis

continued to get enormous te lev ision and press pub lic ity , they held no other pub lic events u n til the march yesterday.

In the meantime, K in g reached an agreement w ith M ayor Daley to call o ff his marches. The “ concessions” won were pu re ly token, however. Led by Robert Lucas, head o f Chicago CORE, some of the more m ilita n t partic ipants sought to continue the campaign w ith a march in to Cicero on Sept. 4. Though hundreds of racist w hites gathered in m any places along the route o f the march, the Nazis d id no t intervene.

A l l o f the e ffo rts o f R ockw ell’s fo llowers were directed tow ard bu ild ing th e ir m arch and ra lly on Sept. 10. Reportedly, 40 Nazis from across the country were mobilized in Chicago.

B u t the march fizzled. I t began w ith few er than 100 people, most o f them the ou t-o f-tow n Nazis, and grew to a peak o f about 150 marchers near the end. The last h a lf o f the line was made up a lmost exclusively o f teen-age boys, picked up along the route.

Though Rockwell bragged a great deal at the ra lly tha t n igh t about having marched through the ghetto, most o f the march was through a completely w h ite area o f p riva te homes. The march did go several blocks in to a predomin a n tly black adjo in ing area of priva te homes — w hich could not be termed the ghetto.

O n ly 150 attended the ra lly at the Coliseum. R ockwell had announced there w ou ld be 5,000 to 10,000 people. Aside from the core o f Nazis, most o f the audience was middle-aged, m any of them old, fo re ign-born Bundists w ho hadn’t had a chance to “ Sieg H e il” a t a pub lic meeting in decades.

The day’s events demonstrated tha t though R ockwell had gotten great pub lic ity , and the Nazis had been able to agitate considerable numbers w ith th e ir rac is t line, they had attracted ve ry few new people to th e ir fascist program and organization.

A t the ra lly , Rockwell explained the Nazi program fo r solving the “ Negro problem .” He called fo r a convention to amend the Constitution and require th a t Negroes be deported back to A frica . Some of the boats m igh t leak and m igh t no t make it, he explained. F ive or s ix m illio n w ould volunteer to leave, he predicted. The rest w ould be pu t on reservations.

“ I f they continue w ith black revolution, we m ust exterm inate them,” R ockwell said. He mentioned S tokely Carmichael and Robert Lucas as types due fo r exterm ination.

R ockwell’s successes in Chicago show once more the depths o f the racist attitudes inculcated in whites in th is society — in N orth ern cities as w e ll as in Mississipp i. They show also tha t th is racism creates a great potentia l reservoir fo r a fascist movement.

Monday, September 19, 1966 THE M IL ITA N T Page Three

A THOROUGHGOING FRAUD

The Saigon ElectionsB y D ick Roberts

SEPT. 13 — The results o f the Sept. 11 elections in south V ie tnam have been greeted by Saigon and Washington a like as a v ic to ry over the guerrillas, comparable to the v ic to ry the V ie t M inh scored over the French at D ien- bienphu. “ We are heartened by the fac t tha t the elections were held,” the W hite House stated, “ and heartened by the size o f the heavy tu rnou t as reported.”

In Saigon, New Y ork Times correspondent Charles M ohr re ported s im ila r feelings: “ The large tu rnou t of registered voters in south V ietnam ’s nationa l elections yesterday,” M ohr w rote Sept. 12, “ w il l force north V ietnam ‘to have second thoughts’ about the w ar and ‘to adopt a w iser attitude,’ the south Vietnamese chief of state said tonight.

“ According to figures issued by the government today, 4,274,812 of the nation ’s 5,289,652 registered voters cast ballots. That was 80.8 percent . .

And in^the U.S. Senate, m ino ri ty w h ip* Thomas Kuchel from C alifo rn ia declared tha t the election was “ an extraord inary demonstration by a poor and hum ble people o f th e ir courageous devotion to the cause o f self-government . . . The Vietcong may w e ll have suffered th e ir D ienbienphu — at the po ll.”

B u t the o ffic ia l enthusiasm is no t ve ry persuasive. The elections excluded not on ly the National L ibe ra tion Front, b u t also the Buddhist opposition w hich had begun the struggle fo r elections last M arch to begin w ith .

Margaret S a n g e r, w o rld -re nowned pioneer advocate of the basic human r ig h t o f b ir th contro l, died Sept. 6 on the eve of her 83rd b irthday. F o r more than h a lf a century, th is woman conducted a struggle fo r a ll other women against a colossal combine of Established Reaction which chained them to ignorance, fears and superstitions. H er passing w il l be mourned and her achievements saluted by gra te fu l m illions.

Today “ fa m ily planning” is re garded as thoroughly respectable, the on ly c iv ilized w ay to deal w ith reproduction in human, no t animal, terms. To clear the w ay fo r accepting th is concept, M argaret Sanger had to endure unrem itting persecution by legal authorities and the church, inc lud ing crim ina l indictments, a ja i l term , organized raids on her b irth -co n tro l c lin ics and police attacks on her meetings. In 1914, she was made liab le to a prison te rm o f 45 years under the Comstock law fo r the “ suppression o f vice.” H er “ crim e” was sending b irth -co n tro l in fo rm ation through the mails!

U n til a fte r the F irs t W orld War, M argaret Sanger stood v ir tu a lly alone except fo r a sm all band of progressive women, some of them Socialists. In the course o f time, th is o rig ina to r o f the phrase “ b irth contro l” acquired a grow ing corps o f supporters and defenders of her cause. B y 1937, even the hidebound Am erican M edical Association recognized b ir th contro l as pa rt o f leg itim ate medical practice.

A bout 10 years la ter, the A m erican B ir th Control League, established in 1921, became the in fluen tia l Planned Parenthood Federation of America. I t comprises more than 250 centers in 150 cities. The In te rnationa l Planned Parenthood Federation, headed by M argaret Sanger, has become a w orldw ide movement w ith 38 member organizations in 88 countries.

W hat was elected was not a body w ith legislative powers, bu t one w hich has the sole r ig h t o f d raw ing up a constitu tion — and one w hich w il l be autom atically disbanded at the end of a six-m onth period. Furtherm ore, the ru lin g Saigon jun ta has veto power over a ll decisions made by the 117-man- body w ith less than a tw o-th irds m a jo rity .

This means tha t w ith a bloc of 40 representatives in the constitutiona l assembly, the jun ta w i l l ru le supreme. A nd tha t much is certa in ly guaranteed, considering tha t the m a jo rity o f those elected were e ither active or fo rm er m ilita ry men, c iv il servants in the Saigon adm inistration or other representatives o f the bureaucracy on p rov inc ia l levels.

Large Turnout?The on ly argument tha t apolo

gists fo r the U.S.-puppet regime are le ft w ith is the one tha t there was a large tu rnou t fo r the elections, in spite of the “ Vietcong te rro rism .” B u t th is argument is suspect, too. Registration fo r the elections was not vo lun ta ry . I t was automatic. In local d istricts, actual voting was conducted under m ili ta ry ru le.

N B C -TV news, Sept. 11, showed one voting place where the voters had been rounded up and trucked to the polls in U.S. a rm y vehicles.

And in the week p rio r to elections, the so-called te rro ris t a ttacks had declined considerably. The New Y ork Times reported Sept. 9 tha t there had been an average of 817 incidents weekly in May, compared to 517 in the week ending Sept. 3, and 358 in

The knowledge and means of b ir th contro l are s t i l l w ithhe ld from many Americans, as w e ll as people in other nations. State laws fo rb id free dissemination o f b ir th - contro l in fo rm ation and access to its techniques. These remain, by and large, a p riv ilege of more a fflu e n t and better educated in d iv id uals and fam ilies. Poverty and ignorance deprive those women who need i t most of the means fo r planned parenthood.

Taboos Declining-B u t the taboos are gradually

breaking down. Even the Catholic hierarchy, the most r ig id opponent o f th is emancipatory movement, is beginning to bend a lit t le . Last m onth a group of mothers, ch ildren and college students demonstrated in fro n t of New Y o rk ’s St. P a trick ’s Cathedral to hasten a favorable decision from the Vatican.

M argaret Sanger’s achievement demonstrates how even “ a m ino ri ty o f one,” w ith a correct and necessary idea, can generate enough power to p reva il against seemingly overw helm ing and in surmountable prejudice and conservatism. This va lian t woman promoted a w orldw ide movement by ho ld ing f irm and fast to her hum anitarian principles.

In a ra tiona l society, planned procreation w il l go hand in hand w ith a planned economy. This combination can be achieved only through an enlightened socialist order, created by w ork ing men and women to f u l f i l l th e ir needs.

I f an indom itable woman “ in league w ith the fu tu re ” could b ring about such impressive re sults in the single area of b ir th control, cannot a devoted m in o rity o f revo lu tionary socialists, armed w ith a fu l l program of emancipation, set forces in to m otion which w il l accomplish much more? The answer is im p lic it in the example set by M argaret Sanger.

the s ix days fo llow ing that. This ha rd ly speaks fo r a “ greatly stepped up campaign of te rro r.”

B u t the elections themselves are not the m a jo r question. More sign ifican t is the fact tha t these elections are one step in the much greater strategy of the U.S. puppet regime to isolate and crush a ll in te rna l opposition outside o f the region d irec tly controlled by the National L ibera tion Front.

I t need be recalled tha t fo r over three months o f th is year, from m id-M arch to la te June, there were demonstrations almost every day in the three large Vietnamese cities against the puppet government and against U.S. in tervention in Vietnamese affa irs. Those demonstrations w ent much fa rthe r than ca lling fo r “ elections.”

M any marchers called fo r U.S. w ithd raw a l fro m V ietnam and p ractica lly a ll o f them demonstrated sympathy w ith the idea o f im mediate negotiations w ith the N LF.

The m a jo r question is, w hat happened to th is opposition? And the answer lies in a closer exam ination o f the events between the f irs t Hue demonstration last March, and the Sept. 11 elections. These events can be roughly b ro ken down in to fou r phases:

• March 10 -A pril 14. The dismissal of General Nguyen Chanh T h i leads to a series o f m ilita n t demonstrations, p a rticu la rly in H ue and Danang, bu t then also in Saigon, cu lm inating in an agreement between K y and the U n ified Buddhist Church to hold new elections.

• A p r il 14-May 15. The demonstrations do not subside. They become la rger and more m ilitan t. Troops and policemen jo in in ; w orkers at the U.S. a ir base in Danang go on strike.

• M ay 15-June 20. K y attacks Danang, and a fte r crushing the opposition in th is c ity , attacks H ue, June 17. Buddhist leader Thich T r i Quang is arrested in H ue, June 20, a fte r a fu t ile passive resistance e ffo rt. K y announces, “ As fa r as I ’m concerned, i t ’s a ll over. We are over the hump.”

• June 20-Sept. 11. Demonstrations continue fo r several days in Saigon, bu t they are crushed by troops and rio t-squad cops. M art ia l law is established. Leaders are arrested. This is fo llowed by a consolidation o f m ilita ry control in a ll three cities and preparations fo r “ free elections.”

These events do not spell out a grow th of support fo r the K y re gime leading to acceptance of the idea of “ democratic elections.” They spell out the crushing o f an inc ip ien t c iv il w a r w ith in a c iv il war, and p r im a rily through the decapitation of its leadership.

Washington d id not s it id ly by w h ile a ll th is was happening. F rom the ve ry beginning, i t was clear where Johnson stood, and he d id no t at tha t tim e consider the U n ified Buddhist Church some small m in o rity tha t could easily be shrugged o ff. “ The Johnson adm in is tra tion ’s overrid ing concern in south V ietnam ’s po litica l crisis,” the New Y ork Times reported A p r il 7, “ is said to be the surv iva l o f the 10-man m ilita ry jun ta , w ith o r w ith o u t P rem ier Nguyen Cao K y at its head.”

U.S. Gives W ordH ow was this to be done? The

inside word came from New Y ork Times reporter N e il Sheehan from Saigon, A p r il 11. “ Senior United States o ffic ia ls here,” Sheehan declared, “ are understood to feel tha t south V ietnam ’s m ilita ry jun ta must combine p o litica l concessions w ith a po licy of firmness towards dissidence and street violence i f i t hopes to survive . . .

“ The Americans feel the jun ta should re-establish contro l over Danang, now in the hands o f Buddhist leaders and rebellious arm y units . . . The occupation of Danang by pro-governm ent troops

w ould enta il force and probably bloodshed, U nited States o ffic ia ls say. They add tha t force, w h ile i t must be used jud ic iously, should not be shrunk from .

“ Control over H ue,” Sheehan continued, “ can be achieved later, o ffic ia ls say. The jun ta is being advised to isolate the c ity by cutting o ff its road, ra il and sea links. H ue is dependent on the outside fo r its food supplies. A t the same time, the o ffic ia ls say, the jun ta should move f irm ly against Buddhist students who have been organizing the demonstrations.”

Before “ Agreement”This was w ritten , i t is to be

noted, before the agreement was reached between T r i Quang and P rem ier K y on A p r il 14, tha t elections should be held. In tha t agreement, fu rthe r, the constituent assembly was to include the U n ified Buddhist Church and i t was to have legislative powers.

B u t i t was Washington’s advice and not P rem ier K y ’s w ord tha t was fo llowed. Once having obtained T r i Quang’s agreement in m id -A p ril, K y ’s police forces began stepping up th e ir repression. When Danang was crushed in late May, T r i Quang again w ent in to opposition and was more outspoken in his attacks on the U.S. — blam ing Johnson d irec tly fo r the Danang assault.

The real details of the attack on Danang and then H ue, where T r i Quang surrendered, have never been released,' and i t may be some tim e before the real tru th comes out about the fate of the oppositiona l leaders. A n idea o f w hat happened to some of them was hinted at in a Reuters dispatch datelined Saigon, Aug. 13:

“ Four hundred soldiers and c iv ilians who allegedly took part in the abortive Buddhist movem ent to unseat the Saigon governm ent earlie r th is year are being detained on an island near Cambodia, a freed prisoner said here today . . .

“ The ex-prisoner said he was one o f the 89 soldiers who were released yesterday from a m ilita ry ja i l on Phuquoc Island a fte r tw o months’ detention.

“ He said most of the prisoners on the island were soldiers from the tw o northern cities of Hue and Danang, the m ain strongholds of the three-m onths-long Buddhist revolt, Which the government crushed in M ay and June. The prisoner said the captives in cluded 30 arm y officers of the rank o f captain or above.”

The on ly leader no t imprisoned o r k illed , so fa r as is ascertainable, appears to be Thich T r i Quang h im se lf who has been hosp ita lized on a hunger s tr ike since his capture.

The crushing o f t jie Buddhist leadership was the m ain prere

Margaret Sanger, A Heroic Fighter For Basic Human Rights, Dies at 82

By Evelyn Reed

quisite of continuing the m ilita ry regime. B u t i t could not stop there. Once H ue and Danang were m ilita r ily occupied, K y established m artia l la w in Saigon itse lf. This required crushing one a fte r another student revo lt w ith r io t- squad cops, cordoning o ff the student and Buddhist headquarters w ith barbed w ire and m ainta in ing an early curfew fo r a num ber of days.

Does k ill in g and im prison ing the leadership of the Buddhist movement and staging a rigged election constitute a fin a l v ic to ry fo r democracy, Ky-Johnson-style, in Vietnam?

The answer is also in the events themselves. M any thousands o f students, workers, soldiers and even police were invo lved in the spring demonstrations. They were often self-armed, and they made the ir own slogans, sometimes going fa r beyond the m in im a l demands of the leaders. When T r i Quang had made the A p r il agreement, the W all Street Journa l o f A p r il 19 questioned i t because,

Called a Hoax“ Buddhist soldiers and students

are denouncing the monk-general accord as a hoax tha t w ould perm it the generals to ra lly strength over the next few months and then to crush th e ir opponents.”

I t is true tha t the T ri-Q uang leadership vacilla ted and f in a lly was crushed, b u t th is is not to say tha t the many thousands of people in the ranks — w ho carried the whole movement to new heights o f m ilitancy, even a fte r the A p r il agreement — have been crushed or s im ply thoroughly demoralized.

The w a r has escalated day a fte r day, and the U.S. atrocities w h ich im pelled the rebellion s ix months ago are tak ing place on a doubled and trebled scale. The chances are K y ’s and Johnson’s election euphoria w i l l be short-lived — and i t w i l l u ltim a te ly be shattered by the ve ry people who were supposed to have turned out in such surpris ing numbers, Sept. 11.

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A G A IN S T K Y R E G IM E . Saigon students during demonstrations last spring against K y dictatorship.

Page F ou r T H E M IL IT A N T Monday, September 19, 1966

... Fort Hood 3 Appeal

Minneapolis Tribune Photo

D E F E N D F T . H O O D T H R EE. Minnesota Com m ittee to End the W a r in V ie tnam held street meeting Sept. 6 on case of an tiw ar GIs. Speaking is Jack M arsh, Socialist W orkers P arty candidate fo r congress from Minnesota’s fifth district.

(Continned from Page 1)plane to Vietnam, know ing in advance they w ould not comply w ith the order.• Upon the ir detention by the A rm y, Faulkner sought a w r it o f habeus corpus from a U.S. court In Trenton on the grounds that the detention was illega l. This was denied and is now being appealed to the T h ird U.S. Court o f Appeals.

Committee Statement ! The legal appeals are being made w ith the support o f the F o rt Hood Three Defense Com m ittee, under the co-chairmanship of A . J. Muste and Staughton Lynd.

In a statement on the convictions, the committee declared, “ This case is by no means closed. I t w il l continue as long as there

are legal means available to seek justice and a fa ir hearing fo r the F o rt Hood Three. We w il l continue to raise the question upon w h ich this case is based — w hether a soldier has the freedom to consider and decide w hether he w il l fig h t in a w a r w hich he considers ‘ illegal, im m ora l and unjus t.’

“ The committee w il l continue,” the statement added, “ so long as these three men are under charges, or imprisoned, or under restriction of any sort, to fig h t fo r the ir freedom and th e ir complete v in dication. We appeal to the A m erican people to aid us in th is fig h t.”

Contributions to aid this struggle may be sent to the F o rt Hood Three Defense Committee, 5 Beek- man St., New Y ork, N.Y. 10038.

D.C. Conference on Black PowerThe f irs t o ffic ia l report on the

Sept. 3 b lack power planning conference held in Washington, D.C., was made by Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, H arlem Democrat, in a Washington press conference on Sept. 7.

The Sept. 3 meeting voted to call a national convention of black power advocates in Washington, Oct. 15-16. I t had voted not to release any in fo rm ation about its own proceedings, w h ich were held in closed session.

Powell said the Sept. 3 meeting was attended by 169 Negroes from 37 cities, 18 states and the Distr ic t o f Columbia, representing a w ide range of opinion. “ Integra- tionists, po litica l separatists and cu ltu ra l nationalists — a ll were represented,” he said.

I t had defined black power “ as a means fo r black people to make changes in society to achieve self- determ ination, self-respect and self-defense, in other words, m ob iliz ing black strength to serve the needs of the black people,” Pow ell said.

“ The entire th rus t o f the conference was its emphasis on positive accomplishments. Thus i t was not anti-white, b u t pro-black. I t d id not advocate violence, but

sim ply rejected unconditional nonviolence and strongly endorsed self-defense to achieve the fu l l d ign ity of black peoplehood, w hich is in the great American tra d ition o f self-defense.”

In a fu rth e r de fin ition of b lack power, Powell said, “ B lack people themselves must develop b lack power — po litica l, economic and cu ltu ra l — before they seek any coalition w ith w h ite people. In short, as b lack people, we seek a coalition or a coexistence of power of equals based on the proportionate strength of our num bers.”

When reporters asked h im w hy Stokely Carmichael of the Student Nonvio lent Coordinating Committee and F loyd M cKissick o f the Congress of Racial Equality had not attended the Sept. 3 meeting, P ow ell replied tha t CORE’S associate director, L inco ln Lynch, had been present.

Powell’s StandAs fo r himself, Powell said, his

purpose was to t r y to get the “ teen-agers and 20-year-olds, who I re fe r to as a new breed of cats” “ channeled” so tha t they can assume constructive roles in A m erican society. (New Y ork Times, Sept. 8.)

B y B arry SheppardShirley W righ t works fo r the

Student Nonvio lent Coordinating Committee’s New Y o rk office. She was in A tlan ta when the f irs t of the recent outbreaks occurred, attending a central committee meeting o f the m ilita n t organization. Miss W righ t granted an in te rv iew to The M ilita n t on Sept. 9, describing the events leading up to the frame-up arrests of SNCC leaders.

Miss W righ t to ld me tha t the incident w h ich triggered the “ r io t” was the police shooting of a young man, H aro ld Prather, on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 6. P rathe r was d riv in g a car when police stopped him , because, they say, they suspected h im of stealing it. The cops had handcuffed Prather when he allegedly broke and ran away. They chased after h im and shot him . He collapsed in a pool of blood on his mother’s porch.

Prather’s mother said he was d riv in g the car o f a fr iend who had frequently len t i t to him.

A crowd had gathered during these events and had become enraged w atching the shooting of Prather. They decided to hold a demonstration protesting police b ru ta lity — something the people in th is poor, all-black neighborhood were quite fa m ilia r w ith . They called the SNCC headquarters about the demonstration.

Stokely Carmichael and Cleveland Sellers w ent to the neighborhood, fo llowed by Miss W righ t and others from the committee. Carmichael stayed in the area only five or ten minutes, w h ile B il l Ware, SNCC A tlan ta project director, drove through the neighborhood in a sound tru ck denouncing police b ru ta lity and ta lk ing about the demonstration.

Miss W righ t said tha t three hours a fte r the shooting, “ about 400 people were m arching in the

Previously, another— and p a rtly d iffe ren t —• version of the Sept. 3 meeting had been given to the Associated Press by Ralph Moss, a 21-year-old Negro from M in neapolis who attended the conference and then decided to v io late its decision not to give the press any interviews.

Moss said he vio lated the decision because he was “ fea rfu l of w ha t i t m igh t mean. There was evident a great m ilitancy tha t I ’m a fra id could lead to greater racial s trife and violence.”

He represented a recently formed Minneapolis group, Program fo r the Advancement of C o m m u n i t y Education, Inc. (PAC E), whose membership is predom inantly w hite, and w hich has been called “ Uncle Tom.”

According to the AP dispatch prin ted in the Minneapolis T r ibune, Sept. 4, Moss said the Sept. 3 meeting received committee reports and adopted resolutions ca lling fo r Negroes to:

“ Reject both po litica l parties, fo rm black parties and vote fo r black people.

“ Make every black man and woman a black voter.

“ Determ ine whether capitalism or socialism is more feasible polit ic a lly fo r the advancement of black power.

“ Reject the unconditional nonv io len t theory and practice and accept the r ig h t of self-defense.”

Moss gave the fo llow ing account of the committee reports, w hich he claimed was based on his notes:

"Com mittee on the D e fin ition of Black Power — B lack power is the means fo r black people to make changes in society to achieve self-determination, self-respect and self-defense.

“ Committee on Goals o f B lack Power — B lack power should be aimed at: communicating w ith the

M arion B arry , SNCC lead- in Washington, D.C., was also in A tlan ta when the police attack occurred. H e said:

“N ever seen anything like it. L itt le kids, seven or eight years old, w ere h it w ith tear gas cannisters. Black women w ere clubbed to the ground. Anyone who was not moving fast enough was im m ediately arrested and throw n head first into a police van.

“Cops fired tear gas in discrim inately into the homes of black people who w ere not even on the streets. L i t tle kids came out gasping for air. Cops w ent onto black people’s porches to beat and arrest them. D uring this period, several police cars w ere stoned, and several policemen w ere in jured .”

streets, shouting ‘police b ru ta lity ' and ‘black power.’ A w h ite man drove up to the crowd and got out o f his car w ith a gun. The crowd took away his gun, and turned over his car.”

Then “ M ayor Ivan A lle n came in to the neighborhood to ‘quiet the disturbance.’ He stood on top o f a police car and to ld the people in a ve ry patronizing and condescending w ay to go home, and tha t the police were there to protect them. The people shouted back tha t the police were there to shoot and k i l l them, not to protect them. They began to raise th e ir grievances to the mayor.

“ B u t the m ayor refused to listen to the complaints of the people and was booed down by the crowd. A lle n became frenzied. He ordered the police to disperse the

black masses; m obilization of the to ta l b lack com m unity; stressing the needs o f a human rights b ill; figh ting fo r self-defense w ith in b lack communities and e lim ination o f ‘Uncle Toms’ as leaders o f the b lack communities . . .

“ Determ in ing which is more po lit ica lly feasible fo r the advancement of black power, capita lism or socialism; cu ltu ra l rev ita liza tion ; the atta inm ent o f fu l l manhood rights fo r the black male; being w ary of d ivision among exponents o f b lack power;

Future Plans“ Strengthening the economic

power w ith in the black community ; re ta in ing property and the use o f the land, free from archaic laws w ith in the black community, and m aking every b lack man and woman a black voter.

“ Committee on Guidelines — the b lack man- must use the ballot. He m ust e ither in filt ra te m ajor parties or s ta rt a new party. He must be offered voter education as w e ll as registration. He must re tire ‘Uncle Toms’ ( in Congress) who represent no one but them selves.

“ The economic boycott should have tw o aims: consumer education and cleansing the b lack ghetto o f w h ite merchants and to start Negro co-ops, Negro stores, etc.

“ Money fo r starting these enterprises should come from the Negro upper or m iddle classes or fro m the w h ite businessman, who is reaping p ro fits from black ghettos.”

Moss said tha t “ the group also adopted w hat he termed a m inority report, w h ich was added to the record, ca lling fo r b lack nationhood,” and tha t the recommendations fo r fo rm ing black parties and re jecting nonviolence were both adopted as resolutions.

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Vol. 30 - No. 33 345 Monday, September 19, 1966

D AYTON, Ohio — A bout 175 pickets were on hand in fro n t of the main gate to the Montgomery County F a ir here, when President Johnson spoke Sept. 3. The demonstration, w ith signs demanding “ End the W ar in V ietnam ,” “ B ring the Troops Home Now” and “ Free the F o rt Hood Three,” was begun before the President a rrived and continued u n til he le ft. Leafle ting had been planned, bu t the 5,000 leaflets were confiscated by Secret Service men before they could be passed out.

S hortly before Johnson arrived, about 80 demonstrators entered the fa ir-g rounds and gathered in a group less than 100 yards from where Johnson spoke. A t the f irs t mention o f V ietnam, they raised a banner reading “ Thou Shalt Not K i l l — End the W ar Now.” Police tore the banner down and shoved the group w ith b i lly clubs.

The demonstration had considerable impact. Johnson was speaking o f the r ig h t to dissent, w hich contrasted sharply w ith the police treatm ent of the demonstrators. One Dayton man protested to the newspapers about police b ru ta lity he had been v ic tim to when he was mistaken fo r one o f the demonstrators.

Antiwar Pickets Greet Johnson In Dayton, Ohio

INTERVIEW W ITH SNCC LEADER

What Really Happened in Atlantacrowd at any cost. ‘Get them o ff the streets!” he shouted. ‘Tear down th e ir homes i f necessary!’

“ The police attack was bru ta l. I t was a horrib le th ing to see. They fired r io t guns and pistols in to the a ir and th rew tear gas in to the crowd. They drove police vans d irec tly in to the demonstrators and grabbed people o ff the streets and took them o ff to ja il. They th rew tear gas in to people’s houses, dragged them out and arrested them. S ixty-five people in a ll were arrested at tha t time. Four SNCC w orkers were arrested.

“ The crowd grew to about 1,000. People started th row ing bricks and bottles at the police. W hat started as a protest march became a struggle in self-defense in response to the attack by the police. I f the police had le ft the area, the outbreak w ould no t have occurred.”

Miss W righ t returned to the area la te r that n ight, w ith other SNCC workers, to ta lk to the people in the neighborhood. “ There were hundreds o f police cars. Every five minutes we were stopped by police w ith guns drawn, and to ld to get out,” she said.

“ These events, and the campaign to persecute SNCC, the arrests of Stokely Carm ichael and the others, have brought out the true racist character o f the supposedly libe ra l c ity o f A tlan ta ,” Miss W rig h t concluded.

Monday, September 19, 1966 THE M IL ITA N T Page Five

How Peruvian Peasants View Leader

“Devotion to Blanco Is Total”( World. O utlook ) — The tim

ing o f the tr ia l o f Hugo Blanco and his co-defendants is s ign ificant. I t comes in the wake of the crushing of the new gue rrilla fron ts tha t fla red up in Peru last year. As pa rt o f the campaign tha t ended w ith the m urder o f Javie r Heraud, Lu is de la Puente and G uille rm o Lobat6n, t h e Belaunde government opened a nationw ide w itchhunt. In the atmosphere of te rro r tha t s ti l l exists in Peru, the authorities evidently count on disposing o f Hugo Blanco and other revo lu tionary leaders w ithou t touching o ff a reaction in the labor and peasant movements tha t could place the regime in im mediate peril.

A ll kinds o f d ifficu ltie s have been placed in the w ay o f Hugo Blanco’s defense. “ D uring the process o f gathering in fo rm ation,” reports the Aug. 20 issue of Revolución Peruana, the organ of the Frente de Izquierda Revolucio- nario [R evolu tionary L e ft F ron t] w hich is headed by Hugo Blanco, “ he was denied use o f the most elementary ju r id ic a l norms o f defense. EVen worse, a harsh regime was imposed on h im and he was kept perm anently incommunicado. H is attorneys were ja iled, as in the case o f D r. V ic to r Angeles, w ho was held fo r eight months in the penal colony o f E l Sepa in 1964, and likew ise Dr. A lfredo B attilana who was held fo r three months in 1965.”

D uring his three years and three months in prison at Are- q u i p a , continues Revolución Peruana, Hugo Blanco “ has been held incommunicado a ll th is time, w ithou t v is its even from his re latives. He has been held in isolation from the rest of the prison inmates. H is correspondence, as w e ll as reading m atter, has been rigorously censored by the officers of the Republican Guard. In add ition, M a jo r G. R. Del Carpio has la te ly in tensified his provocations against Hugo Blanco, through constant insults and open provocations, w ith the obvious aim of fak ing an attack in order to k i l l h im in cold blood, as was done w ith the peasant leader of Chum- bivilcas, A rcadio Hurtado, Ju ly 26, 1964, in the Cuzco ja il.

“ Due to a ll this, Hugo Blanco

A lm ost 400 partic ipants in the second Socialist Scholars Conference, held in New Y ork, Sept. 9- 11, signed a pe tition to Peruvian President Fernando Belaunde T e rry fo r amnesty fo r Hugo B lanco and his 28 co-defendants now on tr ia l in Tacna, Peru.

The l is t was headed by the tw o m ain guest speakers o f the conference, Isaac Deutscher, w o rld - famous historian, and Professor Conor Cruise O ’B rien, A lb e rt Schweitzer Professor of H um anities, New Y o rk U niversity.

Noted SignersThe signers included such dis

tinguished academic figures and le ft Am erican intellectuals as the new ly-elected president of the Conference, Professor Eugene Genovese o f Rutgers U niversity, New Jersey; Paul Booth, a leader o f Students fo r a Democratic Society; H erbert Aptheker, historian and leading theorist o f the Am erican Communist P arty ; Harvey Swados, novelist; Paul Sweezy, ed ito r of M onth ly Review; Professor Franz Schurmann, U n ivers ity o f C aliforn ia , Berkeley; Professor Andres Gunder F rank, S ir George W illiam s U n ivers ity , Montreal, Canada; James Petras, U n ivers ity o f C aliforn ia , Berkeley, student o f L a tin Am erican affa irs; Professor M arv in Gettleman, Columbia U n ive rs ity ; Professor Nathan Hare, Howard U n ivers ity , Washington, D.C.; Professor Robert S.

has gone on hunger strikes 10 times as the only means to get better treatment, the longest being 28 days during Aug. 1965.”

The po litica l importance o f the case can be gathered from the fact tha t in Peru, Hugo Blanco is a legendary figu re among the m illions of peasants. Outside of Peru, h is standing can be judged by the fo llow ing statement made by Che Guevara in Algiers, Ju ly 23, 1963:

“ Hugo Blanco is the head of one of the gue rrilla movements in Peru. He struggled stubbornly bu t the repression was strong. I don’t know w hat his tactics were, bu t his fa ll does not s ign ify the end o f the movement. I t is only a man tha t has fa llen, b u t the movement continues. One time, when we were preparing to make our land ing from the Granma, and when there was great risk tha t a ll o f us w ould be k illed , F ide l said: ‘W hat is more im portan t than us is the example' we s e t’ I t ’s the same thing. Hugo Blanco has set an example, a good example, and he struggled as much as he could. B u t he suffered a defeat, the popular forces suffered a defeat. I t ’s only a passing stage. A fte rw a rd w il l come another stage.”

Journalist’s OpinionIn his book Cuzco: T ie rra y

Muerte [Cuzco: Land and D eath], published in L im a in 1964, Hugo N eira o f the s ta ff o f the L im a da ily Expreso, described the way the peasants v iew Hugo Blanco:

“ Fought by the righ t, his image distorted by prestige due to erroneous reports about h im being a gue rrilla figh ter, in ju red by the silence, i f not sabotage, o f the trad itiona l, bureaucratic groups of Communism, exto lled by the FIR , feared and hated by the unorganized yanaconas and the hacenda- dos, adm ired by the union ranks, Hugo Blanco looms over the whole South.

“ This is the stra igh t tru th , w ith out fa ls ifica tion, o f w ha t th is man, who is a prisoner today in A requipa, means to the peasant masses . . . ‘We owe h im everyth ing ,’ say the peasants. In fact every change in Convenci6n and elsewhere in the country, was ac-

Brown, Fa irle igh Dickinson U n iversity, Madison, N. J.; James O’Connor, economist and w rite r on L a tin Am erican affa irs, San Jose State College, Californ ia.

Also, R uth Gage Colby, Women’s In te rnationa l League fo r Peace and Freedom; Professor O live r Lous, A ntioch College, Ohio; Joseph Hansen, ed itor of The M ilita n t; V ic to r Rabinowitz, c iv il liberties attorney; W illia m Ash, philosopher; A lfre d E ven it- sky, editor, Science & Society; Em ile Capouya, lite ra ry c ritic ; A le x Munsell, publisher; Joseph M . G ilman, economist; Professor A ileen K rad ito r, Rhode Island U n ivers ity ; D r. Annette Ruben- stein, author and lite ra ry c ritic ; George Novack, M a rx is t theoretician.

F rank Kofsky, h istorian, U n ivers ity of P ittsburgh; Professor D avid Herreshoff, Wayne State U n ivers ity , D etro it, M ichigan; Lew Jones, National Chairman, Young Socialist A lliance; M a n u e la Schleicher, Columbia U n ive rs ity ; Saul Landau, w rite r; Bettina A p theker, Berkeley student leader.

This group asked the Peruvian president to exercise clemency and im m ediately liberate Hugo Blanco and his co-defendants. T he ir voices len t support to the appeal made by the national P ro- Am nesty Committee of Peru to free a ll the po litica l prisoners now behind bars in tha t country.

celerated due to the danger they saw in the peasants having no hope other than hope in the revo lu tionary unionism of Blanco.

“ Devotion to Blanco is to ta l; they don’t dare b ring him to tr ia l. I am re fe rring to the unionized peasants. ‘He is our chief,’ they say . . . And in every peasant’s home, there is an empty bed. I t ’s the one tha t was w a iting hopefu lly fo r the leader when he was going around the region organizing or when he was passing du ring the n ight, under the stars, fleeing from the police . . .”

Became TrotskyistHugo Blanco was a student of

agronomy at the U n ive rs ity of La P lata in A rgentina when his in terest was aroused in T ro tskyism. He le ft the un ive rs ity and became a w orke r in a meat packing p lan t at Berisso. Rapid ly p roving his capacities, he became one o f the leaders o f the T ro tskyis t w ing o f the Partido Socialista de la Revoluci6n Nacional [Socialist Party o f the National R evolu tion], the predecessor of the present Partido Revolucionario de los Tra- bajadores [R evolu tionary W orkers P a rty ], in Argentina.

R eturn ing to Peru, he became a leader in a local of a bu ild ing trades union in L im a and also of the Peruvian T ro tskyis t movement. He was one of the organizers of the demonstrations tha t greeted R ichard N ixon in the ill- fated 1958 South Am erican tou r of the vice-president of the U n ited States.

The L im a police sought to arrest Hugo Blanco fo r his role in organizing a welcome of this k ind in L im a fo r N ixon, and he w ent in to h id ing in his home town, Cuzco. A t the time, the peasant movement was on the rise in the area. The main peasant organization was dominated by lawyers belonging to the Communist Party.

Hugo Blanco became deeply in volved in th is movement. He had several advantages. Besides the understanding of the class struggle gained from his study of T ro tskyis t theory and his experience in practical w o rk in both Argentina and L im a, his native tongue was Quechua, the language s ti l l spoken by the Peruvian peasants since the tim e o f the Incas.

In contrast to the Communist Party leaders, who spoke only Spanish, Hugo Blanco became the f irs t leader of Federación Cam- pesina del Cuzco [Cuzco Peasant Federation] who could speak to the membership in the ir own language. He became a pow erfu l exponent of the r ig h t o f the peasants to preserve and to develop the ir own language and to use i t in a ll matters re la ting to governmental and c iv ic affairs.

Mass StraggleIn opposition to the Communist

leaders, who were tied to a S ta lin ist background and who sought to confine the peasant struggle to m erely legal means and court battles, Hugo Blanco advanced a program o f mass struggle. The objective was to fo rm pow erfu l peasant unions tha t w ould engage in mass actions, pa rticu la rly around the land question, under the guidance o f a revo lu tionary socialist party.

This program did not deny the role o f armed struggle, bu t visualized this, includ ing the form ation o f guerrillas, as subordinate to the problem o f organizing a revo lutionary party and m obiliz ing the peasants and workers on a mass scale.

Under the leadership o f Hugo Blanco, the peasants o f the va lley o f La Convenci6n registered huge successes. Two factors, however, prevented this movement from m oving ahead to the conquest of power. One was the loss of m ilitancy among those peasants who actua lly w on plots o f land. The other was the w ide dissemina

tion of a superfic ia l appreciation of the Cuban Revolution. To many revolutionary-m inded youth, i t appeared tha t a revo lu tion could be won by m erely constitu ting a small band of guerrillas w illin g to engage in heroic battles w ith the armed forces. W hat was lost sight of was the need to become deeply immersed in mass work. Isolated battles were not suffic ient to set mass forces in to motion.

A strong tendency thus appeared in Peru to misread the poss ib ilities of gue rrilla war. Hugo Blanco stood against this, doing

(Continued from Page 1)during the more than three years he was held incommunicado in prison in Arequipa.

The charges against Hugo B lanco include involvem ent in the death of three members of the armed forces, k illed during the struggles in itia ted by the governm ent to suppress the peasant movement. He is charged in add ition w ith “ treason,” dissemination of “ red lite ra tu re ” and in volvement in the tra in ing of peasants in the use o f arms.

The h igh ly po litica l nature o f the tr ia l is revealed by the mere fact tha t the second day of the hearings (Aug. 31) was spent la rge ly w ith the prosecution reading extracts from the lite ra tu re d is tr ib uted to the peasants in La Con- venci6n. The main po in t of the prosecution was tha t this “ red l i t erature” openly “ incited” the land-hungry peasants to “ rebellion .”

On Sept. 1, the num ber of de-

his best to pu t the role of guerrilla s in to proper focus. The distinctions he made were not w ide ly known, however, and he him self became known as a guerrilla leader, despite his insistence on the p rim ary importance of mass w ork and party bu ild ing.

The Peruvian armed forces found i t extrem ely d iff ic u lt to capture Hugo Blanco, due to his close ties w ith the peasants. I t was only when he had to enter Cuzco in desperate need of medical help tha t they f in a lly got the ir hands on the young leader.

fendants was increased to 29 when the peasant Basilio A lvarez, who had been sick, was brought in. The day was spent w ith the prosecution reading in to the record depositions of witnesses concerning gue rrilla incidents in which Hugo Blanco was allegedly involved. The session o f Sept. 2 was spent in a s im ila r way.

On Sept. 3, the prosecution’s reading of the depositions of the defendants began. Hugo Blanco spent six and a ha lf hours listening to the prosecution’s version of w ha t he had allegedly said during the investigative process. In the key case of H em an B r i- ceno M inauro, who was k ille d in a gun battle, Hugo Blanco described how he had fired in se lf- defense against the c iv il guard.

According to the press, the tr ia l, w hich is proceeding in drumhead fashion in accordance w ith the usual procedure o f Peruvian courts-m artia l, m igh t last another six days.

400 at Socialist Scholars Conference Sign Petition to Free Hugo Blanco

... Blanco Trial Under Way

Page Six THE M IL ITA N T Monday, September 19, 1966

SPEAKS AT TRADE UNION CONGRESS

Castro Analyzes Cuba’s Problems

B U IL D E R S . Cuban soldiers w o rk on concrete slabs fo r p re -fa b r i- cated homes. Cuba is seeking to expand its cement industry so it can provide more of the homes that are needed.

B y H a rry RingF ide l Castro delivered a m ajor

speech Aug. 29. Speaking at the closing session of the 12th congress o f the C entra l Organization o f Cuban Trade Unions, he addressed h im self to a num ber of v ita l questions confronting the Cuban Revolution. He spoke fo r f iv e hours.

The congress itse lf was m arked by the dislodging o f Lazaro Pena as general secretary of the labor confederation. He was replaced by M igue l M artin , 29.

Pena, a long-tim e member of the old Popular Socialist (Comm unist) Party, had been the target Of widespread ran k-a n d -file c r itic ism fo r his bureaucratic practices. A number o f his associates were also removed from the ir un ion posts by the congress.

In his speech, Castro vigorously rep lied to critics who were appa ren tly suggesting tha t Pena’s rem oval was the resu lt o f “ sectarian ism ” on the p a rt o f h im self and others associated w ith h im in the J u ly 26 Movement.

The b u lk o f the Cuban prem ier’s address was devoted to the w eighty problems confronting the revo lutio n in the economic sphere. He also h it out a t critics in Cuba and elsewhere who depicted h im as a “ p e tit bourgeois adventurer” who deviated from M arxism -Lenin ism . He rep lied tha t such critic ism was a cover fo r fa ilin g to pursue a revo lu tionary lin e and fo r in competence and bureaucratism in office. He declared the Cuban regime w ould continue to press fo r a revo lu tionary course at home and w ould m ainta in its support of revo lu tionary policies abroad.

Regarding the labor congress i t self, he described the gathering as the most democratic and representative yet held. He said tha t the new, united Communist P arty had made a po in t o f not p roposing candidates in any union loca l and that, in fact, pa rty members in the unions had been asked not to be the f irs t to make nominations, so tha t the mass o f w o rk ers m igh t free ly nominate and elect those they fe lt should represent them at the congress.

Discussing the ro le of the unions in the revolution, he said a change had taken place. In the years im m ediate ly fo llow ing the revo lu tion, he said, a p rinc ipa l job of the unions was to e lim inate the capita lis t heritage of inequa lity of wages and w ork ing conditions between skilled and unskilled w o rk ers, between priv ileged and non-

Int'l Socialist Review Becomes a Bi-Monthly

The In te rna tiona l Socialist Review has announced tha t beginn ing w ith the January-February, 1967, issue, the magazine w il l go on a b i-m on th ly pub lication schedule. Since 1954, the M arx is t theore tica l magazine has been published on a qua rte rly basis. The new subscription price w il l be $2.50 fo r s ix issues, and single Issues w i l l rem ain at 50 cents apiece.

Publication on a b i-m on th ly basis w i l l enable the ISR to a w ide r coverage of topical events and p r in t tim e ly m ateria l on the development o f the w o rld revo lu tiona ry struggle tha t could not be included in the less frequent editions on the qua rte rly schedule.

Those subscribing to the b im onth ly at th is tim e w il l begin th e ir subscriptions w ith the fo r th coming fa ll, 1966, issue p f the magazine, the last on the old schedule, w hich includes the 1964- 1966 index. Featured articles in th is issue are “ The Case Against ‘Pacifica tion ’ ” by Joseph Hansen and the “ P o litica l Crisis in China” by George Novack. Orders should be sent by check or money order to 875 Broadway, New Y ork, N.Y. 10003.

privileged. This task, he said, has now la rge ly been accomplished and the unions must tackle the task o f helping to raise the qua lity and quan tity o f production.

There are m any complex problems in th is sphere, Castro explained. He commented somewhat ru e fu lly tha t some were under the impression tha t the revo lu tion had not on ly abolished the exp lo itation o f human labor bu t the need fo r such labor as w e ll.

A m ajor problem, he said, was the drop in the p ro duc tiv ity of labor a fte r the revo lu tion. He o ffered an extensive, pedagogic exp lanation of w hy there was such a drop. He d idn ’t “ denounce” those who were producing less, as the New Y ork Times inaccurately reported. Rather he offered a basic explanation o f the problem.

He said: “ For m any workers who were accustomed to seeing w o rk as an instrum ent o f exp lo itation . . . as an e ffo rt, as a sacrifice whose best fru its were enjoyed by others . . . the disappearance of capitalism , the disappearance of the overseer, the foreman, the owner, the ru ra l guard, the disappearance of tha t whole system tha t forced them to w o rk a m axim um num ber of hours w ith a m axim um o f intensity, meant, s im ply, the re laxation o f a series o f pressures tha t forced them to tha t m axim um e ffo rt in tim e and in tensity .”

Socialist Consciousness“ How could i t be assumed,” he

asked, “ tha t from one day to the next, every w orker w ould become conscious o f his great social responsibilities, of his great duties?”

“ I t was logical,” he explained, “ tha t one of the f irs t consequences of the breaking of the chains of capita lis t exp lo itation was a certa in slackening o f discipline, a certa in re laxation o f the in tens ity of w ork, a certain drop in production, because the means being used by the capitalists to make the w orkers produce could on ly be substituted by a socialist conscience — and a socialist conscience could not be created in a day.”

M any workers, he added, who were ready to fig h t and die fo r the revolution, s til l took an easygoing a ttitude tow ard the ir w ork. “ They did not see w o rk as the fundam ental instrum ent fo r the libe ra tion o f a people . . . They did not see w ith fu l l c la r ity tha t w ork was th e ir fundam ental social duty.”

However, he stressed, th is was on ly one aspect of the problem. Another was the lack o f tra ined adm in istra tive and supervisory personnel. For example, he po in ted to the fac t tha t o f the thousands of foremen appointed in the f irs t years of the revolution, no t one was a graduate of a technical school. Some had not gone beyond the second grade in school.

Discussing the perspectives of the Cuban economy, he said the centra l task o f the revo lu tion fo r a w hole period of tim e m ust be the development of agriculture, ra ther than industry. I t is only in th is way, he said, tha t the people could be adequately fed and, at the same time, the products made read ily available fo r export abroad to secure the many commodities Cuba needs and cannot rea lis tica lly hope to produce itse lf in the near future.

A key problem is the shortage of ag ricu ltu ra l labor. Whereas p rio r to the revolution, there were thousands o f jobless agricu ltu ra l workers, th is situation is now drastica lly altered. Thousands of farmhands jo ined the construction industry whose ranks have tr ip led since the revolution. Thousands of others who were sharecroppers or day laborers now own and devote themselves to the cu ltiva tion of th e ir own piece of land. More than 10,000 fa rm workers are attending ag ricu ltu ra l institutes.

The solution to th is labor shortage, Castro said, lies in a qua lita tive advance in mechanization. He discussed a num ber o f types of fa rm equipment already being used, o r in the p lanning stage.

I t is no real solution, he argued, to look to volunteer labor from students and c ity workers as a solution to the problem. Some people, he said, seem to w an t to solve a ll problems w ith such labor. Vo lunteer labor, he said, must be regarded as an instrum ent o f education, not an instrum ent o f p ro duction.

Emphasizing tha t many o ffic ia ls d id not fu l ly grasp the need fo r mechanization as the basic solution, Castro argued eloquently against those who w ould solve the problem o f the fa rm labor shortage w ith prisoner labor.

“ When a problem arises,” he said, “ everybody asks fo r vo lunteers, students, women or prisoners to help. A plan is conceived. There are not enough hands. E verybody says prisoners should be used.

“ I say: No. Prisoners’ w o rkshould be aimed at the ir rehab ilita tion. Do people w ant to tu rn th is country in to a concentration camp? When they plan to do something, a ll they can th in k of is the use o f prisoners surrounded by barbed w ire . No. The revolution does not mean slave w ork.”

One w ay the labor shortage can be alleviated, he said, is through the greater use of women in fa rm production. Stressing tha t women must no t be pu t in a position of doing heavy w ork, he said there were a number of form s of agricu ltu ra l a c tiv ity tha t women could e ffective ly engage in, and tha t such w o rk was already proceeding on a planned, organized basis, w ith women w ork ing in brigades w h ile adequate nursery care was p ro vided fo r the ir children.

Turn ing to the problem of the housing shortage, he said tha t he and other government offic ia ls were constantly besieged w herever they w ent by people in need o f housing. D eclaring tha t the need was genuine and widespread, he w ent on to expla in th a t i t could not be solved on an ind iv idua l basis, tha t try in g to fin d a home fo r a pa rticu la r ind iv idua l who needed a home could only be done a t the expense of another needy person. The only m eaningfu l solution, he insisted, was the rap id expansion o f the housing program. This required, f irs t o f a ll, he said, an expansion of the cement in dustry. He reported on w ork a lready in progress fo r a s ignificant step-up in cement production.

Castro cited a num ber of gains in the sphere o f production and progress in a number o f social spheres.

Abolition of RentHe announced tha t the Council

o f M inisters intended to adopt a law tha t w ould abolish a ll rents by 1970 at the latest. (M any Cuban c ity dwellers already are freed of ren t.) He said th is loss o f income w ou ld be made up in a number o f ways. For example, a number of ice cream plants are being bu ilt, and the revenue from the ice cream w i l l make up fo r a share of the lost ren t income. I t is better, he observed, to have people engaged in producing ice cream than in doing a ll the bookkeeping and other paper w o rk necessary fo r the collection o f rent.

M any of the problems he was raising, he said, w i l l be fu l ly discussed and decided upon at the f irs t congress of the new party w h ich w il l be held w ith in one year. The congress w il l decide such issues as m oral vs. m ateria l in centives fo r production; autonomous financing by in d iv idua l enterprises, or budget financing in accordance w ith an overa ll governm ent plan, etc.

T u rn ing to critics, who he said charged h im w ith “ departing from the manuals,” F ide l declared: “ We

are capable of departing from the manuals. We are capable o f using our heads. O n ly maniacs and fools can believe they have a monopoly o f the tru th . The papacy is a m edieval ins titu tion and pon tifica l in fa l l ib i l i t y is the fu rthes t th ing tha t can be found from M arx is t thought.”

Now is not the f irs t tim e, he recalled, tha t some people thought he and his co-th inkers were mistaken. Such people also thought so when the Ju ly 26 forces pu t fo rward the possib ility o f revolution, the possib ility of armed struggle, the possib ility o f tak ing power.

Everyone has the r ig h t to his own views, he continued, and socialism can be b u ilt on ly i f there are a great num ber of currents of revo lu tionary thought. B u t there can be no im position o f views, he declared.

Against ExclusionismAnswering the charge of sec

tarian ism over the changes in the union leadership, he declared: “ We have always been enemies of a ll forms o f sectarianism. We have never favored excluding anyone sim ply because he was not o rigin a lly pa rt of ou r rank and file . . . On the contrary, we have been systematic e n e m i e s of, and preached against such procedures.”

“ S till,” he added, “ there are some who t r y to hide behind th is accusation in order to cover up the ir shortcomings, th e ir incompetence.”

The masses, he declared, w il l not pe rm it “ the incompetent, the overly ambitious and those who abuse th e ir power” to lead a union.

On the question of Cuba’s basic po litica l line, Castro declared: “ We do not forget th a t we are a p a rt o f th is w orld , tha t our fate is the fate of th is w orld , th a t our v ic to ry is the v ic to ry of th is w orld against im peria lism and tha t the defeat o f tha t w o rld w ould be our defeat and our slavery . . . The other a lternative is to be lik e ostriches, s tick our head in the sand.

“ A nd I don’t th in k ,” he emphasized, “ tha t our people ever w il l listen to those who preach, or to those w ho may preach the cowardly, unw orthy and infamous policy o f the ostrich . . . O ur line, o f course, is one o f fu l l so lidarity w ith the revo lu tionary movement . . .”

Castro then read a press dispatch reporting tha t Eduardo Frei, C hristian Democratic president of Chile, had called upon h im to show w hich government had done more fo r its people, Cuba or Chile.

Proceeding to a devastating re p ly , F ide l cited the great social

gains of the Cuban Revolution and added that’ Cuba had outstripped C hile in one overrid ing way: I t had taken back its re sources and industries from the im peria lists and was operating them fo r the benefit o f the people. He challenged F re i to do lik e wise.

N oting tha t the Socialist P arty o f C hile and the le ft w ing o f F re i’s pa rty had expressed the same v iew o f the F re i regime as the Cubans, he added tha t “ a so-called Comm unist — perhaps he believes he is one, and perhaps he actually is,” a man by the name of M illas, who had been in Cuba w ith a Chilean parliam entary delegation, had expressed opposition to Castro ’s J u ly 26 blast at F re i.

Declaring he w ould not enter in to a polemic on the issue, Castro said: “ The Communist P a rty of C hile has issued no declaration in support o f M illa s ’ statement. I t has partic ipated in ra llies of solida r ity and defense of the Cuban Revolution and has made statements o f so lida rity on the occasion o f the 26th o f J u ly and — in our opinion — has taken no belligerent a ttitude tow ard us.”

“ M ust a ll parties agree?” he added. “ No. We cannot force anyone to th in k as we do, b u t nobody can force us to th in k the same w ay as those we believe to be mistaken.”

Indonesian Assesses Reasons Behind Defeat

A n exceptionally im portan t document has been published in the September 16 issue o f W orld Outlook, the in te rnationa l labor press service. This is an analysis of the ro le of the Communist P a rty of Indonesia, leading to the fa ta l bloodbath o f at least 300,000 persons last fa ll. The artic le is by a young member o f the pa rty now liv in g in exile.

In “ Lessons from a Defeat,” the young revo lu tionary examines the causes and meaning o f the tragic defeat suffered by his party . T . Soedarso questions the P K I’s po licy o f seeking to achieve socialism by peaceful means; he questions the P K I’s coalition w ith the In donesian national bourgeoisie; and he attacks the whole method of constructing the party.

This thoroughgoing exam ination is the most detailed analysis o f the Indonesian disaster tha t has appeared in the Western press. Copies m ay be obtained at 873 Broadway in New Y ork C ity, or by w rit in g W orld Outlook> P.O. Box 635 Madison Sq. Station, New York, N.Y., 10010. They are 50 cents each.

Monday, September 19, 1966 THE M IL ITA N T Page Seven

Letters From Our Readers-------------- Thought fo r the Week --------------

“ On the evening news ton igh t comes the in fo rm ation tha t a lthough there are presently 25,000 U nited States troops in Thailand, they are on ly there in an ‘advisory’ capacity to provide weapons tra in ing and the like . Does the government expect us to believe tha t story tw ice?” — A le tte r to the New Y o rk Times fro m D avid F. Ph illips.

[This column is an open fo rum for a ll viewpoints on subjects of general interest to our readers. Please keep your letters brie f. Where necessary they w i l l be abridged. W riters1 in itia ls w i l l be used, names being w ithhe ld unless authorization is given fo r use.]

Demand Blanco's FreedomGainesville, Fla.

Several members o f the U n ive rs ity of F lorida Socialist Union, in c lud ing myself, have communicated to the P eruvian authorities our protest against the im prisonm ent and proposed secret t r ia l o f peasant leader Hugo Blanco. (The governm ent is asking the death v penalty.)

A lthough i t is usually no t becoming fo r socialists to give such people advice on how to handle th e ir problems, we to ld President Belaunde th is:

I f Hugo Blanco should die at the hands o f the government, his m artyred s p ir it w il l rem ain to in spire thousands more like h im throughout the hemisphere.

They should th in k how l it t le tim e i t took to v indicate the assassinated M alcolm X.

I w an t to underline The M ilitan t’s suggestion tha t readers protest to the Peruvian government. Do i t w h ile there is s ti l l tim e. Remember w ha t insp ira tion the La tin Am erican people’s struggle was to us at a tim e when N orth A m erican politics were more barren than now. That is the least we can do.

Jan G arrett

The Luftig CaseNew York, N. Y.

The m ilita ry court tha t conv icted the F o rt Hood Three has ha rd ly closed the door on either the issues themselves or, indeed, on the fa te of Pvt. Mora, Pfc. Johnson and Pvt. Samas.

The defense rested on the argument tha t the w ar in V ietnam is in v io la tion o f the law of the land, and tha t the three d id not w ish to take part in th is illega l activity . The m ilita ry court refused to deal w ith th is issue, and instead convicted them on the narrow er grounds of disobeying an order.

Stanley Faulkner, the attorney fo r the F o rt Hood GIs, happens as w e ll, to be the attorney fo r Pvt. Robert L u ft ig , who earlier brought su it against the government, seeking to en jo in them from sending h im to V ietnam on the same grounds.

Since he had not previously received an order to go, the case lacked the dram atic im pact o f the F o rt Hood Three. A lso in the L u ft ig case, L u ft ig was the p la in t i f f , and the government (Defense Secretary McNamara) the defendant.

That case cu rren tly is up befo re the C ourt of Appeals in Wash., D.C. — and w il l lik e ly go to the Supreme C ourt w ith in the year. I f L u ft ig ’s su it is validated, there is a strong chance th a t the F o rt Hood Three conviction can be invalidated.

Funds are s t i l l u rgently needed to prosecute the L u ft ig case, and any contributions may be sent to: L u ft ig vs. McNamara Committee, 50 West 96th Street, New York, N. Y. 10025.

M artin Shepard, M .D.

S.F. Court V