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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1969)
Radical group factionalism noticeable at leftist meeting By RICK FITCH College Press Service TORONTO — The factionalism among U.S. White radicals that di vided the SDS national convention last June and caused bitter ver bal infighting during demonstra tions in Chicago Oct. 8-11 was much in evidence at the recent “Year of the Barricade” confer ence attended by some 500 leftist students here. Foreign delegates Conference celegates from Can ada, Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany had an opportunity to learn first-hand why the Amer ican radical protest movement had fragmentized into a bevy of splinter-groups (SDS Weather - men, Revolutionary Youth Move ment II, Progressive Labor Party, etc.), each claiming to have a corner on the revolutionary mar ket. Most vocal of the U.S. prova teurs was Mike Klonsky, leader of the Revolutionary Youth Move ment (RYM) II. A former na tional secretary of SDS who speaks in a clipped, staccato style, Klonsky attacked the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) as revisionist, counter-revolutionary, nationalis tic and racist. PLP was the protagonist in con flicts that beset the last conven tion of the “old” SDS. Compris ing a majority of the delegates, PLP members pushed through res olutions supporting the concept that the class struggle of the pro letariat must be the foremost con cern of young revolutionaries, with all else, including Black, women’s and Third World liber ation, relegated to a second role. This caused a walkout by reg ular SDS members, who, posses sing less faith in the ability of workers to wage a class strug gle, believed that the “secondary” issues named above should re ceive primary emphasis. According to Klonsky, the most difficult obstacle to surmount in a revolutionary movement is “chauvinism”—blind devotion to a particular purpose—and PLP is guilty of chauvinism “in the worst way” because it condemns Black power and does not accord enough importance to struggles by undeveloped countries to de feat U.S. imperialism. Weathermen attacked “In one publication,” Klonsky said, “They took a photograph of pickets carrying a sign saying “Black Workers Power” and sub stituted “Organize’ for ‘power.’ ” The Weathermen drew Klon sky’s criticism, because, he said, they have ignored the workers altogether. Originally, the Weath ermen and RYM II were one in the same. But after the conven tion, Mark Rudd, former Colum bia University SDS leader, form ed the Weathermen faction, split ting from Klonsky’s group, which Rudd contended put too much stress on radicalizing the work - ers. Rudd aimed to pattern the Weathermen somewhat after the Black Panthers, as a vanguard of Whites who would confront the Seale may defend self at conspiracy retrial SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—Black Panther leader Bobby Seale says he might act as his own attorney again at his retrial on conspiracy charges in Chicago even though his lawyer is now well and able to defend him. “There is a point to be made,” Seale told newsmen at San Fran cisco’s Hall of Justice. I might try to defend myself to make an example of what a Black man is up against with the power structure.” Seale was flown from Chicago Monday by commercial airliner under guard of three Black federal marshals to await extradition on a Connecticut murder conspiracy indictment. He was sentenced last week to four years in prison for contempt of court by U.S. Dist. Court Judge Julius Hoffman who had earlier ordered him bound and gagged for his outbursts while trying to act as his own attorney in the conspiracy trial of Seale and seven others. The judge declared a mistrial for Seale and set retrial for April 23. Trial of the other seven charged with conspiring to incite riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention continues. Charles Garry, the White attorney who could not defend Seale because of an operation, met him at the jail with a warm embrace and a Black Panther handshake and said: “Whatever he wants to do, I will assist him. All a lawyer does is assist anyway.” Neatly dressed in cuffless black slacks an a casual blue sweater, Seale was soft-spoken and assured in a news conference in a jail cell. “They slickly sent me back with three Black marshals,” Seale said. “They didn’t bother me, other than to maintain an unjust in carceration.” He said he was handcuffed and chained during auto trips at both ends of the flight, but was not shackled in any way aboard the plane. ASUO Social Division presents a Documentary Mein Kampf Thursday Nov. 13 6:30 & 9:00 p.m. 150 Science FREE police regularly. The actions of the Weathermen in Chicago Oct. 8-11 polarized Rudd’s and Klon - sky’s groups into opposing camps. While the Weathermen were en gaged in militant, guerrilla - like strikes against the Chicago down town area and police, RYM II held peaceful counter-rallies. Troops called National Guard troops were call ed out because of the Weather men, and police cracked down se verely, arresting over 200 of the 350 members of the faction who showed up. This proves that the Weathermen are masochists who engage in “Custeristic” actions, ac cording to Klonsky. He said that although the com mon view of workers has them “watching a football game guz zling beer,” they can be made to recognize they are “wage slaves exploited in a hundred ways.” He called the Weathermen “an extreme faction of PLP” (drawing boos from the audience), and said their attitude about the proletar iat, i.e., that workers have been bought off by the capitalist sys tem, is too negative and defeatist. “Capitalism isn’t in the best in terest of workers,” he said. TERM PAPERS DUE?? 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