The following speech, given by a member of the Brigade’s Steering Committee, opened up our national convention. It lays out the Steering Committee’s political analysis of the present world situation and speaks to present conditions on the campuses and the potential to build a revolutionary student movement.
Last January some of us who are here today were at Kent State, Ohio for a Brigade Quarterly meeting. Those who were there, I’m sure, can remember waiting after the meeting until midnight before heading home on the highway – because it was a Sunday and there was no gas sold on those days back then. Of course this was just a minor annoyance compared to the attacks levelled at the American people during the energy freeze – the massive layoffs, skyrocketing prices, cutbacks in heat and public transit programs, and gallons upon gallons worth of pumped up anti-Arab propaganda.
And it seems that more and more these days we find ourselves in these different crises and shortages – and they, too, are certainly much more than minor annoyances. For over the last 3 or 4 years we’ve begun to see a number of things that many of us here had never seen before and that many people in this country haven’t seen for 30 or 40 years. I’m talking about crises and shortages on items such as meat, oil, food, paper, even pennies, and of course, jobs. We’ve seen prices for basic commodities like food, rent, gas and heat go way beyond what many people can afford. This is not to say that life was a bed of roses here in the U.S. during the 50’s and early 60’s – for as proven by the valiant and courageous struggles of the Civil Rights movement, it certainly wasn’t. But back then I’m sure that many of us can remember being taught that, “yes, there are some problems here in the U.S. – there’s inequality and the starving Appalachians” – but soon JFK’s “New Frontiers” would push them into the mainstream of American life and we would all be happy with only few concerns like “how soon can we get to the moon.” The objective basis for us being temporarily confused by these rationales was, of course, that U.S. imperialism, though certainly starting to go into decline, was still riding the benefits of its post World War II strength when it gained economic and political dominance over the European and Japanese economies and controlled, countries and colonies throughout the world.
But you don’t hear them pushing those old rationales anymore because people have seen and been through too much over the last 10-15 years to believe those old lies for a minute. The objective basis for this has been the greatly accelerated decline of U.S. imperialism – having been rocked with one defeat after another over this last period.
So the monopoly capitalist with their television networks, radio stations, newspapers, movies, etc. are now trying to push new ideas and explanations of why things seem wrong or out of order. We’re told that we have gotten “soft” and that shortages of food, gas and heat will be good because it will “toughen” us – or they give us the Exorcist and tell us it’s the devil or other uncontrollable forces that cause the peoples’ problems. Lately they’ve been telling us that the whole world is crazy, everyone wants to go to war, and aren’t “we” lucky we have Henry Kissinger flying around to keep the “peace”.
As the imperialist system decays and falls into greater crisis, the monopolists attempt to hide their system’s growing weaknesses. One of the ways they do this is to pump out shit like The Exorcist. This way they hope we’ll think our problems are caused by outside forces, and that we are just passive participants in history. Well! We’re planning on making the ruling class a passive participant in history, and we’ll let them take their decadent Ideology when we do.
All of these ideas, of course, are to depict the people as passive participants in history and to cover up the imperialists’ ever growing weaknesses and exposure as a robber baron class.
It is important for us to remember that this monopoly capitalist system has never worked, and has always caused wars of aggression, crises of different proportions, mass exploitation, national oppression, and misery. That in the post World War II era, the “heyday” of U.S. imperialism with the baby boom and start of the “American Century,” it launched a war of aggression 1n Korea, the Taft-Hartley attack on working peoples right to strike, fierce repression on peoples rights with the McCarthy hearings, and an average of 40-50 police bombings of Black peoples homes a year. This is because the monopoly capitalist system is based on making profit-profit ripped out of the labor of working and oppressed people both in the U.S. and abroad. But no matter how big and strong they get and no matter how much they try, there’s not a way 1n the world these blood thirsty thieves can patch this system up and make it work for the benefit of the people. Now, however, this parasitical system of profitmaking is in worse shape than it’s been in a very long time – and that’s because the internal problems of its own irrational system are growing all the time and because people both at home and abroad are hammering harder and harder at it day after day.
We have seen over the recent years many wars of national liberation in Third World countries strike inspiring and severe blows to the U.S. monopoly capitalists. The heroic struggle of the Indochinese people inspired millions of people throughout the world with their courage and determination as they both weakened and exposed the U.S. imperialist monster. Lately, of course, we’ve been greatly encouraged and inspired by the African peoples struggle in Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and Angola – which is pressing ever closer to victory against the Portuguese colonists. This, of course, is a severe blow to the U.S. imperialists who have millions of dollars invested in the labor and resources of the African nations. The recent Arab oil embargo, daily reports of nationalization of U.S. investment, and the U.N. session in raw materials in May, are all clear examples that throughout the Third World, the great banner of revolution from imperialism is moving forward. All of these developments in Third World countries have given tremendous aid to the people of the U.S. – for they have severely weakened our common enemy and have taught and inspired us with their determination, courage, and strength.
But the Third World is not the only area where the U.S. ruling class is facing increased conflicts. After having been bullied and dominated economically, politically and militarily by the U.S. superpower, the Japanese and the European countries have rebuilt their war ravaged economies and are becoming more and more independent and competitive with the U.S. superpower. Numerous markets, once solely owned by the U.S., are now being challenged by the Japanese and European Imperialists. A good example of this would be the numerous Volkswagons or Toyotas people saw on the highways coming out here. Of course the U.S. rulers fight to win out in this struggle to dominate the European and Japanese economies and hold down the “free” markets they have controlled for so long. This is what the dollar devaluations, the tariff procedures, and the Import quotas are all about making the products of the U.S. ruling class more competitive. And of course, control of the Mideast oil is a blue chip factor the U.S. wants to hold over them as these economies are severely dependent on Arab oil. But the bloated U.S. dollar and the whole U.S. economy and military doesn’t carry the power it did twenty years ago. The trend is already quite clear: With conflict and competition increasingly reflecting the relations between the different countries, and with the expansion of the Japanese economy and British entry into the Common Market, the conflict of these imperialist countries with the U.S. superpower will intensify more and more, and the U.S. monopoly capitalists will be severely weakened by this struggle.
As Ho Chi Minh said,“ Imperialism is a two headed leech, with one head sucking the blood of the colonized people of the world while the other sucks the blood of the working people of the metropolitan countries.” And the resistance and struggle against the oppression bred by monopoly capitalism is not only a foreign affair – as a young but developing movement begins to rise up here in the United States. Inspired by the victorious Farah strike and the courageous struggle of the Farmworkers we see the beginnings of a revolutionary workers movement fighting around many different issues. We see the largest strike wave since the 1940’s develop in the first half of 1974. Rank and file mineworkers fighting victoriously against gas rationing in West Virginia, while taking up the fight for African liberation in Alabama. Veterans are fighting around issues concerning all the people, as well as for veterans’benefits. And we see the development of a mass movement to throw Nixon out in which the Attica Brigade played a very important role. And, we see the beginning of a new student movement consciously struggling against the imperialists- and in this, too, the Attica Brigade has played a most important role. There are many more significant developments I could talk about. But the trend is already beginning to become clear – more and more of the American people – whether it’s the Trucker on Route 80, the mineworker in W. Virginia, the Farah striker in El Paso, or the student at U. of Connecticut – are all beginning to see the need for unity and the need to fight against the owners of the almighty dollar.
We should remember that this movement is very, very young and has a long and twisting road ahead of it. But more importantly, we should remember that as this movement develops and more consciousness and unity is achieved, harder and harder blows will be struck at the monopoly capitalists – and ultimately, over the long run, this movement will spell the final doom for the robbing thieves who run this country.
This is not to say that the day of victory against monopoly capital is close at hand. For we are a very young movement and the road to revolution is long and hard. The ruling class does not simply hoist a white flag and say “that’s it – we’re in crises and the people are going to win in the long run so we give up.” Attica, Chile, and the massive bombings in Indochina point to the fact that the ruling class will use every single means possible to hold on to its power. And as this system falters even more, and is further attacked by the people, we will find the monopoly rulers stepping up their attacks. Recently we’ve seen a number of them. I spoke a little about them before – the commodity shortages and the incredible prices, the attacks on the farmworkers and the steel workers’ right to strike, and the attempts to whip up racist hysteria around the so called Zebra manhunts. All of these are attempts to tighten the screws even more on the American people and to intimidate us from building unity and struggle. But the Bay Area demonstrations against the Zebra hunts and the murder of black youth, Tyrone Guyton have shown the ruling class that we can stand up to their attacks. And that rather than being intimidated, more and more of the American people are learning about who their true enemy is and are drawing great inspiration from the courageous resistance that the people show in fighting back.
You can be sure that the whole blood thirsty imperialist class is united around increasing their plunder and saving their system. But over the last couple of years we have seen them fight much more among themselves. For as the imperialist system staggers from one defeat to another, we see much more turmoil and confusion develop in their circles. It is in this context, the monopoly capitalist system is in crises and the ruling class, in internal struggle that the Watergate situation develops. These struggles are over strategy and control of their declining system – whether this be policy around the Mideast, wage controls, or, the Soviet Union. These splits among the rulers are – a good thing for the people, who, while tempering themselves in struggle can tactically take advantage of the rulers’ confusion and turmoil to advance their struggles and to further weaken and expose the system. It is also important to note that the U.S. rulers are not the only ones in turmoil and confusion; for the imperialists are on the run world wide and recent sudden changes and shakeups in the governments of England, France, Germany, Portugal, Japan, Israel, and Canada point to the fact that there is indeed great confusion and turmoil among the different ruling imperialists.
In summing up, we can see that the world situation is indeed excellent for the people. All over the world, both at home and abroad we can see the people being tempered in revolutionary struggles as they strike harder and harder blows at the monopoly capitalists. And all over the world we can see the increased confusion and turmoil of the decadent monopoly rulers as their systems decline more and more.
We in the Brigade, and all progressive people, must not lay back in this excellent situation – but throw ourselves into the struggle and step up the fight to take advantage of it. All of us must continue to move forward and build a powerful movement that will continue to build and strike consistently harder blows against the ruling class of death, racism, and exploitation. We can’t stop when we simply hurt them, either, we’ve got to keep on going and making advances until we ultimately wipe these robber barons off the face of the earth.
Over the last year we saw some Important struggles involving thousands of students develop on different schools – some of the more notable ones were at Berkeley, Ohio U., U. of Wisconsin, and the U. of Connecticut. We saw thousands of students fighting to throw Nixon out 1n demonstrations in Washington D.C., Chicago, and Los Angeles. And strong participation and struggle was added by students in Farah Strike Support work, and in the boycott of Rhodesian Chrome. Also, we saw the development of the Attica Brigade into a nation-wide organization on over 60 campuses. The point here is not to run down a shopping list of struggles that students got involved in – the point is that the Brigade and other progressive organizations have made important steps in beginning to rebuild the student movement. We are at a crucial point, for there is potential, now, to build a student movement more powerful than ever before in this country. But this potential will be realized only if we have a firm grasp of the moods and conditions as they presently exist on the campuses.
We should be aware that building a powerful movement is a most important task for us. For we have seen that students throughout the world have a proud and courageous history of struggle against exploitation, and for justice and revolution. Just this last year we have seen students in Thailand, Indonesia, Ethiopia South Korea, and Greece to name a few, rise up and fight against dictatorial rule.
Here in the United States we have also had a student movement with a proud history of struggle. During the late 60’s the student movement played a vital role in bringing the question of Vietnam forcefully to the attention of the American people, exposing to millions both the reality of U.S. aggression in S.E. Asia, and also, Increasingly, the nature of the imperialist system, itself. Students also raised the importance of support for the black liberation struggle and the women’s liberation movement to the American people.
Black students through groups like the Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee and the Black Student Unions fought hard for the rights of Black people and played an important role in the liberation movement. Issues around the oppression of women were raised by many students, and the struggle for women’s liberation, which had played a strong role in the American people’s struggle of the 20’s and 30’s, was once again a struggle of the people. At the same time, students waged many important struggles in their own right-against the war and draft, against corporate and army recruiters, for third world study programs, and for open admissions – as well as giving strong support to working class and third world struggles, such as the farmeworkers lettuce and grape boycotts, political prisoner movements, and the Black Panther Party.
Through fighting and getting involved in these struggles, and drawing knowledge and inspiration from both the Black people’s rebellion and the Vietnamese liberation struggle, many, many students learned that they were not fighting against the Democrats or the Republicans, or the bad policies of a president, but against a system which is based on the exploitation of working and oppressed people throughout the world.
That this understanding of the system developed, and has continued to develop, marks a major advance in the struggle to build a revolutionary student movement, and compares quite favorably with the political development of students when the 60’s movement was beginning to emerge. For instance, 10 years ago, when this country’s student movement was beginning to rise, SDS distributed the button and spread the idea “Part of the Way/With LBJ”, and back then many of the politically active students talked of developing the “infinite possibilities of democracy in America.” Now I mention these points not to say, ’weren’t they dumb to do that’, because they were just starting and beginning to learn how this system functioned, and many of them went on to lead the powerful student movement of the 60’s that openly attacked and exposed this rotten system. I mention it to point out that based on the advances made over the last 10 years in terms of the people’s overall struggle and exposure of this system, many students have a better understanding of what this whole system is about, and many politically active students have a better understanding of how this system functions and how we should fight it.
We know we face a ruling class that has been greatly exposed and weakened in that time, and that people both in this country and abroad are raising the struggle against it. We know that a great majority of students, though not fully and consciously anti-imperialist, have seen and experienced enough so that they have a firm understanding that there is something fundamentally wrong with the system. We know that unlike the 60’s, we must build a revolutionary student organization of all nationalities into an iron fist that will unite and build a multi-national student movement, and take up the fight against discrimination and national oppression as an important part of the overall fight against monopoly capitalism. And we know that there are many political students becoming members of anti-imperialist organizations, many of them the Attica Brigade, and that these students are determined to build a fighting student movement, determined to link it up with the struggles of the people throughout the world, and determined not to make the mistakes that have plagued us in the past. For all these reasons there is a tremendous potential for building a revolutionary student movement more powerful than ever seen before in this country – one that will really shake the ruling class down to its bourgeois boots.
But it would be a serious error on our part to think that students are simply waiting for the signal to get out into the streets and fight the ruling class. For over the last 3-4 years many students have also developed cynical attitudes towards struggle and people being able to force social change, I’m sure we’ve all heard it – “everybody’s apathetic,” “people just don’t care,” and “people don’t relate to demonstrations anymore.” This cynicism and demoralization is an important factor that will hold back the student movement unless defeated.
Much of it can be traced to some of the errors and failures of the student movement 1n the 60’s, such as the lack of clear political leadership and focus. For without a clear political understanding of how the society functions and how it must be fought, many students developed different ideas of how to defeat the imperialists – from the “Get Rich Quick” schemes of the Weathermen to the different “student power” trips.
When these ideas and views came up against the real world and failed, many people got confused and demoralized. The breakup of SDS, torn by different political Ideologies, also made people cynical and wary of political groups. These ideas were certainly added to by the annoying factor of sects like the Progressive Labor Party, Spartacist League, and the Young Socialist Alliance, who in addition to consistently taking reactionary positions, such as attacking Ho Chi Minh and the National Liberation Front of Vietnam, also try to consistently promote themselves off the backs of the people’s struggles. Added too, was the splitting apart of the Black Panther Party, due to fascist repression as well as its own internal conflicts, for the Panther Party had made important contributions to the student movement as a whole, as well as giving important leadership to the numerous Black Student Unions that also grew and developed during the 60’s.
And of course, without strong political leadership and organizations on the campuses during the 70’s the monopoly capitalists alone have summed up the struggles of the people in a defeatist way. Their televisions, radios, newspapers and movies don’t tell us about the courageous support students gave to the Vietnamese. Rather, they tell us that the 60’s were a unique era when kids were innocent, inexperienced, and moralistic; that it was ”fun” and everyone knows now that it really didn’t matter. “If you really want to make social change, work within the system – get those new young voters voting, wait for Ted in ’76, and meantime get those doves and impeachers into Congress.” All of these factors have temporarily confused some students and, of course, the ruling class knows it. They fear a strong student movement. They saw what it did in the; 60’s and they certainly don’t want one now, when they are in an even weaker position. So they try and steer the people away from taking their anger, frustration and disillusionment out on the real enemy, and they consciously attempt to steer people’s energies to where it is safe for them. Thus, the huge promotion campaign for streaking, the Guru, and other assorted escapes. And a small number of students have gotten caught up in this muck. Mainly they try and play off the people’s real fears of living in a declining system, on which you must compete with one another – for jobs, grades, etc. Mainly this takes form in the idea, “you better study hard and look out for yourself, because things aren’t as easy as they used to be, and you’ve got to do good to get a job.” In other words, look out for old number one, because that’s what the next person is doing. And the rulers have been somewhat successful with this tactic, as we have all noted that classes and studies are taken more seriously than they were a few years ago, the school libraries are more crowded, and the ratio of Business students has gone up. But we should also note that it’s not like the 50’s when students were studying hard in the quest for the three bedroom house, two car family, and $20,000 job. For many of these illusions about “making it” have been destroyed over the last 10 years, and the hard and serious studying is usually directed toward carving out a personal niche in the society, where one can make “peace” with the system.
But these are pie-in-the-sky searches for personal fulfillment that just won’t make it in the real world. You can’t “hide” or “escape” from the society, for the monopoly capitalists keep on attacking, the people keep on fighting, and new crises are constantly developing. We in the Brigade must show these people that the answer is not to “hide” or “escape” from the struggle, but to actively get into it and fight for the people. We have all seen that students always want to know and hear about people struggling and fighting. This is because they know something is fundamentally wrong with this system, and we in the Brigade must actively show them that we ain’t messing around either, because we’re aiming to win and be part of the movement that’s going to put this ruling class out of business for good.
A good example of the mood and potential on campuses occurred when I was recently in California for an expansion trip for the Brigade. I spoke at a “Throw the Bum Out” rally in Berkeley which was not very large, and afterwards someone from the school newspaper came up to me and was asking several questions about the Brigade – this “new group” which had just taken over the Statue of Liberty. At the end of the interview he v/as telling me how he knew there was something wrong with the system, but that everyone there was cynical, demoralized or totally into school, and that he was pissed because he had come from Ames, Iowa to go to school at Berkeley to get involved in the student movement, and here he was hearing of a National Student Convention of radicals and revolutionaries in Iowa, and a “Throw the Bum Out” demonstration of 1,000 people in Iowa City. Well, the story has a happy ending, because around a month later, a fighting mass movement, involving thousands, did develop at Berkeley around the cutting of the Criminology School and ethnic studies program, and I’m sure that school reporter was a part of the action.
All of this points to the fact that many, many students are fed up with this system, know that it’s rotten, and are looking for someone to show them a way to fight. The Brigade and other progressive organizations must unite with this correct understanding of the people and move it in a direction that will strike blows against the monopoly rulers. And in the course of building struggle we should be exposing the imperialist system, linking the struggle with other peoples’ fights, and showing that it’s the people who are really strong and who have the bright future, and the ruling class who is rotten and decaying, and daily being attacked. And in this way, we will be taking important steps in defeating some of the cynicism and demoralized views that have developed around the people’s ability to force social change.
Over the last year we have seen the Brigade develop into a national student organization. Though we have been plagued by various weaknesses, we have begun to lead struggles on the campuses as well an on the national level, and we have begun to make important contributions, both to the student movement and to the overall revolutionary movement. Now more than ever, we must sum up our work to consolidate our gains, weed out our mistakes, and move forward to develop a strong organization, capable of leading a revolutionary student movement. We all have much to learn from one another, and we have a long and arduous task ahead of us, for the building of a strong movement to defeat this system will not be easy. Hopefully, this convention will be an important step forward in carrying out this task.
The road ahead is clear; we must continue to build upon the advances made in the world-wide struggle against imperialism, as well as the advances the Brigade has made in the last two years – to build mass struggle and to move forward students’ understanding of the system and how to fight it.
While this struggle will not be easy, and will have many twists and turns, we know that in the long run our troubles are really small compared to those of the declining imperialist class. It is their system that is in rapid decay, while the people’s forces are young and growing. It is their economic crises, not ours; it is their political crises, not ours. We look to the future confidently, knowing that if we do our work well, and practice with the people’s interest in mind, we will surely win – and help build a powerful student movement that will be part of the revolutionary struggles of the people against the criminal rule of monopoly capital!