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.
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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.
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