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This section on the SWP sending people to participate in the May Day Tribe CD protests in Washington DC in May 1971 - is totally wrong. I was in Washington D. C. at that very time working on staff in the Student Mobilization Committee National Office there and as also on the board of the National Peace Action Coalition. I was also a member of the Young Socialist Alliance then, which was the youth group of the U. S. SWP that Doug Rawlings claims he was with. The SWP/YSA/NPAC and SMC did not build or participate in the May Day Tribe protests. The SWP worked to assemble the much larger in numbers April 24, 1971 National Marches on Washington D. C. and San Francisco protests. There were serious political divisions between NPAC/SMC/SWP/YSA and the PCPJ and May Day Tribe, on building an effective movement against the U. S. War on Vietnam and other peoples of Southeast Asia. I traveled through the streets of Washington DC that first week in May and viewed the various efforts of May Day Tribe supporters and their harsh treatment by government troops and police. But it was made very clear to me and all others in the SWP and YSA, that we were not to engage in or support directly the May Day Tribe efforts to shut down traffic or risk arrest. My memory has the Boston SWP/YSA/NPAC/SMC working to fill buses for only the April 24, 1971 mass protests in Washington D.C. ________________________________ . EPISODE NINE A DISRESPECTFUL LOYALTY MAY 1970 TO AUGUST 1973 . There is just too much in this episode to go into. But here are a few take-away’s for me. First off, finally, the veteran anti-war voice is given its due place in the movement to stop the war as the VVAW guys are portrayed as the force they became to confront the flag-wavers. I wish now that I had joined them in DC. Instead, I had joined the Socialist Workers Party in Boston and bussed down to the nation’s capital to participate in the ill-fated May Day actions. We were to “take and hold a bridge” into the city. Instead, we quickly broke ranks and ran through the streets and were dispersed. Today, I hold my brothers and sisters who were in VVAW in the highest regard. . . . . . . _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
