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ANTIWAB MOVEMENT
We last discussed the war in Vietnam and the antiwar
movement at a resident NC meeting April 6, immediately following the March 25-26 Days of Protest. There has since been a
major escalation of the war.
Vietnam
The White House has officially announced that another
100,000 men will be added to the forces in Vietnam by the end
of the year, and it is unofficially admitted that 500,000 more
is a likely figure. Bombings in the north and south reached a
new tonnage intensity on May 13 and again later in June. The
official admission of U.S. troop actions in Cambodia and Laos,
and unofficial admissions of action in Thailand have raised
the specter of a massive Asian land war. The Johnson administration attempts to give the impression of being more solidly
behind Ky than ever, as more and more Vietnamese turn against
him.
This escalation has paralleled the refusal of the Vietnamese in the cities to lend even the appearance of stability
to the Ky dictatorship. The Buddhists and students keep demonstrating, Danang and Hué have had to be virtually occupied by
Ky's troops, a series of strike actions by the workers were
effective enough for the first time to significantly slow down
American supplies, and the army of south Vietnam was rendered
totally incapable of spending any of its time fighting the army
of the National Liberation Front.
As this has been occurring over the last ten weeks, and
as the objective threat of an eventual extension of the conflict
with China has increased, Brezhnev and Kosygin, the international coalitionists, continued to ignore China's fears and
berate LBJ's "advisors" for leading him into such errors. This
was the focal point of the United Secretariat statement.
The Antiwar Movement
One of the marks of the anti-Vietnam-war movement has
been its capacity to respond in one form or another, rather
than retreat, at each new stage of the imperialist escalation.
The last ten weeks have been no exception.
Demonstrations have continued around the world, especially in Japan, Belgium, Germany, and in this country. A new
layer of protesters have been brought in through a wave of
teach-ins, read-ins, and a series of anti-napalm demonstrations
ranging from Redwood, California, to Brooklyn. The large anti-
draft rallies at Madison, Chicago and City College of New York
in late May were aimed at the antiworking-class anti-Negro bias
of the draft system, and in many cases against the war.
"Quickie" demonstrations, often organized on a few hours
notice, in opposition to the visits of administration figures