/ -^ THE ATTEMPT TO STEAL THE BICENTENNIAL
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE
ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY
ACT AND OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
NINETY-FOURTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
MARCH 17 AND IS, 1976
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
^
OCS U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
' 69-239 WASHINGTON : 1976
JarcW
raivl
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $2.45
FRANKLIN PIERCE LAW CENTER
Concord, New Han--^'^''^ ^130]
ON DPP*^^"'
^ '^ THE ATTEMPT TO STEAL THE BICENTENNIAL
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission
HEARINGS
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE
ADMINISTRATION OF THE INTERNAL SECURITY
ACT AND OTHER INTERNAL SECURITY LAWS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
UNITED STATES SENATE
NINETY-FOUKTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
MARCH 17 AND IS, 1976
Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
II
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
69-239 WASHINGTON : 1976
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Goverument Printing Office
Washington, B.C. 20402 - Price $2.45
•Ch .NKl W CENTER
Co ti mpshire0330l
■y
CIT
Boston PvMq Libfaiy
in, MA 021^6
• '•.^
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi, Chairman
JOHN L. McCLELLAN, Arkansas ROMAN L. HRUSKA, Nebraska
PHILIP A. HART, Michigan HIRAM L. FONG, Hawaii
EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts HUGH SCOTT, Pennsylvania
BIRCH BAYH, Indiana STROM THURMOND, South Carolina
QUENTIN N. BURDICK, North Dakota CHARLES McC. MATHIAS. Jr., Maryland
ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia WILLIAM L. SCOTT, Virginia
JOHN V. TUNNEY, California
JAMES ABOUREZK, South Dakota
Subcommittee To Investigate the Administration of the Internal
Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws
JAMES O. EASTLAND, Mississippi, Chairman
JOHN L. McCLELLAN, Arkansas STROM THURMOND, South CaroUna
BIRCH BAYH, Indiana WILLIAM L. SCOTT, Virginia
Richard L. Schultz. Chitf Counsel
Caroline M. Courbois, Assistanl to the Chief Counsel
' Alfonso L. Tarabochia, Chief Investigator
Robert J. Short, Senior Investigator
Mary E. Dooley, Research Director
David Martin, Senior Analyst
RESOLUTION
Resolved, by the Internal Security Subcommittee of the Senate
Committee on the Judiciaiy, that the testimony of Francis M. Watson,
Jr., taken in executive session on March 17, 1976, and Mary O.
Walton, taken in executive session on March 18, 1976, be released
from the injunction of secrecy, be printed and made public.
James O. Eastland,
' .yi^f Chairman.
Approved : June 1, 1976.
CONTENTS
Pag®
Wednesday, March 17, 1976 1
Francis M. Watson, Jr., testimony of 2
Thursday, March 18, 1976 37
Mary 0. Walton, testimony of 37
Appendix A 75
Appendix B 127
(III)
THE ATTE3IPT TO STEAL THE BICENTENNIAL— THE
PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 1976
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee To Investigate the
Administration of the Internal Security Act
AND Other Internal Security Laws
of the Committee on the Jucidiary,
Washington, D.C.
The subcoiiimittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 o'clock a.m.,
in the Russell Senate Office Building, Senator James O. Eastland,
chairman, presiding.
Also present: Richard L. Schultz, chief counsel; Alfonso L. Tarabo-
chia, chief investigator; Robert J. Short, senior investigator; and
David Martin, senior analyst.
The Chairman. The subcommittee will come to order.
In the discharge of our mandated responsibilities, the Internal
Security Subcommittee has, over the years, responded to the expres-
sion of congressional and pubUc interest in the activities of emerging
revolutionary organizations. A review of our publications will disclose
that the Internal Security Subcommittee has conducted continuing
study relevant to the activities of both those organizations dominated
and controlled by the Soviet Union, as well as those apart from such
dominance. In the absence of a duly constituted agency or commission
of the Government, the Internal Security Subconmiittee has, and will
continue to develop a body of evidence concerning revolutionaiy
organizations which cannot be made available to the Congress or to
the public through such customary means as a criminal investigation
by the FBI. There is no other legally constituted body available to do
the job.
The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee is well aware that there
are individuals and groups who view our Bicentennial celebration as
a historic opportunity to test the strength of our fiber by engaging
in acts of terrorism or through actions designed solely for the purpose
of bringing about disruption.
We are also aware that there are those who would test the strength
of our fiber through insidious means.
It is important that the Congress and the public be aware of the
existence of organizations of the revolutionar}' left, which seek to per-
vert tlie legitimate meaning of the American Revolution, and who
with the tacit connivance of front organizations, have engaged in a
massive campaign to try to "capture" the Bicentennial celebration for
themselves. The subcommittee meets today for the purpose of receiv-
ing testimony and evidence from witnesses who have made a study of
(1)
revolutionary organizations. Through their testimony, today and in
subsequent hearings, we pLan to peel back the patriotic veneer of the
name the Peoples Bicentennial Commission for the purpose of ex-
amining and lading before the Congress and the public, facts, bj' which
the legitimacy of this organization's publicly stated goals and ob-
jectives and the integrity of their spokesmen may be objectively
evaluated.
Our \\'itness today is Mr. Francis M. Watson, Jr., director of Media
Kesearch, Dunn Loring, Va. Would you stand and be sworn? Do 3"ou
solemnly swear that the testimony joii are about to give is the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. Watson. I do, sir.
The Chairman. Counsel, would you please proceed with the
questioning?
TESTIMONY OE FEANCIS M. WATSON, JR., DIEECTOR OF MEDIA
RESEARCH, DUNN LORING, VA.
Mr. ScHULTz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Watson, would
you state your full name and address for the record, please?
Mr. Watson. Francis M. Watson, Jr. Business address?
Mr. ScHULTz. That wih be fine.
Mr. Watson. Box 51, Dunn Loring, Va. 22027.
Mr. ScHULTz. What is your occupation?
Mr. Watson. I am a researcher and wiiter.
Mr. ScHULTz. And what t3^pe of materials do you research and
write about?
Air. Watson. My specialty field is media analysis and propaganda
analvr>is, and I am usuallv concerned with revolutionarv organizations
and their tactics and propaganda.
Air. ScHULTz. How long have you been so associated?
Air. Watson. About 12 or 13 jears.
Al^r. ScHULTz. Can you briefly describe your background for us?
Air. Watson. I have a bachelor's degree in education and a master's
degree in journalism, with a specialty in public opinion. I am a retired
Army officer, and in my last A^ears in the military service, I was
involved in i-esearch in counterinsurgencA^ and propaganda. I left the
military service in 1966. 1 went to work for a civilian research organiza-
tion that did this same type of work, and when I left them I went to
work for an organization that did media anal3'sis for public opinion
poll type information, and while I worked for them I conducted a
year long research project into what underground newspapers in the
United States were saying at that time.
We actually" analyzed a sample of underground papers taken from
across the country and published our results in monthly reports called
Tupart Monthly Reports on the Underground Press. I think those
are on file in the Library of Congress.
Air. Schultz. Thank vou. From what school did vou graduate?
Air. Watson. University of Georgia.
Air. Schultz. And what was your specialty?
Air. Watson. Public opinion. I did my graduate work in journalism.
Air. Schultz. Thank you. Have you published any books ^n con-
nection with your work?
Mr. Watson. Well, since I left National Media Analysis, for the
last 4 or 5 j^ears I have been independent and have written a number
of reports and published booklets on the subject of propaganda and
terrorism. I have just finished a book — it will be published next
month — on terrorism.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you, Mr. Watson.
I note that you have a prepared statement and I would suggest
that you proceed at your OAvn pace at tliis time.
Mr. Watson. This statement is designed to try to set the Peoples
Bicentennial Commission in some sort of understandable context. It
gives a little bit of the background of it, and what I think are the
reasons for being concerned about it.
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission which I will call PBC here-
after, poses itself as a "nation\^dde citizens' organization dedicated to
restoring the democratic principles that shaped the birth of this
republic." Here I am quoting PBC. In actual fact, it is a propaganda
and organizing tool of a small group of New Left political extremists
who seek to use the Bicentennial to further their own goals.
This is not something about which we need speculate. We can
find statements of this intent in their own words. For example, in
1972, when Jeremy Rifkin, the rising young frontrunner for PBC,
was trying to interest fellow members of the newly formed radical
New American Movement in sponsoring the PBC idea, he wrote in
that organization's monthly newspaper:
It makes no sense for the New Left to allow the defenders of the system, the
advantage of presenting themselves as the true heirs and defenders of the Amer-
ican revolutionary tradition. Instead, the revolutionary heritage must be used as a
tactical weapon to isolate the existing institutions and those in power.
I, incidentally, have that newspaper with me so that you can copy
it and enter it into the record.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mr. Watson, we will mark this as exhibit No. 1, and
I hand it to you and ask that you identify this document for the
record.
}*Ir. Watson. I will. This is the November-December 1971 edition
of an organizational newspaper called New American Movement,
published in Cleveland, Ohio.
Mr. Schultz. ]Mr. Chairman, may I suggest that this and all other
documents offered by the witness in the course of this hearing be
accepted and the final decision as to inclusion in the record be reserved
until the documents can be reviewed and an appropriate decision
reached.
The Chairman. Without objection, so ordered. Carry on.
[The document referred to was marked exliibit No. 1 and will be
found in appendix A, p. 75.]
iMr. Schultz. And how did you come into possession of that
newspaper, Mr. Watson?
Mr. Watson. Well, it happens to be one of the newspapers that
we picked up in the course of the project I described having conducted
several years ago of analyzing underground newspapers, and this
qualifies as an underground newspaper.
Mr. Schultz. Thank you. Please proceed.
Mr. Watson. Further, in the same article in this paper, Rifkin
explained that b}^ establishing the Peoples Bicentennial Commissions
on the State or local level, the New American Movement could attract
citizens from communities, unions, civil organizations, grade schools,
high schools, and colleges for eventual recruitment into local chapters
of the New American Movement itself. He pointed out that people
who would not feel comfortable in a radical political organization
initially could be led into the New American Movement through
radical-directed Bicentennial activities.
In the concluding paragraphs of his article, Rifkin said:
Aside from engaging large numbers of people for the first time, who might not
feel comfortal)le relating directly to the New American Movement, the Peoples
Commissions would provide a unique forum for mass media exposure over the
next four j-ears. This mechanism could be used to raise political awareness and
to promote New American Movement and other radical activities and demands.
Subsequent developments show that Rifkin knew precisely whereof
he spoke, for almost every line in this paragraph has come true in the 4
years he specified and probably to an extent beyond his fondest dreams.
The media, the conservatives, as well as those usually considered
liberal, have fallen all over themselves providing Rifkin and his self-
appointed Peoples Bicentennial Commission time and space. News-
papers, news magazines, and radio and television outlets have taken
things at face value and in the process have simply made themselves
conveyor belts for anything the PBC wants to pinnp out to the
American public. To say that PBC has gotten more time and space
than the official Bicentennial Administration is an understatement. It
has happened right within the pages of given editions of papers and
magazines, again, even in those of traditionally conservative tones.
For example, before the kickoff of the official Bicentennial celebra-
tion period, the observance in Lexington-Concord in April of 1975,
Rifkin went around the country saying PBC was going to send a
message to Wall Street. It is doubtfid that even he thought he could
use the Wall Street Journal to do so, but he did. I, incidental!}^, have a
copy here of such a Wall Street Journal article.
Mr. ScHULTz. We will identify that as exhibit No. 2 and would you
identifv the date and edition?
Mr. "Watson. This is the Wall Street Journal, April 15, 1975, an
article entitled, "The Spirit of 1976 — Is It a Bicentennial or a Buy-
centennial?"
[The docimient referred to was marked exhibit No. 2, and will be
found in appendix A, p. 81.]
Mr. ScHULTZ. And what is the substance — what's the focus of the
article?
Mr. Watson. Well, ''Buj^centennial," spelled b-u-y, is a catch- "
w^ord that was coined by the Peoples Bicentennial Commission so the
Wall wStreet Journal is picking it up here, and within the article it says :
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission, a private activist group, eschews com-
mercial products altogether. Through groups like the National Campfire Girls and
the National Council of Churches it distributes literature aimed at reacciuainting
Americans with social, political, and economic issues in the revolutionary era that
still exist, today. The Peoples Bicentennial Commission seems motivated by an •
old-fashioned egalitarian ism.
-o*-
I don't think the Peoples Bicentennial literature backs up that state-
ment in the Wall Street Journal.
Mr. ScHULTZ. All right, sir.
Mr. Watson. Back to the situation at Lexington-Concord. With
Rifkin and his cohorts shouting, "Abohsh the corporations," he was
still written up in the Wall Street Journal as an altruistic alternative
to the Government's Bicentennial agenc}'. Even his bad press would be
a public relations man's dream. For example, when the PBC-mspu-ed
rowdies tried to make a mess of the ceremonies at Concord, Mass., on
April 19, 1975, about the worst that was said about them in the press
was that they were "a bunch of juvenile delinquents out for a good
time," and this from U.S. News & World Report, again, a traditionally
conservative publication.
We, incidentally, have an article here that we might suggest enter-
ing, showing the coverage given in U.S. News & World Report, for
PBC and Jeremy Rifkin. In this article in U.S. News & World Report,
Rifkin is spoken of as an economist.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We will identify that as exhibit No. 3, and it will be
accepted in accordance with the chairman's order.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 3, and will be
found in appendix A, p. 82.]
Mr. ScHULTZ. Perhaps we can inquire more about these as we get
into your testimony.
Mr. Watsox. Yes. As to attracting large numbers of people who
might not feel comfortable relating directly to a radical organization,
PBC has set some new sort of record. Indeed, there is hardly a ques-
tion that if PBC's true origin and ancestry were known, many of the
current participants, supporters, and endorsers would not have
touched it with the proverbial "10-foot pole."
Say what he might, Rifkin knows this. At the very moment he was
writing the article proposing the PBC idea as a radical organizing tool
he was not only a groimd floor member of the New American Move-
ment, fully aware of its socialist revolutionary aims, but he was one
of a committee of seven appointed to sanitize the organization's litera-
ture and eliminate telltale rhetoric that would frighten away the
ordinary citizen it hoped to reach. Amazingly enough, all of this is
spelled out in clear langiuige in the selfsame edition of the New
American Movement newspaper in which Rifkin is proposing to dupe
the American public with PBC. That is in the same item we intro-
duced as exhibit No. 1 — in the same edition of the paper.
Incidentally, an original of this entire newspaper is on file at the
Wilbur L. Cross Library of the University of Connecticut at Storrs,
as a matter of establishing the record for the paper.
PBC was built on this sort of duplicity from the ground up, and it
continues to build with very little challenge from anyone. For in-
stance, to read the daily press you would get the idea that Jeremy
Rifkin is probably going to form a new anti-Communist league as a
side effort. He tells reporters that he was in the antiwar movement,
but says that he "had a hard time identifying with some of it." He was
against the war, he claims, but "never understood things like cpioting
Mao." His writeups frequently include such lines as these, taken from
the Washington Star-News: "When he calls himself and his colleagues
revolutionary" — the newspaper is talking about Rifkin here— "he
says he is not thinking about Lenin and Karl Marx, he is thinking
about Paul Revere and Nathan Hale. Thomas Paine, Thomas Jeffer-
son, and John Adams are the revolutionaries he likes to quote."
6
Mr. ScHULTZ. What was the date of this article, Mr. Watson?
Mr. Watson. November 24, 1974.
Yet, as you can see in this underground press article that we cited
earlier, the same Jeremy Rifkin wrote to his fellow leftists, and I quote :
"A genuine understanding of revolutionary ideals is what links Thomas
Paine, Sam Adams, and Benjamin Rush, and the American people
with Lenin, Mao, Che" — -Che Guevara, that is — '''and the struggles
of all oppressed peoples in the world."
Mr. ScHULTZ. And this statement appeared where?
Mr. Watson. This statement was in the November-December 1971
edition of New American Movement, which was introduced as ex-
hibit No. 1.
Air. ScHULTZ. Thank you.
Mr. Watson. Then, back in the literary sanitizer role that he was
serving in with the New American Movement, he cleaned the "Lenin,"
the "Mao," and the "Che" and so forth out of that paragraph and
plopped it otherwise word for word in an introduction to what PBC
now advertises as its first book, "America's Birthday," published in
late 1974 by Simon & Schuster.
Mr. ScHULTz. Do you have an example there that you can put in
the record?
Mr. Watson. I do. This is a copy of the book, "America's Birth-
day," and there are a number of paragraphs in this book that you
can do this wdth. I will read you first the paragraph from the under-
ground newspaper and then I will read you the same paragraph
sanitized and put into "America's Birthday."
The underground press article reads:
A genuine understanding of revolutionary ideals is what links Thomas Paine,
Sam Adams, and Benjamin Rush, and the American people with Lenin, Mao,
Che, and the struggles of all oppressed peoples of the world. Not until the masses
of Americans begin to reidentify with these principles and develop their own
revolutionary struggle will they be able to form a real bond of fraternalism and
solidarity with the struggles of all oppressed people.
Now, turning to the book "America's Birthday," published by
Simon & Schuster
Mr. ScHULTz. Wliat page is that?
Mr. Watson. Page 13. "A genuine understanding of American demo-
cratic ideals." — Notice he has changed the word "revolutionary" to
"democratic" — '"is what links the American people with the struggles of
all oppressed people in the world."
You will notice that he's left out some names there, including Lenin
and Mao.
Indeed, the American Revolution has stood as an example of revolutions of
the Third World. Not until the majority of Americans begin to reidentify with
our democratic principles and develop our own revolutionary struggle will we be
able to form a real bond of fraternalism and solidaritj^ with the struggles of all
oppressed people.
So, he has taken the same paragraph and eliminated words which
might upset the ordinary citizen and put it in the book. There are a
number of such paragraphs that we can come back and look at later,.
Not only has Rifkin covered up his o^vn New Left objectives in
turning out PBC literature and in meeting the press, he has masked
the Old Left origin of the very idea of PBC and, as a matter of fact,
much of its literature. There is hardly a week that goes b}' without
some newspaper or magazine piiblishino; an introductory paragraph
or two explaining how Rifkin alone conceived of the Peoples Bicenten-
nial Commission as an alternative to the commercialized tinsel of the
Government's official Revolutionary Bicentennial Administration. As
a matter of easily documented fact, Rifkin inherited the basic set of
ideas, rhetoric, revolutionary quotations, graphic designs and so
forth, from an aging old-leftist and fellow Chicagoan, John Rossen.
Rifkin, a more generall}^ acceptable 30 years of age, versus Rossen's
age, between 65 and 70, simply took the blueprints for PBC and moved
the locus of the operation from Chicago to Washington.
Mr. ScHULTz. Where are the}^ located in Washington?
Mr. Watson. 1346 Connecticut Avenue.
Rossen stays in the background, his hand still obviously in the game;
but associates himself mainly with the Chicago PBC office.
Not only does Rifkin mask this connection, but Rossen himself
denies even having had a hand in the founding of PBC. In fact, one
of the few articles to air some of PBC's murkiness, quotes Rossen as
angrily dismissing as "fairy tales of the Right," statements tha,t he
originated the PBC concept in Chicago in 1969 with pamphlets calling
for a new revolution based on Marxism and American nationalism.
That article in which he is quoted as dismissing his connection with
founding of PBC as a fairy tale of the Right, was an article by a
columnist in Chicago named Bob Wiedrich. I can locate that article
and we can enter it in the record, if you like, because part of it is
based on an interview with Rossen, where he denies his connection
^^'ith the idea.
Mr. ScHULTz. The article you have just mentioned we have
mai'ked as exhibit No. 4.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 4 and ^^'ill be
found in appendix A, p. 84.]
Mr. vScHULTz. Would you identify the date and paper from which
this article was taken?
Mr. Watson. From the August 24, 1975, edition of the Chicago
Tribune.
The pamphlets upon which these "fairy tales" were based included
such items as a pocket-sized booklet of "Revolutionary Quotations
from the Thoughts of Uncle Sam," and a series of tabloid-size periodi-
cals entitled the New Patriot. The latter was edited by "Johnny
Appleseed" Rossen, and both items were described in radical publica-
tions and catalogs in such terms as these, and here I'm quoting from a
publication called Source Catalogue, produced by the Source Collec-
tive, an outgrowth of the Education Liberation Front in Washington,
D.C. This is one of the entries in that catalog, and it says —
Johnny Appleseed Patriotic Publications, ... is best known for "Pi,evolutionary
Quotations from the Thoughts of Uncle Sam." An energized 61-j^ear-old man runs
the operation, writing tracts to "radicalize Americans by Americanizing radical-
ism." He also does the New Patriot paper and is trying to start a radical party
called Sons of Liljerty. Distribution is mostlj^ local in Chicago. He can use help
Contact Johnnj^ Appleseed Patriotic Pubhcations, Post Office Box 40393, Cicero
111. 6060.5.
Mr. ScHULTZ. To your knowledge, does Rossen still operate from
this address and under the name of the Johnny Appleseed Patriotic
Publications?
8
^Ir. Watsox. I don't know about the address, but he still uses this
Johnny Appleseed name.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you.
Mr. Watsox. In 1969 the "Revolutionary Quotations" booklet,
said in its foreword to have been inspired by the "Little Red Book" of
quotations from Mao Tse-tung, was offered as a subscription bonus
with some of the more volatile underground papers in the Midwest,
such as Rising Up Angry, in Chicago, and Kaleidoscope, out of
Milwaukee. It was also advertised in the nationally circulated Marxist-
Leninist-Maoist weekly, Guardian, and I have an example of that.
This is the May 3, 1969, edition of Guardian, and there is a half-page
ad for Johnny Appleseed Patriotic Publications. Featured in the
picture is "Revolutionary Quotations From the Thoughts of Uncle
Sam," and this has the same address on it that we just read from the
Source Catalogue.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We'll designate that as exhibit No. 5.
[Tlie document referred to was marked exhibit No. 5 and will be
found in appendix A, p. 86.]
Mr. Watsox. This advertisement draws a comparison between
this little book and the "Little Red Book" of Mao.
Mr. ScHULTZ. What's the color of this book that's advertised?
Mr. Watsox. It's red, white, and blue. This is
Mr. ScHULTZ. Obviously patriotic.
Mr. Watson. Yes. Rossen is offering this same booklet under a
little different cover in the back of his publication the New Patriot;
here he calls it the "Little Red, White, and Blue Book — Revolutionarj^
Quotations by Great Americans." If yon compare the table of contents
between tliis book and the one in the Guardian ad, you see that
you're really dealing with the same book with a little different cover
to it.
Mr. ScHULTZ. What's the date of the advertisement, in the
Mr. Watson. The New Patriot?
Mr. ScHULTZ. The New Patriot.
Mr. Watson. This is March- April 1971. You can pick up the
similaritj^ here between what Rossen is doing and what Rifkin was
cited as doing earlier. When offering his little booklet of carefully
selected quotations from both 1776 figures and modern leftists to the
seasoned readers of a hard-line radical publication, he let the allusion
to Mao's book shine through. In other words, when he advertised
it in Guardian he let the allusion to Mao's "Little Red Book" shine
quite clearly through, but when he put it out in the New Patriot,
in which he was trying to reach more of the ordinary citizenry he
changed the name to "Little Red, White, and Blue Book of Revolu-
tionary Quotations by Great Americans" and avoided the reference
to Mao's book.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Did he also sanitize it by leaving out the names that
were found in
Mr. Watson. Yes; he did. In the Guardian article he says that it
contains r|uotations from Tom Paine to Tom Hayden, from Sitting^
Bull to Eldridge Cleaver and Iluey Newton, from Gene Debs and
Bill Haywood to Helen Keller and C. Wright Mills, and from Richard
Daley to Rennie Davis. He doesn't say that sort of thing in the New
Patriot ad.
9
In the New Patriot he was seeking a broader, less radical audience,,
and he sanitized it and eliminated the blatancy of his propaganda'
operation. If you look at a packet of the PBC materials being sent out'
around the country, von will see a continuation of this Rossen gimmicks
That is, in this packet of materials PBC has a little 33^2 by "53^ inch
booklet, entitled "First Principles." It has man}^ of the same table of
contents — entries that we have seen in both of these two versions of
Rossen's "Revolutionary Quotations" book, but it's been further
sanitized to eliminate the obvious traces of modern revolutionaries.
Mr. ScHULTZ. And when you say modern leftists you're referring to
whom?
Mr. Watson. Such people as Eldridge Cleaver, Rennie Davis,
Gene Debs, Bill Haj^wood, Huey Newton, Tom Ha3-den, and so on,
Mr. ScHULTZ. Right; thank vou.
Mr. Watson. Also in the New Patriot the "Don't Tread On Me"
button Rossen is offering to his readers is identical in artwork to the
buttons PBC is now distributing. He's offering here on page 30 "Don't
Tread On Me" buttons, 25 cents each, 10 for $1.50, so on. The artwork
is identical to the artwork which PBC now uses.
And still on this, in this New Patriot he lists several ways to "Use
the New Patriot To Organize Your Community." We're still on page
30. These, almost every one of these ideas is a part of the present PBC
program. Now, if you look at the back cover of this edition of the New
Patriot v/e see a miniature poster here, "Kent State, May, 1970."
This is, again, identical to a poster that PBC now uses.
Mr. ScHULTZ. 1 don't believe we've previously identified that by
number.
Mr. Watson. The New Patriot?
Mr. ScHULTZ. The New Patriot. We will designate that as exhibit
No. 6.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 6 and will be
found in appendix A, p. 87.]
Mr. Watson. This is the New Patriot, March-April 1971, volume 1,
No. 4.
John Rossen can angrily dismiss his having had a hand in the found-
ing of PBC as fairy tales of the right, if he so chooses, but the evidence
is that he designed the whole thing. He has a sky blue van bearing his
"Johim}^ Applesecd" signs on one side and the PBC indicia on the
other. Somehovv^ his van symbolizes the two faces of John Rossen.
I might digress for a moment. When I first read about him, I found
John Rossen to be a little hard to believe, running around in a black
beret and a turtleneck black shirt, and a black suit, but I attended a
meeting at Champaign-Urbana in January 1975, a regional PBC
meeting, and I saw John Rossen there at the meeting dressed in pre-
cisely that fashion, and saw his little van with the "Johnny Appleseed
Spirit of '76" painted on the side of it, the "Sons of Liberty" and the
"American Revolutionary Bicentennial 1776-1976." I have a picture
of that out on the campus of the University of Illinois.
JMr. Schultz. Would you be willing to furnish that picture to the
subcommittee for inclusion in the record?
Mr. Watson. Yes. We also have a picture of Rossen and Rifkin
sitting together in the conduct of a meeting.
Mr. Schultz. And these pictures were personally taken by you?
10
Mr, Watson. They were taken by a young woman who was work-
ing with me. My assignment on that particular occasion was to attend
the meeting and with her and a young man's help, to see if we could
find out what PBC was all about.
Mr. ScHULTZ. But you can attest to the fact that these pictures
truly represent what you observed while attending this meeting?
Mr. Watson. Absolutely.
Mr, ScHULTZ. For purposes of clarification, is the meeting that you
refer to a Peoples Bicentennial Commission regional conference held
in Urbana, 111., on January 10 and 12, 1975?
Mr. Watson. Yes.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We will mark the pictures as exhibit No. 7. Thank you.
Please proceed.
[The pictures referred to were marked exhibit No. 7 and Anil be found
in appendix A, p. 92.]
Mr. Watson. Another piece of evidence in the relationship between
these two is the Benjamin Rush quotation vmder the banner of the
New Patriot, Rossen's publication here. It is a c^uotation attributed
to Benjamin Rush that says:
The American war is over but this is far from being the case with the American
Revokition; on the contrary, nothing but the first act of this great drama is
closed.
Mr. ScHULTZ. And, again, you are referring to exliibit No. 6.
Mr. Watson. Right. Not only is the general PBC idea of using
1776 quotations to legitunatize modern revolutionary activities, trace-
able to Rossen's little booklet of 1969 — and it's in that original Little
Red Book of Quotations — this particular quotation is a key passage
quoted in PBC literature. It appears many times in the PBC book
"America's Birthday" and other literature and just as it is used to
introduce the New Patriot, it is used to introduce the PBC's New
Patriot Handbook the syllabus and study guide in their basic packet.
Incidentally, on this Patriot's Handbook, the syllabus and study
guide which is sent out with a packet to schools and community orga-
nizations and libraries and so forth, to ^'help them study about the
American Revolution," the lead entry under the section on the Amer-
ican Revolution, per se, is a book called "American Revolution," by
Herbert Aptheker, who, as you know, is the head theoretician of the
Communist Party, U.S.A.
Basic to the PBC idea, though, is a concept called revolutionary
nationalism. This is the absolute core of the whole PBC idea: the
propaganda strategy of trying to transfer the patriotic attachment for
the revolutionary figures, events and spirit of 1776 to an endorsement
of leftist revolutionary aims in the 1970's. More needs to be said about
that, but for the moment note Rossen's references to this concept in
the New Patriot. First, on the inside cover he refers to his article,
"Revolutionary Nationalism and the American Left," in the radical
avant-garde magazine Evergreen Review.
Mr. Schultz. Again, we are referring to exhibit No. 6. Is that
correct?
Mr. Watson. Correct.
Here, we must note that one of the fairy tales Rossen so angrily
dismissed was that he originated the concept of PBC in pamphlets
calling for a new revolution based on Marxism and American national-
ism. It should also be noted that Rossen's revolutionary nationalism
11
wiitings in his tabloid, the New Patriot, were indeed expanded into
his article in Evergreen Review and that, in turn, became verbatim
a full chapter in the first book-size publication PBC put out: "How
To Commit Revolution American Style," by Jeremy Rifkin and John
Rossen, a volume, incidentally, both men now choose to ignore and,
apparently, hope everyone else will do likewise.
I have a copy of that book here "How To Commit Revolution
American Style," by Jeremy Rifkin and John Rossen, the Bicentennial
declaration.
Mr. ScHULTz. For purposes of reference, we will identify that as
exhibit No. 8.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 8, and may
be found in the files of the subcommittee. A photocopy of the jacket
will be found in appendix A, p. 93.]
Mr. Watsox. It's not difficult to understand why Rifkin and Rossen
choose to ignore this publication and hope everyone will forget it, for
between Rossen's earlier pamphlets and this book, the grandiose
duplicity of the whole PBC idea is revealed — the manipulative
strategy called revolutionary nationalism is it. That is the concept
upon which Rossen developed the basic design of PBC. If you could
pull that single concept out of the PBC program, as you might pull a
piece of tunber from a structure, the whole affair, including every
piece of its literature, would collapse into a pile of unrelated quotations
and drawings.
Thus, an understanding of what these people mean by revolutionary
nationalism is essential to an appreciation of the size of the hoax they
are pulling. Rossen devotes considerable space to this concept in his
publication, the New Patriot. He quotes Regis Debray, the French
Marxist wiiter who accompanied the Castroite revolutionary Che
Guevara on his guerrilla forays into Bolivia. Debray is credited by
Rossen with perceiving this particular practice of Marxist-Leninist
strategy for revolution. Rossen cites only a loose fragment from Debray
in the New Patriot. In that book which PBC seems to wish did not
exist, he cites a larger excerpt from Debray's Bolivian prison writings.
The closing lines from that larger citation carr}' the real kicker:
There will never be an authentic nation on this continent without revolutionary
socialism, just as there will never be socialism without revolutionary nationalism.
And here lies Rossen's mark on PBC: agitation for a socialist
revolution through propaganda with a nationalist flavor.
Remember how the radical catalog spoke of the idea behind
Rossen's Johnm^ Appleseed Patriotic Publications, that is to "Radi-
calize Americans by Americanizing radicalism." This runs through all
of Rossen's pamphlets and writings, then Rifkins, and it is the
mainstay of the PBC program and literature. The rationale which
led to this, and the thesis of the more formal term "revolutionary
nationalism," is that if nationalism, or patriotism as we usually
think of it, is the stuft' which holds the people together in the resistance
to a revolution, the clever revolutionary will not fight it; he will seek
to gain control of it.
That is what Rifkin was saying in his article in the New American
]\Iovement, speaking to fellow new leftists fresh from the antiwar
struggles, and this is what Rossen was saying before Rifkin came
along. There in 1971 they were talking to the same audience. Both of
12
them were on hand for the founding of the New American Movement,
Rifkin as one of the New Left antiwarriors himself, and Rossen as the
old leftist who had been moving in and out of radical youth circles for
several years. Look, they were saying to the New Left radicals, joii
have been trying to bring a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolution to the
United States by using opposition to the Vietnam war as an issue,
and we agree with you on this goal, but you're going at it wrong.
People in this country are not going to buy off from the turgid writings
of Marx, the easily identifiable polemics of Lenin, or quotations from
the "Thoughts of Chairman Mao." You have tried that and it has
not worked. Here, give them the "Revolutionary Quotations from
the Thoughts of Uncle Sam." We are completely committed to bring-
ing a Cuban or Chinese-type regime to the United States just as you
are, but it simply cannot be done the way you are trying to do it.
Of course, this is the sort of generalization that Rossen labels as
one of those "fairy tales of the right," so let's look at it in his own
words from the PBC book he and Rifkin put together in 1973, but
now seem to want to hide. On page 149 of that PBC book, and this
is exhibit — —
Mr. ScHULTz. Exhibit No. 8.
Mr. Watson [continuing]. Exhibit No. 8, Rossen is talking about
"revolutionary nationalism" as the new movement in our hemisphere.
In Cuba, he says, "Fidel was an early revolutionary nationalist" and
is "clearly aware of this powerful new current and its effect on world
revolutionary strategy."
Then Rossen says — -
In the Caribbean islands, new Black liberation movements are popping up
all over. In Canada, the Quebecois Liberation Front has brought the fires of
revolutionary nationalism right up to the U.S. frontier.
On the European continent, similar fires are scorching the hides of imperialists.
In Spain, Franco's fascist empire, kept afloat for nearly three decades with the
aid of the U.S. imperialist establishment, may well be smashed on the rocks of
Bascjue and Catalan revolutionary new patriots within Castile itself. In northern
Ireland, the Catholic minority represents a form of revolutionary nationalism;
and closer to home for the British imperialists, the resistance of Scottish and
Welsh nationalism forebodes new headaches for No. 10 Downing Street.
In the Middle East the Palestinian Liberation Movement and in Africa
the struggle to free Angola stand out as the revolutionary nationalist bastions
of the anti-imperialist front. In the Philippines, the resurgent anti-U.S. -im-
perialism movement is clearly another manifestation of the new revolutionary
nationalism.
In Asia the entire continent seethes with the movement. The victory of the
first stage of the Chinese Revolution can be said to have struck the sparks that
set off the whole world-wide phenomenon of revolutionary nationalism.
Thus, one has to conclude that Rossen is trying to promote in the
United States what has already taken place in Cuba and China, and
"revolutionary nationalism" amounts to a means for Communist
takeover — or we are misunderstanding what he is saying. One has
also to conclude that Rossen condones terrorism as a means to advance
"revolutionary nationalism." Note that he includes several terrorist
organizations as exemplary of this movement. For example, the
Quebecois Liberation Front, which he said had brought the fires oi
revolutionary nationalism right up to the U.S. frontier, had, indeed,
burned its name into the headlines the year before with the spectacular
kidnaping of a Britisli diplomat and a Canadian official; the latter
they strangled and left in the trunk of an abandoned automobile.
13
Back to Rossen's own words. We turn to page 157 in the Rossen-
Rifkin book, again, exhibit 8, and get additional help as to what he
means, vis-a-vis, the United States. There he says "the American
version of the concept of revolutionary nationalism will be anti-
capitalist and socialist in content, and national in form and rhetoric."
Indeed, this is what Rossen means by his patriotism. A little further
in the book he chides American radicals for feeling that patriotism
and nationalism are antipathetic. He quotes a Marxist scholar as
sa3'mg that either word may refer merely to "the most suitable police''
to advance the welfare of one's own group." Further, Rossen claims
revolutionary nationalism is the new patriotism, and we know from
his previously cited explanations that he considers revolutionary
nationalism to be exemplified in the revolution conducted in China
by Mao.
All of this, mind you, is offered by the man who angrily dismisses
statements that he is calling for a new revolution based on Marxism
and American nationalism. Journalist Bob Wiedrich, in whose Chicago
Tribune article this angry dismissal was reported, talked with Rossen.
Rossen said —
I reject Marxism and Stalinism and Maoism. I have abandoned any ideas
that were purely Marxist.
Mr. ScHULTz. Where did this appear, Mr. Watson?
Mr. Watson. We have it as an exhibit. That is the article from the
Chicago Tribune.
Mr. ScHULTz. That is exhibit No. 4.
Mr. Watson. Yes.
Pay careful attention to Rossen's phraseolog}^ He said he has
abandoned anything that is "purely Marxist." This calls to mind an
editorial that he wrote in his little tabloid, the New Patriot, which is
exhibit
Mr. Short. Six.
Mr. Watson [continuing]. Six. And here I am quoting Rossen —
I would say that for a revolutionary socialist in the 20l1i century to label himself
a jNIarxist or a Marxist-Leninist is as ridiculous as for a modern phj'sicist to call
himself a Newtonian or for a modern biologist to call himself a Darwinian. Marx
laid the sturdy foundations for the scientific revolutionary-socialist methodology,
and for any modern revolutionary to ignore these foundations would be as stupid
as for a physicist to ignore the findings of Isaac Newton. But neither can the
modern revolutionary limit himself to the findings of Marx. That is why I use the
expression "scientific revolutionary methodology" rather than the expression
"Marxism."
The problem with most of those who call themselves Marxists today is that
they accept Marxism as a dogma and not as a scientific tool, a revolutionary
methodology which is constantly being refined, added to, improved on on the basis
of the revolutionary experience of the last century and a quarter.
It seems that what Rossen is really saying in that interview with
Wiedrich is that neither pure Marxism nor Maoism, nor Stalinism,
will sell in the United States. It has to be cut with some carefully
selected Americanism first — preferably out of context. That is what
PBC is all about.
Rossen's denial of being anything but a member of PBC must
similarly be examined. Apparently, he was not satisfied with this
<lenial as it came out of the Wiedrich colinnn. So, about 10 days later,
a letter from Rossen appeared in the Tribune's "Voice of the People,"
rebutting Wiedrich further. There Rossen wrote —
69-239—76 2
14
I support the Peoples Bicentennial Commission because I find it substantially
in agreement with my definition of patriotism.
We have that letter from the Chicago Tribune if you would like
to have that as an exhibit.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Well, I think if you merely identify the date that it
appeared, that that would be sufficient.
Mr. Watson. All right. It was in the Chicago Tribune, September 3,
1975.
Even if the traces of Rossen's hand could not be seen in the basic
framework of PBC, his imparting his own definition of patriotism
from its pamphlets, it would still have to be noted that he wrote 15
pages defining patriotism in the first book that the Peoples Bicenten-
nial Commission ever put out.
Mr. ScHULTZ. The title of that book is
Mr. Watson. "How to Commit Revolution American Style."
Exhibit No. 8.
Mr. Short. Right.
Mr. Watson. Rossen simply chooses now to obscure the facts of
the past. No one has to point out this sort of thing to columnist
Wiedrich, however. He includes a couple of paragraphs in his article
on Rossen's long record as a leftist organizer and propagandist. He
notes, for example, the remarks on Rossen and the PBC made by
Congressman Ichord on the floor of the House of Representatives.
We have a copy of those remarks, if you want them entered. They are
December 1973 remarks by Mr. Ichord.'
Mr. ScHULTz. Well, I think Congressman Ichord's remarks are on
the record, and the record will speak for itself.
Mr. Watson. All right. Actually, Rossen's name has frequently
appeared in reports of organizing and propaganda activities. Back in
the 1940's and 1950's he was reported as being highly commended
by the U.S. Communist Party newspaper for his work. In the 1960's
he was constantly being reported on the fringes of the New Left,
expecially the Students for a Democratic Society. He seems often to
have been involved in helping with funding that organization, and
he was apparently privileged to their national meetings even Vvdien the
press was barred. He was specifically placed as speaking from the
floor in some of the more volatile sessions in which the organization
was splintered into the various pro-Maoist sects which erupt into
violence even today.
In the progression of such affairs, the New American Movement, to
which Jeremy Rifkin belonged when he first began writing about
PBC, is a product of this splintering. In fact, if you were to draw up*
a family tree of the splintering and combining of the Communist
factions in the United States over the past 5 or 6 years, you would
probably have to consider the New American Movement something
of a second cousin to such terrorist organizations as the Weathermen
and the Symbionese Liberation Army.
And there you could probably etch in the background of the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission, itself a splinter from this cousinry.
Certainly the organization comes out of the niurkine^s of hard-line,
far-left organizational entanglements. And it is headed up by a j^oung
man who claims to have had more to do with its conception than the
evidence supports, and supported by an older man who claims to
have had less to do with its conception than the evidence indicates.
15
Botli of them have expressed intentions to use the Bicentennial for
manipulative purposes — 'separately and jointly — and both of them
appear anxious to conceal some of their past political associations and
activities, including their own mutual association.
The odds are that much of this coverup attitude came from a
degree of success with the PBC idea that none of those involved in
its launching had predicted. PBC did catch on quite rapidly, and, as
we have pointed out earlier, with people who would not have had
anything to do with the goals and strategy Rossen and Rifkin were
expressing in their initial writings. In fact, it may have been a com-
Innation of this unforeseen success wdth nonradical elements of the
press and public, and the easily documented statements that Con-
gressman Ichord made about Rossen, that caused PBC to shove the
Rossen-Rifkin book into the closet. The book came out in 1973, just
before Mr. Ichord's remarks came out in the Congressional Record.
Whatever the reasons, Rifkin and Rossen have now plaj'ed down
their association, and Rifkin has disappeared from the literature of
the New American Movement. After the aborted launching from the
New American Movement, Rifkin has stopped writing about Lenin
and ]VIao, never mentions his affiliation with New American Move-
ment, and has gone into high gear putting out material quite different
from the radical literature we have been discussing. He has devoted
his time to speaking primaril}^ to the general public, and in doing so,
he and his colleagues have prepared a packet of excellent propaganda
material. In fact, as one who has had considerable experience in exam-
ining propaganda, I have to say it is as skillfully done as any I have
seen.
I would like to add one thing to tliis statement in terms of the
reception that the PBC idea has been given because it is quite current.
The April 1976 selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club is authored
by the staff historian of the Peoples Bicentennial Commission. The
title of that book is "A New Age Begins"; the subtitle reads "A
Peoples History of the American Revolution." It is written by Page
Smith. There is an interview with Page Smith inside the Book-of-the-
ISlonth Club News for April. Nowheie in this interview does Smith
discuss the fact that he is on the staff of the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission, although the Peoples Bicentennial Commission literature
cites him as its staff member and as "a prize-winning historian, cur-
rently traveling in Western States, appearing before the Kiwanis,
RotarA-s, and other civic groups to discuss the democratic principles
of the American Revolution."
I am quoting from a little tabloid entitled, "An Introduction to the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission," which was published by that
organization.
That's the end of my statement.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We will designate the Book-of-the-Month Club News
identified by Mr. Watson under the date of April 1976 as exhibit No. 9.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 9 and will be
found in appendix A, p. 97.]
Mr. Watson, in your opening statement you made a point of the fact
that the conception of the PBC is, in fact, attributable to John
Rossen, and that both Mr. Rossen and Mr. Rifkin have taken great
pains to disassociate themselves in their endeavor. For the record, 1 will
note that Mr. Rossen has appeared before both the House and the
16
Senate in testimony and, without further comment, the record of his
testimony will stand on its own.
However, can you give us a little more information of what you know
about Mr. Rossen's background?
Mr. Watson. Well, it's rather widely written that he had been a Com-
munist Party organizer in Illinois for a number of years, and that he
served with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain, and that he ran for
the mayor of St. Louis on the Communist Party ticket.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Do you know of any connection that he had with the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee?
Mr. Watson. I have read that he staged a rally for the Fair Play for
Cuba Committee, and apparently was the head of a branch of that
committee in Chicago.
Of course, in his literature, he cites North Vietnam and Cuba as ex-
amples of the continuing revolution that starts with "national libera-
tion and continues through and beyond a Socialist revolution." He
had ties with the SDS, and in 1969 he was the owner of a building that
housed the SDS national office in Chicago. He apparently had some-
thing to do with their finances, was instrumental in their acquiring a
printing press, and was apparently a speaker on the floor of that closed
meeting of SDS in June 1969, when the organization was splintered by
an attempt to take it over by the Progressive Labor Party.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Is there anything within your knowledge and study
that would indicate to you that Mr. Jeremy Rifkin is simply more than
a progressive, and perhaps may be characterized as a true revolu-
tionary?
Mr. Watson. Well, I think that the comparison of his writings
when he was speaking to his own leftist comrades versus those that
he puts out to the American public suggests a duplicity typical of the
revolutionary propagandist, and then when he resorts to citing Mao
and Lenin and Che Guevara as the type of sources for the revolution
he is trying to run, I have to take him at face value on that. This is
the sort of thing that he says under the table to his leftist comrades
and that he v\on't say to the American public. As we have seen, in an
interview with an ordinary newspaper man he says that he doesn't
like to quote Lenin and Mao and he doesn't understand this waving
the Vietcong flag, yet, he does the same sort of thing in his own
Avritings under his own byline in that New American Movement
article we have introduced as an exhibit.
Mr. Schultz. Lenin, of course, explained how the party can be
presented to the masses and outlined two methods, mainly, propaganda
or agitation, and he suggested that the party must be presented with
many ideas, so many ideas that they will be understood as a whole only
by a few persons, and he identified propaganda as a good method for
recruiting party members. Then, as far as agitation went, Lenin
advocated that by directing their efforts to presenting a single idea to
the masses by which they coidd strive to arouse discontent and
indignation among the masses, this would serve to promote the party
cause, and Lenin said, and I quote, "Our task is to utilize every
manifestation of discontent, to collect and utilize every grain of even
rudimentary protest."
I am wondermg whether or not you might characterize PBC
as following the Lenin doctrine in manifesting their program^ — the-
revolutionary ideas that they are advancing.
17
Mr. Watsox. I can't really think of a better general description of
the PBC literature than that what you have just read there from
Lenin. The PBC packet that they send out for $10 around the country
to schools and civic organizations and communities and so forth is, in
itself, a do-it-yourself kit for creating dissatisfaction and agitating
people, and it doesn't leave anything to chance. It is a most detailed
recipe for going in and locating and exploiting dissatisfactions that
I have run across.
In a student-teacher guide, which is one of the tabloids of the PBC
pamphlet, they have a whole series of exercises with detailed instruc-
tions, sending you, the reader, out to do this in your community. In
each case, they give you loaded questions, guaranteed to provide
dissatisfying information, rather than satisfying information, about
your conmiunity.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Let me ask a few background questions, and then
maybe we could pursue that in detail.
You mentioned that the packets are sent out. Are these packets
paid for?
Mr. Watsox. They are offered for sale for $10. But, PBC staff has
said in some of their verbal comments, that to anyone who doesn't
have the $10, they will send it free. One of their minor money-raising
schemes, though, has got to be the fact that they get a lot of $10 bills
for these packets sent out. And they are advertised for that for sale.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Are these packets sent only on request, or are they
disseminated by shotgun method across the country?
Mr. Watsox. W^ell, I have asked a question quite similar to that in
the PBC offices on Connecticut Avenue, and the reply that I received
is that they 'will send them out on request only. It amounts to that,
because we are talking about a hefty packet, it costs better than a
dollar to send this stufT through the mail, but they will send a flyer
out advertising this material — it's something like the introduction to
the Peoples Bicentennial Commission that I held up a few minutes
ago — to any address they can get, that they have any reason to think
might be a possible market for the packet.
They also have said that they send out teaser material blind.
People get a blank envelope, you know, a no return address envelope,
^\^th a PBC teaser in it to get them interested in the PBC idea.
Mr. ScHULTz. They are, of course, capitalizing on our Bicentennial
year. Do j^ou have any reason to believe that the material they
send out, even in teaser form, would mislead the public into thinking
what they might get by responding to this material?
Mr. Watsox. There isn't any question in my mind, but what the
public has been misled by this in many instances. No longer ago than
^Monday of this week, in addressing an audience out in Ohio, I had a
mature businessman come up to me at the end of a talk and say, "You
know% I would not have recognized that this was a phony operation
from the looks of the hterature; explain it to me again." I, incidentally,
get correspondence and telephone calls from people around the coun-
try, trying to clear up this confusion from time to time.
Mr. ScHULTz. I would like to explore the publicly stated objectives
of this organization and take a look at what they are actually doing,
and contrast the theory and practice. Maybe we could do that by
starting with the schools, packets that you mentioned that are sent
to the schools.
18
Do yon have concrete examples there of what it is they are sendino;
to the schools, what they are asking the students or recipients to do?'
Mr. Watson. Yes. I think it's significant to note what they say in
their introductions to the Peoples Bicentennial Commission. This
little flyer that they send out, or hand out when they can, what they
say their objectives are there.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Let's identify that as exhibit No. 10.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 10 and will be
found in appendix A, p. 98.]
Mr. Watson. We talked about this earlier when we were talking
about Page Smith and the Book-of-the-Month Club. The same
document. In this document they say,
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission is a nonprofit, public foundation
founded in the belief that it is time to reaffirm the democratic principles of the
Declaration of Independence and of the American Revolution. Today we face
economic and political crises as great as those of 1776. Like our ancestors, we must
meet the challenge to our democratic birthrights. We must dedicate ourselves to
a new patriotism, one that calls for allegiance to the revolutionary democratic-
principles that launched our first national rebellion to tyranny.
And, of course, we have the stated objective in Rifkin's own words
that the purpose that the Peoples Bicentennial should have is to
use the Bicentennial as a tactical weapon to isolate the existing
institutions and those in power b}^ constantly focusing public attention
on their inability to translate our revolutionary dreams into realit3^
Now, what much of the literature that is in the packet really does is
to try to hold up a revolutionary ideal, frequently one that could
never be met by anyone, but one that you could sa}^ is a dream, and
then design a set of questions or a set of activities to send people
out to prove that the system has been unable to translate it into
reality.
To give you an example, in this student teacher guide, they have
mmibered activities 1 through 16, each of them with a set of instruc-
tions as to how to go out in your community and find out how the
existing conditions balance against the revolutionary ideals.
Mr. ScHULTz. As they perceive them?
Air. Watson. As they perceive them. The first activity is called
"Consent of Who." It is typical of PBC literature, not resorting to the
Constitution as the document which describes the system our Republic
runs on, but plucking a line out of the Declaration of Independence.
This exercise purports to explore the concept of government by
the consent of the governed. It takes those words out and hangs them
up as the revolutionary ideal, and sends the reader out to interview
individuals whose daily lives put them in such pairings as teachers
and students, store managers and clerks, military officers and enlisted
men, landlords and tenants. Instructions provide that everyone
fitting in the first categor}^ of each of these pairings is to be confronted
with the question as to whether or not they govern by the consent
of those they govern. In other words, ask the store manager, are you^
ordering this clerk about in your store on the basis that he has con-
sented to be governed by you; asking the private soldier, are you
taking orders from that officer over there on the basis that you have
consented to be governed by him.
Everyone fitting in the second half of the category is asked if they
feel they have consented to be governed by the other person. I would:
19
argue that that is a propaganda gimmick guaranteed to produce an
amount of dissatisfaction, and an unrealistic application of the
meaning of our founding documents.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Do they provide the individual with a portion of the
Declaration of Independence, and do they add to it any words that
are not in the original Declaration of Independence?
Mr. Watson. No, they don't add anything to it in this literature.
Now, Rifkin has written an economic declaration of independence
that, incidentally, has been published in the New York Times, in
which he has taken the basic wording of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence and rewritten it, to declare independence from the corpora-
tions of the United States.
This has been published in the New York Times under his byline,
entitled "Economic Freedom," but within the PBC literature they
don't generally. I don't know of any instances where they tamper with
the — well, let me correct myself. They provide a format for a declara-
tion of independence from the school systems, for students. This is a
little blank setup where they introduce the general wording of the
Declaration of Independence and leave a blank in there for "We, the
students of John Doe School," or whatever it might be, do declare our
independence, and so on. The students are supposed to fill out the
grievances in that.
Mr. ScHULTz. Will you pro\ade to the committee a copy of this
material that you have just described?
Mr. Watson. Sure.
[The document referred to is exhibit No. 11 and will be found in
appendix A, p. 98.]
Mr. Watson. One thing that they do is they frequently use a
truncated form of the Declaration of Independence. They pluck out
the part that talks about rebelling, the actual act of revolution; they
leave out the lines in the Declaration of Independence that sa}^ this
should not be done for light and transient reasons. They frequently
do that.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Such as the statement, "prudence indeed, will dictate
that governments long-established should not be changed for light and
transient causes?"
Mr. Watson. That's right. They will. The only time they use that
is when they are quoting the whole Declaration of Independence, and
frequently it's in facsimile form, a little difficult to read, if you know
what I mean.
But, when they are quoting from the Declaration of Independence,
they usually only quote the part that says that people have the right
to overthrow the system when it no longer pleases them, and so on.
Mr. ScHULTz. Has the PBC engaged in or fostered the technique
of having people on the street read the Declaration of Independence
and getting them to sign it?
Mr. Watson. Yes; that is one of the exercises that they have. It's
to send people around with a copy of that portion, that truncated
portion, of the Declaration of Independence on a little piece of paper
with signature blanks on it, and they
Mr. Schultz. For purposes of the record and clarit}'' of the record,
let's put in exactly what their language is and, with the chairman's
permission, I would also like to immediately follow that with the
20
complete Declaration of Independence, which would provide an
interesting comparison.
The Chairman. Without objection, so ordered.
[The document referred to is exhibit No. 12, and will be found
in appendix A, p. 99.]
Mr. ScHULTZ. Responding to that previous question, then, concern-
ing the manner and method in which PBC uses a portion of the
Declaration of Independence, would you go ahead and respond?
Mr. Watson. I would like to give you that in some detail because
I have done a study of that particular part of the literature and have
written it up.
It is striking to me that the overriding emphasis of the packet of
PBC is on the Declaration of Independence and the events leading
up to it, not on the building of the republic on which the Founding
Fathers immediately set to work after signing the declaration, but
even within that Declaration of Independence the emphasis of the
PBC is selective.
The entire document is printed once or twice, but more often the
Declaration of Independence is printed only in the extracted first
half of the second paragraph of the Declaration printed in a bold,
modern type, with a rhetorical finger always pointing at that portion
of the phraseology, which reads "Whenever any form of government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter
or abolish it, and to institute new government."
One of the devices the PBC packet uses for pushing this idea is
extracting that portion of the declaration in which these lines appear
and reproducing them onto full pages of cutouts, small cutouts. The
recipient of the packet is then instructed to clip these cutouts and
paste them on 3x5 cards to be sent though the mail, unlabeled and out
of context, to community, government, and business leaders for their
comments.
In similar fashion, this same extract is printed at the top of a page
on which blanks are provided so that it can be taken from door to door
for signatures — or offered for signature at card tables set up in shop-
ping centers.
The entire mechanism of manipulation for the signature collecting
is especially well worked out.
The piece of literature in which it appears is an 8-page tabloid, the
front of which is decorated with a facsimile of the entire, original
handwritten Declaration of Independence.
The signature collecting is to be done, however, on a specially pre-
l^ared back jiage at the top of which is clearly written or printed the
w^ord "petition," not "Declaration of Independence." Underneath this,
except for the signature blanks, only the following appears:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the con-
sent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive
of these ends, it is the right of the i^eople to alter or abolish it, and to institute
new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them seem most likely to effect their safety and
happiness.
That's all that is on the page.
21
This, of course, is extracted directly from the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Indeed, the first half of this extract contains an expression
of some of our basic ideals on the equality of men and their rights to
be free.
The second half of the quotation, though, is the keystone to our
forefathers' rationale for declaring themselves to be so opposed to the
existing form of government as to be determined to alter it or abolish
it and set up another.
Taken together, the implication here is that the ideas expressed in
the first half are not being met. Therefore, the determination expressed
in the second half is to be actualized.
In fact, it is the second half, the statement of an intent on over-
throwing the existing system, that is the meat of the passage. The
first half is merely preparatory to it. The passage as a whole is not a
celebration of the ideals of freedom; it is a declaration to fight for
them. Put back into the only context in which it can be properly
seen, it commits its signers to changing their political situation by
going to war. This is precisely what it was intended to do in 1776,
when the colonists agonized so long and seriously over taking such a
drastic step. Indeed, even though deciding to overthrow their system,
they issued a caution that the PBC writers chose to omit, although it
appears in the same paragraph, in fact, in the sentence immediately
following the lines they did extract. But, note, it does not serve PBC
purposes, for it begins: "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that govern-
ment long established should not be changed for light and transient
causes." And, accordingly, the authors of thp original document ex-
amined the long train of abuses painstakingly, and detailed them in
succeeding paragraphs, before they presumed to ask people to sign
anything. Historical accounts of the line-by-line debates over that
original document suggest that none of its 56 eventual signers would
have put his name to the lone, partial paragraph the Peoples Bicen-
tennial is trotting around for Americans to sign.
If this were merely a party game, it would be crude enough. It is
not, though. It is a devious means for creating divisions among people
and for enticing the unsuspecting into making a revolutionary com-
mitment for whatever purposes the collectors of the signatures may
eventually decide to put them. For it is one thing to quote this passage,
as is often done, as one of the most resounding handful of lines in our
heritage. It is quite another, though, to use it as a propaganda tool for
tricking people into endorsing an unstated change in the present system
in favor of an also unstated alternative.
Certainly, holding this out of context passage out for people to sign
is taking the old fine print on the contract gimmick to an outrageous
extreme ; the fine print is just not there. It is kept off in the behind-the-
scenes writings and the discussions of the leftists who designed the
gimmick. Thus, no one should feel any qualms, or tolerate any criticism
of his patriotism over refusing to sign such a blank check. He should
not be intimidated by such taunts as, "Won't you sign something
from your own Declaration of Independence?" He should give that no
more serious consideration than someone's challenging his faith in
banking because he would refuse to sign a sheet of paper on which were
written only the words "pay to the order of," even though he has a
bundle of checks in his pocket bearing those self-same words.
22
Large numbers of people will be duped, though. One edition of the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission's periodical Common Sense claims
the ruse has already been run successfully in a high school in South
Dakota, a college in Pennsylvania, and a community in New York.
I should point out that this was written 2 or 3 years ago. How many
times the ruse has been run since then, I don't know.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mr. Watson, do you know, or are you aware of how
these signatures are used by the PBC? Or is it merely an exercise?
Mr. Watson. No; but it appears to be merely an exercise as far as
I can see it. It's an exercise turned over to the local radical to create
dissatisfaction. It's the sort of thing that can get people into a fist
fight. Someone comes to your door and asks you to sign this document,
and you say no, I won't sign this. Then, they challenge your patriotism
and say what's wrong with you. So, getting citizens up to fight with each
other, is w^hat they are doing with this type of ruse.
Mr. ScHULTZ. A very insidious method to focus on rebellion and
cause dissent.
Mr. Watson. That's quite correct.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mr. Watson, we have taken a brief look at the focus
of the PBC directed toward schools and the community. Let me ask
if the PBC has directed any activities toward business or matters
relating to the economy of the United States, and do you have any
public documentation of their efforts?
Mr. Watson. Well, the main thrust of PBC talks and rallies has
been antibusiness sentiment. If you remember in the statement
that I made initially, they went up to Concord to "send a message
to Wall Street." The^^ are planning a rally here in Washington on
the Fourth of July, an antibusiness rally, so a great deal of their
material is antibusiness.
They are trying to promote the idea of an economic democracy,
and they are trying to do this from several different angles. One of the
things that they did last year is quite interesting. They commis-
sioned Peter Hart Associates, a pollster, to take a poll of a sample
of the American public to find out how the public stood on the eco-
nomic system. ' V'
The Washington Post carried an article on August .31, 1975,
describing the results of this poll, which the PBC had made. The
PBC paid $14,000 to have this poll taken by Peter Hart Associates.
Now, the headline of this article in the Washington Post is "37
Percent Think the L^nitod States is in Decline." This is a quick
headline summary of it. It was rather significant to me, though.
Mr. Schultz. Now, this relates to economic decline?
Mr. Watson. Yes, and a decline of faith in the system.
Mr. Schultz. Thank you.
Mr. Watson. It is rather interesting to me, though, that it was in
the Wall Street Journal. As I said earlier, Rifkin had been sa\ing he
was going to take a message to Wall Street, but I'm sure he didn't
think that he would get it in the Wall Street Journal.
On August the 22d on the front page of the Wall Street Journal
there is a little small paragraph that says, "Antibusiness Feelings."
That is the headline of the paragraph.
Mr. Schultz. Would you read it, please?
Mr. Watson. This is the entire paragraph.
23
Antibusiness feelings run high, pollster Peter Hart finds. He says 61 percent
•of Americans believe there is a big business conspirac}^ to keep prices high. Only
17 percent favor the present economic system; 41 percent want major changes.
By 66 percent to 25 percent margin, Americans favor employees owning most of
■their companies' stock.
Now, this is the self-same poll that the Washino;ton Post is reporting
on August 31, but, of course, the Washington Post story reveals the
fact that this poll was commissioned by the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission. It set out to find the type of information that they
wanted to use, and they refer to it in their literature and, undoubtedly,-
in their public speaking engagements, saying that this is what the
American people think: "Only 17 percent of the American people
favor the present economic system."
I have to believe that the American people should know a little bit
more about where this information came from and what the objectives
were for acciuiring it.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Does the Peoples Bicentennial Cornmission packet
also contain business-oriented materials and a questionnaire similar
to that used for the community and high schools?
Mr. Watson. Some of the exeicises outlined in the packet will send
the reader to a corporation's pubhc relations department with a set of
loaded questions to find out what the corporation's attitude is about
the community and why it hasn't done this and what it's doing about
working conditions. It's a list of questions that probably would amaze
most public relations people, and, when someone comes running in
\nth this — bear in mind that the people they are setting up to do this
are people from the community; these are not PBC staffers. This is
the agitation propagandist getting the local citizen to do his job for
him. It's an ingenuous device.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Are you suggesting that most participating citizens
are doing this in an honest but misguided manner — that they are not
aware of what they are participating in?
Mr. Watson. I feel sure that this is usually the case. I don't know
whether it is pertinent to what we are talking about now, but as I
said earlier, I have gotten a number of letters and telephone calls
from citizens around the country who have run into PBC literature,
the book, "America's Birthday," for example, and become suspicious of
it. They want to find out what it's all about, but usually not being
trained' analysts of propaganda, they can't quite pinpoint anything
to raise a complaint on, but they are suspicious that this is not a
legitimate organization.
I have responded to letters from schoolteachers who said that their
school board had adopted the PBC book with these exercises that we
were talking about, for use in an elementary or high school. The
schoolteacher was concerned that something was wrong here, and
having run across my name in som.e of the articles I have wi'itten on
the subject, asked me for specific information with which to go to the
school board and complain about using PBC materials.
And that, incidentally, is why I am sitting here today. Frankl}^ I
feel that what your subcommittee is doing in terms of telling the
American public what this thing is all about is of great service. The
media has, for the most part, dropped its responsibility to dig into
this thing and report it so people can then make up their own minds.
24
Someone needs to lay the truth out. Then, if people want to play these
little games with the PBC, they are free to do so. But we are sending-
schoolchildren out to play a propagandist's game without the com-
mimity having the opportunity of knowing that this is what is really
going on.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Has the press — ^if it's not too great a generalization —
generally supported the PBC activities, either in a witting or
unwitting fashion?
Mr. Watson. Yes.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Can you tell us how this has come about?
Mr. Watson. Yes; I can. It is built into the size of the packet. You
have a hefty propaganda packet here. It's more than the average
workingman has time to look through carefully, and he just flips
through it and, my heavens, these are authentic looking pictures in
here of colonial America, and some rather good art work, and there is
a quotation from Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, and Samuel
Adams, and so forth.
If one of your kids brought it home and you just leafed through it
you would think, well, this is great, and look at the cover on it. It
looks like something American Heritage might have done.
Mr. ScHULTz. Describe the cover for us, if you will.
Mr. Watson. Well, it's a very handsome cover. This is the 8/2 by 11
format, with a very good shade of gray on it, blue and red letters,
printed in colonial style type, with the Liberty Bell and Paul Revere
on his horse near the top of it, and the "Don't Tread on Me" snake
flag above that.
It says it's a planning and activity guide for citizen participation
during the Bicentennial years. This paperback version of it sells for
$3.95. There is a hardback version, with exactly the same contents,
that sells for $8.95. I bought this particular copy in a bookstore in
Tyson's Corner in Northern Virginia. It is sold in regular bookstores,
not just in underground newspaper shops or anything like that.
Mr. ScHULTz. Well, this book and some of the other documents, the
packets are expensive to manufacture and disseminate. What is the
principal source of PBC's financing, if you know?
Mr. Watson. PBC has gotten its monev from several sources. They
quote the figure either $200,000 a year or $800,000 a year as their
operating expenses, depending on when you happen to catch them,
regardless of the j^ear. I think that we have to bear in mind that this
is a lot more money than it might be to you and me because they use
a lot of voluntary labor. Rifkin says that nobody on his staff makes
more than $85 a week.
Mr. ScHULTz. Do you know the size of his staff?
Mr. Watson. It hovers around a dozen here in Washington. It
varies from time to time, but it's usually around 12 to 15. We know,
also, that when they travel around the country — and they do quite
a bit of traveling and speaking — that they are frequently housed by
people in the communities so that their lodging and food doesn't
cost them anything. Their transportation is about the only expense
they have, so I think you must realize that expenses to them are a lot
less than they might be if I went out to try to do the same thing and
had to pay my own way.
25
Sometimes, when Rifkin is asked this question — and he is frequently
asked the question — he will simply say that they receive donations
from a lot of concerned citizens, plus the fact that they sell these
packets for $10 apiece. At other times, and especially wdien he thinks
that he is off the record in his remarks, he will laugh and sa}", "Hell, I
go to rich liberals and tell them that there is a new McCarthy era
pressing down on us and if we don't do something about it, we are all
going to be in trouble, and they jerk out their checkbooks. They just
lap up what I am saying and wiite me a check."
It has been reported that certain foundations, such as the Stern
Foundation, have given them money, and, of course, it's irritating to
many taxpayers tluit the first few thousand dollars PBC got was a
grant of $7,210 from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This was made because Rifkin presented himself and his cohorts as a
group of young people who wanted to do some research on the working-
man's position in the American Revolution. I chased this down in
talking to the National Endowment for the Humanities on the
telephone, and they admitted that this had happened, but said that
it had happened because they did not imderstand what PBC was all
about, and that they had gotten a concurrence in this grant from the
then-American Revolutionary Bicentennial Administration, or Com-
mission, I think, it was called at that point. It's been reorganized since
then.
The Chair-Max. Did you have a question, Mr. Short?
Mr. Short. Thank 3'ou, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to point
out that the subcommittee has documents which were provided by
ARBA that reflect some of the circumstances surrounding the $7,210
grant given to the PBC by the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Would you describe those documents, Mr. Short?
Mr. Short. First we have a memo dated July 24, 1972, to Mr.
George Lang from Martha Jane Shay, program officer (ARBC). In
this memo, Ms. Shay brings out the point that many questions have
been raised about the Peoples American Revolution Bicentennial
Commission (PARBC), wdiich, of course, is now known as the Peoples
Bicentennial Commission, and she wanted to explain her involvement
svith them.
Second, is a letter dated Julv 11, 1972, to Ms. Deborah W. Lawrence
of the PARBC from Alartha Jane Shay, explaining the purpose and
use of the program criteria and oft'ering assistance in preparing
materials to be submitted to ARBC if they wish to seek official
recognition.
Next is a letter dated May 31 from Nancy Moses of the National
Endowment for the Humanities to "Janie" — Martha Jane Shay. This
letter refers to a proposal from the PBC. The proposal is not attached
to this document. How^ever, I do have a copy of an application which
was submitted to the National Endowment for the Humanities, from
The Youth Project Peoples Bicentennial Commission, requesting
$7,210 for a 8-nionth period, June 1, 1972, to September 1, 1972. Now
attached to this application is a proposal of what the PBC intends to
do; also attached is a resume of the project director, Jerem^^ Rifkin.
In addition to these documents, I have a copy of a letter dated
June 30, 1972, from Martha Jane Shay to Mr. Armen Tashdinian,
26
National Endowment for the Humanities stating the proposal froni'
the PBC had been reviewed, and recommending support for the
project. I would submit these documents for inclusion in the record.
Mr. ScHULTz. We will mark them as exhibit Nos. 13, 14, 15, 16, and
17 respectively.
[The documents referred to were marked exhibit Nos. 13-17 and
will be found in appendix A, pp. 101-111.]
Mr. Short. You will note that on Mr. Rifkin's resume, he states
that during the period 1970-71, he was with the, and I quote : "Citizens
Commission of Inquiry. A public interest research group concerned
with American policy in Asia. Staff Coordinator." What Rifkin did
not say was that the full name of that organization was the National
Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes
in Vietnam. It is of interest to note that listed among the sponsors and
National Coordinating Committee of this organization were such
people as Sylvia Kushner, a member of the Communist Party of the
U.S.A. and known Marxists such as Ossie Davis, Douglas Dowd,.
Eugene D. Genovese, Noam Chomsky, Eric vSeitz, Executive vSecre-
tary of the National Lawyers' Guild. In support of this, I w^ould like
to offer a paper with the letterhead reading National Committee for a
Citizens' Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam. There
is no date on this piece of correspondence, but it is the 3"earend report
of the committee. In addition, I would also offer for inclusion into the
record, a press release dated November 20, 1970, and bearing the same
letterhead as the yearend report. The staff, sponsors, and national
coordinating committee are listed on both documents.
Mr. ScHULTz. We will mark the yearend report as exhibit No. 18
and the press release as exhibit No. 19. Apparently, neither the
ARBC nor the National Endowment for the Humanities made much
of an investigation before appro\dng the grant.
[The documents were marked exhibit Nos. 18 and 19 and will be^
found in appendix A, pp. 112 and 113.]
Mr. Watson. In other words, some people at the top did not know
what they were authorizing the taxpayers' money to be used for.
This is the same sort of thing that happened when you asked me earlier
about people approving this literature. People just look at it, you
know, and go along with it. We've had some rather conservative
newspapermen that have endorsed PBC materials. I have talked to
some of these people who have subsequently reversed themselves,
and they said, well, I didn't read it very carefully the first time.
Mr. ScHULTz. In that regard, I am sure that pollists many times
take things at purely face value. What suggestions, if any, do you
have as an expert as to how an individual might recognize documents
that are not whole cloth?
Mr. Watson. Well, in the first place, the practice of endorsing any-
thing that you don't look carefully into is a grave error. Anyone in
government or in the media or purely as a private citizen, who gives
his approval to anything as massive as the PBC literature, without
finding out more about it, is making a mistake. And I think that we
are all shovv^ng a great naivety when we read some of the things that
are printed in the public press about PBC and don't question them.
You know, Rifkin comes along with a big banner up at Concord, a
banner about 20 feet long, saying "Economic Democracy." Nobody
asks him what economic democracy is, and, as a matter of fact, if
27
yoii pick up the telephone and call the PBC headquarters and ask
them to explam economic democracy to you, get yourself ready for
a runaround because they can't explain it.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Have you done this?
Mr. Watsox. Yes; I've done that.
And, of course , as I've said earlier, I feel that the Congress of the
Unted State i especially in this time when we are trying to celebrate
the Bicentennial, the founding of the oldest Republic in the world, I
believe that the Congress should inform itself about any organization
such as the Peoples Bicentennial Commission, which obviously seeks
to mislead and deceive people, and make that information available
to the public. This would seem to me to be especially imperative since
a grant from a Federal agency was instrumental in getting this thing
started. I am, of course, referring to the grant of some $7,000 from the
National Endowment for the Humanities.
Mr. ScHULTZ. How did they respond to your inquiry concerning a
definition of economic democracy?
Mr. Watson. Well, they said economic democracy means worker
ownership and management of the corporation. This is about all that
you get out of them. I heard this question asked on the floor up in Ann
Arbor, Mich., at a meeting of PBC that I attended last year, and
Mr. ScHULTZ. When did that occur, if you remember?
Mr. Watson. May 23 and 25, 1975. And after a big harangue had
been made on the subject of economic democracy, of course, PBC
always make a point of the good press it has gotten when it talks to
a group of citizens. You know, we are really legitimate, you find us in
U.S. News & World Report, and some lady got up and said, "Aren't
you really talking about socialism and communism?" Her question was
passed off with no real answer and that's about the sort of thing that
you get when you call the office and ask them this.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Was there an out and out denial that they were
fostering socialism or communism?
Mr. Watson. No; it's fuzzed up, usually. I have a reported discus-
sion in here in one of my sets of notes wherein, I believe it was Bill
Peltz who was hit with this sort of question, and he said, we have to
come up with a new language in this time.
Mr. ScHULTZ. You just made reference to Bill Peltz. You meant to
say Rifkin?
Mr. Watson. I meant to say Rifkin. I was thinking of the wrong
experience. This was a meeting at Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, on
January 10 and 12, and the speaker at that point, dealing with the sub-
ject of economic democracy, was Jeremy Rifkin, himself, and when
this sort of questioning came up, he said, "We have to develop a new
language that will unite us with the ordinary citizenry of all types.
Our job is propaganda, and we, therefore, don't want to get into that
sort of discussion."
A similar thing came up at Ann Arbor when Bill Peltz was the
speaker. Peltz is a staff member of PBC, who is located at Champaign-
Urbana, but he was leading the meeting up at Ann Arbor, Mich., in
May of 1975.
Bill Peltz is also the Midwest regional coordinator for the Peoples
Bicentennial Commission. He advertises himself as a lay minister and
is involved in teaching Bible studies to religious organizations in the
Champaign-Urbana area.
28
When he was on the floor at Ann Arbor, a young woman inter^
rupted him to ask if he were not talking about sociahsm or communism,
and he said to her and to the group :
I don't think we are talking about socialism and communism. There is a tricky
thing about all of this. PBC contends the rhetoric has to be examined and the
various labels that we are accustomed to using for things have to be reconsidered.
So, "economic democracy" is not necessarily socialism or communism,
because that's not the way PBC likes to have it interpreted.
He says, when they talk about socialism they can talk about return-
ing to basic principles, and they can talk about economic democracy;
we don't have to talk about socialism or communism.
Mr. ScHULTz. Is there any documentary evidence that the New
American Movement played a major role in the launching of the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission?
Mr. Watson. Yes; there is documentary evidence of that. In the
first place, Rifkin was a member of the New American Movement
at the time that he proposed the idea for the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission, and he proposed it as a member of the New American
Movement.
There is also a report on the founding conference of the New
American Movement in a December 1971 edition of Guardian,
which provides evidence on this point.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We will designate that as exhibit No. 20.
[The document referred to was nuiiked exhibit No. 20, and will
be found in appendix A, p. 114.]
Mr. Watson. This is an article in the December 15, 1971, edition of
Guardian. It is describing a meeting at Davenport, Iowa, the Thanks-
giving weekend meeting, during which they were tr3ing to agree on a
national program for this new organization, the New American
Movement.
This Thanksgiving conference — I am quoting from the article
now :
This Thanksgiving conference was intended tft unify chapters of the New
American Movement, not just around the document, the basic document, which
was written last spring by three Seattle conspiracy members, that spread the idea
of forming a mass organization to put socialism on the agenda, in the 1970's, but
also around a common national program.
Skipping down the article:
There was an older libertarian left representation at the conference, as well as a
strong Americanist contingent that wants to emphasize the American Revolu-
tionary tradition to the exclusion of all things foreign, such as Marxism, or
solidarity with the third world struggle.
And still further down in the article:
One of the proposals that was made during the weekend was for a Peoples
Revolutionary Bicentennial.
Mr. ScHULTz. May I look at the exhibit, please?
Mr. Watson. Sure.
And if we can revert back to our first exhibit, Rifkin's article from
the New American Movement publication itself, there is a paragraph
in that article, I think, that is germane to what we are talking about.
I will read it.
29
He is talking about setting up Peoples Bicentennial Commissions
and saying that:
Each State has estabUshed an official Bicentennial Commission to coordinate
activities and programs between now and 1976. New American Movement
chapters could research the methods for selection of the commissions and expose
the patronage and nonrepresentative nature of the boards, that is, too few youths,
blacks, women, native Americans on the comniission. The New American Move-
ment could also petition for appointments to the commission and present detailed
proposals for statewide Bicentennial activities.
Mr. ScHULTz. Do you know how many regional chapters are now
in existence?
Mr. Watson. I do not, and I doubt that anyone knows.
When you sit in on a regional meeting, such as I have sat in on
twice, you hear the proposition being made to people that they have
attracted to these meetings to go back home and form their own
Peoples Bicentennial Commission. And the first priority is to get them
to go back home and form an organization called the Peoples Bicen-
tennial Commission in their home towns, but if that doesn't work,
then they are to get the Peoples Bicentennial literature in any other
organization that is handling Bicentennial activites, whether it's
the official organization or not. And, if there is already a radical
Bicentennial group in the community, then they don't have to change
the name of it, or anything, just use the Peoples Bicentennial material.
That's the requirement.
So, it's very, very difficult to keep up with how many chapters
the}^ might have around the country.
Mr. ScHULTZ. How many people attended the meeting that you
attended? The one you attended in Michigan.
Mr. Watsox. I went to one in Urbana, and I also went to one in
Ann Arbor, and I would have to check ni}' notes to feel comfortable
about answering that. In both cases, we are talking about a relatively
small group of people. We are talking about 30, 40, or 50 people in
each case.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Did you gain the impression that these individuals
were from the 50 States, or at least a regional representation?
Mr. Watson. They were a regional representation. You would run
into people at either one of these places from Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana.
I took down a notation of the staff people that were at the Ann Arbor
conference, and one was from each of the following States: Nebraska,
Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan.
That's about the geographical spread that the attendees represented,
too, from talking to them during the breaks. The attendees were a mix
of people rvmning from rather radical-looking students on the campus
to middle-aged and middle-class businessmen and housewives, small
businessmen and housewives, librarians, teachers, people like that.
In both cases, the conferences were held at least partly on campus.
At the Champaign-Urbana conference, the entire thing was held on
the campus. For some reason, I never did figure out why, the one at
Ann Arbor was held onlj^ in part on the campus. Some of the meetings
were held on the campus and some were held downtown in the public
library.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Were these meetings held under the auspices of the
schools?
69-239—76-
30
Mr. Watson. Well, to the extent that thej^ were advertised on the
the student union boards. You know, you put up a flyer on the student
union board, and you say there will be a meeting of all those concerned
with the Bicentennial, and the Peoples Bicentennial Commission is
going to speak, and there will be coffee and beer. And, of course.
Bill Peltz, who is a Midwest regional coordinator and was very much
in evidence at both of the meetings I went to, is apparently a faculty
member of the University of Illinois.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Does the PBC attempt to associate itself with the
official Bicentennial Commission? The American Revokitionary Bicen-
tennial Administration?
Mr. Watson. They advertise themselves as an alternative to the
official Bicentennial Administration. Of course, the national office is
where they make the big thing out of this. It's the American Revolu-
tionary Bicentennial Administration in Washmgton that they are
always throwing rocks at. They don't throw as many rocks at the
State commissions and the local commissions aroimd the country.
They are frequently trying to cooperate with them. They want to work
with them. They want to get people in there.
I've sat at these meetings and I've listened to them tell people to go
back home and, if you can't start a PBC of your own, get yourself a
job in the official Bicentennial Commission and see that this literature
gets used.
Mr. ScHULTZ. It's interesting. You've identified both Rossen and
Rifkin as founders of the New American Movement. Your testimony
certainly suggests that you regard the New American Movement as a
revolutionar}^ organization, rather than one committed to peaceful
change. Doesn't the New American Movement claim in some of its
propaganda that it is a democratic socialist movement? Doesn't this
suggest that they may be close to the Western European socialists in
outlook?
Mr. Watson. I have a couple of reports on the first NAM — the first
New American Movement conference, that I think might be entered
for the record, that will somewhat clarify this question.
One of them is in that same edition of the New American Movement
newspaper that we introduced as exhibit 1. It's in an earlier page than
the PBC article. This report does use the expression "democratic
socialism," but then a few passages later they make it clear that they
have nothing but contempt for the British and Scandinavian socialism,
which they describe as welfare capitalism.
I think there is ample evidence that the New American Movement
belongs to the far left end of the political spectrum, rather than to the
progressive or reform sector.
For example, in December of last year, there was in Puerto Rico, the
second conference of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, which as testi-
mony given before your subcommittee demonstrates, is not really a
Socialist party in the Euiopean sense, but a Castro Communist Party.
The New American Movement had fraternal observers present at this
conference. Other organizations which had fraternal observers there
included the American Indian Movement, the Puerto Rican Solidarity
Committee, the Prairie Fire Oiganizing Committee, the Filipino
Communist Party, and the Guardian. The Puerto Rico Solidarity
Committee, as testimony given before your subcommittee establishes^
31
is a support organization of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party and
operates under the complete control of the Cuban Secret Police, the
DGI.
The Guardian, as you know, is essentially a Maoist Communist
movement. The Prairie Fire Organizing Committee is a support
organization for the Weather Underground.
To give you an idea of the tenor of the conference, I have here the
Guardian of December 17, 1975; I would like to quote two paragraphs
describing the speech of Juan Mari Bras, the secretary general of the
PSP. At the rally he directly confronted the question of electoral
strategy. "Does the electoral strateg}' mean that we set aside the armed
struggle?" he asked. "We answer, definitely not. Quoting from Cuban
Premier Fidel Castro, Mari Bras brought the crowd to its feet with a
thundering ovation as he declared, 'There can be no victorious revolu-
tion if you have the arms and you do not have the masses, but there
camiot be a victorious revolution vsdthout arms. We will never renounce
our right to armed struggle, not until the day that imperalism gives up
its last gun.' "
I think that when the New American Movement participates in
conferences such as that, then it is pretty clear what their colors are.
Air. ScHULTz. What successes do you see that the PBC has had?
Mr. Watson. What successes?
Mr. ScHULTz. Yes.
Mr. Watson. Well, I think it has to be regarded as somewhat suc-
cessful that the April 1976 Book-of-the-Month Club Selection on the
American Revolution itself, was written by the staff historian of the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission, and sells for $12, $15, $20 — I've
forgotten exactly the price of it, it's a rather expensive book. I think
that has to be recorded as a success.
The press coverage that they have received has been phenomenal.
Mr. ScHULTz. You mentioned they've been quoted and listed in
Newsweek. What other major publications?
Mr. Watson. Well, U.S. News & World Report gave them better
billing than it did the Official Revolutionary Bicentennial Administra-
tion, and you can pick up a handful of newsclippings from almost any-
where in the country and read a favorable review.
Here is a piece of a Girl Scout newsletter that one of my neighbors in
northern Virginia brought to me because she was aware of some of the
things that I had written on the Peoples Bicentennial Commission.
She is a Girl Scout leader, and her council, her Girl Scout council, put
out this recommendation:
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission has materials available for groups. The
introductory packet of materials is free. A kit of Bicentennial materials, including
a subscription to "Common Sense," costs $10. Their most recent publication is
"America's Birthday," a planning and activity guide for citizens participation
during the Bicentennial.
That's the book that we described looking like the American Heri-
tage cover. The book is published by Simon & Schuster. The PBC ad-
dress is 12346 Connecticut Avenue NW., Washington, D.C.
Mr. Schultz. Would you identify the document from which you just
read?
Mr. Watson. This is a newsletter from the Capitol Area Council of
the Girl Scouts.
32
]Mr. ScHULTz. You can provide that to the committee?
Mr. Watson. Yes.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 21 and will be
found in appendix A, p. 116.]
Mr. Watson. Anywhere you want to pick up a newspaper, you find
coverage of the PBC. The Washington Post, the Washington Star,
newspapers from the west coast, from the South, the National Ob-
server, Playbo3^ We cited earlier the Wall Street Journal.
Mr. ScHULTz. Have any of the newspapers or magazines identified the
PBC for what they are?
Mr. Watson. Yes, they have, in very few cases. The Chicago Tri-
bune has done two anti-PBC pieces after they had run several pro-
PBC pieces. Back in 1974, was the first time I noticed the Chicago
Tribune had given a rather favorable coverage. It was not until the
article cited earlier by columnist Bob Wiedrich, in which he cited Ros-
sen's background and so forth — an expose of PBC published by the
Chicago Tribune — that the record was set straight.
Then, last December, December 20, 1975, the Chicago Tribune
published a lead editorial which they entitled "Hijacking the Bicenten-
nial." It said much of the same sort of thing that we have been saying
here, including referring to Chairman Ichord's remarks in Congress.
They mentioned Rifkin and Rossen; gave a little brief description of
the literature and so on.
But, hard on the heels of that, here is a piece from the New York
Times taking the PBC quite seriously, "Radical Group Presses for
New Bicentennial View."
Mr. ScHULTz. What's the date?
Mr. Watson. January 18.
Mr. ScHULTZ. The title of that article?
Mr. Watson. January 18, 1976, the New York Times, "Radical
Group Presses New Bicentennial View."
In the same edition of the New York Times, the PBC had nearly
a full-page advertisement for which they paid $10,000. It's covered in
this article here. PBC has been favored by a variety of magazines
around the country. The newspapers have generall}^ done likewise. If
we tried to come up with some sort of percentage on good press versus
bad press — and I would have to do this off the top of my head — I
would say that they probably have somewhere between 5 and 10 per-
cent bad press, in other words, anti-PBC stuff, and the rest of it is
pro, and some of it is so lavish that it's absolutely amazing.
For example, I have to contend that this byline article by Jeremy
Rifkin on economic freedom in the New York Times
Mr. ScHULTZ. Which appeared when?
Mr. Watson. May 26, 1975. This is the one in which he re"\vrites
the Declaration of Independence along economic lines. The New York
Times credits Jeremy Rifkin as an economist and codirector of the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission, an author of "Common Sense II."
That's all the American public is told about what PBC is all about.
That, generalh^, is the sort of press that they have gotten around
the country, and, as I say, you cannot tag it to what people frequently
speak of as the ultraliberal press versus the conservative press.
Lloyd Jenkins Jones, out in Tulsa, Okla., has written a couple of
very good PBC pieces that tell it like it is, but these are rather rare.
33
When I introduced the book, "How to Commit Revolution Amer-
ican Style," by Jeremy Rifkin and Jolui Rossen, I should have cited
its publisher, which I didn't do at the time. The publisher is Lyle
Stuart, Inc., of Secaucus, N.J. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons
that Rossen and Rifkin don't like to advertise the book too much,
because Lyle Stuart's reputation as a publisher includes mostly quasi-
pornographic material and revolutionary material, including the
Anarchists' Cookbook," which he published.
It also is significant, perhaps, that L3de Stuart was a treasurer of
the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, according to testimony before
the committee.
Mr. ScHULTZ. I will finish my questions and then with the chairman's
permission we will go around for your additional questions, gentlemen;
The Chairman. That will be fine, go right ahead.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mr. Watson, you have mentioned that the PBC is
planning a mass rally in Washington on July 4. Do you have any
information about the plans that have been made for this rally and
about those who will participate in the rally?
Mr. Watsox. Well, the}^ have been talking for — at both the meetings
I attended in the ^Midwest, the subject of the Fourth of July came up,
and they mentioned in theu' Common Sense from time to time since
then that they wanted to have a massive rally on the Fourth of July,
and apparently recently the}* have applied for a permit to have a rally
here in Washington on the Fourth of July. The Washington Post has
published a story on January 21, 1976, in which they say the PBC
says it expects to attract 250,000 people to a protest rally in Washing-
ton on July 4. I would like to insert tliis into the record if I may.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Without objection, this article will be identified as
exhibit No. 22.
[The article referred to was marked exhibit No. 22 and will be found
in appendix A, p. 116.1
^Ir. ScHULTZ. Do 3 ou know if this request for a permit has been
granted?
Mr. Watson. I don't really know that. I have no information
as to whether it has nor not. The article certainly sounded like it
would be granted. Of course, when they put on the demonstration at
Concord the}^ did get a permit for that affair, and they estimated
about four times the number of people that they actually got there.
They alwa^'s inflate the figures as to how many they really expect
to have, but if they set out to put on a rally here in Wasliington, I
would sa}' that they could certainly get 25,000 or 30,000 people.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Do j'Ou know whether the anticipated rally will be a
single issue or one organization rall^^, or whether the PBC will serve
as an umbrella for man}' groups to come in under the permit?
Mr. Watson. I would not think that they would encourage a lot
of other groups to come in and take their thunder, but as far as the
multi-issue approach is concerned, it is almost guaranteed that it
will be a multi-issue approach. They will have PBC literature and
PBC
Mr. ScHULTZ. But with the focus of rebellion?
Mr. Watson. Yes. But they will take in anyone who is of like mind,
but they want it to be a PBC affair.
34
Mr. ScHULTZ. And as a matter of fact, so that they would make a
good showing, just the number of bodies, whether committed to their
particular cause or not, would help them?
Mr. Watson. Oh, absolutely.
Mr. ScHULTZ. One final question from me before I ask for other
questions by the members of the staff. What response is the official
Bicentennial group giving when they receive inquiries concerning the
PBC, if you know?
Mr. Watson. I don't really have much of an answer to that, other
than the fact that I have made a couple of calls myself over the last
2 years, several calls for one reason or other, to the American Revo-
lutionary Bicentennial Administration, and most people that you
talk to there don't have much to say on the subject. They will not
give you much of a clarification of what the PBC is all about, and I
have referred citizens to them on occasion, and the citizens are
seldom satisfied with finding out much about the PBC.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Can 3^ou evaluate the response? Is it because they
don't know, or are the}^ reluctant to characterize the PBC?
Mr. Watson. Well, I have been told b}^ one or two of the people
that I have talked to that they don't see it within their charter to
say anything derogatory about any other organization. I can under-
stand that sentiment. I am also pretty well convinced that some people
I have talked to don't really know.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Of course, I would assume that they clearly dispel
any association between the two organizations to those individuals
that call and ask?
Mr. Watson. Sometimes it's the lack of clarity there.
Mr. ScHULTZ. I understand. Mr. .Martin, do you have any questions?
Mr. Martin. Just one question. You gave the subcommittee
several examples of what you called the duplicity of the PBC. Rifkin
and Rossen are writing for the movement, for the cadres of the move-
ment— you have some frankly revolutionary prose which you quoted.
And you pointed out that they will use much the same paragraphs in
writings intended for the general public, but they will delete certain
names or certain words that might give offense to people who are not
revolutionary in their personal orientation.
For example, they would delete references to Lenin and Che
Guevara and Castro, and so on. In order to demonstrate that this
isn't something that has just happened occasionally in then- wi'itings,
but that it is part of a consistent pattern of duplicity on their part,
do you have a number of other examples which you could offer for
the record?
Mr. Watson. Yes. This has been such a common occurrence in
looking at their literature, rimning across this sort of thing that I
developed a little comparative sheet here that has four paragraphs on
it, wherem on one side of the page Rifkin is wi'itmg in the under-
ground press to fellow leftists and on the other side of the page he is
writing in "America's Birthday," the Simon & Shuster book, and
you are looking at the same paragraphs, but they have been doctored
to get the scare words and the scare names out of them. Actually, the
introduction to "America's Birthday," is, b}^ and large, a cut and paste
job of Rif kin's underground press articles with these words and names
taken out. You can go down through there page-by-page and just find
whole paragraphs have been picked up and plopped over there with
the scare words and scare names taken out.
35
Mr. ScHULTZ. Of the analysis that you prepared, is each paragraph
documented as to source?
Mr. Watson. Yes.
Mr. ScHULTz. All right. We will mark your analysis as exhibit
No. 23, for inclusion in the record.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 23 and will be
found in appendix A, p. 118.]
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mr. Martin, do you have anything further?
Mr. Martin. That's all.
Mr, ScHULTz. Mr. Tarabochia.
Mr. Tarabochia. A group of revolutionary organizations such as
the PSP, the American Indian Movement, the Prairie Fire Organizing
Committee, are sponsoring a massive rally under the name of the
July 4th Coalition to coincide with the official celebrations in Phila-
delphia. Do you have any knowledge whether the PBC is going to
participate or sponsor this rally?
Mr. Watson. No; I don't. I would suggest that it is worth looking
into further though because, as I remember it, the PBC in Philadelphia
is not called the PBC; it has some other name. It's one of those, as I
remember, that did want to change its name, but it has a heavy PBC
influence. I would think from their method of operation that they will
certainly have an oar in it, but I don't really have any particular
knowledge of that.
Mr. Tarabochia. Because I notice that the New American Move-
ment is one of the endorsers of this. The National Committee of the
New American Movement is an endorser of this rally.
Mr. Watson. I would say this, that there is a very good chance that
PBC would be involved.
Mr. Tarabochia. I have no other questions. Thank you.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mr. Short, do you have any questions?
Mr. Short. Yes. Mr. Rifkin, at the regional PBC conference in
Urbana, stated that he wanted to establish an organization which
would be capable of replacing the Daughters of the American Revolu-
tion, the DAR, as it is commonly known, as representative of Ameri-
cans with revolutionary lineage. How does he propose to do this?
Mr. Watson. Well, he said at that meeting, that they were seeking
people whose ancestors took part in the American Revolution, and he
said they already had some, to sign up with PBC under the banner of
''Sons and Daughters of Liberty," or "Sons and Daughters of the
Revolution." He said they wanted to get 500 such people to announce
the formation of this organization and call for a second American
revolution to create economic democracy, and he was encouraging the
local PBC's and the people that he was trying to get to go back home
and start their own PBC's to do the same thing — find people in their
communities with revolutionary lineage and sign them up as part of
this new organization.
Mr. Short. I believe, also, that the PBC claims that there are three
basic documents which are essential to a proper interpretation of the
revolution 200 years ago. They are the Declaration of Independence,
the Bill of Rights, and the Bible.
Now, you mentioned earlier a William Peltz, the PBC Midwest
regional coordinating chairman. Could you tell me briefly what he
stated at the Ann Arbor, Mich., conference concerning recruitment of
Christians for the PBC?
m
Mr. Watson. Well, as I mentioned earlier, Peltz, presents himself
as a lay minister and says that he regards teaching of Bible studies as
one of the ways that you can get across revolutionary information.
He says that, of course, there are several conservative branches of
Christianity to be concerned with — the fundamentalists, and they have
not been so ready to step into the social action activities, the leftist
activities, as some of the other denominations might have done, and
they might be a little leery of some of the activities that PBC advo-
cates; but if they can be reached, he says, they can be the most powerful
influence possible because of the high level of dedication fundamentalist
Christians have.
He said, they believe in the Bible and if you can show them how the
Bible backs up the idea of revolution, their dedication and evangelistic
spirit can literally work miracles for you, and he says that you are
then using that third document that's essential to the operation.
He says that PBC is reall}^ a religious movement, as well as a
political one, and he looks at it that way. He says the ideas about
sharing the wealth and caring for your neighbor didn't originate with
Marx. You can back them up with scripture from the Bible. He says
that the Founding Fathers, whatever their individual convictions
might have been, were steeped in the Scripture and this gives you a
bridge for talking to these fundamentalist Christians.
He says it's simple to go back into the Bible and recapture some of
the ideas that you can use in expounding on the Founding Fathers
and their religious beliefs, as, for example, the Bible tells us God is
supreme, not government. The Bible also tells us we are only so-
journers here, and he cites Leviticus, chapter 25, to back this up. And
he sa3'^s, we have no right to own land because we are only sojourners
here, that the land belongs to God and everybody.
He says the Bible also makes it clear, as does the Declaration of
Independence, that government should be done away wdth when it
no longer serves the needs of the people; that the Bible even makes it
clear that there should be a periodic sharing of the wealth. He says,
look at the jubilee year that is talked about there in Leviticus 25, and
that there is nothing in the Bible to support the existence of
corporations.
Mr. Short. So, when he uses terms concerning the Bible, he is
really not getting away from the Marxist theory at all?
Mr. Watson. No; he is not. He is using it to do the same sort of
thing that PBC has done with the revolutionary 1776 quotations and
art work. He is simply using it to cover up what he is really trying to
do. He says the point is that if you can get the fundamentalists turned
on to the PBC concept of econonjic democracy and show it is sup-
ported in the Bible, you will have tapped a major power source m
moving the thing forward.
Mr. Short. That's all the questions I have, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Mr. Watson, we appreciate your appearing before
the subcommittee this morning.
Mr. Watson. Thank you, Senator Eastland, it was my pleasure.
The Chairman. If there is nothing further, the subcommittee is
adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 1 :20 p.m., the subcommittee adjourned, subject
to the call of the Chair.]
THE ATTEMPT TO STEAL THE BICENTENNIAL— THE
PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1976
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee to Investigate the
Administration of the Internal Security Act
AND Other Internal Security Laws
OF the Committee on the Judiciary,
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:12 o'clock a.m.,
in the Kussell Senate Office Building, Senator James O. Eastland,
Chairman, presiding.
Also present: Richard L. Schultz, chief counsel; Alfonso L. Tara-
bochia, chief investigator; Robert J. Short, senior investigator; and
David Martin, senior analyst.
The Chairman. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are
about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?
Mrs. Walton. I do.
The Chairivian. Thank you. Now, counsel, would you proceed
with the questions?
Mr. Schultz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mrs. Walton, would
you state your full name for the record, please?
TESTIMONY OF MRS. MARY 0. V7ALT0N OP ILLINOIS
Mrs. Walton. Mary O. Walton.
Mr. Schultz. What is vour address, Mrs. Walton?
Airs. Walton. I live in the State of Illinois.
Mr. Schultz. Mrs. Walton, have you made a study of revolu-
tionary groups and organizations over the past several years?
Mrs. Walton. Yes; I have.
Mr. Schultz. Approximately how long have you made such
studies?
Mrs. Walton. For the past 15 years.
Mr. Schultz. In the course of your studies have you collected
many materials relating to revolutionary organizations, writings,
and documents?
Mrs. Walton. Yes; I have.
Mr. Schultz. You are here this morning to furnish information
and testimony in connection with the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission?
Mrs. Walton. That's correct.
Mr. Schultz. All right. I know you have a prepared statement
to make. Would you proceed?
(37)
38
Mrs. Walton. Yes, sir.
Gentlemen, my presence here today has been brought about due
to a concern we have in common. Namely, the radical left forces that
are using the guise of our Bicentennial to further their aims of a
social revolution to bring about a restructuring of our free enterprise
system, and of our democratic republic system of government which
derives from it. I do hope that my testimony will shed some light
on this potentially serious situation.
I would like to preface this testimon}^ with some of nw qualifica-
tions. First, I am a mother of two sons and through them, close to
many young adults. Therefore, I am concerned about the world they
and their future generations will inherit.
Second, I am an Ameiican who believes, in spite of its inadecmacies,
in the United States of America. With this I believe in our democracy
within a republican form of government and the free enterprise system
of economics.
I have lived in several areas of Europe in all sorts of conditions;
lived iny-not as a tourist. When I have come home, I thank God I
am privileged to live in this great land, for nowhere on Earth is there
the freedom and opportunities that our Nation affords her citizens.
I wore an American flag pin and everA^where I went people would
come up to me and tell me how desperately they wanted to come to
this country to live.
George Washington, in his farewell address said, "The name
American which belongs to 3^ou, in your national capacity, must
always exalt the just pride of patriotism."
Twelve years ago, I became concerned when I detected some —
may I just stop briefly?
Mr. ScHULTz. Yes.
Mrs. Walton. My studv did start 14 years ago, but I became more
deeply concerned about it 12 years ago.
Twelve years ago, I became concerned when I detected some of the
elements behind the so-called "Free-Speech Movement" at the
University of California, at Berkeley; namely, Bettina Aptheker,
daughter of Dr. Herbert Aptheker, head theoretician of the Com-
munist Part}^, U.S.A.
In 1965, my husband's company sent us to Scotland. There I
witnessed Communist Party verbal attacks against the United States
and the stirring up of British youth with the identical rhetoric that
was and is being employed to attempt to gain the control of American
youth.
Lenin stated, "Youth will decide the issue of the entire struggle —
both the student jouth and, more still, the working class youth."
Gus Hall, General Secretary of the Communist Party, U.S.A., at
the founding of the Young Workers' Liberation League in 1970,
said, "In all struggles for social progress especially during explosive
events — the youth are the shock troops. The}^ provide the ranks with
boldness, militancy, and enthusiasm."
He went on to state that youth needed leadership with "advanced
ideas" and that the Communist Party was establishing that leadership.
Upon my return from Scotland, I saw that the "radical student
movement" had groAvn considerably and that the "shock troops"
were on the march against the Pentagon and campuses.
59
Realizing that our wonderful American A^outh with their tremendous
concern for the world and mankind, their enthubiastic though some-
what naive idealism were being manipulated and maneuvered, I felt
it necessary to get to the root of this manipulation.
In order to understand better what was happening and to know
how to deal with the situation, I launched upon an intensive, in-depth
research which I am still actively pursuing.
I have become a student of communism and all forms of totalitarian
socialism which includes Nazism and Fascism. Along with this I am
studying the Old and New Left plus the radical right organizations in
the United States.
This study has consisted primarily of publications of hundreds of
radical organizations, from left to right, and government documents
and books. This knowledge has been developed further by my attend-
ing "peace" meetings, demonstrations and listening to lecturers
ranging from Dr. Herbert Aptheker, with many in between, to Mr.
William Kunstler.
I do not set myself up as a totally qualified authority and as one who
has all the answers as, indeed, mj^ study continues every day. However,
I do feel I have gained enough knowledge from closely monitoring
"the movement" to see the pattern of what is occurring in the United
States.
I do not represent any organization in this research, just myself —
a concerned mother and an American who is far from being ashamed of
love of country.
I also do not look for a Communist behind every bush. I ac-
knowledge that the vast majority of people, both students and adults,
that are or have been caught up in the "movement" are sincerely
concerned about many issues and are far from being Marxists dedi-
cated to the destruction of the capitalist system of economics.
The leaders and manipulators of the radical "movement" know
exactl}^ what their goal is and are pursuing it with total dedication.
Several j^ears ago, I took to the lecture platform and have authored
many newspaper articles and appeared on talk shows. This led to
Governor Ogilvie appointing me to the Governor's Advisory Council.
I have worked with many educators on the problems of student radi-
calism and drug abuse.
Seemingly, the "radical student movement" has slowed down. The
students may have been turned off by the "movement" leaders and
manipulators. However, these masters of deceit are at it again. They
never for one moment give up.
We are now in the midst of celebrating our Nation's Bicentennial
and again, I turn to Washington's Farewell Address when he w^arned
us "Much pains will be taken, many artifices emploj^ed" and that
"The batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly
and actively — though often covertly and insidiously — dii'ected" to
weaken in Americans minds belief in our form of government.
He concluded by warning us against "The mischiefs of foreign
intrigue and to'guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism."
This warning is particularly appropriate in modern terms when
applied to the PBC. Let me say a few words about how the "Peoples
Bicentennial Commission" got started.
40
In 1969 a document entitled "An Open Letter to the American
Left" was published by the Johnny Appleseed Press of Cicero, 111.
This is owned by John Rossen, a one-time organizer for the Communist
Party in Illinois and Missouri. In the article, Rossen stated that an
urgent question for the American Left will be "How to get started on
the American road to socialism."
It then told of a meeting of American radicals in Bratislava, Czecho-
slovakia Avith the DRV (North Vietnamese) and the NLF (Vietcong)
where they were told; "The problem with you American friends is that
you have not yet found your identity; you do not identify with the
American people."
Tliis letter continues:
If one accepts the proposition that there is an American road to socialism, that
no social revolution can be "transplanted" or "grafted" onto American society,
then it is clear that the humanist-socialist transformation of society in the United
States can come only as an unfolding of the unique history and the unique ex-
periences of the American Nation, as a further development and flowering of the
Great American Revolution of 1776.
Is it possible that there is only one American Revolution, that it began in 1776,
and that in 1969, Americans have the revolutionary task of bringing that revolu-
tion up to date?
American Radicals, who are really American and really radical, must accept the
proposition that Twentieth Century Americanism is humanist-socialism.
A revival and up-dating of the "Spirit of '76" by the American left and a re-
vamping of left theory and practice in terms of that spirit would not only defeat the
Fascist danger, but would create the conditions for an offensive by the left that
would speed the day of the arrival of the American people at the next milestone in
their history— a humanist-socialist society.
Thus was launched the Johnny Appleseed movement; and this new
"patriotic movement," using American nationalism to put across
Marxist doctrine was furthered with the publishing of a paper called
the New Patriot.
This was all the brainchild of John Rossen and in the summer of
1971, it appears that the Johnny Appleseed movement was handed
over lock, stock and barrel to one Jeremy Rifkin and renamed the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission.
I believe it was called the Peoples Revolutionary Bicentennial
Commission and then the name "Revolutionary" was dropped at a
later period.
This is typical of the Old and New Left structures, to regroup and
change names in order to confuse. In my opinion, this was a clever
move as Rifkin's left wing record was not well known like Rossen's.
John Rossen has obviously remained as mentor, guiding light, very
active and the voice of the Chicago Peoples Bicentennial Commission.
I feel the most revealing aspect of the Peoples Bicentennial Com-
mission is their "Student Teacher Programs for a Peoples Bicentennial"
and all their educational tools.
They state that "educational reform today is meaningless without a
general reorientation of our society * * * students and teachers can
never really take control of the educational process from administra-
tors, boards of education and the needs of big business and demogogic
politicians until the people of America have taken control of our society
from the neotories who run our Government and economic system."
I would like to go into more detail on the Peoples Bicentennial
educational plans when we review their publications.
41
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission states that their program is
designed to reawaken the radical student movement of the 1960's.
The radical Old and New Left, cloaked with patriotic trappings,
diabolically using the commemoration of our Nation's birth with which
to ensnare Americans and lead them down the path to a Soviet or
Castro style socialism are finding a widespread acceptance of their
new patriotic rhetoric.
They have, indeed, found a fresh way to identify with the American
people as internationalist Marxists advised them to do.
As John Rossen wi'ote in his pamphlet '^Toward a New Patriotism,"
''The New Patriotism would be socialist-humanist and internationalist
in substance and content and nationalist in form and rhetoric."
Gentlemen, I would like to conclude my opening statement with a
quote from Samuel Adams. "The liberties of our country, the freedom
of our civil constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is
our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as
a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors; they purchased them for
us with toil and danger, and expense of treasure and blood, and trans-
mitted them to us with care and diligence. It will be an everlasting
mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we
should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle
or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men."
Gentlemen, I would now like to go over the documents and publica-
tions of the Peoples Bicentennial Commission and related materials
with you. I have furnished the subcommittee with copies of many of
these documents. In doing this you will be able to comprehend more
fully what the Peoples Bicentennial Commission is, their history, and
aims. This hopefully will lead to discussing what can be done to neu-
tralize this Bicentennial hoax.
Mr. ScHULTz. Thank you, Mrs. Walton. Just a few questions in
connection with jour opening statement. You mentioned that your
studies are not connected with any organization. That they have been
done wholly on your own. Have you been paid by any organization?
Mrs. Walton. I have received a few honorariums when I have gone
out and lectured. I have not received any fvmds from any organiza-
tion, per se.
Mr. ScHULTz. You are not on a continuing
Mrs. Walton. No; and I am not a member of a speakers* bureau or
anything like that. My lecturing has been done purely by word-of-
mouth.
Mr. ScHULTz. Where is the Peoples Bicentennial Commission's
Headquarters in the Chicago area?
Mrs. Walton. It is at 2440 North Lincoln Avenue, in a building
called Liberty Hall, that is owned by John Rossen.
Mr. Schultz. Are there any other organizations within that?
Mrs. Walton. There are other organizations. I am not aware of
all of them. Rev. Iberus Hacker, who works with John Rossen, in the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission, has an Open Pantry for the Poor,
in the same building.
1 am aware of a few other organizations listed in the telephone
directory at the Liberty Hall, 2440 N. Lincoln address. They are:
City Colleges of Chicago — Uptown Education Programs — Iberus
Hacker, Tel. 271-1737. Rainbow Coahtion— Lincoln Park Office,
Tel. 271-1737. Chicago Tomorrow— Social Service, Tel. 528-0191.
42
Women For Peace, Tel. 929-6690. The Old Country Church, Tel. 271-
1737.
I also have many documents shomng that various organizations
hold meetings at the 2440 N. Lincoln address such as: Citizens Alert/
Alliance to End Repression, Venceremos Brigade, Iranian Student
Association, Benefit for Chicago Workers School, "Class Struggle" —
October League, Consumer Counteraction, United Farm Workers,
Institute For Social Studies, New American Movement, National
Caucus of Labor Committees, and others.
I want to make it clear that the mere fact that an organization or
operation has its offices in Liberty Hall does not necessarily mean it is
revolutionary. But I think it would be quite accurate to state that with
few exceptions, the organizations who have their offices in Liberty
Hall or Mdio have used Liberty Hall for meetings and rallies are either
actively involved in lef twing politics or else are welfare organizations — ■
or what passes as welfare organizations — operated by a variety of
leftwdng organizations.
Mr. ScHULTz. Have you ever been to this building?
Mrs. Walton. I have not.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Who is the Peoples Bicentennial Commission
spokesman in Chicago?
Mrs. Walton. Mainly John Rossen. Sometimes Rev. Iberus
Hacker, Sister Joan Baustian or Susan Rockwell.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Is it not true that John Rossen disassociates him-
self from Rifkin?
Mrs. Walton. He disassociates himself from Rifkin. They are
very careful about that. As a matter of fact Jeremy Rifkin in a Chicago
Sun Times article dated October 5, 1975, stated that the beginning
of the PBC all started with a discussion in 1971 ^vith a friend who
publishes the Progressive in Madison, Wis., and no mention of John
Rossen. Although Jeremy Rifkin is in and out of the PBC's Chicago
office from time to time John Rossen is very obviously in command.
One instance that I know of, he went to New Trier West High School
in Northfield, where he gave an adult seminar on bicentennial plan-
ning. He spoke as representing the Peoples Bicenteimial Commission.
Sister Baustian accompanied Rossen to this meeting.
His associates mth the Chicago Bicentennial Commission are
Sister Joan Baustian and Rev. Iberus Hacker.
Mr. ScHULTZ. When did the Northfield, 111., appearance occur?
Mrs. Walton. The meeting took place on the evening of February
27, 1975.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Wlien did you first become aware of the Peoples
Bicentennial Commission?
Mrs. Walton. Shortly after they were formed in 1971, I became
aware of them. My documents go back to the Jolinn}^ Appleseed
movement which I put away in a file and then when I heard about
the Peoples Bicentennial Commission, it was very clear, in my
opinion, that this was what had developed out of the Johnny Apple-
seed movement. Many of the PBC documents that I secured at a
later date bear out this opinion.
Mr. Schultz. Describe for us, if you will, how you first contacted
the Peoples Bicentennial Commission, and what you gained through
your contact with them.
43
Mrs. Walton. I first wrote to them in April 1974, and at that
time, I wrote to — no, March — I am sorry. March 28, 1974, and I
wrote to them at their Liberty Hall address.
Mr. ScHULTZ. How did you obtam tliis address?
Mrs. Walton. I obtained it from the Chicago Peace Council,
as a matter of fact. I take that back, it was not March 28, because
I wrote to them 3 weeks prior to that and I did not have an answer.
So then I followed it up with a letter to them on March 28, and I
received a letter back from Sister Joan Baustian, on April 9, 1974,
stating that the}* had never received my first letter and that they
were glad that I had written again, but I did not include my phone
number and that she had spent nearh^ .3 weeks in a hospital and she
sent me a few publications of the PBC and hoped that I would join
and receive all the materials.
She informed me that on April 23, 1974, at 7:30 p.m., they were
holding a meetmg of people interested in the PBC and that Jeremy
Rifkin, from Washington, D.C. would be there. She invited me to
come down to that meeting and to talk about their ongoing activities.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mr. Chanman, I would like to suggest that any
documents offered by Airs. Walton during the course of this hearing
be accepted and the final decision as to inclusion in the record be
reserved until thej^ nia}' be reviewed.
The Chairman. That's fine. Without objection so ordered.
Mr. ScHULTZ. If you are willing to provide a copy of that to the
subcommittee, we will mark that as exliibit No. 1.
Mrs. Walton. Yes, sir.
[The documents referred to were marked as exhibit Nos. 1 and lA
and vnW be found on pp. 127 and 128, app. B.]
Mr. ScHULTZ. Did you have subsequent correspondence?
Mrs. Walton. In some of the publications, they sent me, there
was a form to fill in to receive the Peoples Bicentennial kit. I sent $10
to the Connecticut Avenue address and I have furnished the original
documents of the kit to the subcommittee.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mrs. Walton, when you say the Connecticut Avenue
address, are you talking about an address in Washington, D.C?
Mrs. Walton. Yes, I am. That is the PBC headquarters.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Could 3^ou give us that specific address?
Mrs. Walton. It is 1346 Connecticut Avenue, Suite 1010.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Would you describe for us the origin of the Peoples
Bicentennial Commission and the connection which you have found
between that organization and the Johnny Appleseed movement?
Mrs. Walton. Yes, sir. This began in 1969, with an "Open Letter
to the American Left," which was printed by the Johnny Appleseed
Press — they are located in Cicero, 111. The Johnny Appleseed publisher
is John Rossen.
In this "Open Letter to the American Left" it was proposed that
a new patriotic movement be developed. I did quote from this in my
opening statement.
Mr. ScHULTZ. As documentation for your remarks in your opening
statement, we will mark that as exhibit No. 2.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 2 and
will be found on p. 129, app. B.]
44
Mrs. Walton. This, plus another document called "One, Two>
Three . . . Man}^ SDS's." This was also distributed b}'' tlie Johnny
Appleseed Patriotic Publications at the same time. This was an
excerpt from Ramparts magazine, copyright 1969. This also describes
some of the new ideas for the "Old Left."
These were picked vip at the same time and I might explain where
these documents came from.
Mr. ScHULTZ. If you would, please. We will mark that as exhibit
No. 3.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 3 and will be
found on p. 133, app. B.]
Mrs. Walton. These documents were distributed at a convocation
at the Bellarmine School of Theology, 230 South Lincoln Way,
Aurora, 111. on October 4, 1969. The Bellarmine School of Theology
was a branch of Loyola Universit}^, in Chicago, and it has since ceased
to exist at that address.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Were these documents obtained by you?
Mrs. Walton. They were obtained by a friend of mine that I sent
to this meeting. She brought back many documents. These were just
among them.
Another document that was brought back was a document ex-
plaining the John Rossen "Little Red, White and Blue Book" called
"Revolutionary Quotations from the Thoughts of Uncle Sam." On
the back of this there is a reprint, second in a series, from Johnny
Appleseed. It is an advertisement actually, seeking the development
of a new political party called A Revolutionary Mass Party.
These three documents were secured at the same time.
Mr. Schultz. Mark the advertisement as exhibit No. 4.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 4, and will be
found on p. 141, app. B.l
Mrs. Walton. Now going along with that exhibit there was in the
Chicago Tribune, on February 24, 1970, a write-up about that meeting
in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, that is referred to in the Open Letter
to the American Left.
Mr. Schultz. The Chicago Tribune article dated February 24,
1970 will be exhibit No. 5.
[The docum.ent referred to was marked as exliibit No. 5 and will be
found on p. 143, app. B.l
Mrs. Walton. Now to tie the Peoples Bicentennial Commission
in — shortly after the Open Letter to the American Left went out,
a publication called the New Patriot was printed by the Johnny
Appleseed Press and recently, I secured from the PBC a cop}^ of this
original publication in which the}^ very convenientl}" stamped the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission in the corner linking the Peoples
Bicentennial Commission in with the original publication of the New
Patriot.
Mr. Schultz. Will you identif}^ that document by date and perhaps.
by volume number?
Mrs. Walton. Yes. September, volume No. 1 — volume 1, excuse-
me. No. 2, September-October, 1970.
Mr. Schultz. You obtained that
Mrs. Walton. From the Peoples Bicentennial Commission.
Mr. Schultz. Fine. Thank you. This will be exhibit No. 6.
45
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 6 and will be
found on p. 144, app. B.]
Mrs. Walton. Further to that, last year the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission, in Chicago, began to issue a monthly newsletter called
the Cliicago Patriot, and in their volume 1, number 4, which was
December 1975, January 1976, they state, "The New Patriot, the
newspaper formerly put out by the Johnny Appleseed Patriotic
Publications will be resumed by the Peoples Bicentennial Commission
of Chicago and Johnny Appleseed. The Chicago Patriot is hereby
discontinued. Subscribers will receive instead the New Patriot with
its large colorful format of 20 to 30 pages; $3.50 is our special rate for
early subscribers to the New Patriot, in January."
This further links the New Patriot with the Chicago People*
Bicentennial Commission.
Mr. ScHULTZ. What is the date on this pamphlet?
Mrs. Walton. December 1975, January 1976.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you.
We will mark that as exhibit No. 7.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 7 and will be
found on p. 145, app. B.]
Mr. ScHULTZ. Do you have any other documents that you would
like to furnish the subcommittee which would show the relationshij)
between the Peoples Bicentennial Commission and the Johnny Ap-
pleseed movement?
Mrs. Walton. I believe that scattered through some of the Johnny
Appleseed publications are things that are identical to the PBC such
as statements, pictures, logos, an ad for "Don't Tread On Me"
buttons identical to those sold by the PBC, and the listing of such
organizations as: Committees of Correspondence, DAR II and Daugh-
ters and Sons of Liberty. These can be found in the New Patriot
volume 1 — No. 2/September-October 1970 and the New Patriot
volume 1 — No. 4/March-April 1971. Also a letter dated July 14, 1975
from Susan Rockwell of the Chicago PBC office containing informa-
tion on the redevelopment of the New Patriot by the PBC,
May we backtrack?
Mr. ScHULTZ. Absolutely.
Mrs. Walton. In my opening statement I referred to the Gus Hall
statement on using American youth as shock troops, at the founding
of the Young Workers' Liberation League. This statement was made
in Chicago, February 8, 1970, and it was the opening speech by Gus
Hall, at the Founding Convention which was held in the Sherman
House Hotel, in Chicago.
I would like to enter this in evidence.
Mr. ScHULTZ. This is documented
Mrs. Walton. The date, February 28, 1970.
Mr. ScHULTZ. What is the name of the paper?
Mrs. Walton. This is from the Daily World.
Mr. Schultz. That would be exhibit No. 8.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 8 and will
be found on p. 146, app. B.]
Mr. Schultz. Mrs. Walton, what are the publicly stated goals and
objectives of the Peoples Bicentennial Commission?
69-239—76-
46
Mrs. Walton. I think their goals are stated very clearly in all
iheir publications.
The PBC publication entitled 'The Bicentennial Era 1972-76" gives
four aspects for a sound program for revolutionary change in corporate
America: a set of princi]:)les, an analysis of the system, a set of blue-
prints, and a program of attack or a program for taking power. This
is followed by a Peo])les Bicentennial Declaration in which is stated
"the new American Revolution must not be a revolution in rhetoric
but rather a revolution in fact."
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission has what they call the
Declaration of Economic Independence, and if I may I would like to
read a few paragraphs from it.
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the economic bonds which have tied them to another, a decent respect
for the opinions of humankind requires that they should declare the causes which
compel them to separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that
they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — that to secure these rights
economic institutions are instituted among people, deriving just poM-er from the
consent of the citizens, that whenever an economic system becomes destructive of
these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute a new
economic system laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers
in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.
* * * The history of the present giant corporations is a history of repeated injuries
and usurpations; all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute
tyranny over these states. To prove this, let the facts be submitted to a candid
world.
America's giant corporations have seized control over the great land and re-
sources of our country.
They have forced millions of Americans into unemployment lines by systemat-
ically closing down their American plants and moving their business operations
abroad so they can hire cheaper labor and reap still greater profits for their
owners.
They go on and explain more of why they are against the corporate
structure in the United States, and then at the end they conclude:
We therefore, the citizens of the United States of America, hereby call for the
abolition of these giant institutions of tyranny and the establishment of new
economic enterprises with new laws and safeguards to provide for the equal and
democratic participation of all American citizens in the economic decisions that
affect the well-being of our families, our communities and our nation. In further-
ance of our joint hopes and aspirations and mindful of the lessons of history, we
steadfastly adhere to the general principle that a Democratic Republic can only
exist to the extent that economic decisionmaking power is broadly exercised by
the people and not delegated to a few. Such is the necessity which compels us to act
in support of decentralized economic enterprises with ownership and control being
shared jointly by the workers in the plants and by the local communities in which
they operate, with similar patterns of shared rejiresentative control being exercised
on a regional and national level to insure the smooth and efficient coordination of all
economic operations. For the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the
protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes and our
sacred honor.
[The complete text will be found on p. 155, Appendix B as part of
exhibit No. 9.]
Listed under that is the Peoples Bicentennial Commission, Washing-
ton, D.C., 20036.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Is there a date or a volume number on the publication?
Mrs. Walton. Volume 4, No. 1 of Common Sense.
Mr. ScHULTz. Is this one of the documents which you obtained
through the mail?
471-
Mrs. Walton. Yes; I am on what thoy call their committee of
correspondence. This is lifted from Our Founding Fathers who had
a committee of correspondence. You receive periodically their pubUca-
tion Common Sense as well as other documents,
I would like to add that this particular copy of Common Sense
was mailed to all the State legislators in the State of Illinois and the
opening statement on it is "1976, The Year for Revolution."
There is another interesting— well, there are two interestnig thmgs
I would like to point out in this document. The announcement of
the demonstration on July 4, in Washington, D.C.
Mr. ScHULTZ. What page does that appear on?
Mrs. Walton. It appears on page 11.
The PBC states that they \viU have 250,000 new patnots for the
largest economic rally in American history.
The 200th anniversary of the American Revolution, a time to begin the second
American Revolution. Declare vour economic independence from ITT, GM and
EXXON. Send a message to Wall Street. Rededicate yourself to the democratic
principles of 1776. Join the Movement for Economic Democracy. Join the Peoples
Bicentennial Commission at the Capitol, in Washington, D.C.
Join prominent speakers and entertainers in pledging your life, fortune and
sacred honor to a new America. Make some history of your own. Be there.
The Chairman. I would like to ask the subcommittee chief in-
vestigator if he has any information concerning the proposed demon-
stration for Washington, D.C. • n
Mr. Tarabochia. Yes, Mr. Art Lamb, Chief of the Division of
Special Events of the U.S. National Park Service informed me this
morning that a permit for a demonstration on July 4th, by the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission has been apphed for but not
granted vet.
A meeting with Jeremy Rifkin is scheduled for 10 a.m., March 29,
1976, to work out the details of his demonstration.
There are two permits that are required for these demonstrations
because the gathering is going to take place in front of the Capitol
and also spill over on the mall from First to Fifth and Seventh Streets.
It is of interest to note that on the same date the follomng events
are to take place in Washington, D.C. An event at the Kennedy
Stadium where about 50,000 people are going to be involved; the
opening of the Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian Institution;
the opening of the Visitors Center at Union Station; the fireworks
at the monument grounds; the Folklike Festival around the Lincoln
Memorial and the opening of the new Bicentennial Gardens on the
site of the old Navy Annex on Constitution Avenue.
The Chairman. Thank you. Mr. Schultz, will you carry on?
Mr. Schultz. Mrs. Walton, did you have any other items?
Mrs. Walton. Yes; I would like to show one item in this particular
publication of Common Sense. There is a picture of all of the Presiden-
tial candidates including Senator Birch Bayh and former Senator
Fred Harris— who have been generally regarded a-^ the most liberal of
the Democratic candidates^and conservative candidate Governor
Ronald Reagan.
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission rejects all of these candidates
as being of the same cut. Common Sense says, "After 200 years, is
this the best we can do? Look at these men. All of them want to be
President of the United States. Each of them wants your vote."
48
Then they conclude, ''We think it's time to put the candidates on
notice, we're fed up with worn out chches and endless chatter from a
cast of Twiddledee and Twiddledum candidates. We want some action."
Then they state, "We're the Common Sense Campaign for a Demo-
cratic Economy." The Common Sense Campaign for a Democratic
Economy is forming groups across the country to heckle all of the
Presidential candidates.
When President Ford was in the Champaign-Urbana area of Illinois,
I believe it was 10 days ago. Bill Peltz who heads up the Midwest
section of the Peoples Bicentennial Commission led a group of hecklers
against the President.
When Governor Reagan was in Oshkosh, Wis., recently, a group of
500 students demonstrated in the name of the Common Sense Cam-
paign for a Democratic Economy. They are proposing to do this all
across the Nation.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Historically, of course, we think of Thomas Paine
when we think of a group or a label of Common Sense.
Mrs. Walton. Yes; of course.
This is why they very cleverlv took the name "Common Sense," for
their publication and for their Campaign for a Democratic Economy.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you.
This is exhibit No. 9.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 9, and will be
found on p. 150, app. B.]
Mr, ScHULTZ. You have given us some idea from the writings of the
Peoples Bicentennial Commission what their goals and objectives
are as publicly stated.
How does the PBC plan to carry out the activities they are advocat-
ing?
Mrs. Walton. They have various programs. They have a program
called "Community Programs for Peoples Bicentennial" in which they
present to individuals and organizations in every community in the
country the opportunity to participate in a "new social movement."
It is suggested that a Communit}^ Research be undertaken by forming
a new group on a campus or in a town called the People's Research
Operation for the Bicentennial Era (PROBE). It is further suggested
that students do this research as they have the time and are anxious
to contribute to movements for social change. In fact, they say PROBE
can be used as a continuing aspect of the student revolt of the 1960's.
They state PROBE should go into the community and ask such ques-
tions as:
"What do the people of your community know about the ideals of the American
Revolution?"
"Do the institutions that affect the community operate in accordance with
those ideals?"
"The Russians have the Communist Manifesto; the Chinese have the Quotations
of Chairman Mao. Do Americans have a political document to lean on for
guidance?"
"When the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence they
pledged their lives and fortunes . . . Do you think modern politicians are that
dedicated to the people they represent?"
"The Declaration says that whenever any form of government turns against
our rights and tries to destroy them, it is our duty to change or abolish that form
of government. Do you agree with that?"
"The colonists complained that they had no voice in making decisions. Do you
feel that you have a voice in local decisions? In state deci!?ioDS? In national
decisions?"
49
These are just a few of the questions to be asked to plant a seed of
discontent and then the acceptance of the restructuring of our society
in people's minds.
They outUne how to effect change by exerting pressure on the power
base in every community.
They are to organize around community issues such as child care.
There is a 4-year PBC program for the largest day-care organization
in the Nation — 'the National Day Care and Child Development Coun-
cil of America. The PBC's grassroots door to door campaign ''Birth-
day Parties For Kids" aims at enlisting 10 million parents into a day-
care lobby to press for qualit}", community-controlled day care by
1976. Other issues are education; recreation; jobs; senior citizens;
service systems — transportation, sanitation, police, courts, health,
welfare, and so on. There are other numerous plans for community
organizing. I think it is worthy of note that Students for a Democratic
Society had a similar plan for communit}' organizing.
They have the "Light in the Steeple," which is a retigious program
for the Peoples Bicentennial Commission. It is published by the
"Ecumenical Task Force on the Religious Observance of the Nation's
Bicentennial." The PBC under contract to the Task Force contributed
the general concept, much of the content, the layout and printing
of this publication. It is contained in the PBC kit but additional
copies may be ordered from the Ecumenical Institute, Riverside
Drive, N.Y. Copies of this work have been sent to denominations around
the country, where they serve as sermon suggestions for ministers
and discussion for church groups.
They also have a Student Teacher Program for the Peoples
Bicentennial.
Mr. ScHULTZ. I would like to ask just a few general questions
about the community programs and also the religious programs.
Are you aware or do you know whether or not such programs
have been implemented in Illinois or specificall}^ in the counties
surrounding Chicago?
Mrs. Walton. A few instances have come to my attention but I
do not know how many communities or churches are using the
PBC materials.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Are you aware or do you have any knowledge con-
cerning the proliferation of this material and its availability to the
people in the area?
Mrs. Walton. In most instances the PBC materials have to be
subscribed to individually^ I do know of cases where introductory
materials have been sent to young people without their requesting it.
As I stated "The Light in the Steeple" has been distributed b}^ the
"Ecumenical Task Force" to churches throughout the country.
Publications have been sent to legislators. The PBC books are sold
in reliable bookstores throughout the United States.
Most of their materials cannot be purchased from an}" other source
than the PBC. I do not believe you can even bu}' them in the stores
that deal in radical underground publications.' The PBC is very
much above ground.
I would have no way of knowing how many individuals have sub-
scribed to this material. I know of one historical society in one of the
suburbs on the North Shore that wrote and requested this material.
50
It has been brought to my attention that some teachers are using
PBC materials in school.
I know that many public libraries across the Nation have the
PBC books. For instance, some Chicago suburban public libraries
have several of the publications put out by the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission, "America's Birthday," "Common Sense II," et cetera.
In the Committees of Correspondence Column of the Common
Sense publications are listed letters from teachers and students-
reciuesting PBC materials.
The PBC claims the^^ are selling to Girl Guides, National Council
of Churches, American Bar Association, et cetera.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you. Let us focus then on the educational
programs. What are the goals and objectives with respect to the
educational programs?
Mrs. Walton. I did state in my opening statement — I quoted from
the "Student Teacher Programs for People's Bicentennial" where
they stated that "educational reform today is meaningless without
general reorientation of our society"; that "students and teachers
can never really take control of the educational process from admin-
istrators, boards of education and the needs of big business and dema-
gogic politicians until the people of America have taken control of
our society from the neo-Tories who run our Government and
economic system."
They susrgest their program is to be used at the high school levels
and thev also state that tiiis program can be adopted for elementary
and junior high schools.
To begin with, they suggest that a PBC chapter be formed by
student activists. They state, "Building a campus Bicentennial
Commission will give a sense of movement, energy and growth.
Imagine how powerful an entire network of campus PBC's could make
students feel by 1976."
They tell the students to organize around what the PBC calls
oppressive issues and then bring about student freedom and self-
determination.
One of their principal organizing activities is a "Declaration of
Student Independence."
W^ould you like me to read from this?
Mr. ScHULTZ. Could you give us some details on that? Not only
their objectives, but how the}^ plan to implement.
Mrs. Walton. They start out:
As the 200th Anniversary of the American Revolution nears, we, the students-
of high school pledge ourselves to reaffirm and live the revolutionary
principles of the ideals that founded this country.
It is clear to us students that education today is run on the same basis on which
King George III ran his empire — inequality, arbitrary regulations and lack of
personal freedom.
They go on to repeat, with clever modifications, some of the seman-
tics of the original Declaration of Independence.
They go on to state that students are forbidden the basic rights of
the fundamentals of this country, among these, "freedom of speech,,
press, assembly and thought"; that they are denied meaningful
decisionmaking as to what their education and classes will be like;
that students are at the mercy of whims of teachers and administrators;,
that they have no part in hiring or firing faculty.
51
Tliey state they are divided and segregated according to artificial
categories, that they are forced to compete. And then they say,
Therefore, we the students of high school endorse and present this
declaration to the school and our community and declare that students are and.
of right ought to be, free and independent human beings fully participating in
shaping their education.
We pledge to one another that having stated and endorsed these grievances, we
commit ourselves as the Founders of America did, to right these wrongs, to take
control of our lives and our education and as the patriots proclaimed in 1776, tO'
use every method in our power to secure our rights.
Then they provide instructions for the implementation of this pro-
gram. They say, after printing up this "Declaration of Student Inde-
pendence," present it to the principal putting him on notice that
students feel the need for change. Then they say to make large copies
and paste them up as broadsides not onlv around school but student
hangouts, stores and so on. And, once 70 percent of the students
have endorsed the declaration they should hold a public festival to-
celebrate the student independence.
Then their next step is to be the "Student Bill of Rights." I would
have to go back and explain the "High School Bill of Rights," which
has a long and lengthy history. It was originally developed by the
Student Mobilization Committee in 1970. The history of the Student
Mobilization Committee is contained in a House Committee on Un-
American Activities report entitled "Communist Origin and Manipu-
lation of Vietnam Week (April 8-15, 1967)."
Mr. ScHULTZ. Let us take the time to do that now. You are going to
give us some background material on the "Student Bill of Rights."
Mrs. Walton. Yes; in a copy of the Militant — and the Militant
is the Socialist Workers Party publication — dated Friday, Februarv 27,
1970, there is a description of a meeting held by the Student Mobiliza-
tion Committee in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Case Western Reserve
University.
It was at this meeting that there was a development of the "High
School Bill of Rights." In fact, it was a major meeting of organizing
high schools.
I have quite a lot of documentation on it. This goes back a ways.
This is the "High School Bill of Rights," as put out by the Student
Mobilization Committee.
I did quite a bit of lecturing in Illinois on this organization. This
was from the Student Mobilizer, volume 11, dated November 20,
1970. Part of this is "Freedom of Political Activity," "Freedom of
Speech and Press," "Due Process," "Free Elections," and "No War
Machine."
After that meeting at Case Western Reserve University they held
meetings at Roosevelt Universit}^ in Chicago, the Student Mobiliza-
tion Committee did, in coaching students how to develop this "High
School Bill of Rights."
I personally became involved in this becattse a group of radical
students at a large high school in the Chicago suburbs brought this
Student Mobilizer "High School Bill of Rights" to the school and
presented it to the school board and this was the way they did it.
If I may go back. This is from m}^ memory. I do have the documents-
to back it up, but it is from my memory.
52
The boy that brought this out, John Ayers, was Bill A5^ers' brother.
Bill Ayers was one of the leaders of the SDS Weathermen. He is still
wanted by the FBI. He is still hiding in the Weather Underground.
John Ayers brought the "High School Bill of Rights" to the subur-
ban high school. He encouraged the president of the student body —
this is how they were told to do this — he encouraged the president
of the student body who was a boy that had received an appointment
to West Point, to present this "High School Bill of Rights" to the
board of education.
I was notified about this. Wlien the board of education had that
meeting, there were 1,500 people at the meeting, a small handful of
radicals and a great many irate parents because in the meantime, five
newspapers in the suburbs had asked me to write articles describing
the organizations behind this "High School Bill of Rights" and what
the purpose of the "High School Bill of Rights" was.
In one of the articles we printed the entire text of the "High School
Bill of Rights." So, this meeting was quite a meeting.
Mr. ScHULTz. What resulted from this meeting?
Mrs. Walton. Wliat resulted from this meeting was that I worked
with the school board in the district on this, and they hired a law firm
in Chicago. I do have the name of the law firm. They have a law firm in
Chicago which is an authority on students' rights and school law. The
name of the law firm is Norman and Billick.
As a result of this, the school district published, and I do have a copy
of that — I can get it for you later — they published a document of
student's rights which completely shut out the radical students
rights bill.
At the meeting where this statement of student rights was proposed
and adopted, there were the group of students there that had presented
the "High School Bill of Rights." They immediately got to their feet
and screamed that they were being denied their civil and constitutional
rights and that the school was going to be sorry for it, that there would
be demonstrations, et cetera.
At that time too, they said to a reporter of one of the papers who
was covering the meeting, that they were going to a party, a pot party,
and asked the reporter to join him.
As a result, this "High School Bill of Rights" did not succeed.
Now this "High School Bill of Rights" was presented to school dis-
tricts all across the entire countr}^ Most of the school districts did the
same thing. They did not accept this at all. Some of the schools ac-
cepted part of the High School Bill of Rights.
Because the school districts turned it down, the Student Mobiliza-
tion Committee went to the American Civil Liberties Union, and pre-
sented it to them. As a result this little booklet was printed from the
New York Civil Ijiberties Union and this was distributed to students
all across the Nation telling them what their rights are and the rights
in this book are identical to the "Student Mobilization High School
Bill of Rights."
Mr. ScHULTZ, May we mark the Student Mobilizer as previously
described by Mrs. Walton as exhibit Number 10.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 10 and will
be foimd on p. 156, app. B.]
The article from the Militant ^nll be exhibit No. 11 and the cover
from the "Student Rights Handbook" No. 11 A.
53
[The documents referred to were marked as exhibit Nos. 11 and 11 A
and will be found on pp. 157 and 159, app. B.]
Now tie in, if you will, the information which you have just described
concerning the "Student Bill of Rights" with the Peoples Bicenten-
nial Commission and their focus on the educational program.
Mrs. Walton. These are the "Bill of Rights" that have been put
out by the PBC. They state that the school shall make no rules, regula-
tions or policies restricting a student right to freedom of speech or of
the press, right to assemble and right of free thought.
Now in reading these and when a^ou read the "Student Mobilization
Committee High School Bill of Rights," you will see the similarity
between the two. The Student Bill of Rights said :
"Students shall be free from cruel and unusual punishment including
corporal punishment and punitive use of grades. All students have a
right to participate in the full educational process, extracurricular
activities and school-sponsored program.s and shall not be discrimi-
nated against on the basis of race, sex, creed, political beliefs, appear-
ance, marital status, pregnancy, grades or other unreasonable
classifications.
"Every student has the right to participate in planning his or her
education and in the democratic process of establishing rules and
regulations both in the school as a whole and in the classroom.
"A student who is to be suspended or expelled must be given the
right of due process and receive a trial by a jury of his or her peers."
Then they tell the implementation. There is a lot more to this which
I will go into, but they tell the implementation of this "Bill of Rights."
Petitions put the administration on notice that students are dissatis-
fied. The petition as an initial tool shows that you are reasonable and
that you tried moderate methods to effect change.
A petition helps build drama. A petition drive puts organizers in
touch with the students. It is stated the "Declaration of Student Inde-
pendence" is an exercise in psychic guerrilla warfare while the "Bill of
Rights" is the student body program to end their oppression and assert
their rights.
Now the paper goes on to explain that one of the rights claimed is
the freedom of the press. The students are told that the official school
papers are controlled by the administration and censored, so therefore,
they must attempt to take control of the official paper and if this fails,
then student activists should start their own underground paper.
They are advised to write to EPS, Youth Liberation, 2007 Wash-
tenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, Mich., for its 25-cent pamphlet "How to
Start a High School Underground Newspaper." A sample packet of
10 high school underground newspapers for $1.00, and a booklet re-
printing of 10 FPS articles from past issues, 50 cents.
I do have all those documents.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Have jou written and obtained those documents?
Mrs. Walton. Yes. Here they advise to rip off the paper from the
school to print the underground paper. This is also an introduction to
the Youth Liberation.
Now I do not know if there is a connection, but SDS had their
publications put out, the Revolutionary Education Project, from Ann
Arbor, Mich. I have not found proof that this is tied in with it. I believe
54
it is. I believe it is a continuation because John Rossen stated at that
meeting at New Trier West High School — we have discussed this,
haven't we.
Mr. ScHULTz. Yes.
Mrs. Walton. That some of the SDS went into the Weathermen
Underground and the rest of these wonderfully patriotic kids joined
liis Johnny Appleseed movement.
Mr. ScHULTZ. This was a statement by Mr. Rossen?
Mrs. Walton. A statement by Mr. Rossen.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We can mark these exhibits as 12 and 13, for identi-
iication.
[The documents referred to were marked as exhibit Nos. 12 and
13 and will be found on pp. 160 and 162, app. B.]
Mr. ScHULTZ. Describe the cover sheet of "Selected Reprints."
Mrs. Walton. Tliis is the clenched fist of the SDS symbol.
It contains a pen, also. These are reprints. The logo is, "FPS
YOUTH LIBERATION— but they won't tell you what FPS stands
for. The clenched fist is used as an international Marxist salute. It
was adopted b}'' the Students for a Democratic Society.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mark it as exhibit No. 14.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 14, and will
be found on p. 169, app. B.]
Mrs. Walton. One of the underground papers that the}^ send is
called High School Action. This is volume 1, No. 3, December 1973;
January 1974, jjut out by the High School Youth Against War and
Facsism which is a Marxist organization. ^
Mr. ScHULTZ. From whom did you obtain this?
Mrs. Walton. I obtained this'^ from Youth Liberation and this
was in the group of underground newspapers that I obtained from the
Youth Liberation organization that the PBC tells the students to
write to.
Mr. ScHULTZ. In Michigan?
Mrs. Walton. In Michigan.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Can j^ou tell us how the student receives the "Bill
of Rights" and the general educational program put out by PBC? Is
it mailed out indiscriminately or must they pay for it and write for it?
Mrs. Walton. They have to write for it. It comes out in the kit. It
can be bought separately, but it is sent to you automatically in the
kit that the PBC puts out. As I stated I do know of some young people
who have received, without requesting, some of the PBC introductory
material. Then they can wi'ite for all the materials. Also the complete
text of "Student Teacher Programs for a Peoples Bicentennial" can be
found in "America's Birthday" written by the PBC and published by
Simon and Schuster.
As I stated "America's Birthday" is obtamable in book stores all
across the Nation and is to be found in many pubhc libraries.
Mr. ScHULTz. Exhibit 15. I am not sure you identified the name
and date on it, if 3^ou would please.
Mrs. Walton. Yes; it is volume 1, No. 3, December 1973, January
1974. It was put out by "High School Youth Against War and
Tascism."
Mr. ScHULTZ. It is titled?
Mrs. Walton. "High School Action," again with a clenched fist.
55
[The document referred to was marked exliibit No. 15, and will be
found on p. 170, app. B.]
Mrs. Walton. It can be obtained from the PBC, the student and
teacher programs for the PBC. But all of the kit that the PBC puts
out is contained in this book, "America's Birthday," which is pub-
lished by Simon and Schuster. This is obtainable in bookstores all
across the Nation and it is in many public libraries.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Would you read the description on "America's
Birthday?"
Mrs. Walton. "A Planning and Activity Guide for Citizens
Participation during the Bicentennial Years."
Mr. ScHULTZ. Have you read this book?
Mrs. Walton. Yes, I have.
Mr. ScHtTLTZ. Tell us something about it.
Mrs. Walton. The book on the surface is absolutely beautiful.
It looks so patriotic. All red, white and blue, and beautiful wood cut
prints which they acknowledge come from the Library of Congress and
the National Archives — they put in their graphics sources. John
Rossen's words describing his New Patriotism very aptly describe this
book, "Socialist-humanist and internationalist in substance and
content and nationalist in form and rhetoric."
By the way "America's Birthday" was reviewed in March 27, 1975
■on the Today show by Gene Shalit. It as well as another PBC book
were reviewed as Bicentennial books.
The book contains, as I said, all of the documents that are sent out
by the PBC in their kit which they will send to you for $10.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Are there byline articles in this book or does the book
identify contributors to the material therein?
Mrs. Walton. Yes, it does. Major writers and contributors to the
book. Ted Howard — Ted Howard is located here in the PBC, on
Connecticut Avenue. He does travel throughout the country. He
has been in Chicago doing j^ublic relations for the PBC.
Charley Jones, I am not aware of him.
General contributors are Bill Callahan for the Tea Party, Kathy
Johnson, Bob Leonard, Cecilly Nichols, Lou Redden, Jeremy Rifkin,
Shelia Rollins, James Showl, and Ed Schwartz.
Of those last-named, Jeremy Rifkin and Shelia Rollins are two
Tiames that are — come to mind as running the PBC in Washington —
as in fact, Jeremy Rifkin is the head of Peoples Bicentennial Commis-
sion.
Shelia Rollins testified recently to a subcommittee on small business.
There was a committee hearing. I do have the documents. She was
called in as a witness on what has happened to small business in this
country. She was called in as a reliable witness.
Mr. ScHULTZ. You have read the book. Are there any inconsistencies
or things which you could i)oint out which do not truly represent
the history that this book appears to portray?
Mrs. Walton. You mean pertaining to our American history?
Mr. ScHULTz. Yes.
Mrs. Walton. Well, it is very subtle. It is cleverly done. They
quote constantly from our Founding Fathers, but they quote out of
context so that they attempt to draw a parallel between conditions
in 1775/6 and today. They refer to "radical heroes" like Jefferson,
56
Paine, and Adams, and "radical events" such as the Boston Tea
Party.
They say the modern day Tories — all in authority — will attempt to
present themselves as the true heirs of the first American revolu-
tionaries. Throughout all their publications the PBC say they are
the true heirs of the Founding Fathers as they are today's "New
Patriots."
Mr. ScHULTZ. Can you find an example?
Mrs. Walton. I will see if I can find an example. I have marked
so many things. The entire book is so full of these cleverly taken out of
context quotes that it is difficult to single any one out.
Air. ScHULTZ. Perhaps something wliich might mislead the un-
sophisticated reader?
Mrs. Walton. They state in "America's Birthday," "Revolutionary
principles must be used to challenge existing institutions and those in
power by constantly focusing pubhc attention on the new Tories'
inability to translate our revolutionary dreams into reality.
"The Peoples Bicentennial can inspire new social, energetic com-
mitment for millions of disillusioned Americans."
Now, when the PBC refers to the new Tories they mean anyone in
authority, as they say demogogic poHticians, school administrators,
corporate heads, anyone that they feel, in their opinion, is oppressive
of the masses of the people in this country.
Mr. ScHULTz. This interpretation you have just given you have
gained through viewing their community programs, their religious
programs, and their school programs?
Mrs. Walton. Yes; that call for revolution is brought out in all of
the PBC publications. In "The Light in the Steeple," as in the other
documents, various questions are asked which would tend to build up
in people's minds a total disillusionment with our form of government
and economic system.
"The Light in the Steeple," which is the religious publication of the
PBC working with the Ecumenical Task Force on Religious Observ-
ance, calls to my mind Dr. Herbert Aptheker who is the head theo-
retician of the Communist Party in the United States, and his visit
to Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, 111., in April 1969.
His speech was entitled, "Marxism, Religion and Revolution" and in
this he drew a parallel between Marxism and Christianity stating
that a red thread runs through all Christian teachings.
He also stated that true Christianity cannot survive in a capitalist
society, that survival depends on a socialist society.
At this meeting at Elmhurst College there were many students.
I was there as an observer. There were many students and, of course
they hung on to every word that Dr. Aptheker said. You could see
how he was putting over to them the thought that there was this red
thread running through Christian teachings. I realized at that time
how a clever propagandist could exploit religion for Marxist purposes.
I have also been challenged by various members of churches at
times when I have been out to lecture and they have stated to me that
there is this parallel between Marxism and Christianity, that Marx
and Christ preached the identical philosophy.
Of course, I have challenged them very strongly on that by telling
them what the Marxist philosophy truly is and also Karl Marx's
biographical background, personality and so on.
57
I have had several people say to me, well, I am sorry, I can't
argue mth you further because I have not read the life of Marx or
the Marxist philosophy.
Mr. ScHULTZ. That is interesting.
How were the remarks of Dr. Aptheker received by the students?
Mrs. Walton. They were received just terrifically — as if they had
found a new form of religion through Dr. Aptheker.
Mr. ScHULTZ. I wonder if we might return to some of the other
students' rights that are suggested as goals for implementation.
Mrs. Walton. Two particular ones that I am very concerned
about — they encourage students to assess their text books and when
they have decided which text books are worthless, students should or-
ganize to have the books assigned to the trash bin. Then to dramatize
their objections, students are to rewrite them chapter by chapter and
the student written books will be called "People's Textbooks."
Then under cin-riculum change the students should push for a "Free
Week," a time when all kinds of classes are taught by whoever wants to
teach them. They give an example such as the History of the Peace
Movement can be taught with students doing the bulk of teaching and
teachers learning.
Students should have the choice of curriculum and how subjects will
be taught with the teacher serving only as an adviser.
Once curriculum barriers are broken down by student activists, then
so will exams, grades and homework be arising issues.
Other issues to be taken up during the Bicentennial years will be
comjjulsory school attendance, access to school resources — such as
buildings, audio visual equipment, et cetera — for organizing, dress
codes, mandatory physical education and ad infinitum.
As a service to the teacher there has been a whole realm of multi-
media tools to be used in the schools. All of these have the theme that
ours is an oppressive Tory society and that the}^ — students, teachers,
PBC people — are today's "New Patriots," and it is their duty to
overthrow their oppressors.
One tool is the "Patriot's Handbook," a syllabus and study guide
to the American Revolution with such recommended books as Herbert
Aptheker's "The Colonial Era of the American Revolution" and
"The Negro in the American Revolution."
I was lecturing a few months ago, in a Chicago suburb, and one of
the women at the lecture said to me she did not know who Dr. Herbert
Aptheker was until she had heard me speak of him, but she was con-
cerned. Her daughter had brought home Dr. Aptheker's book on the
American Revolution from their high school and they were using this
as a Bicentennial educational book.
Needless to saj^, she went to the high school and raised a little bit
of — well, I won't say what, but she was very distui'bed by it and as a
result of that they did remove the book as a Bicentennial educational
book.
Mr. ScHULTZ. I take it that the aim of the educational program
advanced by PBC is not directed entirely toward high schools.
Mrs. Walton. No.
Mr. Schultz. There are some practical limitations to having
students take over the duties of the teachers. While it might happen
in college, high schools are a lower level, certainly, of the practical
58
Mrs. Walton. It would be impractical at a lower level but then>
none of the PBC's program is really practical. Rather it is impractical.
That I will agree.
Their program at the university level is on a much broader scope'
but it is also impractical. That is also contained in their student-teacher
programs for the PBC.
Air. ScHULTz. Do they orient their materials for the various levels —
college, high school?
Mrs. Walton. They don't seem to. They seem to have the same
educational tools for all levels of education which probably would be
left to the determination of the teacher of how to use these tools.
One thing that I think we could note at this time, Dr. Page Smith,
who is a retii-ed professor of history from the University of California,
Santa Cruz, is the staff historian of the PBC.
Dr. Smith is the author of a prize-winning, two-volume work on
John Adams. His new book on the American Revolution is this month's
Book-of-the-Month Club selection. It's title is "A New Age Begins, A.
Peoi)les History of the American Revolution." Dr. Page Smith has a
reputation as a respected historian in this country.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We will mark the "Patriot's Handbook" as exhibit
No. 16.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 16 and will'
be found on p. 174, app. B]
Mrs. Walton. Now, in furtherance of their program for education
for the Bicentennial, the PBC, working wdth Bantam Books, Inc.,.
has put out a flyer directed at teachers and schools.
Bantam Books has what they call a Learning Ventures Section,
which puts out educational publications. There has been set up a PBC
publications program within the Learning Ventures Section.
This flyer has" been widely distributed. It is called Create Your
Own Birthday Package. It is a complete educational program for
the Bicentennial, based primarily on the Peoples Bicentennial Com-
mission documents, using this |)articular one, "Common Sense II,"
which was authored by Jeremy Rifkin.
If I may say at this time, I am disturbed b}^ the fact that no one-
else has seemed to come up with an educational program for the schools-
on the Bicentennial.
I feel very strongl}^ that ARBA should have done so — this should
have fallen \\ithin the realm of ARBA's activities.
Mr. ScHULTz. ARBA is?
Mrs. Walton. The American Revolution Bicentennial Adminis-
tration, the official Government Bicentennial organization. They
have not come up with an educational program for the schools.
To the best of my knowledge, the PBC is the only organization
that has done this.
In speaking to educators when I go around and lecture, they are
very disappointed that the Government has not come up with an educa-
tional program for the Bicentennial, because they are looking for
that and many of them have said they have put their outl program
together because they have received nothing. It is likely the Bantam
Books PBC program department has, in many instances, filled this,
void, as have other PBC educational materials.
59
Mr. ScHULTZ. Have yon found in anj^ of the schools that j^ou visited,,
any of the PBC works or documents are actual!}^ being used?
JMrs. Walton. I know the}^ are in New Trier West High School.
There have been people who have been trying to get me into New
Trier West High School to lecture for years and have not been success-
ful. These people, parents of students, have told me a teacher there is
using PBC materials.
In our own count3^ and I might point out because this is rather
interesting, the head librarian at our high school, in seeking his mas-
ter's degree, was doing his thesis on the Bicentennial. In the process of
that he'sent for "America's Birthday," put out by the PBC, believing
that this was a very patriotic book.
When he received it, he couldn't believe it. The first thing that oc-
curred to him immediatel}^ was, Students for a Democratic Society,.
in reading it.
He took it into the superintendent of schools in the county who was.
a personal friend of mine, who told him that he knew about "America's
Birthday" because I had brought it to his attention and we are not
going to have this in the schools in our county, unless an individual
teacher brings it in, unkno\\m to us.
The librarian then had copies made of all my documents. He put
a presentation together and he invited all of the librarians from the
schools in the count}^ to the meeting and explained this entu-e thing to-
them.
So, we will not, hopefully, have it in our schools in our county.
Now, as I travel throughout Illinois — I was in Barrington, last
month, which is a suburb of Chicago. At the end of my lecture a
gentleman stood up and he introduced himself as the new superintend-
ent of the high school district in Barrington.
He stated that he was going to call a meeting of all of the school
administrators in Barrington the followdng week and present the fact&
about the PBC to them. He assured me that the PBC material would
not be used in the schools in the Barrington area.
I cannot go everywhere, obviously. I am traveling and lecturing^
constant]}^ on this and going into every area that I possibly can to
try to stop it in the schools.
Mr. ScHULTZ. I would assume from what you are saying that j^ou
would not like to see the book in the schools unless it is identified for
what it is.
Mrs. Walton. Correct. This brings to mind m}^ dealings with
Kroch's and Brentano's. Kroch's and Brentano's is a chain of book
stores in Chicago, perhaps the leading chain of book stores in Chicago.
I purchased "America's Birthday," for $8.95 there, as a matter of fact,
When I brought it home I knew what it was. I called doAvn and
asked for the purchasing manager.
The gentleman I contacted at Kroch's and Brentano's was their
executive vice president. I explained to him that I had purchased
"America's Birthday" believing that it was a Bicentennial book and
when I got it home and looked at it. read it, I was quite astounded by
the many proposals pointing to a Marxist type revolution.
He asked me to wait a moment. He came back and he read to me
the Simon and Schuster's release on the book which stated something-
like this, that "America's Birthda}"" was published of course, by
60
Simon and Schuster, and that it was written by the PBC, a patriotic
citizen's organization which was developed to offset the commercial
aspects of the Bicentennial, and to offer an alternative.
Then it went on to describe the beautiful woodcut prints et cetera
in the book. That was why he purchased the book. He purchased it
believing that it was a Bicentennial book.
Now I explained to him that I was not a book burner; that I
certainlj^ did not suggest that they get rid of the books, but I did
suggest that they put it under a different category. I suggested that
that category be political-activitist and that it be taken from the
Bicentennial books.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Did they do so?
Mrs. Walton. The executive vice president asked me to send him
information on the PBC. I have a five page very brief document which
I have written giving some of the history of the PBC.
I sent this to liim and I also pointed out things in it I thought he
should read. I told him to read the book. I received this letter in
return from him dated ^Slarch 27, 1975.
Dear Mrs. Walton. Thank you for your letter of JNIarch 21st, 1975, and my
particular thanks to you for taking the time to outline carefully, in letter form,
your viewpoints about America's Birthday bj' the PBC.
I am forwarding your original letter to the Director of Marketing of Simon and
Schuster, in New York. I am sending a copy of your letter to Mr. William Casey,
who heads up Kroch's and Brent ano's Branch stores.
I have asked Mr. Casey to determine a more appropriate category within our
stores for these books wherever it is possible.
Since that date I have spoken to the gentleman at Kroch's on the
11th of November, 1975, because the Chicago Tribune printed an
article stating that the PBC calendar could be purchased at Kroch's
and Brentano's store.
He called me back and said that was not true, that the calendar
could not be purchased there and that since we had had our corre-
spondence his mfe had discovered "America's Birthday." His wife is
a librarian. She was very horrified by it.
Pie said that he had spoken to other people who backed up all I
said about the PBC. He informed me that the Kroch's and Brentano's
Stores no longer carried any of the PBC publications.
We did the same thing wdtli Marshall Field & Co. A friend of
mine went in and found the books there. We got the information to
them. Marshall Field & Co. also returned the books to Simon &
Schuster.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank a^ou.
Let us identify the Learning Ventures, which is an order form for
the Bicentennial materials of the PBC, as exhibit No. 17.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 17 and will
be found on p. 199, app. B.]
Mrs. Walton. There are other publications in there which are
really harmless publications such as "Guns Along the Mohawk." This
is typical of the tactics of the leftist organizations. Just add a few
valid books or publications to throw the unwary or uninformed off the
track of the true intent.
Mr. ScHULTZ. For reference purposes we would identify the book
"Common Sense II," as Exhibit 18.
61
{The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 18 and a
photocopy of the cover will be found on p. 200, app. B. The book
itself may be found in the files of the subcommittee.]
Mr. ScHULTZ. What provisions does PBC make? What do they
advocate the students and or the teachers do if they do not subscribe
to the educational program or they are not allowed to carry it out?
Is there some more revolutionar}- aspect?
Mrs. Walton. Yes, the}" say that if students are told that the admin-
istration opposes their underground paper, pass it out anyway, even
if you have to sue the school for your First Amendment rights.
They state this, that these are student rights. They are the rights
as outlined by Supreme Court rulings.
I did make this statement that it said that it is stated that the
Declaration of Student Independence is an exercise in psychic guerrilla
warfare, while the Bill of Rights is a student body's program to end
all oppression and assert their rights.
In the Declaration of Student Independence — in the conclusion
they say that "We commit ourselves as the Founders of America did,
to right these wrongs and to take control of our lives and our educa-
tion and as patriots proclaimed in 1776, to use every method in our
power to secure our rights."
Now they do not go into detail of the methods. They do talk about
the implementation of the high school bill of rights. They do not go
into detail about what methods they would use. They speak of using
ever}^ method in their power.
They specify in one instance where they said if you cannot put out
the underground newspaper then sue the school for your first amend-
ments rights.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you.
Mrs. Walton. One conclusion the PBC makes in the student
teacher programs for the PBC is, "Revolutionizing individual institu-
tions and society without a societal revolution is meaningless. We
can begin by laying the basis for a revolutionary education, but we
cannot genuinely change it until we have revolutionized society."
Mr. ScHULTZ. Do you have the documentation for that?
Mrs. Walton. Yes.
That is contained in the Student Teacher Programs for People's
Bicentennial. I have given you an original copy of it. I gave the sub-
committee a complete packet of the original copy from the PBC.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you.
Before we leave this area, Mr. Martin, do you have an}^ questions?
Mr. Maktin. Yes; I have one question relating to exliibit No. 4.
Exhibit No. 4, on the reverse side, reproduced an advertisement
printed by Johnny Appleseed and it was headed for the Party of the
Permanent American Revolution.
The words "Permanent Revolution," as you may be aware, is
just about a Trotskyist logo. Trotsky wrote a book called "The
Permanent Revolution," when he was one of the leaders of the
Russian Revolution. The official Communist Movement has been
bitterly critical of Trotskj^'s theory of the "Permanent Revolution."
The Maoists do not use it. The left wing Social Democrats don't
use it. The Anarchists don't use it. In the entire Far Left radical
spectrum, the onl}- ones who use the expression "Permanent Revolu-
69-239—76 5
62
tion" are the Trotskyists and individuals who have a lot of ideological
sympathy for the Trotskyists. I was wondering whether you were
aware of that?
Mrs. Walton. No; I wasn't aware of that.
Mr. Martin. I don't say that any firm conclusion can be reached
or drawn from this, but I think that anyone who is familiar with the
literature of the Far Left would agree with the characterization I
have just made. That is the only point that I wanted to make.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mr. Tarabochia, do you have any questions?
Mr. Tarabochia. No.
Mr. ScHULTz. Mr. Short?
Mr. Short. I have no questions.
Mrs. Walton. Before we leave the educational program, may I
just bring this to your attention. The Organization of American
Historians, which is a recognized group of American history professors
at the university level, in their publication called Organization of
American Historians Newsletter, dated January 1975, state that
the PBC has produced a complete Bicentennial display package of
books on the American Revolution entitled, "In the Minds and
Hearts of the People," and that this display is especially suited to
library and school use. "It contains 8 large posters based on quotes from
the Founding Fathers and Mothers, 30 reproductions of the Revolu-
tionary Era, engravings, captions, and headlines describing the major
events and themes of the American Revolution, and a syllabus and
study guide developed by Dr. Page Smith, senior staff historian and
Bancroft av/ard winning author. The display package can be ordered
from PBC, 1346 Connecticut Avenue NW., Washington, D.C., for
$20."
I wrote to the Organization of American Historians and requested
that they send me this newsletter, which they did. So this is recom-
mended, the PBC materials are recommended, at the university level.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We will mark these as exhibit Nos. 19 and 19A.
[The documents referred to were marked exhibit Nos. 19 and 19A,
and will be found on pp. 201 and 202, app. B.l
Mr. ScHULTZ. Do you have any additional material relating to the
educational program before we move on to another area of the PBC?
Mrs. Walton. I think that basically outlines the PBC educational
program.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We have talked about some of the publicly stated
objectives and goals and how they propose to implement them. Tell
us something about the actions of the PBC, particularly as it relates
to demonstrations connected with legitimate or other Bicentennial
activities.
Mrs. Walton. Yes. This is Common Sense, volume 2, No. 1, Janu-
ary 1974, PBC, in which they have pictures of an event that took place
in Boston, at the commemoration of the Boston Tea Party. "Twenty
thousand rebels rise up at Boston Party, dump King Exxon." They
met in Faneuil Hall, in Boston — by the way the PBC's headquarters
in Chicago's Liberty Hall, was once called Faneuil Hall — and 1,000
people filled the hall and its large balcony to discuss impeachment
and the oil crisis. Speakers included Congressman Robert Drinan;
Harvard economist Arthur McKeuu; Thomas Adams, a direct
descendant of Sam Adams ; and Carl Hill — all of whom talked about the
necessity for impeachment.
63
When they left Faneuil Hall they went down to the Boston Harbor
where they conducted a guerrilla street theater. They had rented a
sailing vessel and they dumped oil drums into the harbor and they
had hanging in effigy President Nixon and what they stated were
the oil barons and said the people of the United States were being
oppressed by the oil barons and instead of dumping the tea they were
dumping oil drums. This was in 1974.
In 1975 — I will have to go through some of the documents to get
it — but I will briefly explain here. They had the same type of meeting
and this time they tlii'ew off the sailing vessel boxes which they said
contained sugar and they hung in effigy Earl Butz, Secretary of
Agriculture, stating that the people in the United States were now
being oppressed by the sugar industry.
Mr. ScHULTZ. The events which you just related are paraphrasing
articles found in Common Sense?
Mrs. Waltox. Yes, in Common Sense.
I also have pictures taken from different newspapers — namely
the Chicago Tribune.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Describing the activities?
Mrs. Waltox. Yes.
I can supply the subcommittee with those documents as well.
]Mr. ScHULTZ. We will mark Common Sense, volume 2, No. 1, as
exhibit No. 20.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 20 and will
be found on p. 203, app. B.]
]\Irs. Waltox. Then Common Sense, volume .3, No. 2, has a picture
on the front ''Concord, Mass., April 19, 1975" — this was the 200th
commemoration of the Battle of Concord — "Why aren't these men
smiling?"
In the same publication they had "Join the Midnight Ride to the
200th Anniversary^ of Concord" — the shot heard round the world.
"Send a Message to Wall Street." "Peoples Bicentennial Com-
mission," April 19, 1975.
This entire publication is a call to that meeting at Lexington and
Concord. I was not there, but I was in Concord a couple of weeks
after tliis event took place. I do have further documentation on this.
The people in Concord said there were between 40,000 and 45,000
people, not all members of PBC, but this was conducted by the PBC.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Participants?
Mrs. Waltox. Participants — mainly young. They did receive a
permit from the park district in Concord to camp out on Punkatasset
Hill which is on the side of the Concord Bridge where the embattled
farmers stood, therefore forcing President Ford and the official
committee to hold the commemoration service on the side where
the British stood.
The}' made a big play on that, saying that today's Tories were
standing exactly where the Tories stood in 1775.
This publication was also in the center of Common Sense. This
has pictures and I think you will probably like to have a copy of this.
It has all the pictures of what took place at the PBC demonstration
at Concord.
It was an enclosure in Common Sense. I can put it together with the
Common Sense that it belongs to so that 3^ou will have the date on it.
Mr. Schultz. These are materials that were provided to you?
64
' Mrs. Walton. They were provided to me by the PBC.
Also, the Boston Globe. I picked up this publication — the Boston
Globe, dated April 13, 1975— when I was in Boston just after that
meeting. Inside there is a featured article entitled "What Dare We
Dream," by Jeremy Rifkin. It was inside a special magazine insert
captioned "The Unfinished Revolution."
Mr. ScHULTZ. We will mark the previous exhibit entitled "Common
Sense" and the enclosures thereto as exhibit No. 21, and the Jeremy
Rifkin article as exhibit No. 22.
[The documents referred to were marked exhibit Nos. 21 and 22
and will be found on pp. 204 and 209 app. B.]
Are you aware of any other demonstrations that participants of the
PBC engaged in?
Mrs. Walton. They have had various small demonstrations, yes.
Common Sense publications are full of pictures of demonstrations and
activities of the PBC across the Nation. In Chicago — again com-
memorating the Boston Tea Party — I have newspaper clippings of the
event.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Did any of these demonstrations result in property
damage or personal injur}?
Mrs. Walton. There was property damage in Concord, a great
deal of it. They left Punkatasset Hill in the worst kind of a mess.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Is there any PBC literature which would indicate
that they are fostering or encouraging this type of activity?
Mrs. Walton. They are very careful in their rhetoric to seem to
not foster this, because one of the things that they were told by
international Marxists was that they were too militant in their
actions and too obviously Marxist in their rhetoric. That is why they
would have to develop this new patriotic movement in order to
identify with the American people.
Now they tell ])eople in the demonstrations to wear costumes of
that period, to use lots of red, white, and blue bunting, to not be overly
militant or overly Marxist in their rhetoric, and to be very careful
about this.
But to young people, ideahstically inclined and enthusiastic, as
Gus Hall said with their enthusiasm 'and their militancy, they could
very easily take this rhetoric and interpret it as meaning to create a
more violent atmosphere in a demonstration. The potential of a violent
demonstration is there.
Mr. ScHULTZ. As we know from the 1960's the militant action of
some of the groups actually deterred the recruiting of members.
There is a diminishing return.
Mrs. Walton. Yes, sir.
Mr. ScHULTZ. I am just wondering if they subliminally advocate
or allow or countenance aggressive revolutionary activities, or whether
they really shy away from them. Or do they make no comment about
them but tolerate tliem?
Mrs. Walton. I think the latter. I think that they will shy away
from it, but will tolerate it. If it develops they will tolerate it.
Mr. Schultz. Mr. Martin.
Mr. Martin. Mrs. Walton, you said that the PBC was told by
international Marxists that they were being too miUtant and that
they didn't identify sufficiently with the American people.
65
Mrs. Walton. Yes.
Mr. Martin. I think it would be helpful if you could be a bit more
specific. What international Marxists told what people?
Mrs. Walton. That is brought out in the first exhibits, in the open
letter to the American Left and the article in the Chicago Tribune lists
some of the people that were at that meeting in 1969. According to
John Rossen, he and the other Americans were told by the Vietcong
and North Vietnamese delegates that they fail to identify with the
national traditions of the American people.
Mr. Short. Mrs. Walton, do you have any additional information
concerning demonstrations participated in or fostered by the Peoples
Bicentennial Commission?
Mrs. Walton. Yes; there was one in Chicago in 1974 and I am going
to quote from the Chicago Daily News, an article from Monday,
December 16, 1974, wherein they stated the 201st anniversary of the
Boston Tea Partv was observed Mondav in Lincoln Park bv members
ofthePBC.
They^ had this commemoration at the gravesite of David Kenni-
son who was the last survivor of the Boston Tea Party. The stone
had a dedication on it from the Daughters of the American Revolution.
The bronze plaque was stolen and the PBC — it was John Rossen — •
contacted the regent of the David Kennison Chapter of DAR, in
Oak Park and asked if they would work with the PBC and restore this
plaque and join with them in a celebration.
I found out about this, fortunately, in time to stop the DAR from
working ^vith the Peoples Bicentennial Commission.
They quote in liere, John Rossen — they refer to him as a Westside
businessman and member of the PBC — said the Chicago Park District
has been notified of the vandalism, but has done nothing to replace
the plaque.
Then in the Sunday Booster, which is a Lerner Newspaper serving
the Lincoln-Belmont and various areas in Chicago, Saturday and
Sunday December 21, 22, 1974, there is a picture of Rev. Iberus
Hacker and a handful of other members of the PBC, headquartered at
Liberty Hall, 2440 North Lincoln, marking the 201st anniversary of
the Boston Tea Party, Monday, December 16.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Can you further identify Rev. Iberus Hacker?
Mrs. Walton. Reverend Iberus Hacker is head of a Chicago Con-
ference on Hunger and Malnutrition. He is the chairman. He has what
he calls an Open Pantry, located in Liberty Hall at 2440 Lincoln Way.
This is the building owTied by John Rossen.
Rev. Iberus Hacker has been identified as a member of the PBC and
has been identified as working with John Rossen.
I have been told that he has applied for Federal funds for his Open
Pantry. I do not know whether these Federal funds have been received.
Mr. ScHULTz. His Open Pantr}'^ function is not connected directly
with the Peoples Bicentennial?
Mrs. Walton. No; it is not connected directly wdth that. It is
housed in the same building as the PBC, the building owned by
John Rossen.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you.
6G
Mrs. Walton. A Hard Times Picnic was held Monday Sept. 1, 1975,.
at Bughouse Square in Chicago. Two of the principal speakers ancl
leaders of this affair were John Rossen and Rev. Iberus Hacker. The
cosponsors of the Hard Times Picnic were the American Issues Forum,
the Chicago Conference on Hunger and Malnutrition, Chicago Welfare
Rights Organization, the Peoples Bicentennial Commission, and the
Rainbow Coalition.
I am going to identify the Rainbow Coalition as a branch of SDS.
SDS split up and they split into several branches — groups — the
Weathermen, RYM-2, and Rainbow CoaUtion was another.
This is a document from Elmhurst College, October 4 — I do not
have the year on it. I believe it was about 1970. The Rainbow CoaUtion
has been kept going apparently by the PBC and Rev. Iberus Hacker.
Those were the groups that sponsored this Hard Times Labor Day
Picnic.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We will identifj^ the Rainbow Coalition advertisement
as exhibit No. 23.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 23 and will
be found on p. 214, app. B.]
The article from the Sunday Booster will be marked as exhibit No.
24, for identification.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 24 and will
be found on p. 215, app. B.]
Mrs. Walton. The PBC also had a demonstration the 2d and 3d
of August, 1975, when the Freedom Train visited Chicago. I do have —
these are documents that were put out by the PBC and they state,
"Protest the Freedom Train Ripoff — General Motors invested $1
million while laying off workers. Kraft Foods invested $1 million
while raising their prices at the supermarket. Pepsi Cola also came off
with a $1 million tax writeoff to bring you the Freedom Train. Another
great corporate ripoff, coming to Navy Pier from July 28 to August 3."
"The PBC will protest this commercialization of our 200th an-
niversary, this 'Buy Centennial.' Join us at a planning meeting
Thursday, July 24, 7:30 p.m."
I do know someone who attended that meeting and it
was conducted by John Rossen at 2440 North Lincoln.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Are these documents identified on their face as being
from the PBC?
Mrs. Walton. Yes, they are.
Mr. ScHULTz. Thank you.
We will mark those Exhibits 25 and 26.
[The documents referred to weie marked exhibit Nos. 25 and 26
and will be found on pp. 215 and 216, app. B.] u'
Mrs. Walton. This is another demonstration that was held in
Chicago. Tliis is taken from the Chicago Daily News dated Friday,
October 31, 1975. Vet-Amnesty Vigil, November 11.
Veterans for Peace [Veterans for Peace has been cited as a Communist Party
front] will hold an all daj^ vigil outside the Federal Building, 219 South Dearborn,
on Veteran's Day, Noveml^er 11, to urge amnesty for Vietnam War Resistors.
Joining in the effort will be the Chicago PBC, the Chicago Peace Council
[which has been cited in a House Internal Security Committee Report as being a
Communist Party front] and Women for Peace.
On the WBBM, 10 p.m. news, on October 6, 1975, I heard Leroy
Wollins, who is head of Veterans for Peace state that they were co-
sponsoring this Vietnam Amnesty Vigil with the PBC.
67
Mr. ScHULTZ. We will mark that document as exhibit No. 27.
[The document referred to was marked exhibit No. 27, and will
be found on p. 216, app. B.]
Has the PBC developed any other organizations under their auspices
that were originally suggested by the Johnny Appleseed Movement?
Mrs, Walton. Indeed they have. Three that were proposed by the
Johnny Appleseed Movement have been developed by the PBC. One
is the Committees of Correspondence. Another is Daughters and Sons
of Liberty. The third is their DAK, (II), Descendants of the American
Revolution, wdiicli was formed on July 4, 1975. The PBC states that
this organization is to offset the Daughters of the American Revolu-
tion who wrongfully, in their words, "masquerade as the ideological
heirs to the Revolutionary firebrands that fought the American
Revolution." They claim their DAR will be dedicated to revolu-
tionary change in our lifetime (Common Sense vol. 3, No. 1). As an
amusing sidelight the telephone number for the PBC in Chicago is
DAR 1976.
Mr. ScHULTZ. What other methods or tools does the PBC utilize
to get across their message?
Mrs. Walton. According to the PBC, they have at least 52 PBC
chapters across the country. They have a TV series with actors such
as George Burns and Jon Voight. This series is produced for the PBC
by the Public Advertising Council, 1516 Westwood Boulevard, Los
Angeles, Calif., and it is called The Voices of 1976. It is aired by 145
TV stations. Their radio series, by the same name, is aired by 980
stations.
The PBC has a speakers bureau and I know they have sent speakers
out in Ilhnois.
They state they have a feature service that supplies to 14,000
general and specialized media pubhcations and journals.
Then, of course, they have all the commercial books, published by
Simon & Schuster and Bantam Books. As I said these are sold in
leading book stores nationwide and are in many public libraries.
(Common Sense vol. 2, No. 4, September-October 1974, p. 7, and a
flyer recently distributed by the PBC, Washington, D.C.)
Mr. ScHULTZ. Are you aware or do you have any knowledge of
any difficulties which confronted the Peoples Bicentennial Commission
with regard to other groups or organizations who planned or, in fact,
engaged in Bicentennial activities?
Airs. Walton. Yes, the Communist Party of the United States
on Sunday, June 29, 1975, proposed holding what they called a
Peoples Bicentennial Festival to be held in the International Amphi-
theatre in Chicago.
The first letter that I have in regard to this meeting was dated
May 22, 1975, and it was an invitation to attend this Peoples
Bicentennial Festival.
I had a further letter dated June IS, 1975, from the Communist
Party, giving me what they said was exciting developments of the
Peoples Bicentennial Festival.
Mr. Schultz. When you identify the letter as being from the
Communist Party, does the letterhead actually state that?
Mrs. Walton. It states on the top of the letter, "Communist
Party, USA. The Communist Party Peoples Bicentennial Festival
Committee. Jack Kling, cochairman. Ishmael Flory, cochairman." It is
signed by both of them.
68
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you. Proceed.
Mrs. Walton. On May 17, 1975, I had further communication
from the Communist Party stating that the Chicago Transit Authority
rejected their advertisements for the huge Peoples Bicentennial
Festival and they refused to have these posters put up in the Chicago
Transit buses.
They were picketed. The Chicago Transit Authority was picketed
by the Peoples Bicentennial Festival Committee.
Mr. ScHULTZ. The PBC picketed in favor of the Chicago Transit
Authority allowing
Mrs. Walton. Not the PBC. It was the Communist Party Bicen-
tennial Festival Committee, not the PBC. They picketed the Chicago
Transit Authority because they did not allow them to have their
posters announcing this Peoples Bicentennial Festival put on the buses
in the Chicago area.
Mr. ScHULTZ. What resulted from this picketing?
Mrs. Walton. They were not allowed to put signs up in the buses.
The Communist Party delegates, led by Ishmael Flory, who is the
chairman of the Illinois Communist Party, met with Tom Buck, the
public affairs manager for the Chicago Transit Authority. I don't have
the date of that meeting. They were told by Mr. Buck that the CTA
was free to accept or reject whatever advertising it wanted regardless of
what the 1st and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution might
say about free speech and equal protection of the law.
The CTA is a publicly owned corporation although most of its
multimillion dollar debt is owed to the First National Bank.
This is the Communist Party putting out this information of the
meeting with Mr. Buck.
Ishmael Flory then declared, following an attempted meeting with
Chicago Transit Commission administrative assistant Bernie Ford,
that the committee was looking into legal action to secure its rights.
A quote from Ishmael FlorA': "Several attornevs are eager to take this
case and force the CTA to respect the U.S. Bill of Rights."
The next communication that I have from the Communist Party is
dated June 16, 1975, in which they enclosed information on the
Peoples Bicentennial Festival and it was mailed to me from Sylvia
Kushner, who is the executive director of the Chicago Peace Council
and identified as a CPUSA member, and stamped from her apart-
ment address which is 4240 North Clarendon Avenue, Apartment 91,
Chicago, 111.
It was also signed by Richard Criley and Father William Hogan
of the Alliance to End Repression in Chicago. Criley has also been
identified as a Communist.
Now in the Chicago Tribune dated Thursday, June 26, 1975, there
is an article titled "Suit Forces Name Change of Communist Rally."
"The Communist Party, USA, changed the name Wednesday, of its
national convention windup rally here on Sunday from Peoples
Bicentennial Festival to Mass Celebration of the Bicentennial."
On the Tuesday prior to that the Peoples Bicentennial Commission,
a nonprofit group based in Washington, filed suit in Federal District
Court in Washington, seeking to stop the Part}' from using the name
Peoples Bicentennial.
Mr. ScHULTZ. We will mark the Cliicago Tribune article as exhibit
No. 27A.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 27A and will
be found on p. 216, app. B.j
What result came out of the lawsuit that was filed?
Mrs. Walton. The result that came out of the lawsuit was that
the Communist Party, on the Wednesday prior to their Sunday
festival dropped the name The Peoples Bicentennial Festival and
changed it to read "A Mass Celebration of the Bicentennial."
Mr. ScHULTZ. Mrs. Walton, based on your studies of revolutionary
organizations and the documents, many of which you have provided
here, do you come to some conclusion as to the nature of this action?
Mrs. Walton. The conclusion that I have come to, and this is
my conclusion based on my study, is that this was a smokescreen
thrown up by John Rossen and the PBC to clear the PBC of any
Communist Party ties.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Subsequent to that time do you have any additional
information or are you aware of any ties which discount and in fact
support your conclusions?
Mrs. Walton, The Communist Party in September, the Com-
munist Party through their youth arm, the Young Workers Libera-
tion League, developed last September 1975, an organization called
the Illinois Coalition for Youth, Jobs and Education and they sent me
a letter pertaining to this and calling for a massive demonstration in
Springfield, a lobby and rally for youth — jobs and education.
That rally did take place in Springfield.
Mr. Schultz. Springfield, 111.?
Mrs. Walton. Springfield, 111. ; yes.
The letter was signed by a member of the Young Workers Libera-
tion League and also a member of the student government of North-
ern Illinois University, a member of the student government, presi-
dent of Eastern Illinois University, and a member of — someone
representing the Central YMCA College in Chicago.
On January 26, 1976, I received a letter from the Youth Rights
Bicentennial Festival, National Committee, which is part of this
Coalition for Youth Jobs and Education.
In this they state that there will be festivals, 3'outh festivals, de-
manding that youth have the right "to earn, learn, and live" that this
is the revolutionary heritage that we must continue today.
The}' state these festivals will be an integral part of making 1976 a
Peoples Bicentennial Year. Again, the Communist Party is using the
word "People's Bicentennial."
The first of these Youth Rights Bicentennial Festival meetings
was held at the Pick Congress Hotel, in Chicago, on wSaturday, Febru-
ary 7. There will be additional meetings. One of the principal speakers
at that meeting was Henry Winston who is the national chairman
of the Communist Party, USA.
Mr. Schultz. So it is your conclusion then that the Communist
Party itself or front groups associated with it, such as the YWLL,
is not entirely divorced from the activities of the PBC?
70
Mrs. Walton. That is my conclusion. I am basing part of that
conclusion on John Rossen's background and long-time activit}^ with
the Communist Party.
Mr. ScHULTz. Thank you.
The Chairman. Mr. Short, do you have some questions?
Mr. Short. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mrs. Walton, do you have any knowledge that the PBC has been
accepted as the official Bicentennial adviser to the National Council
of Churches?
Mrs. Walton. I don't have any official evidence of this, with the
exception of the publication that is put out by the Peoples Bicen-
tennial Commission entitled "The Light in the Steeple." It is pub-
lished by the Ecumenical Task Force on the Religious Observance
of the Nation's Bicentennial.
On the front page it lists the men who comprise this ecumenical
task force. The chairman is Everett Francis, who is the public aflau's
officer for the executive council of the Episcopal Church.
The secretary of the task force is Dean M. Kelly, Religious and
Civil Liberty, National Council of Churches. He is also the editor of
this publication.
The editorial committee consists of Dieter Hessell who is the editor
of Trends magazine, United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
J. Elliott Corbett, church government relations, board of church
and society. United Methodist Church, and Isaac Rottenberg, pro-
gram interpretation. Reformed Church in America.
I have been informed that this has been distributed to the churches,
to ministers and priests, and is being used as a guideline to Bicen-
tennial observances in the churches.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Let us identif}" that as exhibit No. 28. Continue
please ]\Ir. Short.
[The document referred to was marked as exhibit No. 28, and will
be found on p. 217, app. B.]
Mr. Short. Mrs. Walton, when a concerned citizen has questions
that tlie}^ would like answered about the PBC, and they contact the
official American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, what
type of response do they get? Is it a correct and fully informative
response? Give us your opinion.
Mrs. Walton. Not only in my opmion, but I am going to take a
personal instance because I wrote to Mr. John Warner, who is Chair-
man of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. The
reply I received was completely neutral and lacking in information.
I had been mformed that he had invited Jeremy Rifkin, who heads
up the PBC, to a planning session for the Bicentennial. I sent him
background information on the PBC, and I received a letter from
him dated May 7, 1975, providing me with some of the background
of the American Revokition Bicentennial Administration.
Then he makes this statement:
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission which was established long before this
new administration, is one of many organizations springing up across the United
States in response to the particular needs and desires of our diverse peoples.
Under Public Law 93-179, Congress authorized the administration to pass
judgment on Bicentennial programs which are submitted to us for official
71
Since the Peoples Bicentennial Commission has not made any such request,
we have not officially reviewed any of their activities.
In general, this organization, as well as all others participating in the
Bicentennial, may publicly express their views freely, consistent with the Con-
stitutional guarantees provided all of us.
In the end, the people of the United States, quite properly will make the ultimate
choice from among the many Bicentennial themes being advanced.
I feel that this is almost an endorsement of the PBC, and I also
feel that if the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration
had been screening the PBC material, they would have realized that
they were developing their educational program and ARBA could
have developed a counteraction, a counterprogram for the schools to
study our Bicentennial.
I feel that they have failed very miserably in this area.
Mr. Short. I think it is of interest to note that in Mr. Warner's
reply to you, the statement was made that ARBA was authorized
by Congress to pass judgment on Bicentennial programs which are
submitted to them for official recognition. He goes on to say that
since the PBC has not made a request of that nature, ARBA has not
officiall}'' reviewed any of their activities.
I would like to point out that the subcommittee has documents
which were provided by ARBA which show that though technicall}^
speaking there may not have been a request for official recognition,
ARBA was more than aware of the PBC at least as far back as the
first part of 1972.
In support of this I would ofl:'er the following documents. First a
letter dated April 23, 1972, from Deborah Lawrence of the PBC to
David Mahoney of the American Revolution Bicenteimial Commis-
sion requesting^ under the Freedom of Information Act, copies of
transcripts of meetings held by the American Revolution Bicentennial
Commission beginning in October 1971.
Next a memorandum dated March 31, 1972, to the Director from
the General Counsel of ARBC outlining the considerations of the
request and recommending among other things, that the transcripts
be reviewed in order to isolate questionable material or as he states,
"That which could be embarrassing or that which comes withia any
of the exemptions of the Act."
A letter from Mr. Leonard Garment of the White House dated
April 3, 1972, to Jack LeVant, urging ARBC to be as forthcoming as
possible with respect to the request by PBC and further advising
enforcement of the law respecting the use of the Bicenteimial logo.
The PBC had apparently been using the logo without proper
authorization.
A letter dated April 4, 1972, from, ARBC to the PBC requesting
discontinuance of the logo.
A letter dated April 6, 1972, from the PBC to ARBC requesting
formal criteria and application forms for use of the logo and also
requesting a list of all groups having received approval to use the logo.
A letter in response dated April 19, 1972, advising PBC of authorized
logo users.
A letter dated April 18, 1972, to PBC advising them of the availa-
bility of transcripts.
And a copy of a letter dated Jime 7, 1972, from PBC to ARBC.
This letter is in response to the National Bicentennial Program
72
Criteria concerniiio; the use of the Bicentennial logo. The PBC launched
an attack on ARBC and criticized them in such manner as saying
^'your criteria is confusing and poorly defined, and we have been com-
pletely at a loss as to how to go about compl3'ing with it. We would
appreciate your response to our questions as soon as possible so that
we may completely understand what we have to do."
The correspondence continues in this manner at least until the
latter part of 1972, It would, therefore, seem rather unrealistic that
ARBA continues to respond to inquires concerning the PBC by
stating that ARBA has not officially reviewed any of their activities.
I think the word "officially" has been taken a bit too far in this
particular case.
Mr. ScHULTz. Thank you. We will mark those as exhibits — let's
see, what was the last number, 28? These will be exhibit Nos. 29 to 36,
respectively.
[The documents referred to were marked exliibits Nos. 29 to 36 and
will be found on pp. 219-228, app. B.]
Mr. Short. Let me ask this, Mrs. Walton. Do you feel it is too late?
Is 1976 the only year that is going to be available to the PBC to
promote their activity?
Mrs. Walton. No, it isn't. The PBC states, as do other Bicenten-
nial organizations, that they are celebrating the Bicentennial for a 10-
year period up to the Bicentennial observance of when our Constitution
was signed into law which would be 1987. That would be the 200th
Commemoration of the signing of our Constitution.
Mr. Short. In view of that, what recommendations do you have
to make?
Mrs. Walton. I would recommend that the American Revolution
Bicentennial Administration, if they can put the staff together, very
quicklv come up with a good educational program on the Bicen-
tennial and distribute this to all schools.
I have a list of books for recommended reading which were given
to me.
Mr. ScHULTz. Mr. Martin, do you have a question?
Mr, Martin. Have organizations like the American Historical
Association wliicli are concerned in a general way, with the observance
of the Bicentennial — have they taken any stand on the PBC material?
Mrs. Walton. I don't know what stand the American Historical
Association has taken, but the National Trust for Historic Preseiva-
tion recommends the material of the PBC. I wrote to them, because
in their Preservation News, as a matter of fact, they recommend
that 3'ou buv "America's Birthday" and thev tell vou where to buy
it, from the PBC, 1346 Connecticut Avenue NW., Washington, D.C.
Also, in their official publication dated July 19, 1974, they recom-
mend that for more information you contact not only ARBA, but the
PBC, again the address, 1346 Connecticut Avenue NW., Washing-
ton, D.C.
In response to my letter dated Alarch 4, 1975, they said "Thank
you for your letter concerning the Bicentennial and the efforts of the
PBC. Indeed, there was material about the PBC in the July and
November issues of Preservation News which are enclosed. I have
marked the appropriate stories, including the address of the group."
It is signed Carlton Knight III, assistant editor, Preservation News.
yir. Short. I might add that in some cases the American Revolu-
tion Bicentennial Administration, in responding to requests for infor-
73
mation about the PBC, has advised people that they could obtain
PBC literature by writing to the national office, whose address they
then provided.
Mrs. Walton. Yes, they have.
Mr. ScHULTZ. What is the basis for your statement, Mr. Short?
Mr. Short. Again, the subcommittee has documents to this effect,
and as I previously stated, these documents were obtained from
AREA.
Mr. ScHULTZ. Would you describe those documents?
Mr. Short. Yes. In reference to the point I just made, I would like
to offer a letter dated October 25, 1974, from Ms. Darlene C. Ziol-
kowski, in wdiich she requested advice on how she could obtain a copy
of "America's Birthday" by the Peoples Bicentennial Commission.
Attached to this letter is the reply from Mr. Ted Lopatkiewicz ,
Office of Communications, American Revolution Bicentennial Ad-
ministration. In this reply Mr. Lopatkiewicz states, "As per your
request for America's Birthday, the Peoples Bicentennial Commission
is one of the many private Bicentennial organizations. You may find
the book in question in any bookstore. However, if you have problems
locating a copy, contact the PBC at the address below and they ma}'
be able to send you one.
Peoples Bicentennial Commission
1346 Connecticut Ave. NW.
Room 1025
Washington, D.C., 20036."
You will note, this letter is dated 1974, so, again ARBA is still
refusing to say anything that might indicate that it had any reserva-
tions, let alone serious doubts, about the PBC. In fact, their failure to
indicate any reservations plus their cooperative attitude in providing
information on how to obtain PBC literature, might well lead an
unsuspecting correspondent to believe that ARBA actually approves
of PBC.
Mr. ScHULTZ. They will be marked as exhibit Nos. 37 and 38.
[The documents referred to were marked exhibit Nos. 37 and 38 and
will be found on pp. 229 and 230, app. B.]
The Chairman. Any additional questions?
Mr. ScHULTZ. Thank you Mr. Chairman, I have no further
questions.
Mr. Martin. I have none, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Short. No questions, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Tarabochia. None, Sir.
The Chairman. In my o])ening remarks, in describing the pur})ose of
the subcommittee's hearings, I stated we planned to peel back the
patriotic veneer of the Peojiles Bicentennial Commission for the i)ur-
l)ose of examining and laying before the Congress and the public facts
by which the legitimacy of the organization's ]niblicly stated goals and
objectives and the integrity of their spokesmen might be evaluated.
We do appreciate your appearance here today. I think that a'ou
have made a valuable contribution to our efforts to present to the
])ublic, and the Congress, facts by which such an evaluation can be
objectively made. If that's all, we will adjourn.
[Whereupon, at 1:08 p.m., the subcommittee adjourned, subject
to the call of the Chair.]
69-239 O — 76 6
APPENDIX A
Exhibit No. 1
(Referred to on p. 3)
[From New American Movement, Nov.-Dec. 1971]
Bicentennial
(By Jeremy Rifkin)
(Jeremy Rifkin founded the Citizens Committee of Inquiry which sponsored war
crimes tribunals in Washington, D.C. and is now working on the People's
Bicentennial.)
The New Left must be willing to meet people where they are at rather than
where they would like them to be. Millions of Americans are aware, for the first
time, of the fact that many of America's economic, social, and political institutions
are performing in ways that undermine the revolutionary ideals and principles to
which the nation purports to be dedicated. But for many Americans the principles —
if not the language enunciated in the Port Huron statement of 1962 and the
Berkeley Free Speech Movement of 1963 and the Russell War Crimes Tribunal of
1967 are only now just beginning to make sense. If the New Left hopes to engage
this new consciousness and give it positive direction through political struggle, it
must first take a long hard look at itself and what it represents.
The left movement's character has become increasingly strange and at times
even frightening to many Americans. Most people perceive little or nothing in
common with the New Left. At present, the New Left has found no way of dealing
with this fear and misunderstanding, since it has abandoned or rejected much of
the heritage and most of the symbols to which the great majority of American
people can respond.
The left's rejection of the American experience is due, in part, to its failure to
understand that the American legacy is at once both reactionary and revolutionary.
Our revolutionary beliefs — popularized through the words and deeds of such
great Americans as Thomas Paine, Benjamin Rush, Sam Adams, Henry Thoreau,
William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, Lucy Stone, Sojourner Truth, Eugene V.
Debs, W. E. B. DuBois, Mark Twain, and A. J. Muste, and the movements they
inspired or led — derive from the principle of the inherent unity and fraternity of
all mankind.
These aspirations have led to a set of beliefs that forms the revolutionary aspect
of the American experience — human equality; respect for the judgement of the
common man; distrust of those who command positions of power and privilege;
allegiance to freedom of expression and the right of self-determination; cooperative
enterprise; government of the people, by the people, for the people; conscience
aboveproperty and institutions; sympathetic interest in the new, the untried, the
unexplored; equality of opportunity, confidence in the ability of the people to
create a more just and humane world; faith in the brotherhood of all mankind.
Our reactionary beliefs — popularized through the words and deeds of such
Americans as Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and John D. Rockefeller —
come from the principle that hostility and war, the survival of the fittest and to
hell with the rest — the public be damned — constitute the natural condition of man.
This principle is the basis of a set of beliefs that forms the reactionary aspect of the
American experience — the sacred value of private property; the ruthlessly com-
petitive spirit as the motivating force for self -fulfillment; the authoritarian
family; material accumulation as a measure of man's achievement on earth.
The crisis of American beliefs lies in the increasing polarization of both the
revolutionary and reactionary elements in the American legacy.
The escalating political and economic crisis does not alter the basic positive
truths of the American heritage. On the contrary, it would be impossible to
point out the contradictions in the American system — to expose the exploitation
(75)
76
and dehumanization at all levels of American life — without in some way appealing
to the revolutionary beliefs and ideals with which so many Americans identify.
The growing crisis has brought into question the more reactionary aspects of
the American tradition. Those beliefs which reinforce our economic system and
which have, for so long, provided a rationalization for the individual's role
within that system are under unprecedented attack.
The new awareness that this country is in the midst of a grave crisis — a realiza-
tion which millions of Americans have acquired in recent years — can lead to a mass-
based revolutionary struggle if the movement will discard its self-imposed ideologi-
cal isolation and begin to reidentify with the revolutionary principles and beliefs
of the American heritage.
At this critical stage in American history, it makes no sense for the New left
to allow the defenders of the system the advantage of presenting themselves as
the true heirs and defenders of the American revolutionary tradition. Instead,
the revolutionary heritage must be used as a tactical weapon to isolate the existing
institutions and those in power by constantly focusing public attention on their
inability to translate our revolutionary dreams into reality.
THE BICENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN
The Federal government and the nation's business community has launched
a five-year multi-million dollar campaign leading up to the "Spirit of '76" and to
promote the words and deeds of the Founding Fathers. The left must take this
up as a challenge and turn it into a campaign designed to create a mass revolution-
ary consciousness in tune with the revolutionary legacy of 1776.
Understanding the revolutionary currents and movements that have influenced
American life can also help those of us already involved in political struggle in
developing a revolutionary perspective that is germane for America. Past struggles
in America, such as the abolitionist and women's suffrage movements, and the
farmer and labor ins\irgencies, cannot be expected to provide a blue-print for
revolution in the 1970's, but they can tell us much about American behavior and
the American character. We cannot build a contemporary revolution without an
acute awareness of ourselves as a people, as citizens of a nation born in revolution.
A genuine understanding of revolutionary ideals is what links Thomas Paine,
Sam Adams, and Benjamin Rush, and the American people, with Lenin, Mao,
Che, and the struggles of all oppressed people in the world. Not until the masses
of Americans begin to re-identify with these principles and develop their own
revolutionary struggle will they be able to form a real bond of fraternalism and
solidarity with the struggles of all oppressed people. Solidarity comes from under-
standing the collective nature of our separate struggles and the cry for humanity
that is shared by all.
Without confidence in our revolutionary heritage, deteriorating economic and
social conditions are liable to lead to an increased sense of hopelessness and fear,
and a defense of the most reactionary aspects of the American ideology — with
appeals to national honor, duty, courage, and vigilance in protection of the mother
country — as the American people make a desperate, attempt to hold onto what is
familiar in their everyday life.
Our first step must be to find out who we are and how to build on the base
erected in the revolution of 1 776 and refurbished in the successive dramas of change
that characterize the most affirmative periods of American history.
The black movement had to rediscover the positive aspects of its own heritage
in order to build an identity that would give it confidence in its ability to initiate
action, sustain discipline, and win support from the black comnnmity. The white
movement must do the same. Confidence in our ability to maintain discipline and
to develop a long range revolutionary perspective that is neither rigid nor au-
thoritarian must come from an understanding of who we are; and most of what
we are has to do with our unique American heritage. Such an understanding will
bring together the existing factions and groupings within the New Left community
itself and help us reach out to the great mass of American people.
SETTING UP PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL COMMISSIONS
Each state has established an official Bicentennial Commission to coordinate
activities and programs between now and 1976. NAM chapters could research the
methods for selection of the commissions and expose the patronage and non-
representative nature of the boards; ie. too few youths, blacks, women, native
Americans on the commissions.
77
NAM could also petition for appointments to the commissions and present
detailed proposals for state wide bicentennial activities.
Before or after the exposes and petitioning NAM chapters could establish a
Peoples Bicentennial Commission on the state or local level and engage community
l^eople, unions, civic organizations, academic and professional people, grade
school, high school, and college students, in Bicentennial programs and activities.
Peoples Bicentennial Commissions can offer a focus for involving large numbers
of people, publicizing NAM programs, and recruiting people into local chapters.
PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES
NAM chapters could put out a state or local Bicentennial newsletter or paper
which would examine the American experience within the contest of radical pro-
grams and demands. Regional histories of farmer, labor, and women's struggles
could be used to forge community identification with NAM programs and goals.
NAIM chapters could put together a radical calendar and journal depicting
historic moments in peoples struggles in the state and include within it an outline
of NAM programs and goals. These publications could be distributed free and on
a daily basis at county and state fairs, state parks, monuments, the state capitol,
and other sites where people tour and vacation. This offers a good opportunity
to reach thousands of people — especially grade school and high school students —
with NAM programs and peojiles Bicentennial activities. Peoples Bicentennial
posters, buttons, bumper stickers, etc. could also be used in a similar fashion.
NAM chapters could present detailed proposals for Peoples Bicentennial study
programs in the grade and high schools. Emphasis should be placed on the contra-
diction between revolutionary and reactionary beliefs of the American legac.y
and on the contemporary examination of those contradictions within the local
community — to learn first hand about capitalist exploitation. Students could
also integrate revolutionary study programs with field trips into the community
and discussion sessions with NAM and other radical communitj' projects on the
theme of revolutionary parallels 1776-1976.
nam's Peoples Bicentennial could commission plays on revolutionary moments
in American history to tour schools, civic organizations, unions, community
groups, and GI projects. Again this offers an opixirtunity to reach new audiences.
Plays could be followed by discussion sessions on community and national prob-
lems and NAM programs for change.
Peoples Bicentennial Commissions could sponsor art exhibits, poetry readings,
essay contests, and music festivals with a peoples Bicentennial motif.
Resolutions could be introduced in city councils and in state legislatures on
setting aside days for observance of historic moments in regional struggles;
legislation calling for the renaming of streets, buildings, and parks can also be
introduced. This is a good way to open up controversy and do political education
in the community and the state around the true meaning of the American radical
tradition.
Aside from engaging large numbers of people for the first time — who might
not feel comfortable relating directly to NAM, the People's Commissions provide
a unique forum for mass media exposure over the next four years. This mechanism
could be used to raise political awareness and to promote NAM and other radical
activities and demands.
A FINAL NOTE
The thing to remember is this. The Government and big business community
are going ahead with the most massive propaganda campaign in this countrj-'s
history over the next four years. Their Bicentennial campaign will attempt to
ignore the revolutionary ideals and programs that have inspired periodic grass
roots struggles and rather concentrate on the reactionary beliefs that reinforce the
capitalist system and its political institutions. If we do not respond, we might
find ourselves, increasingly isolated and ultimately a target for their chauvinist
appeals. If we take the offensive, as outlined here, we can move millions of people
in a revolutionary direction during the Bicentennial era by continuing to focus
attention on the un-American character of our economic and political leaders and
the institutions they represent.
78
First National NAM Meeting
[From New American Movement, Nov.-Dec. 1971]
CHICAGO
The first national meeting of the New American Movement was held in Chicago
October 9-11. Up to 75 delegates and observers from 25 cities participated. The
meeting laid the basis for a Thanksgiving conference on program in Chicago. The
political principles, program, and structure of the organization were discussed;
and although many things were left unresolved and differences remained on a num-
ber of issues, the general spirit was one of cooperation and seeking to find solutions
acceptable to all. The following summarizes the results of the meeting:
PRINCIPLES
Debate centered on what sort of organization NAM was to be, including its
relation to the women's and non-white movements. It was the consensus of the
group that NAM will attempt to become a mass organization as opposed to a cadre
or sect group. In addition, it was agreed that we should focus on organizing working
people, broadly defined. We will encourage work in a variety of ways, including
community, institutional, and factory work, and will not at this time favor one
area over another. It was also generally agreed that programs, rather than highly
developed political lines, would be the distinguishing characteristic of NAM.
It was felt that certain minimum principles were necessary which would include
a large number of people while at the same time distinguishing NAM from liberal
reform groups. The body passed a six point motion which attempted to set down
these guidelines. In summary, the motion stated that:
1. We recognize the existence of a ruling class which runs America for its own
benefit.
2. NAM is committed to democratic socialism, which was defined as a society
characterized by economic, racial, and sexual equality; by collective ownership
and democratic control of the means of production; by the right to organize
independent political parties and independent trade unions, and by the freedom
to strike; bv freedom of speech, freedom to demonstrate, and freedom of press.
3. We distinguish a sociaUst society, defined in this way, from both welfare
capitalism in England and Scandinavia, and from existing societies that call
themselves socialist.
4. The transition to socialism will require struggle.
5. Working people will be central to that struggle.
6. The liberation of women and non-white groups must be incorporated into
every programmatic area.
These principles were felt both to summarize the existing document and to
guide the drafting of a shorter, more simply worded version.
There was strong sentiment on both sides of the question of whether NAM
should say, in effect, "This is a socialist organization," or should describe what
it means by socialism and then say, "Some of us use the word 'socialism' for
the society just described." Those arguing for the first approach felt that unless
NAM was up front about socialism, it wovild become little more than a reform
group. Those opposed, while generally considering themselves socialists, felt
that using the word would make it much more difficult to reach the kinds of
constituencies NAM is attempting to organize. People both for and against the
use of the word "socialism" felt that we should state the content of our political
belief. Everyone agreed that, whether explicitly socialist or not, NAM programs,
literature and general organizational style must avoid, wherever possible, rhetoric
which would isolate us or be unintelligible to the average person. To this end, the
body mandated a committee to write a shorter version of the original NAM
document in a style adapted to mass distribution. People elected to this com-
mittee were:
Diana Adams (Cleveland, Ohio), Jeremy Rifkin (Washington, D.C.), Jane
Slaughter of the national staff, Karen Whitman (Baltimore, Md.), Michael
Lerner (Berkelev, Calif.), Alice Lvnd (Chicago, 111.), Harrv Boyte (Chapel Hill,
N.C.).
This committee plans to have the basic document written by October 23.
79
women's & NON-WHITE MOVNTS
The relationship of NAM to women and the women's movement was discussed
at a women's caucus and by the general body. It was felt that the position of
women should be considered in relation to every programmatic area, as opposed
to dealing with women's issues in isolation. Thus, instead of having a program
area "on women", NAM will attempt to take into account the special position
of women in regards to any program area such as health the economy, etc. In
addition, the meeting made' clear that NAM, in no way, wanted to be placed in
competition with the independent women's movement. Where the women's
movement is weak or nonexistent, NAM may be more involved in women's
issues than in cities like Chicago where the Women's Union is in a better position
to confront issues which primarily affect women. The following resolution was
passed:
"NAM recognizes the necessity of autonomous women's organizations and
will encourage programs which can form alliances with such groups in a conscious
effort to relate socialism and feminism, realizing that one cannot exist without
the other."
Internally, the meeting voted that until a permanent structure is adopted,
at least 50% of all leadership bodies should be composed of women. This decision
was implemented in the election of the committee to draft a basic document and
of the National Interim Committee.
The relation of NAM to non-white groups was discussed at some length and
it was decided that NAM would, in the long run, seek to become a multi-racial
organization. At the same time, we were aware that for the time being, most non-
white people would relate to NAM through our programs and through coalitions
NAM would seek with non-white groups. The following resolution was passed:
"NAM, is an organization of working people, consciously projects itself as multi-
racial in character. It recognizes white racism as a key obstacle to unity and hence
places programmatic and educational priority on developing in a multi-racial
direction. It also will actively seek alliances with, and recognizes the necessity of,
existing non-white organizations."
Marjorie Fields, a member of the National Interim Committee, was asked to
make contact with women's organizations and non-white groups on a national
level, and NAM chapters and pre-chapters were asked to do the same thing locally.
PROGRAM
Almost half of the meeting time was devoted to discussion of possible NAM
programs, which will be the central focus of the organization. Presentations were
made for programs in the following areas :
— response to Nixon's new economic policy
— taxation
— industrial health and safety
— prisons
— the Bicentennial
It was decided to set up task forces in these and other areas. In addition to the
areas just listed, members of the meeeting volunteered for task forces in the areas
of:
— community organizing
— campus organizing
— elections
— the military
— war and imperialism
— farmers and food
— child care
— anti-corporate organizing such as the Honeywell Project
— ecology and environment
— media
— transportation
— housing
The responsibility of these task forces is to prepare detailed program proposals
for workshops at the Thanksgiving conference. Martha Williams, a member of
the National Interim Committee, was asked to coordinate and consoHdate pro-
grams and task forces.
80
The meeting selected five areas which it thought most hkely to become NAM
national priority programs. These were:
— response to Nixon's new economic policy including taxation
— industrial health and safety
— ecology and environment
— child care
— law and order, including prisons and courts
It should be noted that these choices are subject to the will of the conference
and that there will be workshops in all the areas mentioned above.
STRUCTURE CHAPTJ:RS
The structural discussion centered on how to make NAM a democratic and re-
sponsible organization, as well as a more general exploration of the forms most
likely to attract working people to the organization. It was decided that chapters
should be the basis of the organization and that chapters determine their member-
ship as they see fit within the general principles of NAM. Chapters can be based
on locale, place of work, or on common interest, and it should be understood that a
number of NAM chapters can develop in a city (as opposed to one large city-wide
grouping). To achieve full chapter status, a group should have a minimum of 10
members, although this will be somewhat flexible during these early stages of
NAM when the distinction laetween chapter people and people intending to form
chapters is still fluid. The National Interim Committee was empowered to approve
the credentials of chapters and pre-chapters wishing to be represented at the
Thanksgiving conference. It was also em])owered to remove from chapter status a
chajiter which comes to be dominated by a group whose conduct is inconsistent
with the principles and programs of NAM, or with democratic norms of behavior
within NAM.
Leadership
On the question of national leadership, it was generally felt that NAM should
try to include a large proportion of people who were involved in local organizing
as well as good regional representation. In addition, the concept of general mem-
bership referendums on crucial questions was discussed as a way of avoiding over-
reliance on conferences, and as a way to make the organization more open to
participants who work and are tied to a specific locale.
A temporary National Interim Committee was elected to carry on business
between now and the Thanksgiving conference. Those elected were:
Lynn North (Ann Arbor, Mich!), Harry Boyte (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Martha
Williams (Washington D.C.), Harold Henderson (Peoria, 111.), Marjorie Fields
(New York City), Staughten Lynd (Chicago, 111.), Diana Adams (Cleveland,
Ohio), Frank Speltz (Davenport, Iowa).
The National Interim Committee was empowered to hire a field staff coordinator,
a national staff, a convention coordinator, and travelers. Chip Marshall of Seattle
was chosen field staff coordinator, and Frank Speltz will l)e one of the coordina-
tors of the conference. At present, travelers in the field and the approximate
area they will be covering are:
Frank Blumer, Northwest, Michael Lerner, California, Randy Bregman,
Midwest, Lynn North and Jane Slaughter, South, Jeremy Rifkin, Northeast,
Chip Marshall, Southwest, Mountain and Plains States.
The meeting also designated Cleveland as the site for a temporary national
office, and picked Cicely Nichols of New York Citj' and her chapter to edit a
periodic internal education bulletin. The NAM newspaper will continue to be
put out from Berkeley with Theirrie Cook as editor.
NAM will hold a national program conference in Chicago (this may be changed —
see conference announcement in the neswpaper) Nov. 2.5-19. The function of
the conference will be to develop several national NAM programs, as well as
providing a place where people, doing similar types of organizing around the coun-
try, can come in contact with one another. This conference will be a program
conference. Any structure set up will be temporary. Permanent structure and
adoption of a constitution and documents will not be decided finally until the
spring when NAM will have its founding convention.
The heart of the conference will be the workshojjs from whose reports several
national priorities will be selected by vote of the delegates.
Admission to the conference will be by application or invitation. Those wishing
to attend should write the national office in Cleveland prior to the conference
asking for either delegate or observer status. Anyone presently in a NAM chapter,
or anyone in a pro-chapter organizing group, is eligible for delegate status.
81
Any member of a chapter or pre-chapter organizing group may attend the con-
ference or chapters may delegate up to five votes to an individual on behalf of
chapter members imable to attend.
Individuals who are in general agreement with NAM are also welcome to attend,
but if they want delegate status, they must apply in advance. The National
Interim Committee will determine whether an individual receives delegate or
observer status.
The National Interim Committee will meet in Cleveland on Nov. 7. A tentative
agenda for the conference will be developed at that meeting and circulated in
advance to all NAM chapters, pre-chapters, and interested individuals. Pro-
grammatic proposals will appear in the internal discussion bulletin and be cir-
culated in the same wav.
Exhibit No. 2
(Referred to on p. 4)
[From the Wall Street Journal, Apr. 15, 1975]
The Spirit of (19)76; Is it a Bicentennial or a Buy-Centennial?
*******
the pursuit or happiness may lead to a $925 sword or to an "uncle
samwich"
(By Gail Bronson)
The buy-centennial has begun.
Penn Dairies of Lancaster, Pa., is churning out ice-cream goodies like "Paul
Revere's Rounds," "Red Coats" and an "Uncle Samwich." Springs Mills in
South Carolina is weaving linens with Revolutionary graphics. Advance Manu-
facturing, Orlando, Fla., is selling red, white and blue lawn chairs. Lenox Inc.,
the chinaware firm, is marketing commemorative plates. Mitche Co., LaJolla,
Calif., is hustling place mats with American designs.
For .$1.5, if you turn up on its "Who's Who" mailing list, the American Bicen-
tennial Research Institute of Dallas ("not affiliated with the U.S. government")
will send you a "beautiful parchment certificate" authenticating your inclusion
in its "Library of Human Resources."
Furniture makers are awash in early American, private mints in endless streams
of commemorative medals, and publishers in books about colonial America.
The deluge of bicentennial products has been encouraged partly by official
commissions, including the U.S.'s American Revolution Bicentennial Admin-
istration (ARBA). Such groups are supplementing their limited budgets by licens-
ing businessmen to market "official" bicentennial items. For 4% to 5% of sales,
ARBA gives licensees the use of its star-shaped logotj-pe. By the end of the sum-
mer, ARBA expects to have raised about $3 million in fees from some 100
companies.
Not surprisingly, such commercialism has produced a backlash. "Commercial-
ism will turn the bicentennial celebration into a farce." says a state bicentennial
official.
"It's only natural that businessmen are pursuing free enterprise in the course
of celebrating the bicentennial," says Richard Wagner, executive director of
the Wisconsin bicentennial commission. "Some of the founding fathers, like John
Hancock, were the biggest smugglers around. The question is whether the govern-
ment should give special benediction through licensing of products which gives
the items an inflated value in the public view."
Other officials defend licensing. "The American public expects to be able to buy
products commemorating the bicentennial," says John Warner, director of ARBA.
A Georgia official says, "We were worried about a buy-centennial at first, but now
we're stuck for funds. If someone is going to make a buck on this, it's worthwhile
for us to be part of it, too."
Many corporate bicentennial efforts appear to be aimed at promoting goodwill
instead of profits. General Motors, Kraft Foods, Arco, Prudential Insurance and
PepsiCo each have contributed $1 million to underwrite the capital costs of
an "American Freedom Train" that will visit more than 80 cities over the next
21 months. It will carrj- and exhibit more than .500 documents and artifacts
ranging from Paul Revere's saddle bags to Joe DiMaggio's bat. The train has
attracted some criticism for its alleged historic irrelevance and its $2 admission
fee. Revenues are expected to finance S13 million in operating costs.
82
J.C. Penny Co., whose chairman, Donald Seibert, is a music buff, is paying
$1.5 million to distribute sheet music of early American songs to high school and
college bands. Henry Nave, chairman of Mack Truck and a veteran Boy Scout
official, is financing a recording of patriotic songs for coinmercial distribution.
Profits will go to the Boy Scouts. "The songs are really stirring," Mr. Nave says.
"It should really be a hit record."
American Express Co. is sponsoring a head-to-toe cleanup of the Statue of
Liberty. IBM gave $500,000 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an exhibit
on "The World of Franklin and Jefferson," which got favorable reviews when it
was previewed abroad. Raytheon is orchestrating a $1 million multimedia exhibit
in Boston dealing with the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Some bicentennial officials would like big companies to do more. New York
has a long list of projects that need business backing, but a bicentennial official
says, "Everybody wants to do something visible like clean the Statue of Liberty."
Television is giving some corporate l)icentennial celebrants visibility. Shell Oil is
shelling out $9.3 million for 732 "bicentennial minutes," one-minute vignettes
from American history, on CBS-TV. Xerox, 3M and Gulf Oil, among others, are
sponsoring historical specials. The American Bankers Association is co-sponsoring
a $l-million bicentennial series to get the ABA's "institutional image across to the
upper demographic people."
Individual notions about taste and quality seem to motivate some buy-centen-
nial criticism. Consumer products are frowned on most. "Red, white and blue
lawn chairs are just another means of commercialism," saj^s Edward McColgan,
executive director of the Massachusetts commission. "Red, white and blue chairs
are totally irrelevant to 1976, and I doubt that the founding fathers would have
considered them relevant."
The U.S. Bicentennial Society in Richmond, Va., was organized to counter what
it considers tasteless commercialism by turning out high-quality reproductions of
early American goods. The society's trustees include Harvard historian Samuel
Eliot Morrison and Alistair Cooke of public television's "America" series. The
society's offerings hardly seem aimed at the typical descendant of colonial Amer-
ica's sturdy yeomanry. They range from a reproduction of George Washington's
sword at $925 to an early- American Royal Copenhagen tea service at $5,000.
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission, a private activist group, eschews com-
mercial jjroducts altogether. Through groups like the the National Campfire
Girls and the National Council of Churches, it distributes literature aimed at
reacquainting Americans with social, economic and political issues in the Rev-
olutionary era that still exist today.
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission seems motivated by an old-fashioned
egalitarianism. It urges high school students, for example, to organize to eliminate
school "tracking" — placing fast-learning and slower-learning students in different
programs — and even to restructure ROTC classes according to Revolutionary
military principles. Some Revolutionary units elected their own officers.
Exhibit No. 3
(Referred to on p. 5)
[From U.S. News & World Report, Mar. 24, 1975]
"The Government Bicentennial Is Very Shallow"
(Interview with Jeremy Rifkin, Co-Director, People's Bicentennial Com-
mi.ssion. Mr. Rifkin, 30, has been associated with the People's Bicentennial
Commission in Washington, D.C., since the Commission's founding. An econ-
omist, he is the author of a new book, "Common Sense 11".)
Question: Mr. Rifkin, what's right and what's wrong with the Bicentennial
as it is proceeding now?
Answer. There are. really two Bicentennials going on in the country, and I
think one of them has the right approach and one of them has the wrong approach.
On the one side, there's the Bicentennial which is reflected by the American
Revolution Bicentennial Administration and the major corporations that are
working with it. It's a Bicentennial with a form, but without any substance
whatsoever. The Government Bicentennial is a very shallow, superficial kind
of approach to what our Bicentennial era could be all about.
83
I keep going back to the original congressional legislation that established
the Bicentennial, and that legislation was very clear. It, in effect, said the Bi-
centennial was to be a time to reaffirm the revolutionary principles that founded
this nation, and a time to apply those principles to American life.
The White House Bicentennial Administration is neither reaffirming nor
applying those principles, because, in reality, to reaffirm and apply those principles
today would be to act in the same kind of revolutionary spirit as our founding
fathers and mothers did 200 years ago when they faced issues as severe in import
to their lives as we face today.
The White House and the major corporations are unwilling to do that. I
think their Bicentennial is very much a Tory — conservative — Bicentennial.
There's another whole Bicentennial going on, and it doesn't always take the
label "Bicentennial." It's a movement, a psychology. There's a real desire to
find out what this country is all about, to look back at our history at the founding
of this republic. There's a real need on the part of people to recommit themselves
to the revolutionary principles that we started off with 200 years ago. W'e need
these principles as a guide for our lives in the third century of the republic.
The Bicentennial we're talking about is a new social force in this country
that will take up the banner that Sam Adams and Patrick Henrj^ led into battle
200 years ago — a movement that will challenge unwarranted concentrations of
financial and political power and restore the dignity of the individual.
Question. Exactly what is the People's Bicentennial Commission?
Answer. The People's Bicentennial Commission was formed three and a half
years ago. We're a nonprofit organization. We felt there had to be a positive,
constructive alternative to the White House Bicentennial on a national level that
could help develop programs and ideas for a meaningful Bicentennial. W"e have
a very specific goal in mind — helping to shape a new patriotic movement in this
country.
We are involved in educational and social-action programs. On the educational
side, we provide material development for many major institutions. For example,
we developed, with the National Council of Churches, the first church guide to
Bicentennial observance. There are 65,000 churches using that guide right now.
We jiut out our own materials, such as organizing guides — everything from the
history of the American Revolution to how to organize an oral-visual project in
your high school. Those guides and materials and programs are being used by
thousands of school boards in the country as well as local Kiwanis Clubs, auxiliaries
of the VFW [Veterans of Foreign Wars], activist groups, P-TA's and libraries.
There are also 984 commercial radio stations and 145 TV stations using our
materials.
Furthermore, we have seven commercial books coming out this year — ranging
from shcolarly books on the Revolution to a book called "Common Sense II,"
which compares today's giant corporations to King George III and the monarchy.
We have a theater company full time, centered out of Johnson City, Tenn.
We also have local People's Bicentennial Commissions that are affiilaited with
us in 25 States.
Question. How do j-ou finance all this?
Answer. We have a very limited budget. Our budget last year was $200,000.
All of our staff here is on subsistence salaries of $85 a week before taxes.
We finance it through $10 memberships. People join the People's Bicentennial
Commission. They write to us in Washington, D.C., and they receive a full kit
of our materials and a j-ear's subscription to our magazine, Common Sense. They
use these materials in their own community organizations and in their families
and schools. It's a membership organization. We also get revenue from the sale
of our materials and royalties.
Question. What would you like to have the Government do that it's not doing
in its official Bicentennial programing?
Answer. I don't think the Government Bicentennial Administration can do
what we think has to he done in the country, because we're celebrating a revolution.
We're celebrating a period of time 200 years ago that has many parallels
today. If you look at the issues of 200 years "ago, it reads like the front pages of
today's newspapers — the issues of rising unemployment, galloping inflation and
a rich, entrenched aristocracy that was frustrating the average working people
in this country. There was a multinational corporation, the East India Company,
which was pillaging the continent and abusing people's rights. There were corrupt
politicians in the highest offices of the land.
84
The Government Bicentennial Administration in many ways represents the
same kind of political and financial aristocracy that we fought a revolution against
200 years ago.
Question. Some critics say the People's Bicentennial Commission is too radical.
Are some of your programs too extreme for general acceptance?
Answer. Some of our programs are too extreme for the bureaucrats and poli-
ticians at the White House and here in Washington, and they're certainly too
extreme for some of American's wealthiest families and giant corporations.
But as to whether they're too extreme for the rest of the population, I let our
own record stand for itself. We have supi^ort from all over the country by the
once-silent majority. We have support from many, many levels — including small
businessmen, labor, lower-management people, students and others.
Thousands of schools, churches, fraternal organizations, Bicentennial commis-
sions and city councils all over the United States are using our material. That
shows how widespread our support is.
Question. Is there anything significant coming out of the Bicentennial?
Answer. Yes. It's making peoj^le realize that every individual has to make an
active commitment to working for demoncratic participation at the workplace
as well as in government — as our forefathers and mothers did 200 years ago.
Today our job as we go across the country is to encourage hundreds and
thousands of new leaders — people who have the guts to stand up for their country
and the principles this country was founded on. People are learning to challenge
corruption, abuses of power and concentrations of wealth as i)eople did in the
Revolution.
By 1976, we would like to see leaders emerging on the "10-most-admired list"
who are in the mold of Sam Adams or Patrick Henry. That would make the
Bicentennial truly worthwhile.
Exhibit No. 4
(Referred to on p. 7)
[From the Chicago Tribune, Aug. 24, 1975]
Seeing Only Red for the Bicentennial
(By Bob Wiedrich)
John Rossen, the former downstate Communist organizer who now denies
party membership, is doing his best to see to it that Americans see onlj' red during
their red, white and blue Bicentennial celebration.
Rossen, now 65 years old, is keeping a low profile with the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission [P. B.C.], a non-profit, tax-exempt organization of the radical Left
that appears dedicated to throwing the nation's 200th anniversary up for grabs.
The over-the-hill Leftist, who once promoted Josef Stalin's fortunes in the
LTnited States during the 1950s, but now says he has rejected Stalinism, Marxism,
and Maoism, picketed the American Freedom Train on its opening day here
while belting antiestablishment slogans over a bullhorn from beneath a tricornered
hat.
Rossen's efforts would have been ludicrous were it not for the background of
radicalism against which they were staged. For to date, the P. B.C. and its retread
activist leadership of the turbulent 1960s have mostly devoted their efforts to
disrupting legitimately conceived patriotic Bicentennial observances.
So Rossen's sophomoric attack on the Freedom Train and its priceless lode of
500 historic artifacts, while ignored by most spectators, carried a message more
omninous than was evident.
Altho organized in Washington, D.C., in 1971, the P.B.C. didn't take the field
with overt disruptive acts until last April when a hooligan brigade of its supporters
tossed a juvenile beer party on the banks of the Concord River in an attempt to
drown out President Ford's address with catcalls and obscenities.
For the most part, the crowd was composed of teen-agers reenacting the now
hackneyed "guerrilla theater" of the Students for a Democratic Society- Weather-
man days in the guise of red, white, and blue bunting.
But liheir infringement on the right of free speech was an insult to the brave
and embattled Americans who stood their ground against British redcoats on
that same sacred spot 200 years earlier so that the adolescent jerks of the P.B.C.
could do their thing.
85
Rossen denies having had a hand in founding the P. B.C. and its strident
demands for a revolution to aboUsh corporations during the Bicentennial year.
He says he signed up with the P.B.C. in 1971, but describes himself as "just a
member." He admits, tho, he is a steering committee member of the Illinois
P.B.C. which has filed incorporation papers in Springfield to also qualify as a
tax-exempt, non-profit group.
Rossen angrily dismisses as "fairy tales of the Right" statements by Rep.
Richard Ichord [D., Mo.], House Internal Security Committee chairman, that
Rossen originated the concept of P.B.C. here in 1969 with pamphlets calling for a
new revolution based on Marxism and American nationalism.
"I reject Marxism and Stalinism and Maoism," Rossen declared in an inter-
view. "I've abandoned any ideas that were purely Marxist."
Then he telephoned us a few minutes later to suggest that a check with the
Communist Party, U.S.A., would definitely cleanse him of any red taint.
"They're calling me a bourgeoise nationalist and a nationalist chauvinist be-
cause I am promoting the Bicentennial," Rossen reported. He reminded us the
P.B.C. had filed a law suit against the Communist Party during its recent con-
vention here for trying to use the label, "Peoples Bicentennial," in connection
with its convention.
But he conveniently neglected to point out the P.B.C. has panicked for fear the
hint of such an affihation might drive off some of the foundations supporting
the group.
Jeremy Rifkin, a P.B.C. founder and former Chicagoan allied with antiwar
causes during the Viet Nam era, reports the group is sustained by grants and
profits it makes from selling its Bicentennial materials to such organizations
as the National Council of Churches, the Campfire Girls, and the National VMCA.
For the record, Rossen has been executive director of the Chicago Coun-
cil for American Soviet Friendship; chairman of the pro-Castro Fair Play for
Cuba Committee in Chicago when Fidel was first proclaiming Communism
in the Caribbean; and has invoked the nth Amendment before congressional
subcommittees probing internal security. In 1950, the Communist publication
Illinois Worker identified Rossen as a "downstate organizer for the Communist
Party, who works out of East St. Louis."
These are labels Rossen now ducks as he quietly goes about promoting his ver-
sion of America's 200th birthday, wrapped in the flag of a self-proclaimed cru-
sade against the inequities that he blames on big business.
However, for an aging activist child of the Bicentennial, he sure loves that tax-
exempt status not even the oppressed workingman enjoys, much less the capi-
talist corporations he attacks.
86
Exhibit No. 5
(Referred to on p. 8)
[From Guardian, May 3, 1969]
87
Exhibit No. 6
(Referred to on p. 9)
[From the New Patriot, Mar.-Apr. 1971]
THE cj^EW^iT^dT
Vol. 1 No.. U
March — Apr . 19 Tl contrary, nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed."
"The American war is over, but this is far from being the case with the American rrvDlutton. On the
^BBBBenjamin Rush, I7S7
25*
HOW NIXON & THE PENTAGON
TURN BLOOD INTO OIL PROFITS
IN INDOCHINA
BURMA ('
\ LAOS
THAILAND
MOBIL, GULF, AMOCO
4,000 Sq. Miles Each
"rrj=^MOBIL
88
Our Apologies
Dear Readers:
This issue of the NEW PATRIOT is two months late. The delay was due
to changes of staff and format. All subscriptions will be extended.
f The current issue of the Evergreen Review has an article on "Revolution-
ary Nationalism a.nd the American Left," by Johnny (Appleseed) Rossen. It
should be of great interest to NEW PATRIOT readers. /
editorial: PAY'TRIOT POWEiJl
Several million dollars in loot accumulated by Illinois' s late Secretary of
State, Paul Powell, has been discovered in cash hidden away in shoe boxes, in
certificates of deposit, and in other highly - negotiable forms; insiders say tmat
additional millions in hard cash were made off with by his cronies during the
24 hours in which his death was kept secret while mysterious figures removed
boxes and files from his offices.
Powell enjoyed a reputation as one of the biggest crooks in the history of
Illinois politics (and that is no mean distinction). Though his connections with
racketeering and race-track interests were widely publicized, he was shrewd
and slippery enough to stay out of jail and in "public office" for several decades.
But Powell's most- remarkable characteristic was his $uper-pay-triotisrn.
A super- hawk on Vietnam, a fire- spouting, flag-waving, red-baiting American
Legionnaire, he was a close buddy of fellow Democrat Richard J. Daley, ahd
a pay-triotic darling of the Chicago Tribune, who along with others shed red,
white, and blue tears at the passing of this super-crook.
But Powell is not the only proof of the old adage that the flag is the last
refuge of a scoundrel. American history of the last half- century is replete with
crooks who have wrapped themselves in the flag. (Remember J. Parnell Thomas,
one-time head of HUAC ?) This is true desecration of the flag and high treason
to the American people, and this is why decent Americans must fight to restore
the true meaning to the word "patriotism" and to the words "public service".
UP WITH THE NEW PATRIOTISM WHICH IS THE LOVE FOR OUR COUNTRY
AND COMMON PEOPLE! OUT WITH COUNTERFEIT "PAY'-TRIOT CROOKS?
ILOlS'Bia'M'V (f®fA(®I2 EXIiSiJtS
m^'^ tisisaib) ®w nc
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89
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Law and Order
Self Defense and Violence
Dare to Struggle
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v..m,..;.'/ i:ko'
\)»-^
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>1V?E M AY 4, 1 97 O
91
[From the New Patriot, Mar. -Apr. 1971]
The Editor Responds — Marxism, Its Limitations
(By John Rossen)
Many of my radical friends have raised the same point you have: that "analogies
(with 1776) can be pushed too far, because many (of the 1776 revolutionaries)
compromised on the slavery issue. . . ." One could add to this that they also
failed on the issue of genocide against American Indians. Or that they failed to
raise the question of a classless society (socialism). But as revolutionary socialists
committed to the scientific revolutionary methodology, we have to look at the
early American revolutionaries in the context of the times they lived in. Tom
Paine, Sam Adams, Ben Rush, and the rest of the radical wing of 1776 were the
most-advanced revolutionaries of their time, formulating revolutionary ideas
which have remained potent to this day. They laid down a revolutionary tradition
which we can and must use as the basis for a restructuring of American society
in wavs they could not envision.
Unfortunately mv radical friends who would not tolerate the slightest departure
from revolutionarv 'virtue on the part of Tom Paine or Tom Jefferson are not as
demanding of Karl Marx, who on occasion used formulations that would today be
labeled racist, sexist, imperialist, and national-chauvinist.
I note that you use the terms "Marxist" and "Marxist analysis . I would say
that for a revolutionarv socialist in the Twentieth Century to label himself a
"Marxist" or "Marxist-Leninist" is as ridiculous as for a modern physicist to call
himself a Newtonian or for a modern biologist to call himself a Darwinian. Marx
laid the sturdy foundations for the scientific revolutionary-socialist methodology,
and for any modern revolutionary to ignore those foundations would be as stupid
as for a physicist to ignore the findings of Isaac Newton. But neither can a modern
revolutionary limit himself to the findings of Marx. That is why I use the ex-
pression "scientific revolutionary methodology" rather than the expression
"Marxism". ,^ . , . ^, , ^u
The problem with most of those who call themselves Marxists today is that they
accept Marxism as a dogma and not as a scientific tool, a revolutionary method-
ology which is constantly being refined, added to, improved on the basis of the
revolutionarv experience" of the last century and a quarter.
Marx made his analvsis of capitalism on the basis of a first-hand study of the
Western European capi'tahst systems. And he constantly warned his critics (and his
followers) that the conclusions he reached as a result of his analysis must never
be used "as a super-historical model universally applicable to every and all social
systems. . . ." He continually exhorted revolutionaries to "look at the world
with new-born eyes", to be audacious and innovative in their theory and practice.
The traditional Marxist groupings in the United States have for nearly a century
ignored these exhortations of Marx; instead of applying the revolutionary method-
ology to the unique realities of American society, they have agonized over an
impossible task: trying to fit American reality into what they call Marxist
analysis". And so thev end up with economism (gotta work only in the trade
unions), or tailism and defeatism (can't even think about a revolution until the
working class becomes fully class conscious and the unions becom.e revolutionary—
and we have to be patient because that may take another forty or fifty years) .
92
Exhibit No. 7
(Referred to on p. 10)
Bill Peltz, 3d from the left; Jeremv Rifkin, 4th from the left; John Rossen, 5th from the
left.
Rossen's van.
93
m
Exhibit No. 8
(Referred to on p. 11)
BICENTENNIAL DECLA
A Unique Anthology Selected
By JEREMY RIFRIN and JOHN ROSSEN
94
$7.95
HOW TO
OOIS^lwlIT
A Unique Anthology Selected
by JEREMY RIFKIN
and JOHN ROSSEN
On July 4, 1976 — two hundred years
after the Declaration of Independence
by a "ragtag and bobtail" band of revolu-
tionaries— the United States of America
will climax its "American Revolution Bi-
centennial Observance."
How to Commit Revolution American
Style carries an urgent warning of elab-
orate blueprints for perverted uses of
the Bicentennial celebration. To mark
that event, Jeremy Rifkin reports, there
is "a plan conceived by the White House
and Big Business and already under
way, to marshal and direct the greatest
concentrated mass propaganda cam-
paign ever conceived in the United
States of America."
In stark clarity, Rifkin outlines that
plan, as documented by The People's Bi-
centennial Commission — a body whose
avowed goal is "to recapture our rev-
olutionary heritage and to build on it a
society worthy of our legacy."
How to Commit Revolution American
Style is a unique anthology selected by
(continued on back flap)
95
(continued from front flap)
Jeremy Rifkin and John Rossen to "pro-
vide inspiration to spark a revolution."
• In his examination of the American
heritage, "The Right of Revolution,"
Staughton Lynd unearths long-buried
roots of radical tradition in the United
States with an account of the unbroken
chain of vigorous and sometimes violent
dissent from 1776 to today in America.
• In "The Search for Justice," Edward
Schwartz sifts through American history
and finds that religious justice was the
central demand of virtually every major
social movement.
•To build a revolutionary identity,
Jeremy Rifkin in "The Red, White and
Blue Left" calls for a new home-grown
revolutionary orientation "sensitive to
the unique American legacy and com-
mitted to the fulfillment of the American
dream."
• In "Revolutionary Nationalism and
the American Left," John Rossen urges
that a successful movement for change
in America must take place within the
context of revolutionary nationalism.
• In "How to Commit Revolution in
Corporate America," G.William Domhoff
outlines a series of practical proposals
for American revolutionaries.
How to Commit Revolution American
Style is not a manual for countering the
Bicentennial campaign. It is an extraor-
dinary "how-to" book for a period that
may include dissent, repression, crisis,
violence, a mass revolutionary move-
ment, and "the greatest single peace-
time public-opinion mobilization effort
in our nation's history."
Jacket Design by Nick Frank
96
JEREMY RIFKIN grew up in a working-class neigh-
borhood in the South Side of Chicago. He attended the
Wharton School of Finance at the University of Penn-
sylvania, where he was president of his graduating class
in 1967, and he received a Master's Degree in Inter-
national Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy, Tufts University, in 1968.
He has been active in New Left politics since 1966,
when he helped organize student opposition to germ-
war research projects at the University of Pennsylvania.
He is presently a national coordinator with the Peo-
ple's Bicentennial Commission.
JOHN ROSSEN has been active in left-wing politics
for over thirty years. He is the author of The Little Red,
White, and Blue Book: Revolutionary Quotations by Great
Americans.
LYLE STUART, INC.
T20 ENTERPRISE AVENUE SECAUCUS, NJ. 07094
97
Exhibit No. 9
(Referred to on p. 15)
[From Book-of-the-Month Club News, April 1976]
\ CONVERSATION WITH PAGE SMITH
(By Jack Fincher)
A hulking, hawk-faced figure in fleece-trimmed corduroy coat and cap, Page
Smith materializes out of a foggy Santa Cruz, California, morning trailing the
gobble of turkeys. Gentleman farmer? Most certainly. Also maverick writer pur-
suing his own revolution against the academic tradition that says you can't take a
scholarly step without leaving a footnote.
He led me into his study, a rustic wood outbuilding choked with books and
hung with the paintings, sculptures, tie-dyes, and fur-and-feather fetishes of his
artist wife, Eloise, and their four grown children. They are the creators in the
family, he says. "I think the creative level of the historian is actually very low."
He laughs. "When my son was young he brought a friend in, pointed to the shelves
and said, 'These are the books my father writes his books from.' "
There is truth in his son's words. Smith says that he has never taken as much as
one card of notes. He writes "books, not chapters," from start to finish, typing
long quotes directly from the voluminous reading that attracts him, setting down
digressions as they occur and later gluing everything together where it seems to
belong. His enjoj'ment of such unbuttoned sentiments as his son's must be all the
more galling to academic historians because Smith's scholastic credentials are
impeccably eggheaded. He took his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth, got his
Ph.D. at Harvard under Samuel Eliot Morison, taught history at UCLA, and
was the very first provost at the University of California's visionary Santa Cruz
campus. It "was a post he later resigned in ])rotest against the publish-or-perish
demands of modern academe. Smith himself, happily, has never been plagued with
that problem. He has written ten volumes in twice as many years, on everj-thing
from the history of history and women to the nature of towns and chickens.
Eloise Smith" left us with coffee, English muffins and honey, and our conversa-
tion began.
JF; What's the critical difference between your narrative approach and the academic?
PS: All my work is discovery, not recording. I don't believe in objectivity. You
bring your preconceptions. I believe in sympathy and compassion and under-
standing, in attachment rather than detachment. To me discipline is pas^sion, car-
ing enough about the thing to discover the order in it.
Most academics are obsessed with the analytical, the interpretive, the exposi-
tory. They've gone wrong in thinking their mission is to explain things, in believ-
ing that if you collect all the data the data will speak to you. Which is obviously
ridiculous. It's predicated on the premise that all these little monographic experi-
ments arc going to add up to truth some day. They're not. They're going to add
up to a lot of little monographs.
JF: Doesn't the academic concept of historical distance lend, if not enchantment,
perspective?
PS: That's another snobbery. The best history of the American Revolution
was written by people who were in it. That's why I like to use the analogy of time
as a mountain. When you're up on top — 200 years away — the academic historian
says you can look back down the years and see things as they really were. I say
the situation is more like an archaeological dig. The past lies buried under the
mountain; the accumulation of intervening experience distorts your view. You
have to sink a shaft down to the stratum you want to study and reconstruct
what happened out of the remnants and shards.
JF: A?id once you get to that point, what?
PS: Contrary to popular misconception, there is an absolutely staggering
amount of material from the Revolution. John Adams said if you read a lifetime
you couldn't cover it. But I believe it's a fallacy to assume you have to read
everything in order to understand something. You could still misunderstand it.
Some one thing an obscure person says can outweigh masses of "important"
material.
Often the power of the original fact is so great you're awed by it. As Charles
Francis Adams said when his grandfather, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson
both died on the same day— the Fourth of July, 1826— there is nothing so eloquent
as fact. Incidentally, my editor called to ask if I knew how many pages my book
98
runs in final form. I whimsically guessed 1776. She said, no, 1976. I'm a believer in
synchronicity, serendipity, chance. History is full of those. They should play as
important a role in research as they seem to play in life.
Exhibit No. 10
(Referred to on p. 18)
[From An Introduction to the Peoples Bicentennial Commission]
A Nationwide Citizen Organization Dedicated to Restoring the Democratic
Principles that Shaped the Birth of this Republic
From now until 1983, we Americans will celebrate the Bicentennial of the
greatest event of our history — the American Revolution. How we choose to
commemmorate the founding of our nation will shape the lives of generations
yet to come. Will we be content with fireworks and plastic liberty bells? Or will
we use the anniversary of the Revolution as a time to rededicate ourselves and
our country to the sacred ideals our ancestors fought for 200 years ago?
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission is a non-profit, public foundation
founded in the belief that it is time to reaffirm the democratic principles of the
Declaration of Independence and of the American Revolution. Today, we face
economic and political crises as great as those of 1776. Like our ancestors, we
must meet the challenge to our democratic birthrights. We must dedicate our-
selves to a new patriotism — one that calls for allegiance to the revolutionary,
democratic principles that launched our first national rebellion to tyranny.
PBCs around the country are actively working toward this new patriotism
by taking direct action on issues of local and national importance.
'The Peoples Bicentennial Commission in Washington, D.C., as the only active
nationwide bicentennial commission, is working with a number of major institu-
tions in providing constructive, citizen-involvement programs for our 200th
birthday. Working under contract with the National Council of Churches, fhe
Peoples Bicentennial Commission developed a guide to the religious principles
of the American Revolution. Over 40,000 copies of this pamphlet — "The Light
in the Steeple" — have been sent to denominations around the country, where
they serve both as sermon suggestions for ministers and discussion topics for
church groups.
PBC has also developed a four-year program for the largest day-care organiza-
tion in the nation — The National Day Care and Child Development Council
of America. The grass-roots, door-to-door campaign, "Birthday Parties are for
Kids," aims at enlisting 10,000,000 parents into a day-care lobby to press for
quality, community-controlled day-care by 1976.
PBC is currently consulting with the Campfire Girls, YMCA, and other
national youth organizations in developing meaningful programs for young
people during he Bicentennial years.
Exhibit No. 11
(Referred to on p. 19)
[From Student and Teacher Programs for a Peoples Bicentennial]
As the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution nears, we the students
of High School jjledge ourselves to reaffirm and live the revolutionary
princii^les and ideals that founded this country. As students, it is clear to us that
our education today is run on the same basis as King George ran his emjiire —
inequality, arbitrary regulations and lack of personal freedom. Therefore:
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all peoi^le are created Equal,
that they are entitled to an education, and the that jourjiose of this education is
to secure for them the inalienable rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Ha])-
piness; to secure these rights, education must be designed with the full partici-
l^ation of students; and that when education no longer meets these requirements,
students have a right, and a duty, to jiarticipate in changing the educational sys-
tem, so that it will meet these needs and adhere to the principles that founded
this country.
99
The history of our present education is a history of repeated injuries and abuses
of our rights, all having the object of making students conform, pitting one stu-
dent against another, separating the teacher from the student, and channelling
us into pre-determined slots in society. To prove this, let Facts be listed in our
favor:
As students, we are forbidden the basic rights that are fundamental to this
country — among these, freedom of press, speech, assembly and thought.
As students, we are denied any meaningful decision making as to what our
education and classes will be like.
As students, we are at the mercy of the whims of teachers and administrators,
none of whom we have had any part in hiring, and none of whom we are allowed
to call for dismissal when there is good cause.
As students, we are at the mercy of arbitrary rules and regulations, none of
which we have a part in forming.
As students, we are divided and segregated according to artificial categories
we do not believe in. Women are separated from men when they are forced to
take home economics classes and men are required to take shop. Students of
non-middle class background are tracked into non-college preparatory courses
because they score poorly on I.Q. tests that are based on the values of the middle
class.
As students, we are forced to compete, rather than allowed to participate
cooperatively and in the spirit of the common good. Students are told they are
"cheating" and "only hurting themselves" when they help each other; students
are told they are "model pupils" and "good citizens" when they participate in
a cut-throat manner.
Therefore, we, the Students of High School, endorse and present
this Declaration to the school and our community, and declare that students are,
and of right ought to be, Free and Independent human beings, fully participating
in and shaping their education. We pledge to each other that, having stated and
endorsed these grievances, we commit ourselves, as the founders of America did,
to right these wrongs, to take control of our lives and our education, and, as
patriots proclaimed in 1776, to "use every method in our power to secure our
rights."
Exhibit No. 12
(Referred to on p. 20)
Declaration of Independence, in Congress July 4, 1776
THE unanimous DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which
the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind reciuires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among iSIen, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of tlie People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likeh' to effect
their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments
long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and ac-
cordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer,
while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to
which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under ab-
solute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government,
and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient
sufferance of these Colonies ; and such is now the necessity which constrains them
100
to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of
Great Britain i;^ a history of rej^eated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct
object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove
this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the
public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing im-
portance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained;
and when so sus])ended he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of
people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the
Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants onlJ^
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable,
and distant from the depository of their pul)lic Records, for the sole purposes of
fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly
firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be
elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned
to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time
exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose
obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to
encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropria-
tions of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to
Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices,
and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers
to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent
of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil
power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our
constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts
of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which
they should commit on the Liha])itants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jurj^:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province,
establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as
to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same ab-
solute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering
fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring
on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known
role of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most
humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated
injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define
a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. W'e have
warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an
unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances
of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice
and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred
to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections
and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of con-
101
sanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our
Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in
Peace Friends.
WE, THEREFORE, the Representatives of the United States of
America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge
of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by authority
of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare. That these
United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;
that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all
political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to
be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full
Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and
to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of
divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes
and our sacred Honor.
Exhibit No. 13
(Referred to on p. 26)
Jubj 24, 1972.
Memorandum
To: Mr. George E. Lang.
Subject: People's American Revolution Bicentennial Commission.
Because there seems to be so many questions being asked various members of
the Commission about the People's American Revolution Bicentennial Commis-
sion, I wanted you to be aware of my involvement with them.
Some time ago, a young woman who had worked here about two years ago and
is now with the Youth Grants Division of the National Endowment for the
Humanities called and asked me if I would mind looking at a Bicentennial pro-
posal which they had received. I said I would be glad to and when it arrived
discovered that it was a grant application submitted by the People's ARBC to
the National Endowment. I reviewed it, found it a solid package and discussed it
with Bill Butler and Lynn Carroll. The latter discussed it with IVIr. LeVant and
the final result was a letter of support. (The letter from me was addressed to
Mr. Tashdinian and a copy is enclosed, as is a copy of their grant application.)
About the same time we received a letter from Debby Lawrence of the People's
ARBC raising questions about the National Bicentennial Program Criteria and
saying that they were having difficulties filling it out. It was decided that I should
answer the lettW which was cleared of course by Bill Butler, Lynn Carroll and
Gene Skora. The letter says that we stand ready to assist them in filling out the
Criteria, as indeed we are" ready to assist anyone. It also explains some of the
basic principles about the Criteria.
All of this material has been forwarded on to the Heritage section which will
review their proposal should they decide to seek Commission recognition for
their project. However, because of my initial involvement in the project I wanted
you to be fully aware of it and to have the opportunity to review both my letters
and their grant application. I do believe that they are going to get the grant also.
Martha Jane Sh.ay,
Program Officer.
Enclosures.
Exhibit No. 14
(Referred to on p. 26)
Juhj 11, 1972.
Ms. Deborah W. Lawrence,
Peoples American Revolutionary Bi-Centennial Commission,
J\ ashingto7i, D.C.
Dear Ms. Lawrence: I am most apologetic for the delay in responding to your
letter. I am sorry too that you are having difficulty with the Program Criteria.
While I hope that I can answer some of vour questions and allay your concerns,
part of the responsibilitv of the Program Development Staff of the Commission
is to assist groups in filling out the Program Criteria. We would certainly be glad
to help you in any way we can and I hope you will feel free to call on us.
102
Since we received your letter, we have also had the opportunity to review your
preliminary grant request to the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Basically, the kind of information which the Humanities requests in its forms is the
same as that which we look for. We are concerned about the relationship of the
project to the goals of the Bicentennial, about the need for the activity, about the
organizational capability, and the capacity of the organization to achieve its
objectives. In an effort to reduce the correspondence that inevitably seems to
result in a process of this kind, we attempted to formulate more specific questions
about each of these general categories to insure that the data we needed was sub-
mitted and that the sponsor did not expend extra efforts in assembling information
which was not of concern to us. Because the Program Criteria are intended to
apply across the board to all kinds of programs, we are aware that some of the
questions are less pertinent to some kinds of projects but we do attempt to assess
each program based on a common set of data. In addition, some of the questions
are designed to help us monitor the general development of the Bicentennial so
that we can adjust our efforts to see to it that all citizens, in every state and locale,
and activities under each of the three Bicentennial themes are included in a bal-
anced, thoughtful, national program.
The questions we raise are, in fact, similar to those listed on page #5 of Youth
grants information brochure and, in my view, the data you submitted for that
grant request is in general sufficient to respond to our Program Criteria. I would
add too that we do not care what form the information comes in so long as the per-
tinent information is provided. Therefore, if you wish to seek Commission recog-
nition for your Revolutionary War Research project, a copy of the materials you
submitted to the Endowment would probably satisfy our basic information needs.
We would have to go over it more carefully to see if any additional data was needed
and will be happy to do so if you wish to seek Official Recognition for this project.
One final point, like the National Endowment for the Humanities, we are con-
cerned about projects. We do not accord Official Recognition to organizations or
individuals; rather we take action only on the projects themselves. Our aim is to
make objective not subjective assessments. In response to your immediate ques-
tion, your intended plan and procedures and the capability of the personnel to
carry out the project as described in your preliminary grant application convey
no apparent reason to question the integrity of the project leadership, adherence
to professional standards, or seriousness of purpose. Decisions concerning the
merits of an individual project, however, are made by an advisory panel, when
appropriate, and by a Commission committee. The above describes the general
parameter within which we make such determinations and the staff stands ready
to assist any interested individual, group, or organization in preparing its material
for submission for appropriate Commission action. If you are interested in seeking
Official Recognition, please let us know how we can assist you. In the meantime,
I again apologize for the tardiness of this response and hope that I have been able
to answer some of your questions.
Sincerely,
Martha Jane Shay,
Senior Program Officer.
Exhibit No. 15
(Referred to on p. 26)
National Endowment for the Humanities,
Washington, D.C., May 31.
Dear Janie: Enclosed is the proposal from the People's Bicentennial Commis-
sion. I greatly appreciate your doing me this favor and telling us if this is the sort
of activity ARBC would like to see young people engaged in. The Endowment is
very interested in Bicentennial projects and we in Youthgrants are attempting
to define our activities in this area.
I've also put in our Youthgrant brochure and poster in case you run into any
zippy youths with good ideas.
Thanks again, I'll call next week, and maybe you'll let me take you to lunch.
It would be really nice to see you again.
Peace.
Nancy Moses.
103
Exhibit No. 16
(Referred to on p. 26)
NLH/CVA-72-1
rorm approvi-d 0 M n No l?linO030
Y0UTHGRANT5 IN THE HUMANITIES
National Endov/mcnl for tho Humanilies
Washington, D.C. 20500
Telephone (202) 302-S99S
APPLICATION FACE SHEET— Page 1
KJSTITUTIOII (name & address)
The Youth Project/Peoples
Bicentennial Commission
IJkS Connecticut Ave, NV/,
Room 1021
Washington, D.C. 30036
3. AUTHORIZIN') OFFICIAL (name & IKIe)
James Goodell, Director
The Youth Project
Telephone: ( 202) 338-5721
(Person named here must sign Item 11)
4. PAYEE (name a {Me ol person)
The Youth i:'ro3ecT:/Peoplea
Bicentennial Coramission
1000 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
V/aehington, D.C- 2000?
Telephone: ( 202) 338-5721
S. PERSONS OTHER THAN PROJECT DIRECTOR WHO
HAVE BEEN IN TOUCH WITH NEH ABOUT. PROJECT
None
7. IF THIS IS A RENEV/AL REQUEST LIST PREVIOUS
GRANT NUMBER(S)
None
: DATE RECEIVED
LOG NUMBER
H- 7'.",.
1. PROJECT DIRECTOR
Namo:
Jeremy H. Eifkin
Current address:
13^6 Connecticut Ave, NW,
Room 1021
Washington, D.C. 20036
Dales: all year
Telephone: ( 202) 833-9121
Permanent address:
Dates:
Telephone: (
C. BUDGET REQUEST
Requested ol NEH -
(1) Outright
(2) Gills plus Matching
(3) TOTAL requested
s7,210
*_=_
s7,210
0. DATES OF REQUESTED GRANT PERIOD
From: June 1, 1972
To: September 1, 1972
9. PROJECT TITLE
Revolutionary War Research Project
10. SIGNATURE OF PERaON NAMED IN llUiM 1
0 \ c? ^
DATE:
P)/.Uucl, /ga
104
■ fJLII/OPA-72-l
I (llin .IplilUvi (I W I.I il 111) l/il n.jlj !■,
YOUTHGRANTS APPLICATIOM
. FACE SHEl^T— Pago 2 (Project Summery)
^2. INSTITUTION .
Youth Project/Peoples
Bicentennial Commission
L
13. PROJECT DlliCCTOR (namo):
Jeremy R. Rifkin
Dale ol biilh: 1/26/^5
LOG NUMBER
14. PROJECT TITLE
Revolutionary War Research Project
15. BUDGET
Requested ol NEH
(1) Outriuht
(2) Gi;;; Plus Matching
t 7,210
s -.^i —
(3) TOTAL rcqueslcd ol NEH $_J2.<.2i^
Cosl-sharing or other funding J r;:
TOTAL Project cost $. 7|i^lQ-
16. DATES OF REQUESTED GRANT PERIOD
From: June 1, 1972
To: September 1, 1972
^•,^T.o"p rnd si^ificance; To research, assemble, and dessera-
Sitc tS^^o^kS^d-itudents , historical information on the
S?es'and roles of v;orkin,^ people during the Revolutionary
War period v:ith emphasis on the ideas and events that shaped
t\Z formation of the early republic. Plan of Work: A proaect
coordinator and 5 researchers v;ill read, study and take notes
o-fitS 101 volumes of "Eyewitness Accomits of the American
Revolution" published by the Ai-no Publishing Company, a
^SSld ary o? the New York Times,^ and ot^er source materia in
nrd'^r to researcn the roxe oi ,,^^xi^^^^^^ ^^^^±, -.. '■•'^- ".>-vw.i.iaw
arv War Per-iod. The material will be compiled into articles,
primary essays and bibliographies and disseminated to
University, high school and unlof. publications. Use of Ftmd_s.
sSrnmer Salaries (^5.760). off-^ce ecjuipment (^9^0), Travel
($510).
! (Reserved lor NEH Use)
105
A PROPOSAL TO RESEARCH, ASSEHBLE, AND
DISSEMIK'ATE, TO V/ORICEHS AND STUDENTS,
HISTORICAL INFORMATION ON THE LIVES
AND ROLES OF V/ORKING PEOPLE DURIK'G THE
REVOLUTIONARY WAR PERIOD V/ITH EMPHASIS
ON THE IDEAS AND EVENTS THAT SHAPED
THE FORMATION OF THE EARLY REPUBLIC
I. The Need
The activist youth movement in the 1960s concentrated
much of its energy on attempting to get American institutions
to live up to the humanist aspects of American ideology. Nov/,
ten years later, this movement has been fragmented into a
constellation of factions whose ideological perspectives,
slogans, tactical formats, and heroes are borrovjed largely
from European and Asian revolutionary struggles.
Why have so many young people rejected their ovm American
heritage? The emerging activist youth movement of the 1960s
was not prepared for the overwhelming succession of events
that v.'as to sweep the nation during that turbulent decade. '
The black revolution, race riots, /political assassinations,
Vietnam, pollution, campus confr>ontations, drugs, and a host
of other developments intensified the youth coramimity's
sense of urgency in dealing v;ith American institutions.
Impatience and frustration mounted as young people foujid
themselves more often reacting to, rather than initiating,
the course of political events. The contradiction betvjeen
American ideals and practice became more visible and pronounced
for young people with each successive political confrontation.
Many young people became overwhelmed by the disparity'
between what Americans professed to believe in on the one
hand, and socjal reality on the other. Outraged by this
dichotomy, youiig people began to conclude that the gap
betv;een performance and principle was attributable to the
hypocritical, deceitful, dishonest, and evil character of
parents, political leaders, the American people, and, by
association, American history and ideology.
A great many young people broke entirely with their
American heritage because they failed to grasp a basic
historical contradiction — that American ideology is at once
both positive and negative. Consequently, what started as
a movement to make institutions live up to the humanist part
of the American dream transformed itself into a rejection
of the drcara itself.
. The Youth Project/People's Bicentennial Commission
69-239 O - 76 - 8
106
Revolutionary V/ar Research proposal is dcsifpicd to rekindle
the positive humanist traditions of America among young
people. Reinforcing humanist ideals is essential because it
provides continuity vjith the heritage of the past. This
identification is necessary to create an atmosphere of
confidence among young people in their ability to shape the
future, to ex.plore and enter into linfamiliar areas of experience.
Understanding the humanist currents and movements of our
Revolutionary War Period can help young people to develop a
future perspective that is germane for Americans.
Confidence in our ability to develop a long-range
humanist perspective must come from an understanding of who
v/e are; and much of what we are has to do v/ith the humanist
ideals to which our Founding Fathers dedicated their lives.
II. Goal
To provide historical information on the lives and roles
of vjorking people during the Revolutionary V/ar Period, v;ith
emphasis on the ideas and events that shaped the formation of
the early Republic. A knov7ledge of the ideas and attitudes of
worlcing people during the founding of our country can help us
better understand the formation of American values and their
:A"!--f-.> .-•-."V,^r^ i-Q i-y,^_ problems facing us today.
A'0^C«UA^AAW4
III. Objectives
A. To use the 101 volumes of "Eyewitness Accounts of ths
American Revolution" published by the Arno Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of the New York Times, and other source material,
in order to research the role of working people in the
Revolutionary Period.
B. To compile packets of important quotations, articles,
primary essays, and bibliographies from the Arno series.
C. To disseminate information and materials through the
People's Bicentennial Feature Service to university, high
school, and union publications.
IV. Procedures
A, Research
1. Select five researchers.
2. Select persons v/ho are familiar with the subject ,
area to act ac consultants to the researchers.
107
3« Have researchers read, study, and take notes on the
101 volumes of the Revolutionary V/ar Period with emphasis
on the formation, of political, economic, and social
values.
B, Compilation of Information
1. Compile primary essays, quotations, articles, and
bibliographies which reflect the experiences of working
people during the American Revolution.
2. Utilize the Bicentennial staff for the mechanics of
compilation.
C, Dissemination
Distribute information through the People's Bicentennial
Feature Service to high school and college newspapers,
trade vtnion publications, newspapers (establislimcnt and
Underground), TV and radio stations, and professional
publications. The service will be free to subscribers.
V. Staff
A, A Project Director
B, ■ Five researchers — all will be under age 30 and will havw
an academic background in the area they are studying.
C. A miniraura of two consultants — these v;ill be people who
have an academic background in the Revolutionary V/ar Period.
Consultants will work closely with researchers and will meet
with them on a regular basis to go over notes, discuss topics
and check accuracy.
VI. Responsibilities of Pro.ject Director
A, See that finances are handled correctly.
B, Select consultants and researchers.
C, Check on progress of researchers.
y
_VII. Responsibilities of ncpcnrchers .. .
A, Become familiar with area of research.
B, • Compile all relevant material.
108
C. Check on accuracy of research with consultants and other
exports in the field.
D. Boil doi\m material for use in articles, essays, and
bi bl i ographi e s .
VIII. Responsibilities of Consultants
A. Provide names to researchers of other experts in their
field of study.
B. Meet v/ith researchers regularly to discuss information
and other problems they may face in the process of research.
C. Review drafts of essays and boiled down material for
accuracy.
IX. Responsibilities of Bicentennial Staff
A, Do layout work and editing for material dissemination,
B, Check on accuracy of final drafts.
C, Make arrangements for printing.
D, Disseminate- through People^'s Bicentennial Feature Service.
E, Setup arrangements at historical sites for distribution.
X. Tirao Line for Research
Research — reading and taking notes — and compilation of the
material for articles, essays, and bibliographies, will take
approximately three months.
XI. Time Line for Distribution
Distribution of material vull begin two v;eeks after the
completion of research and compilation. Packets v;ill be sent
out through the feature service on a bi-monthly basis for 6
months. .... . . . — .
109
BeoucGtcd Project
' of NEU Total
1 • Salnrlen :
Pro feet Director, Jeremy
Bifkin, 12 weeks @ $80/v.'k $9^0 $ 9^0
Five RcGcarchers
12 v;eekG @ $80/wk . A-,860 • U-,F<00
$5,7^
2. Office Enuipmept.
3 typev/r iters ^ 06o/ir.o. —
3 typevjriters for 12 v;eeks 180 180
12 weeks office rent 9
$120 per month 360 3^0
Office Supplies l60 l60
Telephone @ §30/nio. -90 90
Xeroxing @ ,<^50/i:io. 150 ->X^
9W
2. Travol Exn-nses • .
Betvfeen .i.ioraries in
Philadelphia, Boston,
New York City, -and ' r, . •
V/ashington to cross- ^ • • .
check Arno material ■ . .
with other primary
source material * ■ , 510; $10
Grand Totals $7,210 $7,210
no
PROJECT DIRECTOR
Jeremy Rifkin Born: 1/26A5
13'^6 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Denver, Colorado
Room 1021
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 833-9121
1967 B.S., Economics, VJharton School of Finance & Commerce,
University of Pennsylvania
1, President of Graduating Class
2, Selected by Administration and Trustees as
Outstanding Male Undergraduate for I967
1968 M.A.', International Affairs, Fletcher School of Law
and Diplomacy, Tufts University
1969 VISTA Volunteer, Bedford Stuyvesant and East Harlem,
Kev; York
1970-
.1971 Citizens Commission of Inquiry: A public interest
research group concerned with American policy in
Asia, Staff Coordinator
1971-
1972 Peoples Bicentennial Commission: Staff Coordinator
As a staff coordinator of the People's Bicentennial
Commission, Mr. Rifkin has spent over four months talking
with groups ranging from the American Studies Association,
to tovmhall meetings in New England on the topic of the
f oimding of our nation and the development of humanist
values in American society. His academic background and
work experieaicc are varied and relate closely to the project
outlined. • .
Ill
HEFBREMCBS
Mary Wilson
High School Inforraation Service '
1010 UiGconsin Avenue, N.W.
. V/ashington D.C.
Debby Lav/rence
6509 Marjory Lane
Bethesda, Maryland 2003i^
(301) 229-2362
Erv:jn Knoll
^20."; River Road, H.V/.
Washington, D.C. 20016
(202) 966-0977
Exhibit No. 17
(Referred to on p. 26)
June 30, 1972.
Mr. Armen Tashdinian,
National Endowment for the Humanities,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Tashdinian: The Director has had the opportunity to review the
proposed RevoUitionarv War Research Project of the People's Bicentennial
Commission and I would like to pass along to you our hope that you will be able
to support the project. We find it to be in time with the basic goals of the Bi-
centennial commemoration and of particular interest to us in view of the Com-
mission's long standing interest in encouraging young people to become involved
in the planning, the development and the operation of Bicentennial activities.
As you undoubtedly know, one of our major guidelines calls for the Bicentennial
to be used as a time to review and reaffirm the basic principles on which the
country was founded and to explore our two hundred years of growth and de-
velopment. Certainly an exploration of the "Lives and roles of working people
during the Revolutionary' War period with emphasis on the ideas and events
that shaped the formation of the early republic" constitutes an important aspect
and a major contribution to a fidl and thoughtful review.
We are most pleased, therefore, to have the opportvmity to command this
project and its potential for forwarding the goals of the Bicentennial
commemoration.
I hope too that the Youthgrants Division of the National Endowment will be
able to encourage more young people to undertake thoughtful and meaningful
Bicentennial projects.
With all good wishes.
Sincerely,
Martha Jane Shav,
Senior Program Officer,
112
Exhibit No. 18
(Referred to on p. 26)
Sal ion a I Co ft, >i it tee for a
(;iTlZENS'(X)AL\llSSl()Not'INQUll{Y
on US, War Crimea in Vietnam
15b Fifth Avenue • Rm. 1005 • New York. N, Y. 10010 • {'2\2) 533 2734
STAFF
Tod E nsign, A/ar/ Coord-nator
Mkr Uhl, Vet Coordinator. A{ Large
PfifT Mjrtinsen, Vet Coord" ji or _ West Coast
BuIj Johnson, Vet Coordinator, Esit Coast
Jef'V Samuels, Vc! Coordinatur, Canada
SPONSORS
Seniamm opdck
Pichard Falk
Tony Randall
Ric'^afiJ Fernandez
Ossip Oavis
Robi.-ri J. Lilton
Hon Ernest Grueninq
S...w3ri Meacham A YEAR-END REPORT
NATIONAL VETERANS' INQUIRY INTO WAR CRIMES i
Vanessa Redgrave
BaHour B'lckner
Over two and one-half million Gls have returned home
from the Vietnam war. They are going back to their jobs,
their studies and their families. Yet, for twelve months
of their lives, many have been compelled to be execution-
era of inhuman policies in Indo-Chlna. To know this trutli,
one need only ask a combat veteran his opinion of the My
Lai massacre. His tendency to defend the men of the Galley
platoon stems from his knowledge that policies and strat-
egies employed by the military leaders in Vietnam inevit-
ably lead to massacres.
Since its formation following the disclosure of the
My Lai massacre in November, 1969, the Citizens' Commis-
sion has conducted hearings with Vietnam veterans in 13
cities. We are now presenting a National Veterans' Inquiry
into War Crimes at the Dupont Plaza Hotel, Embassy Room,
Dupont Circle, Washington, D. C, on December 1, 2, 3, 1970.
This inquiry will be conducted in defense of all Indo-China
war veterans I those who died there and those who returned
home injured — physically and mentally.
All of the veterans testifying are honorably dis-
charged and will provide detailed, eye-witness accounts
of war crimes committed by their units — listing dates,
locations and units involved. The testimony of over 100
veterans will be presented during the three days of hear-
ings. More than 50 of these veterans will present their
testimony in person. Some of this testimony has been prev-
iously disclosed at Commissions in 13 U. S, cities. The
presentation will coincide with the trial of Lt, Calley
at Fort Banning, Georgia.
NATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE
0«nnitMora. t-oft Hooa Thrpe vei orqanjzef Howard Levy. M.D u S. Servicen^ei^'s Fund ( ij SSF I Andy Stapp, Ameriran Servicemen > Union Donald Duncan,
JSSr W. ■ r"oni tor d nernncrriiir M.iiidry Jan Crumb, Viftnarri vets Agjinst ihe War Susan Schnall, USSF Ron Wolin. Veterans tnr Peace m Vietn,!-!) (New
Vfirv Cm' Noam Chomsky, Pro'e'.snr u! Lin,-)..iM,. - MIT Fred Cohn. Lawyer Bill Davidon, Protessor nt Phvsifs Havertord Co'i--,i.' \e.v \jationr,i ^^ t i.,M1i-.
^it I'rniii C' inrMitlei? Douglas Dowd, IVvTlessor nt I niimics Cornell New Naiion,il Mutnlijalion Committee Don Fra«d Piavv\rHirT Eugene D. Genovese. Criaii
ii,in l;p;ii , • Hi^tnry li . >f Rm n.-f-r Dick Gregory - Phil Hutchings. Wti inr Mary Kaufman. U S Nuremberg Tnbun.ti Sl.i" NVnnni 9?««HKU**'^^W|*
^iMimAMHW Helen Lamont, C n . i,|.Tirv C.vil I ■[.rin', Ccnrmitcn Paul Lauter. ResiM New Ijn.versitv Cnnfernn^ n Julius Lester A,,trw>i Conrad Lynn > .1
■ I ;ii1 .'.n , Herbert Magidson, Business ( •<■- i-lui-s tnr Pen .• Ch.iinnan. Indivi(ln,ils Against the Crime nl Siln'M i- Floyd McKislick - Joanna Misnil. \atiGr
Mil, St.. I. I ' • l.iliMiinii Ci'inin.tli'o John Moran 'V. .Ii-'mh i-f Philtisnphv M.inh,in.in College J. B. Neilands, Mr,. f nl Hi,-,i lien.- try t -rn .- .tv ..' C . ■ ' ..
,1 Hi-rk' I- •. Cure Paley . r.nn--., h .'iiLm.- c-'nt. r Max Pnmack, New N,ili(rn,il fv*..l .ii,' ilinn Stenf.fir) Com.tiiti.n Mark Sacaroff. P- .l.-ss,.i ..I I ■Mli-f' I- i i-
' ' ." R.ili<h Schoenman i iri-, I I '\miii,,,.p 1 >,<iul,lti'>'i fur Smi i,il lusti. i- ' e, i.-l.irv Gnnrr.il Inlein.ilin.. il ■," ir^^r.- \'rih,* .1 Jerry Schwinn E ''
■ 1 ■ . I i-, • ,in, il ■; T G G Wilson. M I 1 I v.vhIk.- niri. tor M.-.lii .liC .mirritli c t.ir H m H, lhl^ Melvin L tAtull ' t, i
- ..' .s.i,. 11, 111 c ivil 1 .:.i tti.-. t M Eric Seitz, I tr.-' V'rrit.irv N,ili.mal Lawyers Ouilrl Maxwell Getimar. Aiiihi.i Rabbi Abraham Feinberg
113
Exhibit No. 19
(Referred to on p. 26)
Sdliuiia! ( '())!! til nice for a
CITlZKXS'COAiMiSSiOX of iNonuv
oil lis. Wardriiitcx in VichKUii
UiG l-iiih AvL':ii.> • Rni. laO'j • New York, N. Y. lOO'if) • \:'\2) ;i33-273'l
STATF
lo.f I n5gn,,'.j(i Ci:n:ri. <-.,:•■
t^iV.,- Uhl, Wr Conrd<n.>:o- At /..irgt'
PcMT Manirsi-i. Vet Cn<".: ".tor. West Ctost
Bob JoJinsnn. fer CO'ircl. ■,r.'f, f,?jf COdST
.ii!,(vSjmo.-«. ffr Coo/-</"iiior. Cjr.jda November <iO, 19 70
SPOkisons For Ilonday a.m. release:
Djvki oeiimgc. Furtlier info contact:
Bcnjdin.-^ S,)ock
janv^on..^ JereT-v Rifkin at (202) 737-8600
Richard F.Jk Vor)
Tony Roi.iijii Tod )^iisiqn '_
Rich.cd Frinandyi
Os^H Uav.5
Roi,.-.iJ u.iion ACTIVE-DUTY OFFICERS WILL ACT AS IK'f ERROGATORS AT
Hon. trnt^sl C.fuening -^—^ ___^_— _^__^_^__^_^_^_— ^^_™____________^^^__
Si.-.v,,M N-c.-.rh.,.n NATIONAL WAR CRIMES Hil/iRIHGS
Vjrcsw Rtrtnr.ive '
Balfour BiiCWnef
On Monday, Nov. 23, 1970 at 12:15 p.m at the Statler-Hilton,
Pan American Room, 16th & K St., 1st Lieutenant Louis P. Font,
First U.S. Army (West Point graduate) and other active-duty
Officers will announce their endorsement of, and intention to
attend the National Veterans Inquiry into U.S. War Crimes on
December 1,2,3, 1970 in V/ashington, D. C. to ascertain whether
they will prefer charges against U.S. Generals for their use of
war crimes policy in Vietnam.
Lt. Font and the other officers will make public their
plans to attend the three-day hearing as part of the formal
interrogation panel.
Upon completion of the three-day inquiry, these active -
Officer^s plan to announce their conclusions regarding Icjai
responsibility for war crimes policy.
NATIONAL CUORDiNATING COMMIT! QE
Dennis Mora. ' ix: m.,i d 1 1.,.-.- .. ; .jKLinii-.r HOA-ard Levy. M ;) . 11 S. S.-iv.i i-imi-m', F u-uI m '''/jI I Andy Slapp. Ai;v -i. ,im $or,„ , m.i n s IJnu.n Donald Duncan,
I'SSF , \-, .■.-■. '11 1 .. ;:.-r- ., r,;,i M.I.I.irv Jan Crumb, \ i ViM-, A'l.-i'.l Ih. .V,.f Suwn S'-hn.lll. .'■'.';. Ron Wol;n. V-' -t,.' - I -i T. ..; -■ in Vi.ln.ini IN. v.
York Cilvl Noam Chomsky, • ' t. ■- r ol Li'io .. .:i. -., r." I, T Tred Cobn. I ...-.vi-r Bill Dawidon, r. l.--,. r .1 f't. , ... .. M.u- n .rri I ,ii' i.-, ■...-, • ,i >.\,\M,.'.,u, ■
Sllrn.xi rv.niiM.:;.- Douglas Dowd, rrc.l, .-r .,i I , ,... ...;. v i .i.-ll .': .-, *.' ,i,o;>,ii ^^ .Ij.i..- iium C nin-n.'.K '■ Don fn-fii f'l. >■,••■ -mm Euiieni; D G'-noyLse, Ln.i i
I. Ion. I )..(>I. ('**■■■: I . . ■' ■ ■ ;■ r Dick Grcijory - Ph. I Hulching^. .". Ml, t Mary Kaudnan. U 3. rv.i-.-"-t> -i i 1 1. 1 ... ,1 ''.l.i.t ,' l. T r.. i SylvM Kushnor. C".. . ; .
f'c.itc Con.;, il Hel.:n Lamonl. ■ ■ ■ , n. v C'vil I .1 rt.. , C-- '.•■'■ Paul Lauter, i.. .ist. \—.; Un..crMlv r..nl. t.-ii .. Juhus I cslcr, .^..1r.. .. Coi.iad Lynn, flvil
Hiflhls ."vll.-r. , Heibcrt Magidson, -> .•...ii- s L il.v I- .- ■ |. .-. Cl'.i.f' .'.. Ir:r).-. ,rl i.iK A-;,iin'.I II i. C irn. ■' ■; i- f-loyd M^Ki'.stck - Joanna Misnik. Nal.O"
Sc.ill $;u;v : ■.• : .:•, ..... i ■ .-..i:.... JohnMni.in ''i i . • ..l i'liiU. . . ■ v ' ^r l.!!Mn Ciil.'.!.' J. B. Nnljnds. !■■ .1 ..I M..» i .•... ,:r. In... . Iv . I C" ,li( .lu...
.it U.'rV.I. \ Grac I'jiey. . •■.... i \ .H.i.].. ( .■ MaK Primack. .\.vv ? i.ii.--. . I M. .t'll.^dl. an Sl.i-f.r.| L. ...'..':■•. Walk SacafoH, Ir. . I. ■'.•..t ' " -■ il. .!■ Icinp..'
Uun-.-iMlv Ralph Schotininan. i r. . ; r ■'i'l. .n i .•ii'..l.il..)i. uw S'l. i.ii !..■ i.. ..-. Pr'CH.-.ir./ Ti.-i . r.:i. Ini-.i. ^ ■: ■.V.ii i .i.-n ■. I .,1 ,■ ,il J.-riy Scliwinn, ! '.•■-*' U".
C.in.i-.ill,. ..1 1..; ... . ! \..i .1 •.,.. T. G G Wilson,'.! i' ! -...-.ilivi. [l.r.-. '..i, V....|.(..ll C<.".ii ■-■ !.•' H.' .:■ H..;l.l' Mi-lvin 1.. Willi, Hi -.' i .1 I .-1.1 i). l.ii. I-
: .nt. Aint-.i. in ( . ,1 I .; .-ri.. ^ ■, . .. Lnc SfH/, 1 -.. .il.-..- f»...-r-i..ry. r,.i|. .-..ii L.iv/vr^ (..nl.l Manwcll Grism.ii, .'...|....i Ral/bi Aui.ili.iin Feinberg
114
Exhibit No. 20
(Referred to on p. 28)
[From the Guardian, Dec. l.j. 1971]
NAM Sets New Left Progr.'\.m
(By Patty Lee Parmalee)
Davenport, Iowa.
In this "middle America" small town some 3.50 self-styled socialists of several
varieties met over Thanksgiving weekend to agree on a national program for an
organization that does not yet officially exist.
The New American Movement (NAM) will not have its founding convention
until June, but it already has chapters in most major cities and in many small
towns and appears to be growing rapidly. The Thanksgiving conference was
intended to unify the chapters not just around the document (written last spring
by three Seattle Conspiracy members) that spread the idea of forming a mass or-
ganization to "put socialism on the agenda in the '70s," but also around a com-
mon national program. The hope is that work on this program would — in the
next six months — help to transform the class makeup of participants so that the
founding conference would have fewer ex-student radicals and more workers.
Who are the workers?
Though the necessity of organizing primarily among the working class was a
foregone conclusion for everyone present, there was much discussion of who com-
prises the working class. Some felt it presumptuous to advise workers from the
side, others insisted they were themselves workers now, though they had until
recently been students.
In fact, if delegates at the conference are typical of chapter makeup, NAM does
seem to be primarily an off-campus, grown-up SDS, most of whose members
are in fact working people though their origins are in the intelligentsia. Perhaps
the one area of total agreement among NAM members is that they want to or-
ganize around issues which affect the majority of Americans including them-
selves, rather than conceiving of themselves as "outside" agitators.
Beyond the consensus that they want to build a majority movement of working
people that will project socialism as the alternative to the present American sys-
tem, there is little unanimity on questions of ideology among the present NAM
constituency. It seems unlikely that all the people gathered in Davenport could
remain the same group very long unless it is consciously a united front organization.
Probably the prevailing politics and tone of the conference were set by old
SDSers who never felt at home in the sects and splinters that SDS dissolved into.
But there were also many younger people, new to the movement and very anti-
authoritarian. There was an older libertarian left representation, as well as a
strong "Americanist" contingent that wants to emphasize the American revolu-
tionary tradition to the exclusion of all things "foreign" (such as Marxism, or
solidarity with third-world liberation struggles).
Some delegates came from radical pacifist, resistance and religious backgrounds.
Some, such as the International Socialists (IS), who sent many delegates and
observers to try to influence the fledgling mass organization's politics, the Sojourner
Truth Organization, a Marxist-Leninist collective from Chicago, and the National
Caucus of Labor Committees, brought extensive political position papers and
organizing experience. The Progressive Labor Party (PL) was excluded, on the
basis of what was termed the past destructive effects of its attempts to recruit from
mass organizations.
Just as varied as their backgrounds were the delegates' definitions of socialism.
In fact, at a previous smaller meeting in Chicago there had been a serious debate
on whether to use the word at all since workers, it was asserted, might react nega-
tively to it at first. At the Davenport conference there was clearly no more ques-
tion about the use of the word socialism, but its definition will be a thorny prob-
lem for some time to come, possibly eventually leading to self-exclusion by some
members.
There is a strong tendency (including the authors of the original NAM docu-
ment) to define socialism as a utopia which no country has yet been able to achieve,
but which it is assumed the U.S. will achieve because of its more advanced eco-
nomic base. Terms like "decentralization," "humanism," "libertarian," and "dem-
ocratic control" dominated what theoretical discussion there was. But since
this was a program conference, potentially divisive questions of theory were tabled.
115
It was clear, however, from the votes on priority programs that the majority
of delegates had perhaps no theoretical understanding but at least sympathies to
the left of nam's originators. One of the three national priority programs chosen
was on war and imperialism. It came out of a workshop of some 40-50 people
who sharply criticized an "anti-anti-imperialist" bias in previous NAM documents,
viewing the tendency in correcting mistakes of the past (such as tailism to third
world struggles) to go too far in the opposite direction, such as verging on national
chauvinism. The program on war and imperialism, approved as a priority by a
large majority of the whole conference, includes support for national liberation
struggles and socialist countries, promotion of the PRG 7-point program as the
basis for ending the Vietnam war and a mandate to chapters to include the war
in their organizing efforts.
Major program on economics
The other two priority programs chosen reflect the seriousness of delegates
about doing nuts and bolts organizing among workers. One is an 8-point response
to "Nixonomics" — clearly expected by everyone present to be the major NAM
program nationwide — and the other outlines methods of anti-corporate activity
and occupational health and safety organizing.
Most of the conference was spent in workshops hammering out programs,
and the economy workshop attracted by far the most participants. After defeating
an IS proposal that NAM attempt to coordinate rank-and-file work groups
nationwide (criticized by others as both overambitious and arrogant), the work-
shop approved a program including the following points: education on Marxist
economics, support for strikes, opposition to economic discrimination against
women, struggles against tax, rent and price increases, campaigns against cut-
backs in social services, struggle for daycare centers and a plan to form "people's
councils" for working people to demand the right to control the economy.
The idea behind this extensive economic program is that NAM will project
itself as the national mass organization that is doing something about Nixon's
attack on working people, and will simultaneously raise the issue of the socialist
alternative with groups it works with. Whether in fact chapters of an as yet
unorganized organization have the wherewithal to implement even a tiny part of
the program in the next six months remains to be seen.
Less ambitious and more concrete is the third priority — anticorporate organizing
and occupational health and safety. Occupational safety was recommended as a
way for radicals to relate directly to the workplace while linking up struggles at
the national level. Anti-corporate organizing includes propaganda activities such
as war crimes tribunals against corporations.
In addition to these three programs that are recommended for all chapters to
work on, program suggestions came out of workshops on an impressive variety
of other subjects: community organizing, campus organizing, elections, a "people's
revolutionary bicentennial," health, justice and law, labor, media, youth libera-
tion and farmers. Again it is questionable whether an organization representing
so many diverse interests can hold together.
Fuzzy strategies
NAM is, at the moment, composed of people whose exact strategy for the
revolution is either fuzzy or conflicting. But they seem to know what their tactics
are for today: the overwhelming impression they give is one of having left all
desire to shock or confront the people back in the last decade somewhere. They
seem to be willing to work where the people are to bring about a kind of respecta-
bility for their ideas of socialism.
It remains to be seen whether contradictions arising out of its original manifesto
can be settled. For instance, although the document criticizes the cult of anti-
leadership as a mistake of the past, it projects a vision of totally anti-authoritarian
sociahsm which tends to encourage just those anarchistic elements who resist the
slightest centralization or authority in an organization.
White chauvinism indicated
Although the document pays lip-service to coordination with minority move-
ments in the U.S., it speaks consistently from the point of view of a white move-
ment, which the Davenport meeting showed it overwhelmingly to be. A more
concerted effort will have to be made to relate with black, Chicano, Puerto Rican,
Asian and Indian movements as well as with workers if the inherent possibility
of white chauvinism in the "love America's revolutionary traditions" position^is
to be avoided.
116
The question of exactly what role women will play within NAM was left
undecided: they got 7 out of 13 members of the national interim committee, but
they did not decide whether to have a national women's caucus or caucuses
within each program and chapter.
Eventually, the new organization will have to confront the contradictions in
its present position that "democratic socialism" means the right to strike and the
right to form opposition parties and that no country has achieved what NAM
would call "socialism." (The meeting implied that existing socialist countries
are run by bureaucracies that expluit the workers rather than allowing workers'
control.)
Exhibit No. 21
(Referred to on p. 32)
[From Capitalk (Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital), Apr. 1975]
Bicentennial Notes
(1) The people's Bicentennial Commission has materials available for groups.
Their introductory packet of materials is free. A kit of Bicentennial materials,
including a subscription to Common Sense costs $10.00. Their most recent publica-
tion is Americas Birthday: A Planning and Activity Guide for Citizens' Participa-
tion During the Bicentennial Year. The book is published by Simon & Shuster for
$3.95. The PBC address is 1346 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
Exhibit No. 22
(Referred to on p. 33)
[From the Washington Post, Jan. 21, 1976]
Busy Independence D.\y Projected for the Mall
(By Margot Hornblower)
The People's Bicentennial Commission, a Washington-based group that calls
for a second American revolution to overthrow big business, says it expects to
attract 250,000 people to a protest rally here July 4.
The rally, billed in a PBC newsletter as "the largest economic rally in American
history," is scheduled to take place between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on the West lawn
of the Capitol and on the Mall between 1st and 7th Streets NW.
117
"We're going to have one busy, busy day," said Art Lamb, special events chief
at the National Park Service. Lamb said he would give PBC a permit for the
Mall area. The permit for the Capitol is pending before Congress' Joint Committee
on the Bicentennial.
Also scheduled for the Mall on July 4 is the opening of the Smithsonian Institu-
tion's Air and Space Museum at 7th Street and the annual Folklife Festival
around the Reflecting Pool.
PBC says its rally will feature "prominent speakers and entertainers protesting
the giant corporations and demanding fundamental changes in our economic
system."
"Two hundred years ago, King George was the target," said PBC spokesman
Jeremy Rifkin. "This time it is the multinational corporations." He predicted the
rally would be "a real spiritual experience."
The group is engaged in a 650,000-piece mail campaign soliciting funds and
inviting people to join the "movement for economic democracy," ac/vocating
emploj'ee control of American companies and a redistribution of wealth.
The" mailing invites Americans to come to the Capitol on July 4 "to begin the
Second American Revolution . . . Declare your economic independence from
ITT, GM and Exxon . . . Send a message to Wall Street . . . Rededicate
yourself to the democratic principles of 1776."
The invitation is almost identical to that issued to the PBC rally of April 18 in
Concord, Mass. which attracted a youthful crowd of about 30,000. While it was
billed as an all-night political demonstration, most of those who attended spent the
time drinking beer, smoking marijuana and listening to music rather than
protesting.
After the rally, when President Ford spoke at ceremonies commemorating "the
shot heard round the world" several hundred rowdy youths heckled him, shouting
obscenities. There were no arrests, however.
Lamb said yesterday that PBC organizer Ted Howard had assured him the
July 4 rally would be "a peaceful demonstration."
"They seem like a pretty reasonable group," Lamb said, adding that "the
police will be prepared for the worst, but we hope everything goes all right."
In their permit application to the Park Service PBC said there would be folk
music, not rock music like that of last year's Human Kindness Day here in which
600 people complained of assaults and robberies by roving bands of black youths.
The speakers will be "nationally known representatives of the labor movement,
the consumer and environmental movements," the application said. PBC will
provide 500 marshals for the event and its own sound equipment and clean-up
crew, Lamb said.
Smithsonian officials said they do not expect the rally to interfere with the Air
and Space Museum opening or the Folklife Festival, which attracted more than
100,000 people last July 4.
Happv Birthday USA, a group sponsored by Washington business leaders,
plans to'begin its July 4 fireworks display at 9 p.m. between the Lincoln Memorial
and the Washington Monumeht.
118
Exhibit No. 23
(Referred to on p. 35)
The "Peoples Bicentennial Commission" Speaks
. . . to the American public
(In book, AMERICA'S BIRTHDAY,
pub. by Simon & Schuster, 1974)
A genuine understanding of American
democratic ideals is what links the
American people with the struggles of
all oppressed people in the world. In-
deed, the American Revolution has
stood as an example for the revolutions
of the Third World. Not until the
majority of Americans begin to re-
identify with our democratic principles
and develop our own revolutionary
struggle will we be able to form a real
bond of fraternalism and solidarity with
the struggles of all oppressed people.
Solidarity comes from understanding the
collective nature of our separate strug-
gles and the cry for humanity that is
shared by all.
An accurate analysis of the American
spirit must take into account the fact
that the American legacy is at once both
authoritarian and democratic.
Our democratic beliefs — popularized
through the words and deeds of such
great Americans as Thomas Paine,
Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Jefferson, Henry Thoreau,
Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Gar-
rison, Davy Crockett, John Brown,
Sojourner Truth, Horace Mann, Lucy
Stone, Mark Twain, Eugene V. Debs,
W. E. B. Du Bois and A. J. Muste—
derive from the principle of the inherent
unity and amity of all mankind. These
aspirations have led to a set of beliefs
that forms the democratic aspect of the
American experience: human equality;
respect for the judgment of the common
people; distrust of those who occupy
positions of power and privilege.
Our authoritarian beliefs — popular-
ized through the words and deeds of
such Americans as Alexander Hamilton,
Jay Gould, John D. Rockefeller and
H. L. Hunt — come from the principle
that hostility and war and the survival
of the fittest constitute the natural con-
dition of man. This principle is the basis
of a set of beliefs that forms the au-
thoritarian aspect of the American
experience; that promotes private prop-
erty as a value more sacred than human
rights, a ruthlessly competitive spirit
as the means for self-fulfillment and
material accumulation as a measure of
man's achievement on earth.
. . . to fellow leftists
(In article, "Bicentennial," pub. in un-
derground newspaper NEW AMER-
ICAN MOVEMENT, Nov., 1971)
A genuine understanding of revolu-
tionary ideals is what links Thomas
Paine, Sam Adams, and Benjamin Rush,
and the American people, with Lenin,
Mao, Che, and the struggles of all
oppressed people in the world. Not
until the masses of Americans begin to
re-identify with these principles and
develop their own revolutionary struggle
will they be able to form a real bond of
fraternalism and solidarity with the
struggles of all oppressed people. Solidar-
ity comes from understanding the col-
lective nature of our separate struggles
and the cry for humanity that is shared
by all.
The left's rejection of the American
experience is due, in part, to its failure
to understand that the American legacy
is at once both reactionary and
revolutionary.
Our revolutionary beliefs — popular-
ized through the words and deeds of
such great Americans as Thomas Paine,
Benjamin Rush, Sam Adams, Henry
Thoreau, William Lloyd Garrison, John
Brown, Lucy Stone, Sojourner Truth,
Eugene V. Debs, W. E. B. DuBoise,
Mark Twain, and A. J. Muste, and the
movements they inspired or led — derive
from the principle of the inherent unity
and fraternity of all mankind.
These aspirations have led to a set of
beliefs that forms the revolutionary
aspect of the American experience —
human equality; respect for the judg-
ment of the common man; distrust of
those who command positions of power
and privilege.
Our reactionary beliefs — popularized
through the words and deeds of such
Americans as Alexander Hamilton,
John Adams, and John D. Rockefeller —
come from the principle that hostility
and war, the survival of the fittest and
to hell with the rest — the public be.
damned — constitute the natural con-
dition of man. This principle is the
basis of a set of beliefs that forms the
reactionary aspect of the American
experience — the sacred value of private
property; the ruthlessly competitive
spirit as the motivating force for self-
fulfillment; the authoritarian family;
material accumulation as a measure of
man's achievement on earth.
119
[The following exhibits relating to PBC's July 4 demonstra-
tions in Washington, were submitted by Mr. Watson subsequent
to his testimony. They were ordered into the record by the
Chairman.]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
PEOPLES
BICENTENNIAL
COMMISSION To Mark. The 200th Anniversary of Capitalism:
1346 Connecticut Avenue. NW
Washington. DC 20036 THE PBC ANNOUNCES "CAMPAIGN CORPORATE EXPOSURE"
(202)833-9121 WHICH WILL REACH DIRECTLY INTO THE HOMES OF
AMERICA'S TOP 8,000 CORPORATE FAMILIES
To mark the 200th Anniversary of capitalism (Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations was
published 200 years ago this month), PBC is launching "Campaign Corporate Ex-
posure" which will reach directly into the living rooms of America's top 8,000
corporate families.
Over the next 40 days each of America's most prominent corporate families will be
receiving a series of personal tape recorded communiques and letters detailing
their involvement in big business policies that are threatening the economic sur-
vival of millions of hardworking Americans and undermining the democratic foun-
dations of our Republic.
Our first communication, a tape recorded message concerning the recent wave of
corporate scandals and criminal activity, has already been sent out to the private
home addresses of American's most prominent business families (see enclosed trans-
cript of the messages).
This unprecedented communication effort is aimed directly at the families of
America's top business leaders because we believe that the family itself is the
basic social unit that must take on the responsibility of confronting and dealing
with the criminal and abusive policies that our Nation's business leaders are in-
volved in.
We are calling on the wives and children of America's top business leaders to begin
a frank and open discussion, in their own homes, of the Immoral and amoral behavior
of America's financial leaders. V
For too long America's corporate elite has been shellded from^^public exposure and
scrutiny even though they often exercise greater control over ^fc^ affairs of our
communities and Nation than elected officials. While the "free" press continues
to treat politicians as public figures whose lives can be openly examined, it
virtually ignores the lives of .America's financial rulers. There is no reason to
allow this double standard to exist.
THEREFORE, THE PBC IS MAKING AVAILABLE TO THE PRESS THE N.AMES AND HOME ADDRESSES
OF PROMINENT BUSINESS LEADERS IN EVERY COMMUNITY IN THE COUNTRY. IF YOU WOULD
LIKE THE LISTINGS OF KEY BUSINESS LEADERS IN YOUR AREA, PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE
WILL FORWARD THE LIST TO YOU.
The PBC believes that if corporate leaders can come directly into the homes of
millions of Americans each day through their TV and Radio advertising and program-
ming and in a thousand and one other ways Invade our personal lives, then we have
every right, under the First Amendment, to communicate directly with their homes
and families as well.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jeremy Rifkln
Ted Howard
(202) 833-9121
120
PEOPLES
BICENTENNIAL
COMMISSION
1346 Connecticut Avenue. NW
Washington. DC 20036
(202) 833-91 .;1
Dear Friend:
We are communicating with you because your husband Is one of the top
business leaders in the country. For that reason, we think you should
listen carefully to what we have to say.
No doubt you are aware of the recent revelations of widespread corruption
and criminality in the corporate boardrooms. It started with the Water-
gate Investigations when 17 major American corporations were forced to
admit illegal campaign contributions and payoffs. But that was merely
the tip of the iceberg. During the past three years, corporate scandals
have reached epic proportions. ITT was discovered to have worked for the
overthrow of the democratically elected government in Chile. Scores of
American multinational corporations have been implicated by the Justice
Department, the SEC and the Treasury Department in scandals involving
hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes, kickbacks and payoffs in this
country and abroad. Lockheed has already admitted paying out $202 million;
Northrop, $30 million; Exxon, $27 million; Tenneco, $12 million. In-
vestigators maintain that before the scandals subside, hundreds of Ameri-
can corporations will be exposed for similar practices.
This unprecedented crime epidemic has led one SEC official to remark, "We
now see corporate misdeeds being carried on in business to an extent that
Is sickening."
We think these corporate scandals put a special responsibility on your
family to ask some probing questions of your husband because its no longer
possible to argue that the rampant corporate criminality represents merely
isolated incidents or the aberrational behavior of a few perverted indi-
viduals. In fact, a recent survey by the prestigious Conference Board
found that half the executives surveyed said they would not hesitate to
make the same kind of payoffs if they felt it would help their company
make a sale.
Have you ever asked your husband which half of the survey he falls In?
Have you ever asked him if he or his colleagues or his firm have been in-
volved in criminal activity? Would your husband inform the authorities if
he was aware of illegal conduct among his friends and associates? Would
you inform the authorities if you uncovered such information?
Revolulionary AUtrnaHv<s for the Bictntenniat Ytart
121
For too long our Nation has applied a double standard of Justice on questions
of corporate crime vs. street crime. The American people should no longer
allow business leaders to hide under the veil of the corporation when it
comes to the proper administration of Justice.
We are deeply concerned over the criminal rampage that major corporate
leaders have embarked on. The new ethic of business immorality is poison-
ing the social fabric of our country and it must be stopped before it per-
vades every aspect of our life and turns us into a Nation of cutthroats and
thieves.
The Government is doing little or nothing to prosecute criminality in the
corporate boardrooms. The politicians are virtually silent about the matter.
The courts show little inclination to do more than slap a few wrists at best,
or, at worst, turn away from the problem altogether.
This leaves the responsibility up to you. Why? Because moral conduct starts
with the family unit. You and your family should be taking the necessary
steps now to make sure your own house is in order, spiritually and morally.
Isn't it time to start discussing the issues we've raised in this communi-
cation openly with your husband and family? What better time to begin then
v/hen your husband comes home this evening for dinner?
In the Spirit of '76,
Peoples Bicentennial Commission
122
[Transcript (excerpt) of tape recording sent by PBC to wives of corporate
executives]
Dear Friend: We are communicating with you because your husband is one
of the top business leaders in the Country. For that reason we think you should
listen carefully to what we have to say. No doubt you are aware of the recent
revelations of large spread corruption and criminality in the corporate board
rooms. It started with the Watergate investigations when 17 major American
corporations were forced to admit illegal campaign contributions and payoffs.
But, that was merely the tip of the iceberg. During the past three years, corporate
scandals have reached epic proportions. ITT was discovered to have worked for
the overthrow of the democratic re-elected government in Chile. Scores of American
multi-National corporations have been implicated by the Justice Department,
the FCC, and the Treasury Department, in scandals involving hundreds of millions
of dollars in bribes, kickbacks and payoffs in this countrv and abroad. Lockheed
has already admitted paving out $202,000,000.00, Northrop $30,000,000.00.
Exxon $27,'000,000.00, and Tenaco $12,000,000.00. Investigators maintain that
before the scandals subside, hundreds of American corporations will be exposed
for similar practices. This unprecedented crime epidemic has led one FCC official
to remark, "We now see corporate misdeeds being carried on in business to an
extent that it is sickening." We say these corporate scandals put a special responsi-
bility on your family to ask some probing questions of your husband because it
is no longer possible to argue that the rapid corporate criminality represents merely
isolated incidents for the aberrational behavior of a few perverted individuals
In fact, a recent survey by the prestigious Conference Board found that over half
the executive survey said that they would not hestitate to make the same kind of
payoff if they felt it would help their company make a sale. Have you ever asked
your husband which half of that survey he falls in? Have you ever asked him if
he or his colleagues or his firm have ever been involved in criminal activity?
Would your husband inform the authorities if he was aware of the illegal conduct
among his own friends and associates? Would you inform the authorities if you
uncovered such information? For too long our Nation has applied a double
standard of justice on questions of corporate crime versus street crime. The
American people should no longer allow business leaders to hide under the veil of
the corporation when it comes to the proper administration of justice. We are
deeply concerned over the criminal rampage that major corporation leaders have
embarked on. The new ethic of business immorality is poisoning the social fabric
of our country and it must be stopped before it pervades every aspect of our life
and turns us into a nation of cut throats and thieves. The government is doing
little or nothing to prosecute criminality in the corporate board rooms. The
politicians are virtually silent about the matter. The courts show little inclination
to do more than slap a few wrists at best, or at worst, turn away from the problem
altogether. This leaves the responsibility up to you. Why? Because moral conduct
starts with the family imit. You and your family should be taking the necessary
steps now to make sure that your own house is in order, spiritually and morally.
Isn't it time to start discussing the issues we raised in this communication openly
with your husband and your family? What better time to begin than when your
husband comes home this evening for dinner? In the spirit of 76, we are
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission.
123
PEOPLES
BICENTENNIAL April 9. i976
COMMISSION
1346 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 633-9121
Dear Mrs.
The PBC is offering $25,000 in cash to anyone who can provide us
with concrete information that leads directly to the arrest, prose-
cution, conviction and imprisonment of a chief executive officer of one
of America's Fortune 500 corporations for criminal activity relating to
corporate operations..
In addition, this week, we have sent personal letters to over 10,000
secretaries who work for major corporate executives and 13,000 Journal-
ists across the country, extending the same offer of $25,000 in cash.
This offer will extend through July 4, 1976.
If you have any further questions, or would like to provide ua with
information that you think is relevant, please drop us a line at PBC,
1346 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
In the spirit of '76,
The Peoples Bicentennial
Commission
Rtvelulionary Alltrnativti for ihi Bictnttnnial Ytari
124
I
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE;
PEOPLES
BICENTENNIAL
COMMISSION
1346 Connecticut Avenue, NW "CAMPAIGN CORPORATE EXPOSURE". PART 2;
Washington. DC 20036
(202)833-9121 PBC SENDS OUT ITS SECOND COMMUNICATION TO THE
FAMILIES OF AMERICA'S 8,000 TOP BUSINESS LEADERS.
Over 8,000 leading corporate families received the second In a series of personal
communications at their home addresses this week. Following up on the first message
that dealt with corporate scandals, criminal activity, and family responsibility,
this newest communique discusses tax loopholes for the rich, the great disparity in
wealth in America and the effects of industrial pollution on the lives of millions
of Americans. (See enclosed facsimile of the letters sent.)
Again, we have called upon the wives and children of America's business leaders to
begin discussing the issues raised in the letter with their husbands and friends.
We believe that questions of morality and good citizenship begin with the basic
family unit. Therefore, we are urging the families of America's business leaders
to focus their attention on some of the fundamental economic issues that effect their
own position, status and relationship with that of the rest of the families living in
America.
We are also once again calling upon the working press to exercise their responsibility
to the public by applying the same standards of rigorous investigation and public
reporting to corporate leaders as they do with elected officials and other prominent
Americans.
Certainly, enough evidence has been amassed over recent years to suggest that our
Nation's business leaders help shape, and often determine, basic decisions that
effect the general public. From the front cover stories in TIME and NEWSWEEK de-
tailing corporate scandals and criminality, to hearings before major Congressional
Committees concerning the power exercised by corporate leaders and wealthy families,
to the investigations by the Treasury Department, Justice Department and the SEC on
influence-peddling by major corporate lobbyists, it is no longer possible to argue,
with a straight face, that America's business leaders are still not to be treated
as public figures. They are public figures because what they do effects the general
public.
Therefore, the "free" press has an obligation to hold these people up to the same
light of public scrutiny and accountability as they do with other public figures.
AGAIN, THE PBC IS MAKING AVAILABLE TO THE PRESS THE NAMES AND HOME ADDRESSES OF
PROMINENT BUSINESS LEADERS IN EVERY COMMUNITY IN THE COUNTRY. IF YOU WOULD LIKE
THE LISTINGS OF KEY BUSINESS FAMILIES IN YOUR AREA, PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL
FORWARD THE LIST TO YOU.
As we stated in the first release on "Campaign Corporate Exposure," PBC believes
that if corporate leaders can come directly into the homes of millions of Americans
each day through their TV and Radio advertising and programming and in a thousand
and one other ways invade our personal lives, then we have every right, under the
First Amendment, to communicate directly with their homes and families as well.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jeremy Rifkin
Ted Howard
Call Toll Free 800-424-1130
125
March 30, 1976
PEOPLES
BICENTENNIAL
COMMISSION
1346 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202)833-9121
Dear Mrs.
We hope your family has begun to discuss some of the questions regarding corporate
immorality that we raised in our last communication to you.
As you probably know, the extent of corporate abuse of power goes well beyond the
question of strictly illegal activity.
Today, 200 giant corporations already own over two-thirds of the manufacturing assets
of the country. Heading up these corporate empires are a small group of nameless,
faceless men who have amassed enough power to virtually dominate American life,
from the aisles of the supermarket to the halls of Congress.
Your husband is a part of this small privileged business elite. That puts a special
responsibility on you and your family to speak up against corporate policies that
result in price-fixing, induced unemployment, environmental destruction, excessive
profiteering, unfair distribution of wealth and other abuses.
After all, you should remember that families like yours, benefit the most from the
policies pursued by America's giant corporations. At the same time millions of
other hardworking /\merlcang are the tragic victims of such policies. Just stop for
a moment to consider the facts.
Most Americans spend two and a half hours of their eight hour working day Just
to pay taxes, while 160,000 of America's wealthiest business families escaped
paying an average of $45,662 each in taxes last year (according to a recent
Treasury Department study) by taking advantage of special loopholes written
into the law for their benefit. Why don't you ask your husband whether he benefits
from such loopholes?
^sliile one per cent of the families in this country own A3% of the private wealth
of the nation, 60% of the working families are forced to live on under $10,700 a
year for a family of four with both parents working. Take a look around your home
and think about how luxuriously you live and then compare it with how the avemcc
family in America must live. According to a recent survey, the average family will
own a toaster that will last for 33 years, a refrigerator and range that will I.t.C
for 17 years, a vacuum cleaner that will last for lA years, and a TV set that wi'l
last for 10 years. On this typical family budget, the husband will buy a two year
old car and keep it for four years. He will buy one year-round suit every four V-^^"
and one top coat every eight and a half years. On his budget, he can afford to take hln
wife out to a movie four times a year. His two children are each allowed one movlo
per month. A total of $2.5A per person, per month is allowed for admission to all
other events, from football and baseball games to plays or concerts. The family b.xlRct
126
allows nothing whatsoever for savings. How would you like your family to have to get
along on that kind of budget?
Then there is the question of the healthy environment that families like yours can
. afford to live and vacation in, compared to the unsanitary and dangerous conditions
that many inner city working families are subjected to. Many Americans are exposed
to environraontal pollutants that can cause prolonged or terminal illness and a short
ening of life expectancy merely because the giant corporations refuse to spend the
additional funds necessary to stop their own industrial pollution of the environment.
When Cop business leaders consciously refuse to initiate such safeguards becnuae of
the expense involved, their greed and concern for profit directly benefit families
like yours, while directly injuring the health and safety of millions of others.
Industrial pollution doesn't just happen. It's a result of policies initiated by cor-
poratii loaders who control the basic decisions concerning manufacturing and production
in tliis country. Have your considered asking your husband (or finding out for yourself)
if his firm or those with whom he does business, are in any way involved with policies
that result in health hazards to the community?
'We hope you and your family will question your husband on these issues we have raised
as well as do your own investigating into some of the concerns that we have presented.
All of us are responsible for our fellow human beings. But an even greater responsi-
bility applies to families who are among the "privileged" financial elite of our coun
try. For you benefit most from the present economic policies that govern our society.
I
We hope you will think about all of this very carefully, and that you will continue
to discuss it with your family. If you would like some additional information relating
to the issues we have raised or would just like to chat, please drop us a line. We'd
be glad to Calk with you.
In the spirit of '76,
Peoples Bicentennial Commission
APPENDIX B
Exhibit No. 1
(Referred to on p. 43)
March 28, 197 J^.
People's Bicentennial Commission,
cio Liberty Hall,
Chicago, III.
Dear Friends: Some weeks ago I wrote and told you I was interested in
your commission and wanted more information as to how one can become more
involved in Bicentennial activities.
Also, as I plan to be in Washington In the not too distant future how do I get
in touch with your people there?
Hope I get an answer from this letter and I thank you in advance for sending
me information.
Sincerely,
(127)
128
Exhibit No. lA
(Referred to on p. 48)
PEOPLES
BICENTENNIAL
COMMISSION
MIDWEST OFFICE
130? S. Wiib^sh iIlljiul Slh. Fl.
Chicago, Illinois. 606^ ^^^ O A^. L,^C.O\,N
(3 12) Hi li3C\ — li.
^
A.
Mtui/,
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/tA-^ f/f?*'
t:^^
,^;^^--M*' /cZtcAj ^ /*» A^ ^Z4L.jL ^f'^-^^ «--t>--&^ ^<5£,^-e.-^-^
^^*»^ £4i^*<Uj. /rrU4X^ ^^^--rrjt.
Revolutionary Alltrnativcs for the Bicentennial Yean
129
Exhibit No. 2
(Referred to on p. 43)
an
open letter
to the
american
left
130
For the next few years, two most urgent questions for the American Left will
be: 1) how to parry the thrust of the fascist danger and 2) how to get started on
the AMERICAN road to socialism.
Some three decades ago, Sinclair Lewis, in "IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE!"
warned that not only CAN fascism happen, but when it does it will come wrapped
in the American flag and the trappings of patriotism. Incipient fascism uses this
approach everywhere with varying measures of success.
In the United States the new thrust of fascism is of course in part a response
to the rising tide of struggle and resistance by growing numbers of Americans —
in the first instance the rebellion of Black America and the growing militancy
of the student and anti-war movements. But it is also attributable in no small
part to mistakes and shortcomings of the American Left over a period of four
or five decades.
For nearly half a century (since the passing of Eugene Victor Debs) American
radicals have permitted the fascists and the reactionaries to pre-empt the mantle
of patriotism, the trappings and terminology of nationalism; to hide and distort
revolutionary American history and tradition; to paint false pictures of American
heroes. Meanwhile radicals preached social change and revolution to our people
in terms and tongues alien to America. For a long time it was Russian; then
more recently Chinese; and most recently Cuban Spanish! Result: the fascists
and reactionaries were handed the brush with which to smear revolutionary
ideas of social change as foreign, alien, vm-American. Worse still, it put radicals
on the defensive and made them feel alien to their own land and people. Littl.e
wonder that a year or so ago whena delegation of American radicals met with
representatives of the DRV and NLFln Bratislava, they were told: "The problem
with you American friends is that you have not yet found your identity; you do not
identify with the American people^:.."!
NATIONALISM AS A REVOLUTIONARY FORCE
In the Twenties and Thirties, theoreticians of the world radical movement
performed a heroic service in defining and analyzing nationalism and its role
as a revolutionary force in this century. Nationalism has since proved itself to be
an immensely powerful, nay, irresistible force in the formerly colonial countries.
But what of nationalism in older nations, in capitalist- imperialist countries ?
Must it of necessity be chauvinist and reactionary ? Or is there still a national
interest in these countries that cuts across class lines; that unites large sectors
of two or more classes; and that is consistently ignored, or threatened and
subverted, by the international-minded imperialists who have no flag but the
dollar sign and no loyalties except to their bank accounts ?
In view of what is happening now in Africa, Scotland, Wales, Quebec,
Czechoslovakia (!), and — above all for us — Puerto Rico and Black America,
the least one can say is that the problem of nationalism certainly deserves much
further study and attention from radicals.
Yet the average American radical winces when he hears the term "nationalism",
because he has come to accept the imperialist establishment's DEFINITION
of that term; and he is apt to dismiss the fiery political documents of
the American Revolution as "written by the bourgeoisie (or by slave-owners)"
(which of course misses the point completely!).
131
AMERICAN NATIONALISM AND REVOLUTION
If one accepts the proposition that there is an AMERICAN road to socialism,
that no social revolution can be "transplanted" or "grafted" onto American
society, then it is clear that the humanist- socialist transformation of snclpty_
in the United States can -come only as an_unfoldingjf the iinique history and the
unique experiences j)f the American nation, as a further development and_
flowering of the great American Revolution of 1776. 1776 WAS NOT simply an
event begun and ended in the Eighteenth Century. The sparks struck 193 years ago
are to this very day lighting revolutionary fires, as national liberation movements
around the world take 1776 as their model. And the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam incorporated most of the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence
in its Constitution, Isn't it time those sparks struck a few fires in the thinking
of American radicals ? Surely the slogan "A Hundred, Two Hundred BOSTON
TEA PARTIES!" should have more meaning for us than parroting "Two, Three
Vietnams!"
If American radicals need examples, they can look to two of the world's most
revolutionary regimes, those of North Vietnam and Cuba, both of which preach
the IDENTITY of their present socialist revolutions with their struggles for
independence. In October 1968, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first
uprising against Spain, Fidel Castro declared: "There is only ONE Cuban
Revolution, and it began in 1868, and we are carrying it on today!"
Is it possible that there is only ONE American Revolution, that it began in 1776.
and that, in 1969_Americans have the revolutionary task of . bringing^HAT
revolution up to date ? American radicals, who^re reallxJ^merJc.^ juid^really
radical,^ MUST accept the proposition that Twentieth Century: Americanism IS
humanist- socialisqi-1 And that as Anierican radicals, thev are the sons and
daughters not of Marx, Engels. Lenin. ^lao^ Fidel^ or Che, but of Paine. Adams.
Attiicks, Jefferson,^ Wedemeyer. Turner, Lincoln, Debs, Haywood. Hill. Einstein,
Steinmetz. the Rosenbergs, and Malcolm^,
PATRIOTISM AND CLASS
If there IS a national interest in the United States that must be defended against
betrayal by the imperialist establishment, then of course the WORKING CLASS
and poor farmers must of necessity be the best defenders of that national interest
— just as the workers and peasants are the best defenders of the national interest
in the formerly colonial countries fighting for their independence.
And in the U,S,, the Black people who constitute a nation within our nation,
the Puerto Rican people who are our colonials, Mexican-Americans and American
Indians, and large sectors of the alienated intellectuals, students, professionals,
and even small entrepreneurs, ..all are natural allies of the working class and
poor farmers.
132
BLACK AMERICA AND NATIONALISM
Black America has found its road to liberation in revolutionary Black
Nationalism. It has correctly rejected the slogan of integration now, recognizing
that there can be no integration between entities as unequal as Black America and
white America, that eventual integration can come only when the Black Nation
has achieved the full flowering of its culture, its nationhood and dignity. Here too,
the Black working class is becoming more and more aware of the special role
it must play in the movement for Black Liberation.
Similarly, the (white) American nation can merge with and become part of
a liberated world community only when it has cast off its own oppressors and
gone through the period of the flowering of its own revolutionary nationalism
that parallels that chosen by its Black brothers.
A revival and up-dating of the "Spirit of '16" by the American Left and a
revamping of Left theory and practice in terms of that spirit would not only
defeat the fascist danger, but would create the conditions for an OFFENSIVE
by the Left that woyld speed the dav of the arrival of the American people at the
next milestone in their history. ..a humanist- socialist society.
And far from being chauvinist, or even narrowly nationalist, this revived
American spirit would identify with the great humanist rebellion now shaking the
world both Communist and capitalist... the great rebellion of students, clergymen,
intellectuals^ workers, and great masses of others against dehumanized and"
oppressive institutions. '
Tfy> above ideas presented for your consideration in such rambling,
fragmented, and unscholarly fashion are not the product of a socialist scholar,
but of one whose only claim for consideration is an abiding faith in revolutionary
ideas and in the American people, and some forty years of radical activity,
mosily as an agitator. If with this effort he has turned to agitating the Left
instead of non-Left Americans, it is out of the terrible sense of frustration
many nf i^p have experienced in the past ten or fifteen years. Maybe the only
merit to the presentation of these ideas is that they badly need to be demolished.
Anynnp intprested enough to do the demolition, or to participate in discussions
of the possible usefulness of such ideas, or possible organization of a bulletin or
periodical to promote them, is invited to communicate with Johnny Appleseed,
POSTOFFICE BOX 50393
CICSRO, ILLINOIS 60650
133
Exhibit No. 3
(Referred to on p. 44)
ONE, TWO, THREE
. . . MANY SDS's
(A Symposium)
"Meetings also should not go on too long:' —Chairman Mao
I MoreMaoTlianihou
— PaulGhisman
n Hand-Me-Down Marxism
AndThe New Left
— David Horowitz
IHNewLeft : OldTraps
— ToddGitlin
134
MMIEMAOTHAN THOU
THE CHICAGO COLISEUM IS what the creator of the
word "dank" had in mind. A cave in the soot brick
of South Wabash Avenue, its bare cement walls
enclose a constantly unpleasant, humid atmosphere
appropriate to the roller derbies and wrestling matches which
the coliseum normally hosts. Naked Ught bulbs suspended from
a high ceiling reveal cracked paint, rusted pipes and a once
painted frieze hanging from a dark, encompassing balcony.
Here, the only place in the Midwest that would have them,
delegates trom hundreds of chapters of Students for a Demo-
cratic Society (SDS) met for the orgamzalion's ninth annual
convention. When it was over and the smoke had cleared, there
were two groups of equal size, each denouncing the other and
claiming to be the "r^al" sns.
Since the uprising at Columbia University in April of last
year, SDS has gained prominence as the largest and most
militant nationally-based left student group in the country. In
the last year, the hottest in history for the nation's campuses,
the 70,000-member organization has played a major and highly
visible role in campus protests against complicity with the war
in Viet-Nam and in actions aimed at opening universities to
excluded third world youth.
Yet SDS was not the entire movement. In fact it wasn't
even the largest part of the movement. Blacks, chicanos, and
other third world groups have played much larger and riskier
roles than has SDS. In many parts of the country the whites
who were involved in the anti-war and draft resistance move-
ments were in no way affihated with SDS. The demonstrations
around the Democratic Party Convention last year were
organized without the participation of SDS, although some
members did join in at the last minute.
But SDS is a prime target of the reaction. Senator McClel-
lan's Permanent Investigations Subcommittee conducted a
pubhc investigation of the orgamzation and identitied "leading"
members around the nation; Attorney General Mitchell
has announced his own investigation. All over the country
SDS members face jail sentences tor political actions. In
Chicago, the National Office (NO) was raided on the pretense
of a fire alarm. When no fire was found, police ransacked the
place and arrested everyone there on charges of "interfering
with an officer." The convention itself had to be postponed
tyfo weeks when campus after campus turned down requests
fpr the use of thetf facilitie? '^'^'j n p" 'hr n"''"n''i ihil Ihli
Finally, the National Utiice was able to rent the Chicago
Coliseum, five blocks away from last summer's battle in front
of the Hilton. There, faced with all kinds of questions and
problems concerning repression and the direction SDS would
take for the next year, the various factions got together and
threw Red Books at each other.
What wasn't discussed in Chicago was much more relevant
than what was. No one spoke to the realities. No one tried to
analyze the crisis of American imperialism, currently threat-
ened by liberation struggles abroad and by its own deft
destruction of the American Dream at home. The increasing
"mihtarization of the country was ignored. No one presented a
perspective on how the movement would function in a police
state. The economic condition of the nation— inHation, tight
money and a surtax falling on those least able to afford it—
was never discussed.
Finally, mundane questions like: "How can SDS keep from
isolating itself on the nation's campuses?" "How can it relate
to returning Viet-Nam war veteraps?" and "How should it
approach resistance people, pacifists and other less militant
movement people?" were not only unanswered^Jaut-ungakcd.
Women's Liberation, the role of students, the role of workers,
the Black Panther Party, and the anti-war movement, when
discussed, were used as weapons in the final ideological show-
down between the two main factions— the Progressive Labor
Party and the National Office— or as afterthoughts.
FROM rrs BIRTH. SDS HAS BEEN 3 widc-open organization,
excluding no one. holding to no fixed ideology or
"line." and not binding local chapters to a national
policy. SDS's openness has led to its free-swinging
image. It burst on the scene in 1960— bright, new and full of
hope. Left, but not saddled with the sterile Stalinism of the
Old Left, SDS projected the qualities of an organization which
would frame its revolutionary theory according to American
experience and would be much more Ukely to succeed in
America than would a left run from the Kremhn.
After nine years, though, things have become much more
serious, and the left needs more than just looseness. SDS has
become engaged in some major fights, and members are taking
considerable risks in a country where building a park is a
capital offense. Members want an organization behind them
with disciphne and an idea of where it is going. SDS has not
provided this; in some areas it has served as Uttle more than
a debating society.
The Progressive Labor Party (PL), on the other hand, is a
Hig>-ipiiried_Maxxi^l=Leni"iLt organization run on democratic-
centralist principles. PLers claim to be Maoists and revolution-
ary communists. In 1966, after its attempt to build a mass
anti-war organization (the May 2nd Movement) was called
off, PL began to work within already existing SDS chapters.
To facilitate this, they set up a front group, the Workpr-Siudeni
Alliance (WSA). Their purpose was to influence SDS policy
and to recruit cadre for the party.
For a variety of reasons, the WSA appealed to a number of
SDSers. To students who were looking for a militant, dis-
ciplined organization, who were tired of hassling and squab-
bling with fellow leftists, who generally saw a need to relate
to the working class or who wanted all questions of ideology
answered for them at the outset, PL was a welcome influence.
As a result, WSA drew many SDSers from places like Harvard,
Boston, Yale, New York, Berkeley and San Francisco State.
PL considers itself to be the most advanced revolutionary
co'mmunist party anywhere in the world. This means they've
got all of the answers, and anyone who has even a slight dis-
agreement with them is either a "racist" or an "anti-com-
munist." The NLF is "selling out" the Vietnamese people and
the U.S. anti-war movement by negotiating with the U.S. All
nationalism is reactionary. The Black Panther Party is
nationalist ; therefore, it is reactionary. The Panthers' breakfast
for children program is bourgeois reformism because the food
IS "donated" by capitalists. Open admission demands of third
135
world groups should be opposed because going to college will
make third world people less revolutionary. Most PLers, how-
ever, go to college themselves.
The "line" on nationalism came down only a few months
ago. At San Francisco State, PL had labeled anyone who
dared criticize the Third World Liberation Front strike de-
mands in any way as "racist." But when the word came that
the line had changed, PL turned around and denounced more
than half the TWLF demands. PL has bitterly attacked SDS
support for third world actions at Queens College, CCNY and
Columbia. At Berkeley, PL denounced the People's Park
effort as a bourgeois grab for privilege, stealing free parking
space from the workers.
PL did bring the question of the working class into SDS, an
addition which the SDS National Office at first welcomed.
PL's perspective sharpened debate. But as PL's strength
grew, and as it interfered with SDS's actions around the
country, the NO began to view it as a real threat. Instead of
attacking PL on the basis of its practice, however, the National
Officers tried to prove that ihey were the real leftists. The NO
became more Maoist than PL. In two years SDS went from
discussions of anti-draft unions to pseudo-Maoist debates on
the right of the black colony to secede after the revolution !
So THE NATIONAL OFFICE formed the Revolutionary Youth
Movement (RYM), which promptly split into two
RYMs and presented the convention with two instant
theories, mostly taken from thin air. Although the two
positions got at bits of reality here and there, their main pur-
pose was to engage and defeat PL in fierce ideological combat.
RYM 1, led by Inter-organizational Secretary Bernadine
Dohrn, Mark Rudd, Bill Ayers and several others, presented
a resolution entitled, "You don't need a weatherman to know
which way the wind blows." (They didn't credit Bob Dylan.)
You didn't need a weatherman, but you needed super-human
stamina to read through the ten thousand words of left-cliche
prose, and you still wouldn't know which way the wind was
blowing unless you left the cohseum to check. Then you'd have
to stand in line to be searched on your way back in.
The "weatherman" proposal begins with a quote from Lin
Piao which states that the main contradiction in the world
is between imperialism and the national liberation struggles
against it. The main battles, the proposal argues, will be
outside our borders. We, as revolutionaries, should see
ourselves as part of the world proletariat, their representatives,
a fifth column within the U.S. The older white workers are too
bought-off to play a vanguard role. (Besides, they are only
a drop in the bucket in the world scheme.) The youth are less
bought-off, and should be organized in support of third world
movements. Much of the proposal is an answer to PL; much
is infantile Marxism. Some, however, is good in that it relates
to young people; but even then it speaks only of youth acting
in support of, or "taihng" behind, movements of others.
PIrThe RYM 2 proposal immediately appeals to the reader
because it is shorter than "weatherman." Backed by SDS
National Secretary Michael Klonsky and Marv Treiger of the
Revolutionary Union (RU), a Bay Area Maoist group, it also
^has the advantage of speaking to praclice.,^It proposes a
revitalization of the anti-war movement, new efforts to reach
the industrial proletariat, and a new level of militancy in the
movement. But RYM 2, like "weatherman" and PL, sees only
an auxiliary role for young people.
The proposals themselves, although hardly works of revo-
lutionary art, were on a much higher level than was the floor
debate. Most of the interchange was grim chanting, as if
invoking the patron saint of one's faction would serve to win
over the other faction.
PL would chant: "Mao, Mao, Mao-tse Tung," to which the
RYM people would grimly reply: "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh."
It was deadly serious business, with both sides waving Red
Books in the air and pounding chairs on the cement floor to
accent the chants. When not chanting "Mao, " PL was always
smashing something. "Smash Racism," "Smash Revisionism,"
and "Smash Opportunism" were among their favorites.
One of the first crucial votes was on the question of the
agenda. It was important only in that it showed the relative
strength of the PL-WSA faction in the convention. The NO
didn't limit its efforts against PL to ideological struggle. It also
tried manipulation, which is not so horrible in itself, but the
manipulation attempted was so blatant that it drove people
into PL's arms. PL responded by charging that it was "per-
secuted" and denied free speech. (PL usually opposes free
speech, which is "liberal.") The convention turned out only
a little less democratic than the 1968 Democratic Convention.
The NO denied PL the use of New Left Notes to publish
its resolutions, and denied them the use of the SDS mimeo to
put out leaflets. The chairman and security squad were both
loyal to the National Office.
The NO's agenda proposed that most of the time be taken
up by panels— a plan which would enable them to put forth
a coherent RYM line, while limiting the PL speakers. PL
proposed a counter-agenda with fewer panels and more
workshops. (Workshops were more democratic.) Klonsky
replied that workshops gave each of 80 different sects a chance
at the innocent new members who couldn't look after them-
selves and was booed. The PL agenda won. Panic set in.
Suddenly the differences between "weatherman" and RYM 2
vanished. PL, the arch-enemy, had won its first vote.
Later the NO won a vote (by nine people out of 1100) to
let a RYM member who had worked with the Red Guard ii
China speak to the body. At this point, John Levin, a 6' 5'
250-pound PLer from S.F. State , got up to the mike and
accused the RYM 2 speaker of having been kicked out of the
Red Guard for cowardice. RYM people stood up, waved the
Red Book, banged chairs on the ground and chanted: "Ho,
Ho, Ho Chi Minh, Dare to struggle. Dare to win." A comrade
walked up to Levin and whispered, "Do the one about the
red flag against the red flag, John." Levin waited until the
noise level dropped; then, dramatically pointing at the Ohio-
Michigan group which had led the chanting, stated solemnly,
"Chairman Mao teaches that there are those among us who
would wave the Red Book to oppose the Red Book I" Cheers
of "Mao" went up from the PL section.
This sort of thing took up three days— the shouting, the
rhetoric, a few near fist fights and the bitter, nearly equal
division of SDS into two groups which clearly hated each
other so much that they could not work together.
Once I walked outside to get something to eat at a nearby
snack bar. A worker (a real worker!), potentially sympathetic
to the movement, sal down next to me and asked me what
was going on in the convention. He had read about the fight
in the newspapers, but couldn't understand it. What could I
^
«(:^cx^ Axr-eo^ ^AJu. Cb€i«, S<!e^ ^C^f ^-^S
136
say? I mumbled something, and managed to change the sub-
ject. It was a different world— the real one outside— from the
one SDS had constructed inside the coliseum, blocked off by
cement and security guards.
r
and.
INALLY, AFTER THREE DAYS, the Split Came. It was
during a debate over a resolution on racism. Illinois
Panther Defense Mmister Bobby Ru^b-h nl ml i il fw
and received permr inn In rpniil. He denounced PC
in a somewhat arrogant intrusion into the aitairs oi
SDS, practically demanded its expulsion. (Earher a Panther
had been booed when he made some remarks about "pussy
power" and said that women had a strategic position in the
revolution— on their backs.) Rush was booed; PLer Jeff
Gordon took the mike and denounced the NO for manipulat-
ing the Panthers into coming on stage. That was hardly likely;
the manipulation had been the other way around.
The chanting then grew to a frenzied level. Mark Rudd
stood up and asked for an adjournment. "We've degenerated
to faction fighting, shouting slogans, and chanting. No one's
mind is being changed and no real discussion can take place.
We [the NO] have approached the situation badly and made
many mistakes. We need time to talk things over among
ourselves." But the crowd was out for blood and voted down
the adjournment, two to one.
Then Bernadine Dohrn led a confused walk-out. At first
perhaps a quarter of the crowd followed her. Then it became
clear that one had to choose sides and that to remain was to
side with PL. Eventually, half the people went into another
wing of the coliseum. Though nobody knew it yet, SDS was
"ousting" PL. Jusl like Trotsky ousted Stalin.
The splitters met as a group and in caucuses for 24 hours.
Freed from the necessity of unity-in-the-face-of-PL, the fac-
tions flowered. Some independents didn't like the NO or
RYMs any better than PL. This included the Independent
Socialist Club which can't relate to Mao (or any successful
revolutionary), and SDS groups such as Boston. Brooklyn,
Madison, S. F. State Joe Hill Caucus, Berkeley and Stanford.
All had been involved in significant actions during the year
and didn't see how any of the theories being expounded
related to the real world. AU but Stanford faced strong PL
chapters in their areas and were in favor of dealing with PL
on the basis of its practice, and not its adherence to abstract
principles. But this was only a quarter of the splitters. The
majority was in the "weatherman" group, whose nucleus was
in the Ohio and Michigan regions, geographically close to the
convention and the National Office.
On Saturday night the body passed a motion by Bill Ayers n"
of Michigan that PL be excluded because it didn't support
the NLF, North Viet-Nam, Nonh Korea, Cuba. China, and
(yes I) Albania— also because it didn't support black and
third world movements in the U.S. The motion expelled
PL, not because of its actual sabotaging of local SDS projects,
but because of its positions on what, to Americans, are largely
abstract questions. Now anyone who doesn't support Albania
is out of SDS! Some people in the convention undoubtedly
had never even heard of Albania.
Later that night, the convention met as a unit for the last
time. The splitters stood up in the aisles, separated by the
security squad from the PL-WSAers. Bernadine Dohrn read
the resolution expelling PL and was booed by the PLers.
"Shame, Shame, Shame," they chanted, pointing at Bernadine.
No one took the obvious cue to identify the source of PL's
politics and chant, "Guilt! Guilt! Guilt!" at them.
The RYM people then walked out, to find that their tires
had been slashed (by the workers?). Meanwhile Jeff Gordon
announced to the PL-WSA crowd, "We've just taken over
the most important organization in America!" This might be
true, but the only ones left to be taken over were themselves.
They then walked out to find that the vandals hadn't appre-
ciated the subtlety of the debate and had slashed their tires too.
On Sunday, the splitters again met separately. A statement
of principles was submitted which, while agreeable to both
RYMs, was totally unreadable. It supported revolutionary
movements and armed struggle within and outside the U.S..
condemned male chauvinism and anti-communism, and called
for socialism. It didn't have the excuse of being an internal
document; phrased in Maoist jargon, it would have gone out
as the official statement of SDS. In one of the most hopeful
actions of the convention the delegates refused to pass the
resolution with only two hours debate.
Finally, as delegates were already leaving, something real
was discussed— but almost as an afterthought.^DS^which
had too long ignored the anti-war movement (after practically
starting it with the 1965 march on Washington), called for an
anti-war, pro-NLF demonstration to coincide with the Chicago
Fieht trial. It was the first national action called by SDS in
four years. Mark Rudd (who describes himself as a "symbol
of the movement") was elected National Secretary, Jeff Jones
is the new Inter-organizational Secretary and Bill Ayers is
educational secretary, completing a "weatherman" sweep of
national offices.
THERE ARE THINGS HAPPENING in the U"'tgd States in
"1969 that Marx didn't foresee in 1869, that Lemn
didn't>tleal with in 1917 and that Mao didn't predict
in 1949. So why are their works the ultimate and final
aiithnrilY in rn|[- rfyp'"""" ''
As the pressure mounts in the movement and people seek
the easiest path, there is a tendency to slip into dogma-
abstract, unintelligible, and obscure— as opposed to theory
deduced from concrete conditions and applicable in real
programs. Theory should serve to expand the base of the
movement, to make it more relevant, militant and effective in
actual practice. It should not be formed to score points off
someone less "pure." Such internal faction fights can derail
the movement and insulate it in a false world.
SDS-all of it: PL and both RYMs-left out any mention
of white youth as a revolutionary force for themselves. Yet,
among whites, that is what is happening. Why should they be
only a tail on someone else's movement, a white auxiliary
to the Black Panthers? One would think the Panthers would
prefer allies who are in it for themselves and not guilt-ridden
successors to the civil rights liberals who left when things got
hot. Moreover, if I want to suffer for my guilt, I'll join the
Catholic Church. Most young people in the movement are
in it for themselves; otherwise they wouldn't be risking long
jail terms and— as in the People's Park struggle— getting shot.
RYM may have some potential now that it no longer needs
to~be artificially banded together around a forced ideology
in order to defeat PL. There i^a chance that a genuine youth
movement can be built. It w6n't be if RYM continues in the
direction it recently took in an NYU post-convention battle
with PL (rocks thrown, a fire hose used, ten wounded, police
called in to restore order). Such actions, if they become the
norm in left politics, will only isolate the left in a shell of its
own creation, and will never succeed"tfi building a movement
whose militancy is directed against the real enemy.
137
HAND ME DOWN MARXISM
AND THE NEW LEFT
THE RAFTERS OF THE CHICAGO COLISEUM had hardly
ceased to reverberate with the chants of the rival
factions, when the ghost of Karl Marx was being
heaped with blame for the SDS debacle. "Alas."
mourned establishment pundits in ill-concealed triumph, "the
New Left has finally gone the primrose way of the Old. Marx-
ism has at last cursed it with factional wars and historical
irrelevance. The apostles of ultra-democratic revolution and
'ftower to the people' (the most incendiary notion in the
modern world) have shown themselves ready, if inept, practi-
tioners of the art of political manipulation. The idol-smashing
revolutionary vanguard has again been revealed as a latter-day
religious cult prostrating itself before patron sajnts and over-
seas meccas, while suppressing the heresy of thought with
mind-gluing incantations from holy scriptures. R.I. P."
But the smug obituaries are, to say the least, premature. The
"movement" is first of all larger than any of its organizations.
The virility of the New Left, the sheer vitahty of its actions and
the deep, deep roots of its culture of rebellion will surely
bypass the martinets of any bible-toting, icon-worshiping
elite, should such a group seek to impose its Law— whether
from the closeted cells of a Maoist sect or through the once
open forum of SDS. For the time being at least, this is still
the revolution that can't be taken over.
Nonetheless, the still unfolding fate of SDS— until now the
central organization of (white) student struggle— cannot
remain a matter of indifference to the radical movement from
which It draws its strength and which it, in turn, inspires. Too
much of the tried and tested leadership, too much of the best
and most militant energies of the left are caught up in the
current enthrallment of SDS for the outcome not to have
significance for the movement as a whole.
What IS at the source of SDS's descent into a politics at
once so claustrophobic and incomprehensible as to virtually
insure the isolation and defeat of those who adopt it? A
politics so antagonistic to the imaginative, open spirit and
creative action that has informed and powered the New Left
since its emergence from the ashes of the Old a decade ago?
(The present vanguard seems to have forgotten that the New
Left had to midwife its own birth precisely because the old
line toeing, Lemn/Stalin/Mao-quoting vanguard had finally
encased itself in a sectarian, sterile solitude where it had only
its own self-righteousness for company.)
One can readily appreciate why liberals would rush to
attribute the difficulties of America's New Left (and the demise
of the Old) to "Marxism." Liberalism's Great American
Celebration of the Fifties has all but disappeared in the Great
American Disintegration of the Sixties. The bankruptcy of
the liberal world view has become more and more self-evident
with each new stage of the social crisis. Who can still put
credence in the basic tenets of the postwar liberal faith : the
essential harmony and pluralistic democracy of America's
"affluent" society, the alleged solution of the fundamental
problems of the industrial revolution, the end of class-based
struggle and its revolutionary ideologies? If the new generation
has absorbed one lesson, it has been that of the vacuity of
liberal analysis, the hypocrisy of liberal preachment and the
collusion of liberal practice in the imperialist and racist world
system of U.S. corporate capital.
How lucid Marxism— with its focus on the inequities and
irrationalities of the status quo— now looks in comparison to
the soothing obfuscations of the liberal mind. For what is
Marxism but the recognition of the class pivot of history and
the class basis of social oppression, coupled with a "clear
commitment to one side of the social struggle: the side of the
oppressed against their oppressors? Far from being a handicap,
the discovery of Marxism by the movement has put within its'
grasp the possibility ol becoming a serious revolutionary lorce"
for the first time. A long-range perspective on real social
forces (not illusory promises, superficial harmonies and surface
stabilities) is essential to the development and success of any
movement for social change and transformation, and it is
Marxism above all other ideologies that has shown itself
capable of providing such a perspective for the capitalist era.
But there is Marxism and there is Marxism. A Marxism
which is developed in a concrete social context; which is
flexible, open, and unafraid to re-think its revolutionary
perspectives according to specific conditions; and which
fashions its language as a means of communication, analysis
and mobilization rather than employing it merely as rituahstic
invocation, can be just the powerful instrument that a revo-
lutionary movement requires!
But there is also Marxism of the hand-me-down variety,
where an ideological perspective and vocabulary developed
in a different epoch or a different political-cultural environ-
ment is transposed whole and adopted as an all-embracing
wisdom. This attempt to don the ideological cloth of the
victims of imperialism and their vanguard may satisfy many
egos and asiuage much guilt, but it doesn't help to build
radical constituencies and revolutionary forces in the United
States. Yet such a direction appears to be developing in SDS,
where both major factions at the Chicago convention spoke
in the language of Maoism and put forth a Maoist model of
the world revolutionary process as their own.
The self-styled Marxist-Leninist-Maoists of SDS would do
well to remember that the New Left grew out of two bank-
ruptcies—not just Uberalism, but old-line Marxism as well.
The failure of Marxist (or Marxist-Leninist, or Marxist-
Trotskyist) vanguard parties to build revolutionary movements
in the advanced capitahst countries is an hisioric fact that no
revolutionary can afford to ignore. The "Marxist-Leninist"
groups which exist in these countries have either isolated
themselves as sterile sects, or transformed themselves into
basically reformist organizations like the Italian and French
Communist parties. A careful analysis of these failures will
show that hand-me-down Marxism and overseas mecca-
watching played a significant role in each.
CAN MAOISM, THE NEW VOGUE IN SDS ideology, itself
provide a reliable guide to the causes of the impasse
in Western revolutionary Marxism? There is httle
reason to think so. According to Maoist theory, the
key to all contemporary developments in the international
revolutionary movement is Khrushchev's denunciation of
69-239 O - 76 - 10
138
Stalin in 1956, which marks the emergence of "modern revi-
M'onism" and its doctrmes of "peacetul coexi^jfrn'!-' ""^
"neaceful transition" to socialil^Mm certain "favorable' cir-
cumstances). But the historical record shows tnat the relormism
of the Western Communist parties (not to mention most of
those in the Third World) predates Khrushchev's denuncia-
tion of SlaUn by at least two and probably three decades, as
does the promulgation of the so-called "modern revisiomst"
docuine of peaceful coexistence between the systems.
Of course, this is not merely a case of error in historical
interpretation on the part of the Chinese. The fact is that the
Chinese Communist Party, in order to pursue its ideological
struggle with the Kremlin, has deliberately re-written the
history of even its own movement to obscure the role of Stalin
both in obstructing the Chinese Revolution and in transform-
ing the Communist parties in Europe and elsewhere into
reformist organizations.
A .hporv such as Maoism, in which the answers to key
n.iestions are based on the re-writing of history, can hardly ,
nrnvide a sonnd guide to rpvnii.imnarv practice m the lontj,
run Sooner or later the manipulation of facts will lead to a
gap which cannot be bridged by administrative measures and
historical legerdemain. I'erhaps the gap will not be as large as
that which developed in the Stalin era and which discredited
and disoriented a whole revolutionary generation in the
West However, the very existence of the gap will prove
crippling to a party which tries to build a revolutionary pro-
gram across it, for truth is a basic weapon in the revolutionary
arsenal just as the abiUty to grasp real social relationships and
forces IS its greatest ctr^ngih A revolutionary movement
.hr.v^.. nn truth iust as surely as a ruling class lives by deception.
The penchant for ideological manipulation is not peculiarly
Chinese To some extent, any revolutionary party which
achieves power in an underdeveloped country must itself
become a ruling stratum. The problems of industriahzation.
education and democratization (including the liberation of
internal nationalities) still lie before it, and it must deal with
these problems in the face of encirclement and armed hostility
from imperialist forces. Moreover, the urban proletariat in
such a country is itself so underdeveloped as to be incapable
of providing the leadership prescribed for it in the classic
Marxist conception. Historically, therefore, the revolutionary
party has tended to substitute itself for the revolutionary
classes and, as a consequence, to resort to the techniques of
manipulation and deception reminiscent of (but by no means
equivalent to) the techniques used by the ruling classes of
old (The practice tends to vary; in some revolutionary
countries, like Cuba, the level of revolutionary candor has
been extraordinarily high ; in others such as Russia, the reverse
has been true.) In any event, because of these distortions, the
attempt to transplant uncritically such revolutionary ideol-
ogies into the revolutionary movement in the United States
serves to weaken the movement in a profound way.
A further element of distortion in the official ideologies of
underdeveloped revolutionary regimes is introduced by the
contradictions arising from the conservative character of the
nation-state itself, a factor which has received little attention
from Marxist theoreticians to date. Thus China's support for
the reactionary military dictatorship m Pakistan (and its
cilence during the repression of working-class strikes and
student demonstrations after the fall of Ayub Khan) may be
understandable from the point of view of the state interests
of China and the diplomatic support it received from the
Ayub regime; but from the point of view of the international
revolutionary movement, which Peking aspires to lead, it can
only be seen in a very different light.
These are not academic points. The "weatherman" state-
ment of the majority faction in the new SDS leadership
rnnn-PI .) is built afound the strategic concept of "people's
war" as laid down by China's Lin Piao. The concept envisages
a united people's front of third world hberation forces
encircling the principal metropolis of imperialism-the United
States. The concept is derived from China's own revolution,
which was fought as a national war of liberation against the
Japanese and progressed from its peasant base in the country-
side to the towns.
The inadequacy of such a concept for a world characterized
by uneven levels of development in which nationalism and its
offspring, the nation-state, are still vital historical factors needs
no emphasis. One has only to look at the contradiction between
China's policy and Pakistan's revolution, or even more
obviously at the Sino-Soviet split (neither the Soviet Union
nor the Sino-Soviet split receives any mention in the 15,000-
word global analysis called "weatherman") to see how abstract
and unrealistic such a projection can be.
No doubt, a consistent perspective in the Maoist vein can
still be constructed by ignoring the tensions between revolu-
tionary policy and raison tT^tat, and by assigning the Soviet
Union to the imperialist camp (a ploy which makes a mirage
both of the arms race between Russia and the U.S. and
of their military support for opposing sides in revolutionary
struggles such as in Viet-Nam and Cuba). There are obviously
more things on revolutionary earth than are dreamt of in
Maoist and "weatherman" philosophy; things, moreover,
which a revolutionary movement ignores at its peril.
The main consequence so far of SDS's new-found orienta-
tion is its essentially fifth-column mentality and its largely
negative vision of revolution in its home environment. It is
not surprising that Lin Piao and the Chinese should see the
struggle against U.S. imperialism in negative terms (get off
our backs), but the transposition of this attitude to the sup-
posed revolutionary vanguard inside the imperialist powers
renders it self-defeating, not to say absurd. Thus the "weather-
man" program in effect proposes approaching American
workers with the argument that everything they possess is
plundered from the Third World (a false proposition in any
case: it is the imperialists and not the workers who benefit
from imperialism), and that a revolution should be made in
this country so that they can give it back.
No revolution was ever built on a negative vision. M oreover,
there is no reason even to attempt to build the American
revolution as a negative act, a program of social demolition. At
a time when the industrial engine has reached a point in its
development where it opens up a vista of material plenty and
free time (i.e., freedom) for all, America's imperialist system
saddles its people and all mankind with militarism, war, poUu-
tion, deprivation, exploitation, racism and repression. Amgnsa.
now possesses the means to a humane, liv^hlp, dpmncratic
fiiti.rp for all its citizens hut onlv if thev are readv to SPl7f, the
means of production and overthrow the svs'rr -^^'^^ ^""t-
nates their lives just as surely as it dominates the lives of
ihn^P ,n the Third World ff^Q suffer under its aPPrfS-jinP aPtl.
rule. That is the revolutionary foundation and the interna-
tionalist bond as well. It is certainly true that the liberation
of the Third World will hasten die liberation of the U.S. But it
is no less true that the American revolution is the kev to the
liberation of mankind. This is the insight that was missing in
Chicago;let us hope that it returns to SDS before long.^^
139
NEW LEFT: OLD TRAPS
THE NEW LEFT OF THE SIXTIES Was Specifically of the
American Sixties. It was born in action and vision-
action to create a decently responsible life in the 20th
century; vision to recover the nation's soul from the
bankrupt imitative leftism and the end-of-ideology liberalism
of the gray Fifties. Instead of the soapbox harangue, patient
everyday work kvVA people; instead of frozen hierarchy or-
ganization by real contributions, participation, democracy
"Put your body on the line" and "let the people decide" were
rallying cries from the Mississippi Delta to Berkeley and the
Newark ghetto. New generations, born into affluence and
cynicism, rattling around in the hollowness of the American
Century, learned that the world was m revolution and that
American power was finaUy the enemy of all dreams discov-
ered that blacks wanted out of their chains and felt unself-
conscious in demanding that the society conform to their
vision of a civilization beyond scarcity and in beginning to
be that vision (traces of it at least), themselves.
The Good Old Days weren't all that good, although people
did seem to care more about each other then. The New Uft
was eUtist, narrowly built on the education acquired in the
hated but elite educational factory itself. It was self-righteous
and vague enough in its rhetoric to see the slogans of fort
Huron and the Free Speech Movement co-opted by the Peace
Corps and the university pacification programs ; it was tentative
at a time when everything began to cry for clear explanations
The New Left had to discard its lingering illusions of
American flexibihty with every broken black body, butchered
Vietnamese and broken white head. The radical disappoint-
ment with which we began the decade, the bitter discovery
that America had defaulted on her own liberal Drom^e^ h;.H
to yield to something that felt like a revnlutionarv imn«Tj,|iYf
Suddenly, in the middle of the decade there was a mass
resistance-resistance against the war, against the war uni-
versity, against white supremacy. Finally, whether in so
many words or not, against capitalism n^^lf against class
society and the empire which are its logical outgrowths. The
very success of that mass resistance-a dead end against its
own hmits-has thrown the movement for a loop. The young
radicals, increasingly the radical young, driven from all
the institutions
of control and management, had to
make a new life, necessarily a life of
political opposition, out there in the
space between institutions.
The interface between "hippies" and
"politicals" melted into a new creature:
the hairy, anarchic, activist, implacable,
creatively desperate "street person"
whose life conditions admit no chance of
reform solutions, who says with his
actions: "'Vour schools, your offices,
your shops, your Army have vomited
me up, and now your cops come to mop
me up. but you can't take from me the
only place you have left me. the place
where I live and breathe my being, the
base from which I launch my assault on
your barbarism ; / willfighi" He is a new
creature living in a new political culture;
he feels like a nigger and the coercive
powers-that-be treat him like one.
Through all this, from Stop the Draft
Week to Chicago, the movement felt its
strength in the streets. But precisely at
the moment it discovered its strength, it
also comprehended its weakness. Al-
though it grew numerically as a social
force, including high school kids and
soldiers as well as "students" and "drop-
outs," and became recognizable, even to
the universal sign of the flashed "V," it
was stiU painfully far from even the
shadow of revolutionary change. Not
only that ; at the peak of its energy it was
more brutally attacked by the police, the
courts, the entire repressive apparatus,
than ever before. Moreover, first-hand
encounters with Vietnamese ana Cubans
made imperialism and its Third World
opposition concrete. The stakes of suc-
cess or failure had never seemed so fate-
fully present.
In this sequence, most sharply at the
time of the Chicago battles, an inescapa-
ble choice presented itself: Either the
post-scarcity left would comprehend its
own unprecedented identity as a social
force, elaborate that identity into a vision
and program for the campus and the
youth ghettoes, and use its reality as a
strength from which to encounter anti-
colonial and working-class energy and
to devise common approaches— or it
would turn from its identity, throw the
vision out with the narrowness of the
class base, and seek an historically pre-
packaged version of revolution in which
students and declasse intellectuals are
strictly appendages or tutors to the
"real" social forces. Either it would take
Itself seriously as a visionary force, con-
scious of post-scarcity potentials with
revolutionary and democratic goals, or
it would buy clarity on the cheap, taking
refuge in mirror-models of the under-
developed socialisms of Russia and the
Third World. Either it would accept the
awesome risk of finding new paths— or
it would walk the beaten trails, pugna-
cious and sad. A grave choice where the
stakes are immense; but the pounding
pressure of the state leaves no time for
placid reflection.
Since Chicago, there has been a fun-
damental failure of nerve throughout
the white movement which is too wide-
spread to be pinned on any agency, indi-
vidual, or faction, We could obsess our-
selves infinitely with the horror stories of
this collective failure: assuming you are
the revolution if you say so; getting to
like the taste of the word "dictatorship"
(of the proletariat, over the proletariat,
over anyone); getting so pleased with
being correct that you don't like being
corrected ; substituting rhetoric and slo-
gans for analysis and appeals; kicking
your friends as practice for your enemies.
Il IS easier to ohsmrp the real arh.Pv^-
ments of the past year (and it is a^ain
progress which is the property of no
faction): the dozens of militant campus
movements; the broaching of questions
of (^lass within ihe movement itself:
the self-direction nf a Women's 1 ihi;r-
ation movement which refuses to be
■ Pigeonholed; the development of the
.movement's own institutions, including-
the underground press, Newsreel. com-
munes; the explosion of energy in the
high schools and the stirrings in the
working-class junior colleges; the identi-
fication of the enemy as the global im
perialist system. But make no mistake
140
I
Most of that growth, numerical and
political, is an enormous tribute to what
Marxists call the objective conditions;
much of the rest, like the weight of a
tumor, is canceled out by the attending
pathologies.
Fortunately, this impossible societ
creates the left faster than the organi
left can destroy itself. Little questio
about it— regardless of the fate of the
left, all signs are that the monster will
continue to sap itself of its own strength
keep itself off-balance. It will lose the
loyalty
of students, blacks and other
colonized minorities by failing to meet
their most elemental needs. Soldiers will
continue to desert, blacks to revolt, white
students to reject the withermg carrot
and fight the big stick, millions of others
to look, at least, for ways to make sense
of the madness. Even deprived of its
revolutionary scapegoats, this society
will disrupt itself.
At the sam6 time, the society digs the
foundations of the police state. Not only
»,troops(for a desperate system. Whether
the left can survive is finally a question
of whether it can inject its dreams so
deeply into the lifestream of the society
that millions of people across class and
race lines will fight to vindicate the revo-
lutionary promise. Right now it is a
question of whether the living conscious-
ness that a new world is possible— free
of material misery, hierarchy, useless
work— can encounter the more tradi-
tional needs of the rest of the American
people and the rest of the world, without
abandoning its integrity. For underneath
the new pre-packaged, clenched-teeth
optimism complete with symbols, lan-
guage, heroes, and unquestioning al-
legiances is a fundamental despair about
this country, whether it can make or even
deserves its own revolution.
But that revolution, if foueht with an
international sensibility, would be the
best contribution we could make to the
the police, but all the skilled and privi-
leged whites who are squeezed to finance
the failures of capitalism, all those forced
to occupy the front lines of racism while
rest of the world. If the wealth that
America loots from the Third World and
wastes (on arms, packaging, trivial work,
etc.) were hberated, how much of the
economic pressure could be taken off the
Third World, whose own best energies
the Rockefellers and Cliffords are secuTe I are now absorbed in the struggle for
in their bunkers- they are thelfshock'*"' brute industrialization? How might the
continents now entering history be
G.v^'^ V^V.
r'
mjAi
spared the agonies of primitive capital
accumulation? There are no answers yet
because we have not asked urgently, be-
cause we have been satisfied to try to tie
down American troops on domestic
battlefronts-to break ihe will of the
Leviathan by depriving it of the loyalty
of its work force, its managerial ap-
prentices, its reluctant soldiers and its
literal children. Good, but not enough.
The left must be conscious of its vision-
ary prerogative as well as its privilege ; it
must find ways of working on the other
side of both hope and despair because
there is no other way to live and because
Americans must be confronted with the
practicality of a new way of hfe. It must
make models of that Ufe, like People's
Park, while at the same time explaining
itself and constantly probing outward
from its roots in the middle classes. It
must be patient while urgent, and it must
do all this without transforming itself
into a scatter of "vanguards," each de-
fined by its imperious distance from the
Americans for whom at least one piece of
the world revolution is to be made.
Plainly there is much more to be said.
But the old civil rights song said the
important thing: "Keep your eyes on
the prize. Hold on." ^
PAUL GLUSMAN is an activist at the University of California at Berkeley
and was a leader in the recent People's Park struggle.
DAVID HOROWITZ is the author of Empire and Revolution, Random House,
1969.
TODD GITLIN was president of SDS in 1963 - 64. His book (with Nanci Hol-
lander), Uptown: Poor Whites in Chicago, will be published by Harper and
Row this winter.
■T"'^'"^^^"
DISTRIBUTED BY:
^"^
Johnny Appleseed Patriotic Publications
P. O. Box 50393
Cicero, Illinois 60650
I
t?Lov>^\\5 3c^o Kp'CK^eri
n
Reprinted By Permission
Copyright 1969, Ramparts Magazine
141
Exhibit No. 4
(Referred to on p. 44)
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142
143
Exhibit No. 5
(Referred to on p. 44)
[From the Chicago Tribune, Feb. 24, 1970]
U.S. Study Head Linked to Viet Cong
(By Ronald Koziol)
A federal grant of $193,313 has been made to an educational project directed by
a man who attended a communist-sponsored conference of Viet Cong sympathizers
in Czechoslovakia in 1967.
The Tribune has learned that the director, Christopher Jencks of Cambridge
Mass., was among 41 persons who attended the conference in September 196?'
and later publicly criticized the United States government. ' '
Others who attended the conference in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia were
David Bellinger and Tom Hayden, both convicted last week by a federal jury
for their roles in the Democratic national convention week disorders here.
Testimony Is Told
In testimony last June before the House permanent investigations subcom-
mittee, an undercover agent reported that, "The Americans were hand picked
by Dave Dellinger and one of the requirements was that thev be sympathetic
toward the National Liberation Front [Viet Cong]."
Jencks will direct a nine-month study of the feasibility of the government
giving vouchers to poor parents to help finance the education of their children
The government grant was made to the Center for the Study of Public Policy
in Cambridge, Mass., by the office of economic opportunity.
In December, The Tribune disclosed that the Student Health organization
which has supported communist efforts in Viet Nam, received more than a million
dollars in federal funds to conduct health surveys for the department of health
education, and welfare. '
The disclosures touched off congressional demands for a thoro, probe of HEW
grants. The inquiry, ordered by Robert Finch, HEW secretar}', is still under way.
Hoover Takes Roles
The meeting in Bratislava attended by Jencks has drawn the attention of
J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hoover said
that the delegates to the meetings were furnished free lodging and meals but were
required to pay their own transportation expenses.
Hoover's report notes:
''They were thoroly briefed by Dellinger well in advance of their departure
and were instructed to be prepared to give reports and participate in discussions
°"«^^',°^'''^ *°P*^-^' including the anti-war, student, and civil rights movements.
DeUinger told the delegates that the purpose of the conference was to create
solidarity and mutual understanding between revolutionaries from Viet Nam
and their supporters in the United States, and that the delegates were chosen on
the basis of their experience in radical activity."
Articles Are Written
The FBI director said that Jencks wrote articles on the conference which
appeared in issues of the New Republic magazine.
"Jencks asserted that the majority of those from the United States at the con-
ference were young and in the New Left," Hoover said. He said that they all saw
the war as an inevitable by-product of a sickness in the American system which
could only be cured by radical political remedies.
"According to Jencks, the common bond between the new left and the N. L. F.
IS not a common dream or a common experience, but a common enemy: the United
btate^s government, the system, the establishment. The young radicals admiration
for the N. L. F. stems from the feeling that the N. L.'F. is resisting the enemy
successfully, whereas they arc not."
The Center for the Study of Public Policy in Cambridge is an offshoot of the
Institute for Policy Studies in Washington and was launched last year with the
lielp of Jencks. Among those on the staff for the Institute for Policy Studies is
Arthur Waskow, a member of the steering committee of the New MobiUzation
Committee to End the War in Viet Nam.
144
"New Mobe" has been responsible for planning demonstrations at the Chicago
Democratic convention, President Nixon's inauguration, and the Nov. 14 mora-
torium in Washington.
Jencks also was a committee member active in the organization of The New
Party. The group was formed in 1968 in Washington to build a "new political
base for all those alienated by the political status quo."
Exhibit No. 6
(Referred to on p. 45)
™^mV(^4T^OT
Vol. I -No:
Sept.-OcM'^70
"Tlic American W3i h over, but this is far from bcin>; the case with the American nr^olution. On the
COTitrary. rwithing but the first ^ct of the great drama is closed." Benjamin Rush. I787
Not Nixon's "Law & Order'
But "Life, Liberty, &the
pursuit of Happiness
»
SPIRIT OF '76
LOVE IT & LIVE IT
Jtrfumy Ai^Teseed Patriotic Publications
Post ofaie »fti ij03^rt
CWcajpi. lUiools Boe.'.n
BULK RATE
U S POSTAGE
PAID
CHICAGO ILLINOIS
P.™llN» 8017
145
Exhibit No. 7
(Referred to on p. 45)
The Chicago Patriot
THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE CmCAGO PEOPLE'S BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
IliT Am' TK-an war is over, but this is far irom be mp the caif with the American revolution On the
Dec, 1975-Jan. 1976 contrary, nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed."
Benjamin Rush. I787
20<;
LIBERTY HALL, 2440 MOKTH 'TiCOLN AVEVUE CHICAGO, ILUNOIS, 60614. PHONE: DAR-1976
IN THE SPIRIT OF '76
^ NEW YEARS EVE PARTY
FOR HARD TIMES
Join the folks at Liberty Hall this New Year's Eve
at 9:30 P.M. for a friendly party with live music
and dancing, free snacks, cheap food and
drinks, old-time movies, etc. Donation: $3,00
I,IBERTY HALL, 2440 NORTH LINCOLN AVENUE
9:30 P.M. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31st
AN ALTERNATIVE NEV/ YEARS EVE CELEBRATION
NO RIP-OFF
••••••••••••••••••••••••
^ COMING UP
January 13 1:00 PM
January 23 7:30 PM
First meeting of a new Study 3roup to be
held every Sunday at 1:00 PM. V/e'lI be
reading and discussing books about the
American economic system. Call Laddie
Lushin for more information: 342-4905.
He needs to order the required number of
books immediately.
"Will Vfe Celebrate the Bicentennial by
Repealing the Bill of Rights?" Hear about
Nixon's Criminal Code: Senate Bill One,
Richard Crtley , Executive Director of the
Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of
Rights and Midwest Director of the National
Committee Against Repressive Legislation
will speak at Liberty Hall.
The
out
New Patriot . the newspaper formerly put
by Johnny Ap pie seed Patriotic Publication s ,
NOTE TO OUR READERS:
will be resumed by the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission of Chicago and Johnny Appleseed.
The Chicago Patriot is hereby discontinued.
Subscribers will receive instead The New Patriot
with Its large colorful format of 20-30 pages.
$3,50 Is our special rate for early subscribers
to The New Patriot in January.
146
Exhibit No. 8
(Referred to on p. 45)
[From World Magazine, Feb. 2S, 1970]
(This is the Speech made by Gus Hall, general Secretary of the Communist
Party at the founding convention of the Young Workers Liberation League,
in Chicago, Feb. 8, 1970)
Chicago needs no defense, as the industrial heartland of these United States.
But I would not want you to get a wrong impression. The smoke, smog and fog
is generally bad in Chicago. But during the past days it has been at its worst.
The reason for this especially foul condition is that the air has not yet cleared up
from the two-day visit by tlie worst polluter of our environment, the dispenser ot
political trash from Washington. x ^ i- f v +^,.,r
This founding convention is truly a great event. One gets a feeling of history
being made. It is an occasion of revolutionary renewal. The composition of the
delegates is iust great. There fs no organization on the left, right or the middle
that could gather this kind of a convention. Therefore, it is indeed a real privilege
to be here and take part in vour deliberations.
I have the honor to extend to you our Party's congratulations, warm greetings
and our pledge of full support. Comrade Winston wanted very much to be here—
but because of pressing matters he could not make it— so he asked me to extend to
you his verv warm and enthusiastic greetings and congratulations.
^ I think Comrade (Jarvis) Tvner in his report has placed the questions very well.
The discussion has further deepened and clarified many questions. All in all, this
is the beginning of something big. . u a «;,„,■,,
The most powerful physical force known to science is the controlled, chain
reaction, release of nuclear energy. The initial spark that sets off the chain reaction
is not the biggest, but it is a most crucial explosion. Your convention has been
such a blast. You have set off a chain reaction, releasing an all-powerful revolu-
tionary force. This social thermonuclear force will grow and intensify. It is tne
only force that can. It is the only force that will cleanse the human environment
of the corruption and pollution of capitalist exploitation, racism and wars.
You are making history— revolutionary history. There are many kinds ot
historic events. Some explode on to the scene and disappear. You have made
history because you have set off a chain reaction that will change the course of
human events, to control nuclear power one must know the laws of motion ot tnis
power. To direct and to develop a revolutionary soQial power one must know tne
laws of motion of human society. One must have a science of revolution. Marxism-
Leninism is such a science. It i.s the science, it is the truth that opens up the path
to freedom: freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom from oppression,
exploitation, racism and wars. . ,
In all struggles for social progress— especially during explosive events— tne
youth are the shock troops. They provide the ranks with boldness, militancy and
enthusiasm. But like all sectors", they need leadership with advanced ideas bo
you have now established an advanced leadership headquarters post for these
shock troops. ^ ., ,. .^ j i *■ v,„„a
Not Karl Marx or Lenin, but history, the laws of capitalist development, have
assigned the working class the major task of being the main force in raising
civilization to the next rung on the ladder of progress. It is the gravedigger ot
capitalism. , , • , j • • i
In any struggle the link between the shock troops and the main body is crucial.
Here in Chicago you have now established the guarantees for such a link— a
link between the youth movement and the working class. \ our organization will
recruit into your ranks the best of the workingclass youth— black and white— tne
best of the students, the best of the farm youth. You have set your course on a
workingclass orientation, vou have set up a workingclass leadership for the stiocK
troops. You are making an indispensable contribution to the class struggle, to
human progress. .. ■,
Capitalist oppression and exploitation is universal. But in each country capital-
ism creates some special national forms. U.S. capitalism is no exception. Besides
exploiting some 80 million as wage slaves, there are some 40 million— mostly
workers— who are victims of a special system of oppression and exploitation.
They are 25 million black Americans, 8 million Chicanos, the millions ot Puerto
Ricans, American Indians and other minorities. This system of racist oppression
147
is rooted in the oppression of black Americans. The oppression is a many-sided
system — it is economic, political, physical and social. It is police terror, it is
planned murder and assassination, as is the case in the nationally directed plan
to murder the leaders of the Black Panther Party. But the glue that keeps this
special system of oppression together is the ideology of racism, based on concepts
of white superiority.
It is clear, the unity between the victims of class exploitation and the victims
of this special oppression is a decisive matter. We cannot win against either
oppression without such a unity, without which the chain reaction will also
sputter.
You hav^e accepted the challenge of creating such unity amongst the youth.
You have accepted the task of burning out the influence, of racism in the white
sector of the shock troops. This will be a major contribution to our quality of life.
It is a difficult struggle — but we can — we will win.
No man or struggle is an island unto itself. You have here created the instru-
ment that will bridge the gap between the movement and struggles of our youth
and the youth of other lands. Your socialist aims, your science of Marxism-
Leninism creates a unique ideological and class brotherhood with the Communist-
revolutionary youth of the world. Your basic anti imperialist outlook creates a
bond of kinship with the fighting anti imperialist youth the world over. You will
bring out the sense of oneness with the youth of America, Asia, and Africa. Your
workingclass internationalism is going to add a new dimension to the youth
movement in the U.S.A.
It's a two-way street. You will give and you will get from such global rela-
tionships. The people of Vietnam judge our internationalism not on the basis of
what we say, but what we do about ending U.S. aggression there. This is the acid
test of our workingclass internationalism.
We can win. We can earn our friendship with the people of the world by our
deeds in fighting against the oppressive, exploiting poUcy and practices of U.S.
imperialism. We are with those in the world who say, "Yankee Oppressors, Go
Home!"
You have established more than another youth organization. For the youth of
the United States you have established a new point of reference. They now have
a workingclass, revolutionary, Marxist-Leninist point of reference. Thousands
will join your ranks, but millions will compute their political course by relating
it to the Marxist-Leninist point of reference. You will create a workingclass
youth field of gravity around you. You will lift the ceiling of revolutionary visi-
bility. You have been able to set off an explosive chain reaction because 3^ou
have adopted a science of revolution as your guiding principle. Marxism-Lenin-
ism is the only tested and proven science of revolution. It is a hard fact of life
that anyone who seriously wants to fight capitalism must study this science.
In a basic sense, science is a study of what makes things tick — the laws of
motion. Science studies the laws of motion in order to use its objective power to
change reality. Marxism-Leninism is a study of what makes human society tick
in order to use society's objective motion, its laws, its inherent power, to change
reality. It is a study of the laws that give rise to economic and political currents
and processes and contradictions within capitalism in order to use them to
strengthen the revolutionary current.
This study is not an academic matter. Its sole purpose is to initiate actions, to
improve on actions, to increase the weight of the blows against capitalism. In
Marxism-Leninism — science and practice — theory and action are not separate
components. Each Marxist-Leninist is a thinker and an activist.
Let us see how this comes out in life.
We, like many others, are fighters for reforms — higher wages, against all prac-
tices of discrimination and segregation, electoral reforms, voting rights, housing,
day care centers, etc. But we are the most effective fighters for reforms because
we are revolutionaries — not reformists. Reformists tend to ask — to ask for
something they believe belongs to the holder. Revolutionaries demand because
they believe it all belongs to those who produced it. Under capitalism the holders
are the non-producers. Reformists tend to compromise and unnecessarily con-
ciliate. Revolutionaries believe that concessions — even the biggest — are only
the beginning. Reformists seek for "justice," "fairness" or "rights" on the side
of the exploiters.
Revolutionaries see no "justice," "fairness" or "rights" on the side of exploita-
tion for profits.
148
When reformists win a concession they take a breather. A i^volutioriary must
have the next action planned out before a concession is won. The capitalist class
takes no "breathers." The working class has no choice but to f^ght without let up.
A reformist will use the concession to smooth over class relations. A Marxist-
Leninist will point out: we won the concession because of our strength. It does
not do awav with the class struggle. A reformist sees "good employers and bad
employers. "A revolutionary only sees the class that oppresses and exploits.
This revolutionary concept of reforms flows from our understanding ot the
laws of a class society. It is a class struggle approach to reforms.
We like many other Americans, are against racism. Many see the moral
uniustness of racist practices. We welcome this— it is helpful, but it is not enough
From times before the Bible, people have spoken about the brotherhood of
man— as a moral precept. It obviously has not been enough. Marxisni- Leninism
exposes the roots of racism. It does not accept the concept that^ racism, chauvimsni
is an inherent, inborn, hapless characteristic of sections of human society, it
exposes its class roots— that it is an instrument of exploitation— a system tor
The moral, intellectual understanding of racism by white workers will be on
firmer soil when thev understand that it is a weapon of their class enemy, it is a
weapon against themselves. This is the path to convincing white workers that
their self-interest— their class interests— demand a struggle against all forms ot
racism. What we do to give this concept life is the test of our sincerity, of our
understanding of the centrality of black and white unity— the historic crucialness
of the black liberation movement. tt i. ^ + Ur.,.^ ,.^„
Tactics is closely related to the question of science. How to get to where you
are going is influenced bv whether you know where you want to go. An outlook
for a revolutionary change influences one's tactical orientation. In Marxist-
Leninist terms, tactics is a word meaning how to move people into struggle
based on their understanding of their own self-interests. How to move the struggles
to the next stage. That must be the test of all tactics— how do they move people
It'the?e1ore determines the relationship between an advanced revolutionary
sector and the masses to whom you are giving leadership. If your tactics do not
measure up, you are left by the wayside. You are separated from the main body.
You are not "leading. If your tactics are such that the people are not ready tor
them vou are also separated. You cannot lead if you are separated— whether
vou are ahead or behind. A tactic that breaks the bond be^tween the -^dvanced
detachment and the masses is not revolutionary no matter how it sounds. Une s
revolutionariness is measured bv one's abiUty to organize and mobflize masses.
While in struggle one must keep a sharp eye on the tactics of the enemy. ±' or
ten months last vear the F.B.I, was directly involved in dynamiting public
buildings. This included the bombing of a Federal building in New York Oity. ine
man on the F.B.I, payroll was the key man in the small group arrested He was
arrested while he and another man were on their way to bomb some U .b. army
trucks. Thus for 10 months the F.B.I, not only knew about but was involved m
getting the dvnamite and picking the buildings to be bombed. They knew days
in advance which building was to be bombed. Their man was doing it. \ney let
these bombings go on till a few days before the November 15th peace march, ihey
dropped "leads" to the press and T.V. that it was the peace movement that was
bombing the buildings. One must ask— why? Is it not clear that the reason was
provocation? The reason was to ahenate people from the movement to end the
aggression in Vietnam. The plan was to alienate people with tactics they were
"°TheF".B.I. agent pleaded guilty, but was not indicted. He is back on the street.
He has gone back to the ultra-right fascist organizations who are responsible tor
bombing workers' and peoples organizations offices and meeting halls, mats
where the F.B.I, recruited him in the first place! -i • i '
There are other laws of tactics. One must never unnecessarily signal orie s
punches to the enemy. One must never boast to the enemy of what one is going
to do. One must never threaten to use tactics whose time has not come, it re-
sults only in one thing: that masses who are not ready to back up such tactics
become alienated. There is a time and a place for all tactical seasons.
The most dangerous foe is one that can smile while he is readying himseii to
give you a haymaker. . . t. i -n v.i„^o +v.pir
Leadership means winning the confidence of masses. People will place their
confidence in organizations and leaders they feel consider their best interests
paramount. They will place their confidence in leaders they feel will hnd a path
149
to victory, who will not panic or be co-opted, who will meet any crises but who
will not lead them like the 600 into the Valley of Death. " '
In the class struggle the lives and livelihood of people are on the line. From
their leaders they want militancy and responsibility.
In the movement there has been some discussion'about the use of guns and the
willingness to use guns. I agree with those who say it is a tactical question'. Like all
tactical questions it must be measured by how it affects masses in struggle. It
seems to me that whether the people have guns in their homes is not the issue I
think most Americans do. Also, the right of self defense is not the issue here. As
pohce brutahty increases the right of self defense will grow in importance. But
the advocacy of the slogan "Picking up the gun" is another matter.
At this stage of struggle what would be the result of such a tactical slogan?
\\ hat would be the effect on the masses? Would it get a response from the j^eople?
I don't think so. \\ ould it in fact result in a self defense? I do not think so It
would result only in individual actions, if any.
Would it be a tactic that would alienate those who are moving into struggle*^
I think it would. ^^
In an explosive period like this, this reality could change, and so tactics would
change. But for all those reasons it is not a correct tactical concept for today's
^^'^'.^•^': ^* would not advance the struggle. It would not result in a self defense.
Timing is a critical factor in any action. I want to congratulate you on your
timing in calling this founding convention. Your initiative shows you have
grasped an important element of Marxism-Leninism. You studied present-day
reality. You drew the right conclusions. This is the time for a Marxist-Leninist
youth organization. Millions of youth are questioning and rejecting the values and
sets of priorities created by U.S. capitalism. They are not yet rejecting capital-
ism, however, because they do not yet clearly see the connection between the
values they reject and capitahsm. But it is of great importance that the values
they reject are not general human values, but those related to exploitation for pri-
vate profit. They are rebelling against priorities that have no room for human
considerations. They are rejecting wars of imperiahst aggression, thev are reject-
ing racism for their moral ugliness, but increasingly they are turned off because
wars and racism are instruments of exploitation. This is the base for the grow-
ing source of anti-imperialism.
These are important shifts in the mass patterns of thought. So, more than the
genius of any one of us, it is this new objective reality that has given birth to this
historic founding convention. We are using the power that arises from the contra-
dictions of capitalism to build revolutionary power.
There are dabblers and there are professionals in every field of science. Your
commitment will be measured by how professional you become as Marxist-
Leninists. You have given birth to a revolutionary instrument. The mettle of this
organization will be tested in the struggles of today. You will be ready for the
revolutionary events of tomorrow only if you are aii active element in the strug-
gles of today. You must become a factor in every area of struggle. You must give
direction, you must give a class content to all struggle. And you must bring into
the youth movement a revolutionary spirit. You must be the activator, the ener-
gizer within the youth movement.
In today's reahty a Marxist-Leninist youth organization need not be narrow or
small. Don't be selfish. Don't keep this science of sciences to yourselves. Share
it with the millions.
Social progress is being propelled by a worldwide revolutionary process. It is
sweeping capitalism before it — root and branch. The question before mankind is
not whether socialism. In a basic sense it is not even how socialism. The only un-
answered question is how soon.
This founding convention has helped with the answer to this question. We can
tell the Fords, Rockefellers, Morgans, Hoovers and Nixons, it is sooner than you
think.
150
Exhibit No. 9
(Referred to on pp. 46 and 48)
^^-^ >^^ our price: 25*
_^ . — ,,.^.-iM-.-r-iviMi ni or>l\/IMICQinM NO. 1
VOL.4,
PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
ARE YOU
TIRED OF BEING
PIAYEDFOR
A SUCKER
EVERY FOUR
YEARS?
151
juiy4
JULY 4
JULY 4
JULY 4
JULY 4
JULY 4
JULY 4
— The 200th anniversary of the
American Revolution
— A time to begin the Second
American Revolution
— Declare your economic independ-
ence from ITT, GM & Exxon
— Send a message to Wall Street
— Rededicate youi-self to the demo-
cratic principles of 1776
1 1' '~-
- Join the movement for economic
democracy
JULY 4 — Join the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission at the Capitol in
Washington, D.C.
JULY 4 — Join prominent speakere and
entertainers in pledging your "life,
fortune and saci-ed honor" to a
new America
JULY 4 — Join 250,000 new patriots for the
largest economic rally In Amer-
ican history
JULY 4 — Make some history of your own
JULY 4 — Be there!
WASHINGroN,D.C
152
The Common Sense Campaign
for a Democratic Economy
ARE YOU
T
EVERY FOUR
YEARS?
Hie Peoples Bicentennial Commission
Washington,D.C 200036
153
69-239 O - 76 - 11
154
After 200 years,
is this the best we can do?
Look at these men. All of them want to be President of the United
States. Each of them wants your vote.
Between now and election day, each of them will pour a fortune
into high-powered public relations campaigns to convince us that he's
the man for the job. They'll be kissing our babies, shaking our hands
and making us promises.
Each one says that he's the friend of the workmg man and woman.
Baloney! , • i p^o
Do any of these candidates know what it feels like to be laid oft.''
Or to be unable to meet next month's mortgage payment?
Do they know what it's like to work 40 hours a week in a boring
and degrading job and still not have enough money to buy groceries
for their families, or new clothes for the kids?
The plain truth is that we're being played for suckers again.
Every four years, the candidates trot out with their promises. Once
they're elected, they only deliver headaches.
This year, the "promises are about the economy. Every candidate
has a pet solution to end the current crisis. Everything from a dose
of trustbusting and closing a few loopholes to more subsidies for Big
Business and less government regulation.
If those ideas sound familiar, they should. They're pulled from
the same bag of tricks that brought this nation to the brink of eco-
nomic ruin in the first place.
They haven't worked in the past and they won't work in the
future.
You don't have to be an expert to know that there's something
fundamentally wrong with our economic system today. Over eight
million of us are unemployed. Inflation continues to skyrocket because
muscle-bound monopolies set prices as high as they want. Our nation's
great cities are being turned into industrial ghost towns as multi-
national corporations flee America for cheaper labor and higher
profits abroad. Corporations and wealthy families pcty token taxes
while the rest of us get soaked.
Still, the Presidential candidates offer bandaid reforms for our
gaping economic wounds.
We think it's time to apply some Common Sense to the problems
facing the American economy.
We think it's time to put the candidates on notice. We're fed up
with worn out cliches and endless chatter from a cast of Tweedledee
ajid Tweedledum candidates. We want some action.
If youVe f InallyTearhM your lesson about candidates who speak
up for the little guy on election day, and then sign up on the Big
Boys' team after the votes are counted, join us.
We're the Common Sense Campaign for a Democratic Economy.
155
ii
The Declaration of
Economic Independence
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the economic
bonds which have tied them to another, a decent respect for the opinions of humankind requires that they
should declare the causes which impel them to the separation
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain malienable rights, that among these are life. liberty, and the pursuit of happiness-
that to secure these rights, economic institutions are instituted among people, deriving their just power from the
consent of the citizens; that whenever any economic system becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of
the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new economic system, laying its foundation on such principles,
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.
Prudence, indeed. \^'ill diciate that economic systems long es-
whlishcd should not be chanycd for liyht and iransient causes, and accord-
inyly nil experience has shown thai people are more disposed to suffer,
while evils arc suffcrable. ihan to riyht themselves by abolishing the forms
to which they arc accustomed
But when a long tram of abuses and usurpations, pursuing mvariably
the same object, cvincc-s a desiK" to reduce them under absolute despotism.
It IS their rinht. ii is their duty, to throw off such economic institutions and
U> provide new guards for their future security Such has been the patient
sukcnnn of the American People, and such 15 n<iw the necessity which
aimpcis us to alter our former economic systcrrji The History of the present
'(jiant corporations is a History of repeated iniunts and usurp;itions; all
havinnin direct ohjt;ct the establishment of an absolute tvranny over these
States To prove this, let the f-tcts be submitted to .n c.indid World
Americas Giant G>fpi>raiions have seized control over the great land
and testiurces of our country
— Thvy have systematically deNtroycd thous.inds of small businesses and
forced millions of Americans to become w.ige serfs for the wealthy owners
They have formed shared monop«>liC5 in virtually every major retail
and wholesale industry, forcinu millions of consumers to pay higher and
higher prices forgCHKls and services they cannot do without -these mon-
opoly practices hcing the primary cause of runaway inflation
They have forced millions of Americans into unemployment lines by
sysiematicaHy cltKing down their American plants and moving their busi-
ness operations abroad so they can hire cheaper labtir and reap still greater
profits for their owners
In the name of profit, they have expropriated billions of dollars of
wealth produced by the working women and men of (his country
The Giant G>rpt>fations have
Pursiu:Xa^>licv of industrial negligence which kills 14.000 worker?
.nnj permanently disables 900.000 more ever^- year
They have manufactured unsafe products that kill 10,000 and per-
m.inently disable 110,000 Americans each year
Thev have used the energy crisis in order to double the price of fuel
and make n-cord gams in profit
They have sold American wheat to the Russian Government, forcing
a sharp nse in the cost of bread and other wheat prtxJucts to the American
consumer
They have turned our Nation into a weapons f.nctory, wasting valuable
laKir and resources that could be utilized for basic human needs
They have fostered tension's and conflicts between races sexes and
ethnic groups in their arbitrary and discri minatory employmem practices
They have pillaged the resources, exploited the peoples, and system-
atically intervened in the domestic affairs of other nations in order to profit
their corporate treasuries
The Giant Corporations have subverted the Constitution of the United
We. therefore, the Citizens of the United States of America. hereby_call for the abolition of these giant
institutions of tyranny and the establishment of new economic enterprises with new laws and safeguards to pro-
vide for the equal and democratic participation of all American Citizens in the economic decisions that effect
the well-being of our families, our communities, and our Nation. In furtherance of our joint hopes and aspira-
tions, and mindful of the lessons of History, we steadfasdy adhere to the general principle that a democratic
Republic can only exist to the extent that economic decision-making power is broadly exercised by the people
and not delegated to a few. Such is the necessity which compels us to act in support of decentralized economic
enterprises, with ownership and control being shared jointly by the workers in the plants and by the local com-
munities in which they operate -with similar patterns of shared representative control being exercised on a re-
gional and National level to insure the smooth and efftpient coordination of all economic operations. For the
support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on jhe protection of Divme Providence, we mutually pledge
our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
States and the principle of Government of, by. and for the people
By illegally financing their own candidates for local, state and national
office -
By placing their own supporters in key government commissions and
regulatory agencies
By using massive lobbying operations to vinually dictate the legisla-
tive direction of the State and Federal Governments, including the deci-
sions on how our tax money is to be allocated
It IS these same corporate giants
That profess the strongest attachment to self-reliance, while pocketing
billions of dollars of our tax money in the form of Government subsidies
and special favors
That profess their commitment to preserving their country's future,
while systematically destroying our natural environment
That herald the virtues of personal responsibility and accountability,
while engaging in wholesale crime under the protection of their corporate
charters
America s giant corporations have issued a death sentence against the
individual human spirit
By forcing millions of Americans to perform mindless functions eight
hours per day mside the corporate machine
By rewarding obedience, conformity, and dependency-and penalii-
ing creative thinking, criticism, and independent judgment
The Corporate Cianrs have violated our sacred rights to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness
By denying us adequate access to the means to sustain life
By severely limiting our opportunities to choose the kind of work life
we would like to lead
By denying us a range of workchoices that are potentially self-fulfilling
and rewarding ,__ —
The corporations have created and perpetuated a small hereditary
aristocracy, with wealth and power unrivaled in the annals of recorded
histor>-
The Corporate System has proven itself to be grossly inefficient and
wasteful, while the Corporate owners and managers have proven them-
selves to be incompetent to make prudent decisions that effect the eco-
nomic well-being of the American people
In their obsession with profits, their lust for absolute dominion over
the life of this Nation, and their total disregard for the American people.
Corporate owners and managers have plunged our country into its present
state of economic chaos, destroyed the lives of millions of families, and
threatened the ver\' survival of the Republic
In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in
the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only
by repeated injury An economic system, whose character is thus marked
by every act which may define an absolute tyranny, is unfit to claim the
Ioyalt>- and allegiance of a free and democratic people
Itoples Bicaiteiiiiial G^rnrmssion,\\^diington, OC 20036
156
Exhibit No. 10
(Referred to on p. 52)
THE STUDENT
MOBILIZER
Volume 3. No. 11
November 20, 1970
5(
ftgtf ^t^aai ItU nf Itglita
STUDENTS HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXERCISE ALL RIGHTS ENUMERATED IN THE UNITED
STATES CONSTITUTION, THE BILL OF RIGHTS AND ALL OTHER AMENDMENTS AND THOSE
ESTABLISHED BY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT.
¥nsham jif
folilt&F.Arttmta
STUDENTS HAVE THE FULL FREEDOM
OF PpiJTICA!- ACTiV-lTY IN THE HIGH
SCH<r
StuffWs' may form political and social
Ofganizations m 4he.»chool, tflc4uding -these -wbieh
champiQir i^im)^^r)HM«and ik^dlj||ss\qf tlie
pQditical AtfsJt^Niewsqlthe orAftaflpa) .
StAdents VveftlAi^talo full %se of schocd
facilities- bulletin boards, auditoriums, public
foruftis. assemblies, seminars and other sc^i
proj4iTis_ iOfc. order
T" Students have the rights to distribute any Jeafleta
parnphlets. and political^at^^fcrey i^fle ana|
ouiydg^e school an(SKh(ntauoiSdJl|thout'~
^M^Bnzation of the pSg^a^^^njgicmy^f the
^Riool administration or the Board of EdiMiatiJh.^
5. Slud^fe have'rlWTigTit to wear any syir
their p^Uic^ belief
and style (
6. Students
method of
from salutm]
assemblies w;
7. Students have
THIS DOCUMENT PUBl ISHEL
STUDENT MOBILIZATION rOMMITTfX
TO END THE.WARIPlVIl INAM,
15 E. 17thST^iiNflfee^003.
(212)675-692
iPr^^bmn of
VBB
STUDENTS
FREEDOM 01
tVE
THE^IIGHT TO
-iVtD THE PRESS
6. Students have^^ght to help determine their
curriculum and evaluate their teachers.
7. There shall be n«
sex.
8. The trackiag sy
, "Student p^blfca^n* flnw be coutroTlttl by the
students anft^riay In no way be ctnsored by tfi«
admlpistration or faculty. Editmg wil^e done bVj ,
^dent editoife-^ny student organization hn
£S;;l|bt to have aCebUk^to the school newspaper
* rci^se its ideas and tctivlties.
lation on the basis of
be abobshed.
JFrfOcwrttottB
■StUDl
HIGH S^OOL.
AVAR MICtUINF!.
RIGHT TO END
iMPLICITY WITH THE
\
1
photo by howard petrick
nt.iNlbtications (newspapers and magaziot;)
rt "ofTicial" xhool publications aij tp
vife the Mine riglits as (I) above "
11^ oL'School facilities to product'
ibute them.
l^mttBB
rUDENTMHAVE THE RIGHT T(M
ROCES^^-T' r
Students B^e tiw: ri^t to a fair healing: whfeA
includes re^i(E«ntation by counsel, with the rifljt
to quesii.'ii'.witneBes pnor to any dijf iplmart
aciioni The fearing shall conform to al^presi^nt
laws pertjiniiTftyip court procedure.
Students may not % any way be
administration or faculty for any pi
moral beliefs which they have oruporLi
act.
Students have the right to receive annui
the opening of school-a publication sei
all the rules and regulations to which stui
subject. This publicatto*i shall contain a sfti*ij
of student rights. ^
Students and parents h^ Uie right IS^^F iheir
personal files at any time: Vii-
. Students have the right taappeal wy^flecision on
a disciplinary action with 3 tT3n5cripf of the trial
provided by the school administration
I. Thesttidenf Tiudy h'fe the right to be free from the
:■ _^ presence ci j^fionBence of federal agencies not
' directly involved ffl.'fte educational process.
i -T^ieie shall be an endjo all mihtaiy programs like
T^ KL>TC in tie schooFs Jbd to all military recruitmg
trij r%high sbools.
1 be an end to the use of police to settle
• disputeywithin the sAo^ls.
157
Exhibit No. 1 1
(Referred to on p. 53)
[From the Militant, Fob. 27, 1970]
Thf, SMC National Conff.rknck
(By Harry Ring)
CLEVELAND. — A spring program of intensive antiwar activity culminating in
massive demonstrations April 15 was approved by the Student MoV)ilization
Committee conference here Feb. 14-15.
It was the biggest, broadest most democratic gathering of the antiwar move-
ment yet and support for a program of mass action to win immediate U.S. with-
drawal from Vietnam was decisive.
There were 3,469 people who formally registered for the conference, and
committee representatives estimate there were actually close to 4,000 present.
They converged on Case Western Reserve University from 39 states and the
District of Columbia. There was representation from some 300 college and uni-
versity campuses and a hundred high schools.
Every shading of antiwar and radical opinion was represented and just about
every known radical jjolitical grouping was in attendance. Decisions were arrived
at after extensive discussion marked by the fullest observance of the rules of
debate.
". . . despite the emotional fervor with which most of the students embraced
their ideas," the Feb. 16 Cleveland Press reported, "an almost overwhelming de-
mocracy prevailed. Nearly everone who wished got a chance to speak."
The conference had before it a mass of differing proposals, some of which stood
in clear counterposition to one another, and others whose nuances were rather
murky. Yet the single issue on which the conference focused was the continuing
need for mass action in the streets to mobilize the broadest number of Americans
in opi)osition to the war. Offered a variety of alternatives to this, the delegates in
their great majority opted decisively for the course of mass action.
The turnout for the conference "definitively established that the SMC is the
student wing of the antiwar movement. This was attested to as well In' the ex-
tensive media coverage, the messages received from around the world, and by the
greetings delivered at the conference by other sections of the movement.
Among those who brought greetings to the conference were Jerry Gordon,
chairman of the Cleveland Area Peace Action Council; Sid Peck, cochairman of
the New Mobe; David Hawk of the Moratorium; and Jeff Shero of the Con-
spiracy. Pvt. Joe Miles, a founder of GFs United who has been exiled by the
brass to a base in Alaska, was able to make the trip to Cleveland and was among
those greeting the conference.
There was also a rousing speech of greeting by Dick Gregory who participated
in the conference's i:)lenary session and Third World workshop.
The central action proposal before the body was i^resented by SMC executive
secretary Carol Lipman. She proposed that the SMC tie in with the slated
April 13-19 week of antiwar activitiy projected by both the Moratorium and
New Mobe, as well as with their previously selected date of April 15 for mass
demonstrations throughout the country.
This ijroposal was presented as part of an integrated program of SMC campus
activity around such key issues as opposition to the draft and an end to campus
complicitv with the war, coupled with a major high school organizing drive and
a systematic effort to relate to GIs, Third World and women's liberation forces
so as to involve them in the fight against the war.
A heterogeneous grouping of individuals and political tendencies sought to
establish a common front to defeat or significantly amend this proposal, a caucus
variously referred to as the "Independent" caucus, the "Independent Radical"
caucus and the "Independent and Radical" caucus sought to establish itself
as the rallying center of the opposition to the Lipman proposal. It was diflficult
to ascertain precisely what groups the caucus embraced as allegiances shifted
throughout the conference. The largest turnout for a meeting of the caucus was
about 400.
Among the groups considering themselves in opposition were the Revolu-
tionary Youth Movement, the International Socialists, the Workers League,
Youth Against War and Fascism, the National Caucus of Labor Committees,
158
and the recently created Communist Party youth group, the Young Workers
UberaSon League. Also present were the American Servicemen's Lmon, Gay
Liberation FroSt, Youth International Party, and the John Brown caucus, an
^"Somf of'thSe groups sought to relate to the Radical Caucus but found it
difficult to agree on a common program or conference strategy. The central
issue that seemed to bind them together was opposition to the Young boc alist
Alliance the largest of the organized tendencies present and a vigorous partisan
^^i'p^SirSjpCrtrthe pressure of the strong conference sentin.ent for the
mass action approach, the various opposition groups sought finally to present
Their p^Sicula? propos'als as supplementary to it, although some of their programs
were natently inconsistent with this. . . ,.
Tn^example was the opposition's generally common emphasis on civil dis-
obedience as a means of opposing the draft as counterposed to mass action to
''^'(The conference rejected the proposal to commit the SMC to civil disobedience
Instead it reaffirmed SMC's previous position of favoring mass action to abolish
the dr?ft with local groups free to conduct antidraft activity of their choosing.)
Throp,rosi^ionlts^found themselves in additional difficulty in that while they
tended to agree on a multi-issue approach for the antiwar movement, they could
not See .Snong themselves on what the issues should be. Some favored proposals
which they felt would give SMC activity a g-f -, -^^-™PXt\hey"deem
while others favored escalating the rhetoric to make the SMC what they deem
To be an anti-imperialist organization. Others favored ^^tion o an undei^ned
nature to end what they see as white and/or male supremacy i" the antiv^ar
movement. Still others said the key is to get the organized l^^^or movement not
to support the antiwar movement but to lead it. One group felt SMC should
^X"aVitUeI\'ilt-iSrnute effort to block the Carol Lipman mass action proposal
at the moment of voting a number of these groups announced they were combining
their various proposals. t-, j- i /^ «,, t?vat vaaa/f
Those who participated in this gambit were the Radical Caucus R^ M ) AVV t
and a group 'calling itself the Grass Roots Community Coali yon. Whi^^^ their
combined proposal was presented as a countermotion to Carol Lipman s, they
were literally unable to explain to the body what the combined Vl^Plf\y;'^^%^^,
For many, it was quite an education in unprincipled politics to see the disni^a
outcome of an attempt to subordinate political differences for the sake of an
organizational bloc against another political grouping. ,^«nrtpd
Lacking a thought-out program, a number of the oppositionists also resorted
to a conclrted campaign of ridbaiting against the YSA and attempted to rally
opposition to the mass action motion on the basis that it was a 1 bA proposal.
159
Exhibit No. IIA
(Referred to on p. 53)
STUDENT RIGHTS
HANDBOOK
FOR NEW YORK CITY
Stucfent Rights Project
NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION
84 Fifth Avenue. New York, N.Y. 10011
Phone: 924-7800
160
Exhibit No. 12
(Referred to on p. 54)
HOW TO START
A
HIGH SCHOOL
UNDERGROUND
1
— 1 ^R^^/I/^^W
^S
^W
A Youth Liberation
Pamplilet
161
Mini -posters (9'* xl2") in three colors; put them
up everywhere. One says ''Sahool is not healthy
for ohildren and other living things,*^ The
other has a short parable. Indiaate how many
of each. Two for 25 cents or 10 for $1.00
T-SHIRTS
High qualit ii-shJTts ^Ilk-screened to
resemble, ^he ^>chool '^oie - Wa:ck 0-jt fq-y=
Chi ldren_ji:^jAs±j.ns. Hat instead of rwr .
children Ic 0.^,1 uk both ways. there|? a ^
silhouette of a youth aiminK a ritle.
tnliicate size; Small, Medium, Large or
Extra Large. Indicate color preferencei
Gold, It. blue, turquoise or It. purple.
$2.00
To Order
Send check, money order, stamps, cash, etc. to:
YOUTH LtREKATlON
2fi''7 '»?aohlcpaw Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Make yh^ '"Ks payable to Youth Liberation
f'\
"Whatever the adver-
f ^ R
•Ity we should protect
our mimeographs and
other printing equip-
•
ment and materials even
tt the risk of life..."
^ _^5L
COMRADE KIM IL
^■^^^■^1^^^^
SUNG, the leader of the
^B^^^^^H^^^I
40 million Korean peo-
^BHi^HH
ple.
1 KIM 11 SUN6
162
Exhibit No. 13
(Referred to on p. 54)
163
Why Have
Youth Liberation?
If you're under 18, you probably already have
a good idea what Youth Liberation is about. It
was started, in 1971, because we wanted to work
toward solutions to the special problems that
young people face simply because of their age.
At the same time, we want to see our entire
society restructured into a more humane arrange-
ment, so that young people will want to be a
part of it.
The legal discrimination facing young people
is the most clear-cut. State laws vary slightly,
but generally if you are below a certain age you
cannot:
* Leave home without your parents'
permission, or live on your own even
with your parents' permission;
* Decide how you want to spend your time —
in every state except Mississippi you must
go to school until a certain age;
* See certain movies;
* Stay out past certain "curfew" hours;
* Drive a car, no matter how qualified you
are;
* Be assured of a jury trial, even if you face
the possibility of several years of imprison-
ment;
* Get a job and be economically independent;
* Vote for the people who make all these laws
that affect you, or run for public office.
Less obvious than legal oppression, but just
as frustrating, is the general attitude that we
call ageism. It means many adults feel they're
smarter, wiser, and more capable than young
people, and that therefore they should tell you
what to do — "for your own good." If you're
young, it means that your ideas and your
feelings are likely to be ignored or not taken
seriously — "Oh, she'll grow out of it," or
164
"It's just puppy love, isn't it cute?" Your
parents, having "better judgement," can tell
you not to see certain friends, forbid you to
get certain mail, and generally run your life,
as they think they ought to.
Out of all this grows forced dependence.
Because you can't work, you have to depend
on your parents for housing, food, and
spending money. Because you can't ditive
(and public transportation is usually a mess)
you have to badger your parents for a ride.
You may like things that way. But maybe
you're fed up with it; if so, we want to work
with you to get it changed.
Understanding the
Overall Problem
Young people, though, aren't the only
ones who face special problems in this
society. Old people, stereotyped as senile
and worthless, face many similar diffi-
culties. So do women, gays, third world
people, the poor, those who are handicapped,
and many others. The solution, we believe,
165
lies in first studying the present system so
that we can understand the roots of dis-
crimination and oppression, and why so
many people feel purposeless. Then, we
need to redesign that structure.
In fact, we are convinced that our society
will have to be restructured before the problems
that we've discussed can be solved. To work
only for equal rights with adults, within the
present social structure, would be both unsatis-
factory and unrealistic. Unsatisfactory, because
a 14-year-old on a hierarchically-controlled,
dehumanizing assembly line is as bad off as a
44-year-old working there. Unrealistic, because
in the present society, where the young must be
prepared for dull and alienating jobs, there is no
room for the idea of free, equal, inquiring young
people to become a reality.
How We Can
Help You
To work for these changes. Youth Liberation
was formed. We have done organizing locally
and also have several activities to help young '
people in other areas who are working for the
same goals.
A YOUTH LIBERATION MAGAZINE
One of our programs is publishing FPS-a
magazine of young people's liberation. It comes
out every month with articles about aspects of
organizing young people, young people's
struggles across the country, and other important
issues, as well as articles trying to analyze the
oppression facing young people. Four issues
each year are devoted specifically to schooling
and education in America. General subscriptions
cost $10 a year, or $18 for two years, but for
people under 18 it's only $6 per year.
FOR HIGH SCHOOL UNDERGROUND PAPERS
CHIPS, the Cooperative Highschool Inde-
pendent Press Syndicate, is a service we provide
166
for independent and underground youth news-
papers It's goal is to let you see copies of papers
that other young people are putting out, from
which you can reprint articles, get ideas
for stories and layout, and find general encourage-
noent. To participate, just send us 50 copies of
each issue of your paper (fewer if you can't
afford that many). When we get them, we'll send
you a packet of papers from other areas.
ORGANIZING TOOLS
To help young people who are trying to do
organizing, we've put some of our materials to
together in a Youth Liberation Organizing Kit.
It contains four of our pamphlets (including
Student and Youth Organizing and How to
Start a High School Underground Paper), five
sample high school underground papers, three
mini-posters, and two sample copies of FPS—
a magazine of young people's liberation. It's a
available from us for $3. (Our prices are guides:
if you are young or on a limited income, send
what you can; if you are employed, we hope you
can send extra.)
For a complete literature list (if one isn't enclosed)
or information, write to: Youth Liberation
2007 Washtenaw Ave.
Ann Arbor, Mich. 48104
Lisseo
kids... I Soijft
catch any
of you
I
167
BUTTONS
"Youth Liberation" (three colors) $0.25
"Power to Young People"
(three colors) 25
POSTERS
Mini-posters (8^2 by 11) in three colors on
heavy stock. No. 1 says "School is not
healthy for children and other living
things"' No. 2 has a short parable about
how authorities (principals, school boards,
etc.) manipulate their subjects. No. 3 is a
poem about how the honesty of children
is exploited and then destroyed by adults
who have long since lost theirs. It is illus-
trated with a beautiful and appropriate
drawing. Be sure to specify how many of
each. Three for 25 cents or 10 for $1
T-SHIRTS
Silk-screened to resemble the "School
Zone — Watch Out for Children" road
signs. But instead of two little darlings
looking both ways, there's a silhouette of
a youth aiming a rifle. Indicate size: Small
Small, Medium, Large or Ex. Large. $2.50
TO ORDER
Send check, money order, stamps, cash,
etc. to:
Youth Liberation
2007 Washtenaw Ave.
Ann Arbor, Mich. 48104
Make checks payable to Youth Liberation.
Any donation above the listed cost is
greatly appreciated.
168
FPS SUBSCRIPTION
A subscription to FPS: a magazine of
young people's liberation (12 issues
per year)
One year $10
Two years 18
Three years 24
(Special rate for people under 18 years
of age: $6 per year)
PAMPHLETS AND BOOKS
Student and Youth Organizing
(92 pages) $.65
Major Court Decisions
Young People and the Law (formerly
Major Court Decisions Regarding
the Rights of Students and Youth',
32 pages) 50
How to Start a High School
Underground Newspaper (16 pp) . .35
Teaching and Rebellion at Union
Springs (26 pages) 35
White House Conference on
Youth (42 pages) 50
Selected Reprints (about 10 articles
from old issues of FPS) 50
How to Research the Power Structure
of Your Secondary School . . .1.00
Youth Liberation - News, Politics
and Survival Information (written
by Ann Arbor Youth Liberation;
published by Times Change Press) 1.35
SAMPLE PACKET
of twelve high school underground
papers $1.50
109
Exhibit No. 14
(Referred to on p. 54)
SElECTEd
Reprints
69-239 0—76 12
170
ExfflBiT No. 15
(Referred to on p. 55)
HIGH SCHOOL^, ^^^ I
/ICTIOKI
HIGH SCHOOL
VOL. 1 NO. 3
YOUTH AGAINST
DEC. 1973 JAN., 1974 ^^^
WAR & FASCISM ^
Meeeoocieeoeeeo
High School Students:
Support Striking Farmwoilters
By Milwaukee High School YAWF
The United Farmworkers Union (UFWA) is
striking the grape and lettuce fields in California. They
want job security, better wages, and control of deadly
pesticides which kill and cripple so many of them. All
they want is the right to decent living conditions for
themselves and their children.
During our high school year, many of us work for
minimum wages. You can imagine what it is like for
farmworkers who have to feed their families on this for
a lifetime. Usually, the pay is so lousy and living costs
are so high, that the children are forced to quit school
to work to supplement family incomes. Many youth of
poor and working families right here in Milwaukee are
faced with that same necessity--to help put food on
their family's table. We must show our outrage at the
conditions that farmworkers and poor people acrossthe
country are forced to live in.
Sentry, a Milwaukee food store, laughed at the
UFWA's reasonable request; that Sentry pledge to
carry only lettuce and grapes with the UFWA label.
These greedy chain store owners think nothing of
raising prices and robbing us of our hard-earned
money. They don't see anything wrong with people
starving, as long as they don't speak out. But poor and
working people across the country have spoken!
BOYCOTT LETTUCE & GRAPES!
Don'f Let Uncle Sam Get YOU!
By Ken Oxtoby New York City H.S. YAWF
"Today's Army. A meaningful alternative for jaltemative it is; but meaningful to High School
„ ,„ „ ".students it is not.
young people. . •,. . . j o -w
Or so goes the title of a 46 page, color photographed : It tries to show happy, smilmg, contented High
brochure, put out by the United States Army's Ad- jschool students turning into happy, smiling, contented
vertising and Information Dept. It is directed to High '.GI's, that both school and the Army are pleasant.
School Seniors as a tacUc for recuiting in the most '.actually quite a lot of fun, and therefore, that the one
fascist arm of the American Imperalist machine. An : continued on page 2
171
Page 2
Army;
continued
should follow the other. Now,
think to yourselves, though; have
you ever been happy, smiley, or
content at school? And if you
know anybody who was ever in
the Army, ask him if the Army
was ever any fun for him. He will
probably tell you that they, the
officers, attempted to turn him
into a killing animal and slave,
willing to do their bidding and go
out and kill anybody they wanted
to have killed, including fellow
Americans.
The officers and DIs (Drill
Instructors) either turn the men
into slaves; or, if the person
refuses to go along with this
senseless brutality, ruin his
chances in civilian life to live any
kind of decent life. And while the
troops are not being sent to kill in
places like Vietnam and Cam-
bodia, the brass hats in the
Pentagon are thinking of loads of
other ways to use young men as
cannon fodder.
We are even being
threatened with a resumption of
the draft if there aren't enough
enlistees into the armed forces.
But High School youth, who will
be the ones facing the prospect of
and kill innocent people 1000 or
10,000 miles away so Standard Oil
or some other company can make
loads of profits off our blood. We
y End the use of Youth as
Imperalist Tools!
the draft, do not want to go outl
Detroit Teachers Strike
By Keith Pavlik & Anita Cowan
On Sept 5th, the Detroit
Federation of Teachers decided to
strike; primarily for a cost of living
increase, besides other demands. If
a victory was clinched, they stood
to win their first raise in 3 years.
School was started as
scheduled on Sept 5th, but was
dismissed after just one hour. It
was intresting the way different
people responded to the strike in
different cities. In Highland Park, a
very working class and poor city,
the parents barricaded in the
negotiators, supporting the strike
and pressuring the school board. In
Madison Hgts., a well off suburb,
the parents picketted the union hall
against the teachers.
This points up the class nature
of the strike, and the rising
solidarity of working and oppressed
people to struggle and win against
many odds.
The Detroit Board of
Education brough suit, against the
DFT and their preidnt, Mary
Detroit H.S. YAWF
Riordan, in Detroit Circuit Court.
Judge William Foley ordered the
teachers back in the classrooms,
but the teachers refused to do so. As
a result, Foley found them in
contempt of court, fined the union
$11,000 per day the strike continued,
and fined Ms. Riordan $4,000 per
day. Eventually, the fined totaled
over 1 million dollars.
After a six week strike, the
teachers went back to work, but
with mixed emotions, some feeling
they had been sold out on a com-
promise dropping alldemands
except the raise and that the board
not collect the fines. Others were
overwhelmed. The teachers have
been back to work, but they still
haven't seen their pay hike. Not
only are they being forced to work
on Saturdays, but the board
whelched on the bargain and is
fineing each teacher $300.
Defend the Rights of all Working
People!
M3,H0,H0,AN0
ABCTUEOF
BEER
"■ w
1
Letters to
cAction !
Brothers and Sisters,
Down here in the damn hole
called Grace High, the system is
fucked up. It would be ok if they got
|rid of certain teachers. So far this
Aear I have been kicked out of one
class; the class was algebra. I went
down to the principal's office and
I'lad a little discussion with him
about the teacher.
Well, after an hour we worked it
out so I wouldn't lose a credit.
[Things went good until last Friday.
Two of my friends, Smokey and
Joe; we got caught sluffing. Man,
the Student Counsellor was pissed
off at us. He said, "God, Beckstead,
if I hear of you sluffing again, I'll
Jscrew you up good." Those were his
exact words.
Now they are trying to get me
for having cigarettes on school
property. They are watching me
Iclose, but i'm not worrying.
Peace,
Ken Beckstead
Grace High, Grace, Idaho
'Nov 12, 1973
172
Free the
Houston 12
On Oct. 9, the Houston branch of
Youth Against War & Fascism, held
a demonstration against the Mideast
War against the Arab people; which
was brutally attacked by the
Houston cops.
Twelve people were arrested; 4
Anglos and 8 Chicanos; all of whom
were badly beaten by the cops-at the
demo site.on the way to the station,
at the station and at a warehouse
All had to be hospitalized. All 12
were charged with "aggravated
assault on police officers", while 5
were charged with "assualt on a
police officer with attempt to kill"
And this on a demo that was
numerically small , unarmed, and
preparing to leave!
In a city that is not only racistly
anti-Black and anti-Chicano, but
also anti-Jewish and anti-
progressive, the assault on the
demonstration has much wider
implications than would at first
seem. It is an attempt to wipe out the
entire progressive movement in
Houston, which is spearheaded by
YAWF.
When asked why they par-;
ticapated in a demonstration against :
a war in the Mideast on the show-
"Mexican-American Dialogue",:
Alex Rodriguez, one of the defen-:
dants, explained the work done by:
him and YAWF in the Chicano:
community in support of the Farah ;
pants boycott, the Farmworkers:
boycott on lettuce and grapes, and
against police brutality. Only a week
before, a demo was held against
police harra sment in the Chicano
community, at which the cops were
able to do anything against. It is felt
this is one reason why the beatings
were so brutal.
eminism :
and I
ctrxism;
by
D orotViy
.Boll an
\
• Woman in n istory i
> Wky Women'a
LibcraVion
r\eeds
Marafism
Order From;
H.S. YAWF
46 W. 21 St.
N.Y., N.Y. 10010
^^ _ "soca
All twelve, now known as
Houston 12, are out on bail. The firsti
trials start on Feb. 25, when the 5'
charged with "attempted murder"
:go on trial. But the case is so weak;
:and the support of a broad base of|
:the Houston community and'
[nationwide, has forced the DA to
igive in on many points. The Houston
";12 are innocent and will be freed.
: The case is helping to build
: solidarity and togetherness in the
istruggle against U.S. imperialism
: among workers and students. For
•more information, contact: The
: Houston 12 Defense Committee at
• 3520 Moore St., Houston, Texas 77009.
Page 3
"Funny they should
teach that here. They don't
let us talk together, gather
n the halls, or say anything
against the ad-
ministration."
ooooooiOioocKX>ooooeo&
Long Live The Heroic
Struggles of The
Vietnamese, Loatian,
8, Cambodian
Peoples!
173
What Every Student
I Should Know
.1
\NE WANT TO
I By Robert Pauls
I^FAP FQC^M YOliz High school oppressionisanoldstory.lt goes back
llk^-tf^ lf\V^/ri IX^VItothe earliest days of schools intended for working
HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH AGAINST WAR* ^^'^^^ children. In the early I9th century, public schools
& FASCISM is an organization which has |^^^'"^'"°'"^P'"^^®'^"''''^"^ve'' before, but were still
actively struggled around such issues as the! °"' °^ '■^^'=*', °^ T^^ °\^^^ P^P'^ ^'^ thats probably
Vietnam war, cops in our schools, support of iE„^',r! ^'■P«"l P""'fh'Tient was used quite
Q. „. ,.. '.. ^ . , '. *^*^ "I frequently;as a matter of fact,almost always, even for
miv.h/ w ' P"^°" /^belhons, andfthe simpliest offense (so called offense,thatl)T?e
many others. We were the first organization T corporal punishment would sometimes take very
to demonstrate against the Vietnam War in! severe forms, such as whippings and beatings.
^^2. f But today, the school system is more subtle. Instead
ACTION is the national publication of|of beating you themselves, they will send a letter home
H.S. YAWF. We want ACTION to become the| 'o your parents and let them do it for them. That, or
voice of students. r they will try to make you stay after school. Although all
If you would like more information about I ^^^^^ ""'^ '"*^''^ ^""^ '"^^"' 'he meanest of all is to fail
H.S. YAWF, or would like to distribute i y°" ^""^ ^"'"^"''"^ y°" ^^'""^^ ^^^^ Passed. There is
I very little that can be done about something like that,
I because your parents will probably believe the school
land the teacher involved and not you. Even if they
■ believe you were failed for other than academic
X reasons, they'll probably say that you deserve it for
j speaking out against the school. And when they do
I believe you and want to do something about it, they will
be told by the school that the teacher involved knows
best about such things, and in any case, that there is
nothing that can be done about it and that it will
I straighten itself out next year. But don't worry about it,
I it won't.
I wrote this to tell that the school system does not
deal with you in a fair and honest way and never has. So
there is no reason why you should deal fairly with it. It's
jj important to work together in student action com-
I mittees. They can hurt one student, but they can't bust
ACTION at your school, contact us at;
National Headquarters 46 West 21 Street
H.S. YAWF New York. New York
H.S. YAWF OFFICES NATIONWIDE
150 East Juneau Ave.
Milwaukee, Wisconson
542 S. Dearborn Rm. 3
y^icago, Illinois
171 State St.
Rochester. New York
824 Washington Ave
Wilmington, Delaware
P.O. Box 08141
Detroit, Mich.
P.O. Box 2576
Cleveland, Ohio
NAME
1:
i;
ADDRESS
PHONE
SCHOOL
n
me more
Please send
information.
I would like copies
ACTION to distribute.
I
I
i copies of I
distrihiita x
. VK «^U. (JUk, ^A«t t^^
""^ oduAitM y*^^'' t^^"^
174
Exhibit No. 16
(Referred to on p. 58)
Tlielatnot's
HanaJDOok
A Syllabus
Cr'Study Gmde
to tne American
Revolution.
175
THE PATRIOT'S HANDBOOK
A Syllabus and Study Guide
to the American Revolution
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
I. What Are We Celebrating During the Bicentennial Years?
II. Some New Approaches to Looking at American History
III. Books on the American Revolution
1. 8 Basic Books on the American Revolution
2. Books for Young Readers
3. The Colonial Background of the American Revolution
4. The British Background
5. Developing the Revolutionary Movement, 1760 - 1776
6. Our Founding Radicals — Their Strategy and Philosophy
7. The American Tory
8. Economic Democracy and the American Revolution
9. The American Revolution and the Military
10. Blacks and the American Revolution
11. Women and the American Revolution
12. The American Indian and the American Revolution
13. Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs
14. Debate: Was the American Revolution a Social Movement?
Peoples Bicentennial Commission
Washington, D.C. 20036
176
^"^^^^^s ....
^«^^^.
^/7^.
WHAT ARE WE CELEBRATING DURING THE
BICENTENNIAL YEARS?
The American War is over, but this is far from the case with
the American Revolution. On the contrary, only the first act
of the great drama is at a close.
Benjamin Rush, 1787
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress unanimously approved
the Declaration of Independence, and with that vote, the American
Revolution began. It was into the Declaration that our founders placed, for
all the world to see, their vision of the principles upon which a democratic
government must be founded:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any
form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to in-
stitute new government, laying its foundation on such prin-
ciples and organizing its powers in such form as to them
shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
To our ancestors, the Declaration of Independence was much more
than a mere philosophical statement set down on parchment. The patriots of
1776 saw the Declaration as a prescription for action — action aimed
ultimately at establishing a system of true economic, social and political
democracy in this nation. In the name of the Declaration, American rebels
not only waged war against King George III and the British empire, but also
against wealthy aristocrats in this country who preferred monarchs and
riches to government of. bv and for the people.
177
It is the Declaration of Independence, and the democratic principles
of the American Revolution, that we Americans are commemorating during
the Bicentennial years. Yet, how many of us are even familiar enough with
our founding document to endorse its radical democratic philosophy? Not
many, according to a recent survey conducted by a reporter for the Asso-
ciated Press:
MIAMI (July 4, AP) — Only one person out of fifty approached on
Miami Streets by a reporter agreed to sign a typed copy of the Declaration of
Two called it "Commie junk," one threatened to call the police, and
another warned: "Be careful who you show that kind of anti-government
stuff to. buddv."
Comments from those who took the trouble to read the first three
paragraphs:
"This is the work of a raver."
"Somebody ought to tell the FBI about this sort of rubbish."
"Meaningless."
"The boss'll have to read this before I can let you put it in the shop
window. But politically. I can tell you he don't lean that way. He's a
Republican."
Two centuries ago, Americans committed their "lives, fortunes and
sacred honors" to the ideals of the Declaration. Today, we scarcely know
anything about our founding document, or the people, events and principles
that shaped the birth of this nation.
This Syllabus and Study Guide is designed to help reacquaint
Americans with the principles that launched our first national rebellion to
economic and political injustice. Only by re-examining and reaffirming the
democratic vision that founded this nation, can we observe a meaningful
Bicentennial. And only by seeking our own roots can we arm ourselves, as our
ancestors did, with the only sure weapon against the tyrants of our own day
— the power and strength that a knowledge of fundamental democratic prin-
ciples gives.
As Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of In-
dependence, wrote almost two hundred years ago:
History, by apprizing us of the past, will enable us to judge
of the future; it will avail us of the experiences of other
times; it will enable us to know ambition under every dis-
guise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.
178
SOME NEW APPROACHES TO LOOKING AT
AMERICAN fflSTORY
Nearly a half century after he signed the Declaration of In-
dependence, an aged John Adams wrote Thomas Jefferson, "Who shall write
the history of the American Revolution? Who can write it? Who will ever be
able to write it?"
Were Adams alive today, he might look around him at the thou-
sands upon thousands of accounts of the Revolution — the textbooks, the
biographies, the scholarly monographs and the collections of correspond-
ence, the military, social and narrative histories — and ask a different ques-
tion. "Who," he might wonder, "shall read the history of the American
Revolution? Who can read it? Who will ever be able to read it?"
The truth is, that in the last two centuries, the events of ^the
American Revolution have been hashed and rehashed, analyzed, synthesized
and sanitized to no end. And after all of it, what do most of us know about
the Revolution that founded this nation? How have the millions upon
millions of words served to help us — the proverbial man and woman in the
street — to better understand the original purpose and vision of America?
The answer, of course, is that all of the words and books have done very little
to give us a better sense of ourselves and our country. With libraries full of
historical scholarship at our disposal, few of us know anything of substance
about our past.
179
The fault, of course, lies partly at our own feet. But more im-
portantly, blame must be affixed to the professional historical community.
Simply put, most of us know so little about the American past because very
little history is written with us, the non-academics, in mind. In 200 years, his-
tory has moved from a subject of popular concern and debate to the jealously
guarded pursuit of scholars, theoreticians and professionals.
These academic historians have preempted the past, the American
Revolution along with the rest of it; they have locked it up in monographs
and scholarly treatises and made it inaccessible to the ordinary citizen. They
have performed a kind of prefontal lobotomy on the general public and
removed a substantial part of our historical awareness. In short, historians,
with their plodding and endless pursuit of "objective" facts to fit into their
neatly defined "scientific" framework, have killed history. Dead as a door-
nail.
But now with the Bicentennial of the American Revolution upon us,
we have, in a sense, one last chance to resurrect history and return it to the
average citizen of America. And that, fortunately, is exactly what is begin-
ning to happen across the country, as "amateur historians" — those of us
with no formal historical training or professional scholarship under our belts
— work to reclaim the American past and put its lessons back to work in our
own lifetimes.
In Santa Barbara, California, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in
Oneonta, New York, and in dozens of other communities across the country,
small, informal groups meet weekly to discuss the Revolutionary Era. These
people are not professional historians. Some attend high school or college.
Others are members of church groups who meet to socialize and trace the
history of religious thought in America. Many are men and women who hold
down jobs during the day, and get together on occasional evenings to re-
examine the American past and present. They all share in common an in-
terest in the lessons of other times, and a commitment to put those lessons to
work today.
These amateurs are developing a new approach to looking into our
heritage that is considerably removed from both the boring superficiality of
most school-taught, textbook history and the scholarly mumbo-jumbo of the
Ivy League PhDs. The new sense of history they are forging is important for
us all.
Amateur historians believe that there is no reason for history to be a
dry and boring subject. In fact, there is a richness and power to the workings
of history that can rival any novel or movie. Just think how the events of
Watergate, one of the most important moments in our own lifetime, will look
to future generations — the sleuthing and probing of Woodward and Bern-
stein; the tales of deceit and intrigue the Nixon tapes contain; the battles be-
tween the Executive and the Legislative and Judicial branches of government.
Is there any reason to believe that equally fascinating events didn't take place
200 years ago when Americans were moving toward Revolution, the greatest
break from the established order that a people can make?
180
Amateur historians believe that amateurs can interpret history as
well as professionals, if not better. The American Revolution wasn't fought
by professionals, but by hundreds of thousands of common citizens who were
fed up with the undemocratic power wielded by King George. Why then
shouldn't the common citizen of our day be fully qualified to study and in-
terpret that history?
Amateur historians believe that history can teach us about the
present. Professional historians try to limit the impact of historical events to
the time they took place, but the world as we know it is the sum total of all
past historical occurrences. The fact that Americans fought a Revolution
against economic and political power concentrated into the hands of a few,
has as much meaning to the America of the 1970s as it had to the America of
the 1770s.
Amateur historians realize that our founding fathers and mothers
were not gods, neither were they perfect human beings. Like all of us, the
Americans of the 18th century had their flaws and inconsistencies. The im-
portant thing for our generation is to recognize the relevance of the ideals
and democratic vision of our founders for our country today. If they failed to
accomplish all that we would have liked, then it is our duty to take up the
task of completing their unfinished business.
Amateur historians believe that "history" is not confined to the
events of the past. None of us who lived through two years of Watergate scan-
dals can doubt that historic events occur in our own lives. What we often
forget is that we are not neutral observers in the history of our own time.
History is not a football game where we have the luxury of sitting on the
sidelines and watching two teams slug it out. Our choice is simple — to be
dragged along by events, or to work to shape and change them in ways that
seem most in keeping with the democratic hopes of our ancestors. That is
really the lesson of the American Revolution.
Amateur historians are not afraid to draw parallels between the
events and concerns of another age and those of our own. Professional
historians stay away from making any kind of comparisons because they are
worried that their "academic credentials" will suffer if they make history
relevant to our time. Of course, drawing parallels should not be done lightly.
But can anyone doubt that when Sam Adams, looking around him at the rich
and powerful of his day, said "Let us disappoint the men who are raising
themselves upon the ruin of this country," he was speaking as much to our
generation as to his own?
These are just some of the lessons that amateur historians all over
the country are beginning to learn. Beneath it all, is a belief that the study of
history should mean a deepening and extension of our understanding of the
contemporary world. And there is no better place, no more appropriate event
in modem history, with which to begin this resurrection of American history
than with the American Revolution.
181
EIGHT BASIC BOOKS
ON THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
With thousands upon thousands of books written on the American
Revolution, the natural first question for the amateur historian is, "Where do
I start?"
To help point a direction, we've selected eight books that serve as a
jumping off point for a look into the Revolution. We suggest that you begin
with these eight, and then go on to the more specialized areas of interest that
are contained in this syllabus.
THE SPIRIT OF '76, ed. by Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris,
Harper & Row, 1967.
"Primary sources" — the documents, letters, pamphlets, speeches,
newspapers and broadsides actually written during the 1760s and '70s — are
a historian's most valuable materials. Uninterpreted by the biases and views
of later historians, primary sources allow the participants in the Revolution
to speak for themselves. The Spirit of '76, a collection of hundreds of these
valuable original documents, is an essential work on the American
Revolution. Included in this well-indexed and easy-to-use book are items
both cultural and political — Tory and Patriot ballads; observations on the
impact of the Revolution on medicine; comments by leading patriots on
profits and profiteering policies of wealthy merchants; proclamations by
King George III, and much more. The book is nearly 1300 pages long, but
don't let it scare you off.
SOURCES AND DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATING THE AMERICAN RE-
VOLUTION, et/. by Samuel Eliot Morison, Oxford University Press, 1965.
Like the Commager and Morris collection, this is primary material
from the Revolution, but it is far heavier fare. Contained in this volume are
the basic political and philosophical documents of the Revolutionary years —
the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Bill of Rights, the State Con-
stitution of Pennsylvania, etc. The early years of the Republic immediately
following the Revolution are also represented in excerpts of the most im-
portant debates of the Constitutional Convention, the Constitution itself, and
materials relating to Shay's Rebellion. Some of these documents aren't easy
reading by today's standards, but they deserve study and discussion as
representatives of the radical philosophy that founded the United States.
182
PRIVATE YANKEE DOODLE, being a narrative of some of the adventures,
dangers, and sufferings of a Revolutionary soldier, Joseph Plumb Martin, ed.
by George F. Scheer. Little Brown, 1962.
Private Yankee Doodle, another primary source, is one of the most
entertaining and informative accounts penned by a participant in the
American Revolution. Joseph Martin joined the American Revolutionary Ar-
my at the age of 16, right after the first outbreak of fighting at Lexington and
Concord, and like many American patriots, he stuck it through for seven long
years. His story, written many years after the war when he was an old man in
his 90s, is the finest first-hand account of the military side of the Revolution
from a private soldier's point of view. In his simple, moving (and often times
humorous) fashion, Martin reveals all of the human emotions of a young man
in battle, and in passages like the following, shows us that the American
Revolution was no party for the common man who fought it:
"How many times have I had to lie down like a dumb
animal in the field, and bear 'the pelting of the pitiless
storm,' cruel enough in warm weather, but how much more
so in the heart of winter. Could I have had the benefit of a
little fire, it would have been deemed a luxury. But when
snow or rain would fall so heavy that it was impossible to
keep a spark of fire alive, to have to weather out along, wet,
cold tedious night in the depth of winter, with scarcely
clothes enough to keep one from freezing instantly, how
discouraging it must be, I leave to my reader to judge."
THE SPIRIT OF '76, Carl Becker. A.M. Kelly. 1966.
In 1926, on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of In-
dependence, historian Carl Becker was asked to deliver a lecture on "The
Spirit of '76." Turning his back on the orthodox style of lecture, Becker in-
stead developed a semi-fictional, but totally believable tale of a New York
family, the Wynkoops. who lived through the important events of the 1760s
and '70s. In just 50 pages, Becker, through the use of this family, shows that
"The Spirit of '76" is really nothing more than the story of plain, ordinary
people caught up in history-making times, trying to come to grips with new
principles and events that may change their lives and the world around them.
As the Wynkoop family shows, the decisions in a revolutionary age are sel-
dom easy, but a choice must eventually be made.
THE ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, John C. Miller.
Stanford University Press, 1957.
If you want one single work by a contemporary historian that gives
an overview of the American Revolution, this is it. Miller traces the develop-
ment of the Revolution from its uncertain beginnings in the 1760s to its
culmination in the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Particularly
interesting is the last chapter, "The American Revolution as a Democratic
183
Movement," which details the domestic conflict between conservative and
radical patriots around the issues of economic, political and social
democracy.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION CONSIDERED AS A SOCIAL
MOVEMENT,/. Franklin Jameson, Princeton University Press. 1967.
In the early 1920s, historians generally regarded the American
Revolution as simply an independence movement; few saw it as a democratic
social movement that transformed and revolutionized society within
America. Then in 1925, Professor J. Franklin Jameson, one of America's
eminent historians, delivered a series of four lectures at Princeton University
that changed the course of historical interpretation. In the lectures, Jameson
argued persuasively that,
'The stream of revolution, once started, could not be con-
fined within narrow banks, but spread abroad upon the
land. Many economic desires, many social aspirations were
set free by the political struggle, many aspects of colonial
society profoundly altered by the forces thus set loose. The
relations of social classes to each other, the institution of
slavery, the system of land-holding, the course of business,
the forms and spirit of the intellectual and religious life, all
felt the transforming hand of revolution . . ."
THE STAMP ACT CRISIS, Edmund Morgan and Helen Morgan, Collier
Books, 1963.
Although the Stamp Act was approved by Parliament more than a
decade before the American Revolution began, the protests and outrage that
greeted it in the colonies set the stage for the events of later years. This vivid
account of those protests, the first inter-colonial demonstrations in our
history, is fast-reading and entertaining. Of special interest is the story of the
smoldering conflict within the patriot ranks as leaders and demonstrators
clashed over political and tactical questions in their efforts to force repeal of
the tax.
VOICES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, Peoples Bicentennial Com-
mission. Bantam Books, 1974. ~ ' '
Voices of the American Revolution is just that; a collection of over
500 quotations from our founding fathers and mothers. Here the founders
speak out for themselves on the major issues of importance in a democracy —
banks and corporations, women's rights, foreign affairs, freedom of the
press, taxes, education, and over tv^^enty other subjects. Preceding the quotes
is a brief essay on the Declaration of Independence — how it came to be writ-
ten down, what it has to say about basic human rights and the relationship of
government to the individual, and how its radical principles were put to use,
both here and abroad.
184
BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
The books in this section come highly recommended to us from
young and old alike as of particular value to young readers of American
History.
There is a wide variety of books on the Revolution in this list —
novels, first-hand accounts, biographies, tales of spies, soldiers, working
men and women, statesmen — virtually everything but that bane of history,
the textbook.
And by the way, if you don't consider yourself a "young person"
anymore, don't get scared off by this section. Many of the books are in
other parts of the syllabus, and besides, you're only as old, or as young, as
you think.
Women in Eighteenth-Century America, Mary S. Benson, Kennikat Press,
1966.
John Adams and the American Revolution. Catherine Drinker Bowen, Little
Brown, 1950.
Look to the Mountain. Le Grand Cannon, H. Holt & Co., 1942.
The Spirit of 76. Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris, Harper &
Row, 1967.
185
Drums Along the Mohawk, Walter Edmonds, Little Brown, 1937.
Paul Revere and the World He Lived In, Esther Forbes, Houghton Mifflin
Co., 1942.
Johnny Tremaine, Esther Forbes, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1945.
The Adventures of Christopher Hawkins, Christopher Hawkins, New York
Times, 1968.
Private Yankee Doodle; being a narrative of some of the adventures, dangers,
and sufferings of a Revolutionary soldier, Joseph Plumb Martin, ed.
by George F. Scheer, Little Brown, 1962.
Rag, Tag and Bobtail: The Story of the Continental Army, Lynn Montross,
Barnes and Noble, 1967.
The Negro in the American Revolution, Benjamin Quarles, University of
North Carolina Press, 1961.
Colonists in Bondage: White Servitude and Convict Labor in America,
Abbot Smith, University of North Carolina Press, 1947.
The American Revolution, George Otto Trevelyan, D. McKay Co., 1964.
The Secret History of the American Revolution, Carl Van Doren, A.M.
Kelly, 1973.
The Great Rehearsal: the story of the making and ratifying of the Consti-
tution, Carl Van Doren, Viking Press, 1948.
Mutiny in January, Carl Van Doren, A.M. Kelly, 1973.
Sally Wister's Journal, Sarah Wister, New York Times, 1969.
69-239 O - 76 - 13
186
REDUC'D
THE COLONIAL BACKGROUND
OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
From their first days in the "New World" in the early 1600s,
European colonists began to slowly change from their relatives on the other
side of the Atlantic. Separated by 3000 miles of water from the Old World —
a considerable distance in those days — the colonists who came here were
forced to modify old institutions and values to meet the needs of their lives in
America. In addition, many of these early settlers were the outcasts of Europe
— radicals, religious dissenters, the poor and criminals. This section explores
the early development of what one observer of the 1700s called, "This new
man, this American."
Errand into the Wilderness, Perry Miller, Belknap Press, 1956.
The Puritans, Perry Miller, Doubleday, 1956.
The Intellectual Life of Colonial New England, Samuel Eliot Morison, New
York University Press, 1956.
Colonists in Bondage; White Servitude and Convict Labor in America,
Abbot Smith, University of North Carolina Press, 1947.
Gentleman Freeholders; Political Practices in Washington's Virginia,
Charles S. Sydnor, University of North Carolina Press, 1952.
The Peaceable Kingdom; New England Towns in the Eighteenth-Century,
Michael Zuckerman, Knopf, 1970.
The Colonial Era, Herbert Aptheker, International Publishers, 1966.
187
uTkOKGE the m^ KIN<J of Gkkat BRITAIN.&c
THE BRITISH BACKGROUND
As Americans came to grips with the issues that launched the Re-
volution, their relatives in England were debating among themselves the
merits of the American case. British society was torn. Wealthy aristocrats
and government officials, for the most part, supported the King and his
policies. Others, notably John Wilkes, the Mayor of London, and his poor
constituents, resorted to extreme measures in favor of the Americans. This
section explores these conflicts.
British Opinion and the American Revolution, Dora Mae Clark, Yale Uni-
versity Press, 1930.
Preliminaries of the American Revolution as Seen in the English Press,
Fred J. Hinkhouse, Octagon Books, 1969.
A History of England in the Eighteenth-Century, William Lecky, AMS
Press, 1%8.
Origins of the American Revolution, John C. Miller, Stanford University
Press, 1957.
188
''-^^^^
/i/cA ^^AfTtAy/^
U^Ja^n. ^ Jfu^^^^j^
OUR FOUNDING RADICALS —
THEIR STRATEGY AND PHILOSOPHY
The names of Thomas Jefferson, Abigail Adams, Tom Paine, Ben
Franklin, Mercy Warren and others are well known to our generation.
Today, we call these men and women the "Founding Fathers and Mothers,"
but who were these people, and what did they stand for? This section ex-
plores these questions by examining the radical philosophy that propelled
America into Revolution, as well as the strategy and tactics that the founders
used to turn their philosophy into a program for action and change.
Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Bernard Bailyn, Belknap
Press, 1967.
Pamphlets of the American Revolution, Bernard Bailyn, Balknap Press,
1965.
The Lamp of Experience, Trevor Colburn, University of North Carolina
Press, 1965.
The American Revolution: A Constitutional Interpretation, Charles
Mcllwain, Macmillan, 1923.
Sam Adams, John C. Miller, Belknap Press, 1936.
Chronicles of the American Revolution, Hezekiah Niles, University Press,
1965.
Tracts of the American Revolution, Merrill Jensen, Bobbs-Merrill, 1967.
The Declaration of Independence, Carl Becker, P. Smith, 1933.
Common Sense and other Political Writings, Thomas Paine, Bobbs-Merrill,
1953.
189
DEVELOPING THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
In 1760, George III was proclaimed King of England and Ruler of
the British Empire, an empire that included the thirteen colonies in
America. Within 15 years of his accession to the throne. King George had
managed to so thoroughly antagonize Americans that a full-fledged
Revolutionary movement had taken root throughout the colonies.
From its earliest demands that Americans should enjoy the same
rights and liberties as Englishmen, the revolutionary movement climaxed in
the establishment of the United States as a new nation dedicated to dem-
ocratic government, equality of all people, and Revolution throughout the
world. This section traces that 15 year development, and the milestone
events along the way.
The Coming of the Revolution, Lawrence Gipson, Harpers, 1954.
From Resistance to Revolution, Pauline Maier, Knopf, 1972.
Founding of a Nation, Merrill Jensen, Oxford University Press, 1968.
The History of the American Revolution, David Ramsay, Russell &
Russell, 1968.
Toward Lexington, John Sly, Princeton University, 1965.
The Eve of the Revolution, Carl Becker, Yale University Press, 1921.
The Boston Tea Party, Benjamin Labaree, Oxford University Press, 1964.
The Stamp Act Crisis, Edmund Morgan and Helen Morgan, Collier Books,
1963.
Seedtime of the Republic, Clinton Rossiter, Harcourt Brace, 1953.
The Boston Massacre, Hiller Zobel, W.W. Norton, 1970.
190
THE AMERICAN TORY
Not all Americans in 1776 were patriots. Far from it. Tens of
thousands of Americans considered themselves loyal subjects of King
George, and did everything in their power to stop the coming Revolution.
Because of their support for the monarchy, and their hatred for democracy,
these Tories lost much in the Revolution. The large land-holdings of many
were confiscated, broken up and distributed among the patriots. Thousands
were forced into exile. Others were tarred and feathered, boycotted and jailed
for their activity.
Who were the Tories? What did they believe in? How well organized
were they? And what made them side with King George instead of the rebels?
These questions are explored in this section.
Democratic-Republican Societies, Eugene Link, Columbia University Press,
1942.
The American Tory, William H. Nelson, Oxford University Press, 1961.
Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion, Peter Oliver, Stanford Uni-
versity Press, 1961.
The Loyalists in the American Revolution, C.H. Van Tyne, P. Smith, 1929.
191
TK« TIMES are
lOHtadAU,
9olorons> ana
DoLLAH-lEtfS.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND
ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY
There were two major thrusts to the American Revolution. One, of
course, was the struggle for independence that was waged against King
George and the British Empire, The other was what Benjamin Rush, a signer
of the Declaration of Independence, had in mind when he wrote in 1787,
"The American War is over, but this is far from the case with the American
Revolution. On the contrary, only the first act of the great drama is at a
close."
Rush, Thomas Jefferson, Tom Paine and many other Americans
were determined that the Revolution would not stop with the separation of
the United States from England. They demanded that the democratic prin-
ciples of the Revolutionary years be applied with equal force here at home.
Concentrations of power and wealth, these patriots argued, was un-
democratic whether in the hands of the King of England or the wealthy land-
holders and merchants of America. This section explores the issues of
Economic Democracy and political power.
The American Revolution, Herbert Aptheker, International Publishers,
I960.
The Sons of Liberty in New York, H.B. Dawson, Arno Press, 1969.
Laboring and Dependent Classes in America, Marcus Jernegan, Ungar,
1960.
Government and Labor in Early America, Richard B. Morris, Harpers
Torchbook, 1965.
The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution, Arthur Schlesinger,
Columbia University Press, 1918.
192
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
AND THE MILITARY
For over seven years, Americans shouldered arms against the troops
of King George III. This army, under the command of General George
Washington, was the first ever established by Americans, and the task was
one of the most difficult and crucial the patriots faced.
This section looks into the early views of Americans toward the ar-
my, a subject of great controversy in the 18th century when any professional
military force was distrusted by private citizens and seen as a danger to the
civil authority. Also explored are the military strategies, battles and cam-
paigns of the Revolution.
The American Rebellion, Sir Henry Clinton, Yale University Press, 1954.
George Washington in the American Revolution. James Flexner, Little
Brown, 1968.
The Campaign of 1781 in the Carolinas. Henry Lee, Quadrangle Books
1962.
Rag, Tag and Bobtail: The Story of the Continental Army, Lynn Montross,
Barnes and Noble, 1967.
The History of the Origin, Progress and Termination of the American War,
Charles Stedman, New York Times. 1969.
The American Revolution, George Otto Trevelyan, D. McKay Co., 1964.
The Voices of 76, Richard B. Wheeler, Harper and Row, 1972.
Battles of the American Revolution, Henry Beebe Carrington, New York
Times, 1968.
Soldiers and Civilians: The Martial Spirit in America, 1775-1865, Marcus
Cunliffe, Little Brown, 1968.
193
BLACKS AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Much of the history of the American Revolution, like other periods
out of our past, has been neglected, forgotten, or lost. The role of Black
people during the Revolution is such a case. For black men and women, most
of whom were enslaved during the Revolution, the key issues at stake were
freedom and the end of slavery. Many blacks, taking the words of the
Declaration of Independence to heart — "We hold these truths to be self-
evident, that all men are created equal ..." — fought on the side of the
patriots. Other blacks fought in the King's army, hoping that if the Redcoats
won, they would be freed in gratitude. This section examines the role of Black
Americans during the Revolution — as soldiers, writers, spies, clergy, free
men and women and slaves.
The Nesro in the American Revolution, Herbert Aptheker, International
Publishers, 1940.
The Negro in Colonial New England, L.J, Greene, Kennikat Press, 1966.
The Negro in the American Revolution, Benjamin Quarles, University of
North Carolina Press, 1961.
The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution, Sidney Kaplan
& the Smithsonian Institution, New York Graphic Society Ltd.,
1973.
194
WOMEN AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Though seldom given credit, women played as active a role in the
waging of the Revolution as did men. Before the outbreak of fighting, women
formed Daughters of Liberty organizations to promote boycotts of taxed
British goods. During the war, some women were spies, others took up arms,
and many more successfully managed farms and businesses while their hus-
bands served in the army.
At the same time, there was a growing awareness among women of
issues we today call "women's liberation." Abigail Adams for instance, wrote
her husband John (then a delegate to the Continental Congress), that "If par-
ticular care and attention are not paid to the ladies, we are determined to
foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound to obey any laws in
which we have no voice or representation." This section explores the lives of
colonial women, the participation of women in the patriot cause, and the im-
plications of the Revolutionary philosophy to the role of women in society.
Women's Life and Work in the Southern Colonies, Julia Cherry Spruill,
Norton, 1972.
Colonial Dames and Good Wives, Alice Morse Earle, Ungar, 1962.
Customs and Fashions in Old New England, Alice Morse Earle, Corner
House Publishers, 1969.
Familiar Letters of John Adams and Abigail Adams, during the American
Revolution, ed. Charles Francis Adams, Books for Libraries Press,
1970.
Correspondence Between John Adams and Mercy Warren, ed. C.F. Adams,
Arno Press, 1972.
Sally Wister's Journal, Sarah Wister, New York Times, 1969.
The Women of '76, Sally Smith Booth, Hastings House Publishers, 1973.
195
THE AMERICAN INDIAN
AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Long before white people came to America from Europe, Indian
tribes inhabited North America. From the first, colonists viewed and treated
these Native Americans paradoxically. Impressed with the Indians' outlook
toward property, life, nature and spiritual matters, colonists came to see the
Indian as a "noble savage" more in tune with the world than the "civilized"
European. At the same time, Europeans demanded that the Indians change
their ways, adopt the Christian God, and in general become more like them-
selves. These conflicts inevitably led to mutual distrust and misun-
derstanding, and eventually to the breaking of treaties and armed attacks.
This section explores these antagonisms, as well as the role played by In-
dians, both on the side of the British and the Americans, during the
Revolution.
History of the American Indian, James Adair, Johnson Reprint Corp., 1968.
The Indian and the White Man, Wilcomb Washburn, NY U. Press, 1964.
The Iroquois in the American Revolution, Barbara Graymont, Syracuse
University Press, 1972.
The Southern Indian during the American Revolution, James H. O'Donnell,
U. of Tennessee Press, 1973.
The Colonial Legacy, ed. by Lawrence Leder, Harper and Row, 1973. Vol. 3,
an Introduction to James Adair, by Washburn, pgs. 91-120.
196
The Mtf/iS£ A M 21 R I C A . //vw/z/c //r Jf^rr
DIPLOMACY AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS
During the Revolution, the Continental Congress sought financial
and military aid from France and other European countries in the battle
against the massive British Empire. As the fighting came to a close,
American diplomats conducted lengthy negotiations with English represen-
tatives in an effort to reach a peace settlement. After the Revolution, America
was heralded as the leader of the world-wide democratic movement, and
American representatives actively attempted to spread the Revolution out-
side of the United States. All three aspects of our early diplomatic and
foreign policy efforts are explored here.
The Diplomacy of the American Revolution, Samuel Bemis, D. Appleton-
Century, 1935.
English Whiggism and the American Revolution, George H. Guttridge, Uni-
versity of California Press, 1942.
The Peacemakers, Richard B. Morris, Harper and Row, 1965.
John Adams, V. II, Page Smith. Doubledav. 1962.
The Life and Major Writings of Thomas Paine, ed. by Philip S. Foner,
Citadel Press, 1974.
197
*«i=i5v.-.
DEBATE: WAS THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
A SOCIAL MOVEMENT?
Since 1776, there have been nearly as many interpretations of the
American Revolution as there were historians to v^^rite them. Some historians
claim that the American Revolution wasn't a "real" revolution like those of
France, Russia or China. These historians argue that our Revolution was
primarily an "independence" movement that transferred power from an elite
in England to an elite in the United States. Another school of historians point
to the social and economic reforms that were launched in the 1770s to prove
that the American Revolution was the real thing.
This section explores these, and other, interpretations of the
American Revolution.
The American Revolution Considered as a Social Movement, J. Franklin
Jameson, Princeton University Press, 1926.
The American Revolution: Two Centuries of Interpretation, Edmund
Morgan, ed., Prentice-Hall, 1965.
Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution, Esmond Wright, ed.,
Quadrangle Books, 1966.
Voices of the American Revolution, Peoples Bicentennial Commission.
Bantam Books, 1974.
198
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission publishes material on the
American Revolution and the Bicentennial. PBC publications include guides
to: "Community Programs for a Peoples Bicentennial;" "Student and
Teacher Programs for a Peoples Bicentennial;" religious participation in the
Bicentennial; and a special youth activity guide for the Bicentennial. All
four guides contain scores of program ideas, activities, suggestions, as well
as historical material about the Revolution and its implications for today.
Also included in the kit are study guides, a quote book from the founding
mothers and fathers, an American History magazine, and posters and but-
tons. The complete PBC kit, along with a one year's subscription to the PBC
magazine, "Common Sense," costs $10.00. Write to the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission, Washington, D.C. 20036.
199
Exhibit No. 17
(Referred to on p. 60)
PO «
Order Form
for
Bicentennial Materials
(PleJse attach school puichast' older
and enter niimber here 1
Order any combination you want. All orders under $25,00
must be paid in advance. On orders over $25.00. please
include purchase order number if payment is not enclosed.
If your order includes 25 books or more, you will receive an
educational discount of 20% on your total order
FREE BONUSES. For any prepaid order over $25.00, you
will receive two free guides: The Creative Social Science
Teacher, edited by PH Tedesco, and Teaching /or a Change
by J.A.Scott,
Please send
n Payment enclosed. Wtien payment accompanies your
order, shipping and handling are prepaid by the publisher
All checks should be made payable to Bantam Books, Inc.
D Please bill, including $2.00 for postage and handling,
referring to the purchase order number above.
Order No.
Material
Price
Quantity
Total
O2023
COMMON SENSE II
$1.25
P2074
Teachers Guide (THE COIVTriNUING REVOLUTION)
1.00
F2076
Student Guides (set of 10)
.50
1
P2077
Set of 5 Documents
1.00
P2080
Set of 4 Posters
1.00
QP2153
DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK
1.25
Y2156
PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION EARLY AMERICAN ALMANAC
1.95
Q2162
PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION QUIZ BOOK
OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
125
X6890
VOICES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1.75
QP6975
THE BALLAD OF AMERICA
1.25
07743
THE HESSIAN
1.25
D7840
,AMERICAN PRlMmVE
1.65
NP7977
APRIL MORNING
.95
Y8484
BURR
1.95
THnMAK IFFFFRtiON
2.25
Tota
IS
Pnces elfective until .January 1 . 1976 Shipping & Handlin
Total Amount Dut
iS
.s
Bill to:
School
Name
Department _
Address
City.,
_State_
_Zip_
Ship to;
School
Name
Department-
Address
City
_ State-
_Zip_
Detach this form on the doned line and send to
Learning Ventures
A Division of Bantam Books, Inc
Dept. PBC
666 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10019
^
PRINTED IN U S A
200
Exhibit No. 18
(Referred to on p. 61)
T\
ffi
<
H
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<;
cc
<
COMMON SENSE
II
BY THE PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
TOM PAINES COMMON SENSE SPARKED
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 200 YEARS AGO
THIS BOOK SOUNDS THE ALARM AGAINST
TODAYS TYRANTS, THE GIANT CORPORATIONS.
201
Exhibit No. 19
(Referred to on p. 62)
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORIANS
OFFICE OF EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
IIJ NORTH BRYAN . 1U.OOMINC ION. INDIANA . 474(11
TKI.. NO. 813 — ^37-7311
March 12, 1975
Mrs. William C. Walton
1105 North Irving Avenue
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
Dear Mrs. Walton:
I enclose a recent issue of our Newsletter which includes
tvi70 announcements about materials that are available on
the bicentennial. These are the film on George III and
the items that can be obtained from the Peoples Bicentennial
Commission. I assume that you are writing to the Bicenten-
nial Administration in Washington.
Let me suggest that you also contact Professor Richard Morris
who is chairman of the Committee on the Bicentennial of the
American Historical Association. Professor Morris' address
is 605 Fayerweather Hall, Columbia University, New York
City 10027.
Sin cerely yours ,
Richard S. Kirkendall
Executive Secretary
En c los ure
RSK:ms
Indiana 1'n'i\ersit^'
69-239 O— 76-
-14
202
Exhibit No. 19A
(Referred to on p. 62)
[From Organization of American Historians Newsletter, January 1975)
PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL STUDY GUIDE
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission has produced a complete Bicentennial
display package of books on the American Revolution, "In the Minds and Hearts
of the People." The display is especially suited to library and school use. It
contains eight large posters based on quotes from the founding fathers and mothers,
30 reproductions of the Revolutionary era, engravings, captions, and headlines
describing the major events and themes of the American Revolution, and a
syllabus and study guide developed by Dr. Page Smith, Senior Staff Historian
and a Bancroft A\vard-winning author. The display package can be ordered from
the Peoples Bicentennial Commissicn, 1346 Connecticut Avenue N.W., Wash-
ington, D.C. 20036 for $20.
203
Exhibit No. 20
(Referred to on p. 63)
0mmot{Sense
VOL 2, No. 1
PEOPLE'S BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
JANUARY, 1974
photo DV UNS
INSIDE: Boston Oil Party; Patriots vs Tories
204
Exhibit No. 21
(Referred to on p. 64)
^^•^ ^^~N our price: 25'
VOL. 3,
PEOPLE'S BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
NO. 2
205
mo^ ^ ^ THK 200th i^\lf T:R^iiRl OF ^^ ^^3 ^ ^^a
'THK .^HOTN HELIRD ROi ilD IIHK nORI.D
99
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(017^ :^y-l^.>l, 400 BBI4C 0\ >^T., BO?»»TO\, ILkHH.
206
207
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The Peoples Bicentennial Commission
i£-«rt^
Exhibit No. 22
(Referred to on p. 64)
THE UNFINISHED REVOLUTION
*iii
Allegiance to whom?
Can we be equal and free?
Is more better?
What dare we .dream?
Boston Globe . Aprrl 13, '975^^, A prologue to Ihe nations bicentennial celebration including a complete 1975 calendar of Boston and slate events
[From the Boston Globe, Apr. 13, 1975]
What Dare We Dream?
(By Jeremy Rifkin)
We always paid our taxes, supported our families and stood by our country
m good tunes and bad. We always believed that hard work would pay off. We
never took charity. If we didn't have everything we wanted, at least we had every-
thing we needed to make ends meet.
Now we watch helpless as our hard-earned savings are devoured by skyrocket-
1?^ {!?°^ ^^^^'^ ^^'^ medical costs. We sit up late at night wondering if we will
be able to meet our next mortgage payment. We look on in disbelief as our friends
and neighbors lose their jobs and are forced into unemplovment lines.
210
We sense an eerie mood of desperation as those around us are moved from hope
to cynicism, from self-reliance to dependency, from commitment to escape, from
moral purpose to expediency.
We are no longer sure of what to believe in and who to trust. VV e know that some-
thing very wrong is happening in our country, but aren't quite sure what it is.
We feel as" if a conspiracy has eaten its way into the soul of America and is threaten-
ing to destroy the spiritual life of our nation. We are afraid and angry and want
desperately to act ... .,..,.,
Ironically, the mood of America on the eve of our bicentennial is strilvingly
similar to the mood felt throughout the 13 colonies in 1775. Like us, the colonists
were ensnared in an unfolding series of crises that had already spanned nearly a
If the patriots of the 1770s could take a look at America in the 1970s, they'd
be stunned. The burning issues of 200 years ago read like the front page of today s
newspapers. Back then, a handful of troul)le-makers we now call patriots pointed
an accusing finger at the monarchy. Today, millions of Americans are beginning
to turn an accusing finger once again — this time at the giant corporations. Like
the monarchy, these corporate giants have succeeded in concentrating an extraor-
dinary amount of economic and political power in the hands of a few and have
undermined out basic rights as workers, consumers and citizens. Consider the
Today's giant business corporations claim possession of vast amounts of eco-
nomic wealth far in excess of anv monarchv that ever existed. The 200 largest
business corporations, alone, control two-thirds of all of the manufacturing assets
in the United States. As a matter of fact, 36 out of the 100 largest money powers
(measured by GNP or gross sales) in the world today are no longer even countries.
Thev are American corporations.
The great majority of us work for these corporate institutions. Even so, the
American worker is not the primary beneficiary of corporate productivity. The
main objective of the corporation is to make profit for its stockholders. Yet, only
1 percent of the population of this country own 72 percent of all the stock. Over
85 percent of the American people don't even own a single share of stock— we
simply can't afford it. . r i ■ j
It's no wonder that seven out of every 10 working Americans feel increased
corporate productivity would benefit wealthy stockholders and management more
than themselves. Their feelings are justified. America's super-rich now owri 43
percent of the private wealth of the nation and they are getting richer by the day.
Given the nature of the corporate institutions, there is simply no way the American
worker can ever come out on top because that privileged position is held by a
small stockholding aristocracy. j r
Meanwhile, America's corporate giants have forced hundreds of thousands ot
small businesses out of the marketplace and have formed "shared" monopolies m
virtually every major wholesale and retail market. These monopolies fix prices at
arbitrarily high levels, reaping windfall profits, while the American consumer is
being taken for a ride to the poor house.
F.ven while millions of Americans face the prospect of indefinite layotts and
months or even years of unemployment, the big business moguls feel perfectly
justified in moving their plant operations abroad so that they can hire cheaper
foreign labor and reap still greater i^rofits for their wealthy stockholders.
These same giant corporations dominate the political decision-making process
by placing their executives and supporters in key electoral and appointed govern-
mental positions. Through massive lobbies and the support of hand-picked legisla-
tors, the corporations divide up our tax money through government subsidies
contracts and other special favors. According to a 1972 Hams poll, 69 percent ot
the people agree with the statement that large corporations have a great deal ot
influence in Washington. Only 7 percent believe that the average citizen has com-
parable access to government decision-making.
The giant corporation is the most important governing institution in our lives.
We spend half of our waking hours under its rules and jurisdiction. For most of us,
it is the "only" government that we will be initimately associated with on a daily
basis for the "majority of our life. Yet, it is a government where democratic prin-
ciples and God-given rights have no place whatsoever. The corporation is not de-
signed to maximize rights, but rather to maximize profits. We never think of GAl,
Exxon or ITT as institutions whose basic purpose is to i^romote human values, in
the cori)orate world there are no considerations of heart and soul, of God, and
conscience, but only of expansion and contraction, victory and defeat, profit and
loss.
211
Anyone that works inside the giant business corporation knows that it is an
authoritarian environment designed to domesticate the hmnan mind and anes-
thetize personal initiative, creative thinking and independent judgment — qualities
essential to the preservation of our God-given rights.
Every day these giant Ijureaucratic prisons drain us of that special and unique
energy that was to be our trademark and destiny as a people. We used to lielieve
that we were each captains of our fate and masters of our souls. We are now foot
soldiers in the corporate armies. We used to believe that great concentrations of
w^ealth and power were subversive to the proper functioning of the democratic
process and general welfare of society. Now we accept a government and an econ-
omy dominated by a powerful legion of corporate monarchs.
Why do we Americans allow ourselves to remain silent in the face of this
obvious and humiliating reality? We know the truth of our situation. We sense
that something is fundamentally wrong with the way our economy is organized.
We realize that all of the piecemeal proposals presently being debated are but
temporary stopgaps and offer no clearcut solution for the future survival of our
country. We know that time is running out for America but we are simply unable
to imagine a workable alternative to the present corporate system.
How many times have we heard it said: the giant corporations will alwavs be
here. They are a fact of life and we must accept it. This was the same psvchological
problem that faced the colonists 200 years ago. Many of them could riot imagine
a world without a monarchy. In their minds, monarchy was a fact of life, something
beyond their control that was always there and could never be challenged, much
less replaced. It took a simple corset maker named Thomas Paine to'point out
what centuries of blind obedience to the crown had covered up ; the simple truth
that monarchy was not divinely inspired. It was merely a set of rules which people
had made to govern social relationships. People make institutions, and people can
change them. Sounds fairly self-evident, doesn't it? But is it as self-evident in
relation to the giant business corporation. Although we don't really believe that
GM, Exxon and ITT are divinely inspired, we nonetheless ascribe to them a
certain mystic bigger-than-life quality. The simple fact is that the corporate
system is just a set of rules for bringing people and resources together to make and
distribute goods and services.
What is becoming more obvious is that these rules are controlled l)y a few (top
management) to benefit a few (the wealthy stockholders). Meanwhile, 99 percent
of the American people are shortchanged every day, as workers and consumers
are treated like second-class citizens at the workplace, in the communitv and in
the halls of government.
Two hundred years ago our founders were faced with the choice of continuing
to live under a set of rules (the monarchy) that was unfair and oppressive, or
replacing it with a new order. They chose to abolish monarchv and to establish a
representative democracy.
Their intent was simple and direct. Citizens from each community would be
elected to ofhce by their neighbors. These officials would be called "public ser-
vants" for the simple reason that they were to carry out the will of those who
elected them. These public servants were given authority to make decisions and
shape policies in those areas where such authority was granted bv the citizenry.
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights prescribed the limits of "such authority
and the Courts interpreted any violation of those limits.
This same democratic approach can just as easily be applied to the economic life
of our nation today. There is no reason why the citizenry can't democratically
participate in the very offices and factories in which we work. There is no reason
why the citizenry can't determine broad economic policy decisions and prescribe
the i)riorities of goods and services to be produced. There is no reason why the
citizenry can't replace corporate management that is accountable to the stock-
holders with elected management that is accountable to the people. There is no
reason why the citizenry can't replace profit that now goes to a small minoritv of
privileged stockholders with profit that goes to the workers and consumers in"the
form of higher wages and lower prices. There is no reason why we can't use the
technological know-how at our disposal to begin decentralizing giant economic
institutions into local and regional units small enough to promote real democratic
control as well as real economic efficiency.
Some, no doubt, will consider all of this a laughable suggestion. On the contrarv,
it IS the present circumstances that we find ourselves in that is trulv laughable.
For, is there any other word that can better illustrate the absurd fact that millions
of us are herded through life like mindless sheep by a minute handful of people
and institutions.
212
Is it laughable to inquire why David Rockefeller makes a greater income in one
day than the average worker makes in 12 months?
Is it laughable to inquire why, if we are all created equal, a very few babies
are born into fantastic wealth and splendor complete with the power and privileges
extended to royal nobility?
Is it laughable to inquire why the vast property of America belongs to a few
individuals and institutions and not to the people?
Is it laughable to inquire why the average employee must work two and a half
hours of an eight-hour work day just to pay government taxes, while multimil-
lionaires like David Rockefeller j^ay almost NO taxes at all?
Is it laughable to inquire why "our" government rewards large corporations and
wealthy individuals with $51.5 billion annually in the form of tax loopholes,
credits and incentives while providing only $10 billion per year in public assistance
to the poor?
It's laughable alright and the joke's on us for remaining passive in the midst of
the abuses we are forced to endure under the present corporate system.
Of course, the apologists for the corporate system will argue that a democratic
economy is an unworkable Utopian jiipe dream, and that would destroy the
individual's incentive to be productive, that it would result in administrative
inefficiency, and that it would place power in the hands of incompetent decision
makers. Yet, they conveniently forget to mention two things. First, that all
three of these arguments best sum up the present state of the corjiorate system
itself. And second, that economic democracy has proven successful time and time
again in actual practice.
Democratically owned and controlled economic institutions already exist in
scattered communities across the nation. Municipally controlled utilities, dem-
ocratically controlled factories, consumer controlled cooperatives and citizen
controlled community development corporations are functioning right now as
succes.sful and effective institutions and their numbers are growing rapidly every
year. These democratic institutions exist because plain ordinary people have
believed in the democratic process and had the will and resolve to put those
beliefs into practice.
Even some of America's largest corporations, including Procter and Gamble,
General Foods, Corning Glass, Texas Instruments, Monsanto and Pittsburgh
Plate Glass have, in some plants, abandoned classic bureaucratic techniques of
organization in favor of direct democratic control of production by employees.
This radical departure from authoritarian top down management of workers
control has been instituted not out of any sense of unrestrained idealism, but
rather out of practical necessity. Very simply, the owners and managers of these
corporations have found that after an initial i)eriod of job retraining and confi-
dence building, workers are often more competent to make basic decisions on how
goods and services are to be produced, and that democratic decision-making
promotes worker incentives and increased efficiency.
In case after case where employees have been allowed to take over basic deci-
sion-making operations previously exercised by management and owners, the
results have been startling. Yet, these model experiments continue to remain the
best kept secret in American life today. Corporati-ons, while pleased with the
increased financial V^enefits accruing from worker control, are, at the same time,
alarmed about its implications. They are justified in their concerns. The hard,
cold statistical results of these experiments in economic democracy threaten the
very basis of our corporate economy. After all, what would hapj^en if millions of
working Americans became aware of the phenomenal success of these experiments
in economic democracy'? It wouldn't 'take much time for people to put two and
two together; i.e., if workers are better equipped than top management and
owners to make decisions on how goods and services are to be produced, then why
aren't we just as equipped to decide what should be produced and who should
benefit.
The first step in democratizing the economy is to bring the question out of the
basement and into the full light of pul^lic discussion and debate.
The people have a right to know the statistical results of experiments in democ-
ratizing economic institutions here in the United States as well as in Western
Europe. As more and more Americans i)ecome aware of the success of these
experiments in advancing productivity and individual incentive, it is virtually
certain that a public clamor for increased implementation will develop among
workers in every industrial sector of the country, especially when such experi-
ments are contrasted with the present corporate system, riddled with unemploy-
ment, runaway inflation and seemingly uncontrollable fiscal dislocations and
instabilities.
213
In Aniprica, nothing succeeds like success. Informing the pubh'c that, in case
after case, corporate management has been simplj^ unable to compete successfully
with democratic management will, undoubtedly, hasten the pressure for greater
democratization.
Moving beyond this point to full democratization will require the passage and
implementation of new laws to complete the transition from a corporate to a
democratic economy.
In pursuing new economic legislation, it is important to remember that there
is no magic or mj^sterj' to economic democracy. Economic systems are nothing
more than man-made rules to organize people and resources to produce and dis-
tribute goods and services. There are, however, real problems and issues that
have to be dealt with in making a transition from a corporate economy to a
democratic one.
The important thing is that we not be frightened into inaction simply because
we do not already hold all the specific answers to all the specific questions that
will have to be dealt with. There simply is no way to charter the specific details
of our economic future in advance. Those who demand a complete picture of the
future will never be the ones to shape it. Tomorrow will belong to those of us
who arc willing to follow an instinct, to express a feeling, to pursue a dream and
to choose a course. Commitment is ultimately based on faith in a vision one has
for oneself and societj' and not on dispassionate calculations and reams of facts
and figures. How much do we need to know, to know what we want? We want to
participate in decisions that affect our life. We want to live without fear. We
want to feel that what we do and who we are has meaning for ourselves and those
we care for. We want to count for something and we want to know that there is
a reason for our being alive.
We should remember that delegates to our second Continental Congress in
1776 brought with them many more questions than solutions. During the course
of that convention and the years that followed, a host of specific proposals were
presented for debate and there were occasional doubts as to whether a workable
plan for American Nationhood cc-uld be adopted at all. Even at the close of the
historic Constitutional Convention of 1787 many questions were still left un-
answered. Yet, in the course of several years of careful deliberation and experi-
mentation, a future course was chartered that provided a sound road map for
nearly 200 years of Nationhood.
Our generation of Americans is faced with the same opportunity and challenge.
We need to charter a revised road map that adheres to the same general principle
that our founders pursued: the principle that decisionmaking power must be
broadly exercised by the people, and not be delegated to a few. Most important,
we must insure that the present centralized and authoritative control exercised by
corporate money men is not simply replaced with an equally centralized and
authoritative control exercised by bureaucrats and elected officials in Washington,
D.C.
Many of us have yet to come to grips with the hard reality of our situation: that
our economic salvation depends on our joining together to challenge the strangle-
hold that the giant corporations now exert over the affairs of our nation.
If we are to save our families from economic ruin and our country from a
complete collapse, we must begin now to build a new movement for the demo-
cratic restructuring of the economy of the United States of America.
Certain moments in history call for extraordinary energj', strength and com-
mitment. In such periods average people burst forth from the obscurity of every-
day life to imprint an indelible stamp on the pages of history. John Adams was a
lawyer, Tom Paine was a corset maker, Ben Franklin a printer, Abigail Adams a
housewife. Our founders lived in perilous times that called for great deeds and
great people. They answered the call and they succeeded.
Now we are l^eing called forth to resurrect that same democratic spirit that
propelled our founders to greatness.
Let the skeptics side with Goliath in this contest. Let the theoreticians chatter
on about every nuance and detail of the matter at hand. Let the cowards wrap
themselves up in feeble diversions. And let the defenders and apologists of the
corporate system remain smug and contemptuous on their plastic thrones.
The Challenge is clear, the moment is now.
A thousand voices from our past call us to act for our future and the future of
our country.
Who will take up the banner of liberty and freedom that Adams, Paine and
Jefferson led into battle nearly 200 years ago?
214
If Sam Adams were alive today, he would say to our generation: "I believe that
no people ever groaned under the yoke of slavery but what they deserved it . . .
the truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom and defended it as they ought.
Is it possible that millions could be enslaved by a few, which is a notorious fact, if
all possessed an independent spirit?"
That spirit is ours to grab hold of and live by. All of the power and authority
of the corporate empire is of little consequence when matched against the will
and resolve of a patriotic movement dedicated to restoring the dignity of the
human family.
The words of Ben Franklin ring out loud and clear as our nation embarks on
the 200th birthday of the opening of the American Revolution:
"We must all hang together or most assuredly we will all hang separately."
Exhibit No. 23
(Referred to on p. 66)
c
o
4
The oppressed Black, drown. Red, Yellow and
White Deople have Joined together ao one in
a RAIN.30V CCALITICiJ, in the common cause of
liberation from the power structure that
controls the 'so called United States of Aaericao
AV_^ POLuHR
215
Exhibit No. 24
(Referred to on p. 66)
[From The Sunday Booster, Aug. 30-31, 1975]
Activist Groups to Hold Picnic
A Labor Day picnic sponsored by a coalition of social action groups will be held
Mt Washington Square, Clark and Walton, from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 1.
According to the Rev. Iberus Hacker, the picnic's co-chairman 'and president
of the Rainbow Coalition, 2440 N. Lincoln, the program will include "speeches
music, fried chicken and watermelon." '
Heading the list of speakers. Hacker added, will be news]japer columnist Mike
Lavelle, Gary Mayor Richard Hatcher, WBBM-TV's Bill Kurtis Chicago Po-
lice Dept. Sgt. Charles Glass, Aid. Dick Simpson (44th), State Rep. John Merlo
(D-12th), Hilda Frontany of the Lake View Latin American Coahtion, and David
Martinez of the United Farm Workers.
Entertainment will be provided by folksingers Jo Mapes, Art Thieme and Mike
Lieber and country-western singer John Barnctt who apijeared in the film
"Nashville."
Hacker said the public is encouraged to bring covered dishes to the picnic
"but come anyway even if you don't have anyting to bring." '
Hacker said the Labor Day jjicnic was organized to help focus on the proljlems
of unemployment and inflation and is being sponsored by the American Issues
Forum, Chicago Conference on Hunger and Malnutrition, Chicago Welfare Rights
Organization, Peoples Bicentennial Commission and the Rainbow Coalition.
Exhibit No. 25
(Referred to on p. 66)
THE FREEDOM TRAIN R I P - 0 P P
General Motors invested $1,000,000 (tax write-off)
while laying off workers....
^ j?i Kraft Foods invested it1,000,000 (tax write-off)
KRAFT I while raising their prices at the supermarket..,.
\
Pepsi-cola also came up with S1, 000, 000
(tax write-off)... .
TO BRING YOU THE "FREEDOM TRAIN"
ANOTHER GREAT CORPORATE RIP-OFF! ! . . .
Coming to Navy Pier from July 28 to August 3
They expect thousands of Chicagoans to pay .^2.00 each to see
their own Declaration of Independence and spend the 15 minute
tour listening to a saccharin version of 200 years o7~"progres8. "
They expect you to spend your money buying T-shirts, pennanta,
mugs and other trivia bearing the trade mark of the train.
The PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION will protest this cpmmercial-
Izatlon of our 200th anniversary. .. .this BUY-centennial.
Join ua at a planning meeting: Thursday, July >0, 7:30 p.m.
At: Liberty Hall
2440 N. Lincoln Ave.
Call: 327-1976 for information.
216
Exhibit No. 26
(Referred to on p. 66)
^
UfG^Userzt:^ Gc bappmess
fehe m^i
li'§ gri@§ ghig fepgin
PROTEST THE FREEDOM TRAIN
The Freedom Train at Navy Pier is a Corporate Rip-off of our
Revolutionary Heritage. Join the Peoples Bicentennial Commission
Saturday and Sunday afternoon, the 2nd and 3rd of August in a
demonstration. Call 327-1976, Peoples Bicentennial Commission.
Liberty Hall, 2440 North Lincoln Ave ., Chicago, II. 60614*
Exhibit No. 27
(Referred to on p. 67)
[From the Chicago Daily News, Oct. 31, 1975]
Viet Amnesty Vigil November 1 1
Veterans For Peace will hold an all-day vigil outside the Federal Building,
219 S. DearV:)orn, on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, to urge amnesty for Vietnam War
resisters.
Joining the effort will be the Chicago People's Bicentennial Commission,
Chicago Peace Council and Women for Peace. The groups also will urge amnesty
for resisters with bad conduct military discharges.
Exhibit No. 27A
(Referred to on p. 69)
[From the Chicago Tribune, June 26, 1975]
Suit Forces Name Change of Communist Rally
(By Alan Merridew)
The Communist Party U.S.A. changed the name Wednesday of its national con-
vention windup rally here on Sunday from "People's Bicentennial Festival" to
"Mass Celebration of the Bicentennial."
On Tuesday, the Peoi^le's Bicentennial Commission [P. B. C], a noni^rotit
group based in Washington, filed suit in Federal District Court in Washington
seeking to stoj) the laarty from using the name "People's Bicentennial Festival."
Party and P. B. C. lawyers negotiated by telephone between New York, Wash-
ington, and Chicago Tuesday night and Wednesday.
217
Gus Hall, the party's general secretary, announced the name change at a press
conference Wednesday afternoon in the Ambassador West Hotel.
The party's 21st national convention will be held '-i the hotel Thursday thru
Sunday with 700 delegates expected to attend. The rally is scheduled for the
International Amphitheater.
The 8,000-mcmber P. B. C. was founded in 1972 by former Chicago an Jeremy
Rifkin. It has attacked big corporations and Wall Streeters — "today's Tories"—
for commercializing the American Revolution Bicentennial; prepared school and
college programs; and authored books from a populist point of view.
Exhibit No. 28
(Referred to on p. 70)
THE LIGHT
IN THE STEEPLE
Religion & The American Revolution
Published by the Ecumenical Task Force on the Religious Observance of the
Nation's Bicentennial
69-239 O— 76 15
218
The Bicentennial Anniversary of the American
Revolution will occur in \^7b It is not loo soon to
begin to consider how churches and church people can
become involved in an appropriate observance of the
nation's 200lh birthday
Religion was a dynamic ingredient in the
nation's beginnings Some of its contributions are well
known. Others have been neglected in our elementary
history books. This publication is designed to help
people discover or recall the importance of religious
convictions, experiences and institutions m the revolu-
tionary era.
The Peoples Bicentennial Commission suggested
the need for this resource and under contract to the
Task Force, contributed the general concepts and
substantial portion of the content- Peoples Bicentennial
Commission also prepared the layout and pnnted the
pubUcation.
This compilation has been developed by the
Ecumenical Task Force on the Religious Observance of
the Naiion's Bicentennial, w.hich is iromposed ol national
denominational prot;ram executives and others and is
staffed by the National Council ol" Churches.
The Task Force has designed this resource to
cover only a lew aspects of the American Revolution It
does not portray even the religious aspect with scholarly
precision, but sketches the mam trends with broad
strokes-
It IS the work of many hands and does not
ne<;essarilY represent the official views of the National
Council of Churches or the participating denominations,
but IS published by the Editorial Committee of the Task
force.
Chairman of the
Ecumenical Task Force
Secretary of the Task Force
& Editor of this Publication.
Editorial Commillee
Everett Francis Public Affairs QlTicer. Executive Council of the Epis-
copal Church
Dean M Kelley Rehaous and Civil Liberty. National Council of Church-
es.
Dieter Hessel Editor. Trends Magazine. United Presbyterian Church in
the USA
J. Elliot Corbett Church-Government Relations. Board of Church & Soc-
iety. United Methodist Church.
Isaac Rotlenberg Program Interpretation, Reformed Church in America.
Editorial Associates Alan Fisher and Robert C White
Additional copies may be ordered from the
^ Department of Publicatiori Services
47S Riverside Drive
New York. NY IQ027
100 copies S8.60 prepaid. $9 60 billed.
SO copies; S4.S0 prepaid; SS 50 billed;
20 copies: $2. 75 prepaid; S4.00 billed
T^ ^ c ow m€,y>\ Oo\ 'V r> €>^v\:v*=ce—
219
Exhibit No. 29
(Referred to on p. 72)
177&-1976
prnplrs Anirriraii iSrimhitinuciry llli-QIrutnmial (Tnmmiiiiiimi
1346 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, D. C. 20036 - Room 1021
(202) 833-9121 (212) 242-7440
March 23, 1972
Mr. David J. Hahoney
Chairman
American Revolution
Bicentennial Commission
736 Jackson Place, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20076
Dear Mr. Mahoney:
r> -
o'
In accordance with our privileges under the Freedom of Information
Act (5USC 55r) requiring Federal Agencies to allow examination of
government documents affecting the public and not kept secret for
reasons of national security, we request the opportunity to examine
the following documents :
Transcripts of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
Meetings held: October 7, 1971
December 10, 1971
February 21, 1972
Transcripts of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
Executive Committee Ileetings held:
January 27, 1972
March 21, 1972
Transcripts of the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
Communication Committee Meetings held:
December 11, 1971
March 22, 1972
We are aware that at each of these meetings so called "Public
Members" participated. ARBC's enabling legislation states these
members were appointed to represent the public. However, since no
meetings of the ARBC or any of its committees are open to the public,
we feel we are unable to properly perform our duties as citizens If
we are unable to read the transcripts of the above meetings and
thus begin to evaluate the performance of the members on the ARBC
purporting to represent us.
Under the Recommendation of The Administrative Conference of
the United States, we look forward to receiving these records within
ten (10) days of your receipt of this request. We appreciate your
prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely, q
ii}XJ>di>riC
cc: HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
Deborah Lawrence
"Ufitinhillnnnrv A lli'nin/lvpt fnr till' ni-Ceiltcllllia} Years"
220
Exhibit No. 30
(Referred to on p. 72)
March 31, 1972
TO
FROM
Kr. LoVArrr, Olrvttor
Eugene J. Skora, General Counsel
F'oquest for Transcripts of ARSC Comr.ission and Cormlttee
lice tings
As you krio\/, the Peoples American Hevolutionary Bi-Centcnnlal
Connission has r:?qu2StGd the oppcrtunity to examine transcripts of the
three rost recent full Corpiission roetinqs, the last t^/o Executive
Cor,nittee raetincs, and the last tv/o rorTuini cations Cocnnttee
neetlngs. This request was made pursuant to the Freedon of
Infoniiation Act.
I J'iCuao'jv.l LJicr i-r-fuvsL -.vlui "r". Kuuert Salosciiin of the Office or tns
Leoal Counsel. Departf^nt of Justice (Pat Collins' office). !V. Salosc'nin
is trie Chairman of an Attorney General's Corriittee whicli must be
consulted by a Federal Aq^ncy prior to a final denial of docunents
roquestad under the Act.
The foil O'.vinq considerations evolved from our recti ng:
1. APiJC is rost probably subject to the Act. Pift Act applies to all
Executive Agencies. The only possible basis for cloinin'} exclusion
would to the fact that thcra are Confjrossicnal and Judiciary repre-
sentatives on the Comlssion.
2. The iicrc fact that the reetings in question were closed to tha
public does not r:-.o^:e the transcripts exempt froni disclosure.
Under the Act, Ancncy records r;ust be available for examination
and copying unless tiiey cone u-ithin one of nine specific exenptions.
Insofar as the full Corrrlssion transcripts are concerned, there are
portions '..•hicii do not fall v/itliin specific exorption of the Act and
must be disclosed.
221
; - 2 . - .. .
fxv-nf-:-; r;r.j !^rov[d:d i.v ftn rd T-r tr.'ic s^c-ts cin;1 coT-rcial
or w.i <ci;;i_i:;ro.;:-tio--: ••:LL:;:-;u f i\; ; any ; ;:.rc'.i r,-;^: Dr^ i I ^.J
or confidential; Intc-r-a^oncy or intra-moncy fientorantia or l^-ttors
whicn would not be avalla^.le hy law to a private party in litigation
ivu?i tne /■.rc-:icy — i.e., int::;radl opirjions and corr^un'i cations;
pprionr.el and radical files, and sir.ilar files the disclcsur^^ of
•jlncT wo'jld constitute an invasion of privacy; mat'-rials spocificallv
exo'-pted fror disclosun; by statute; certain internal procedures -
t.f-\, instructicns for spot audita; and records r.pccifically r-^quired
by Lxocutiv*^ trdor to bff kept secret in the interest of national
cifjfcnss or foreign policy.
ThosG portions of the full Corinisslon nesting transcripts not
falling within the above must be made available for revie^^?.
3. Probably muc'i of ths transcripts of the Executive Comittee r^eetinos
may ua exernpted as internal cor:^uni cations, opinions and
4.
recoriTKndations.
A l3rq.j part of the transcripts of tho Connuni cations Coirsnitteo are
TOSt likely exempted under the act on tire safr.© basis as ;;un6er 3
(above) — i,G., internal corsnunl cations, ooinions and
recoiiTiendatlona.
5. Hotwithstandinq the above cof^^nts, there are court decisions which
distinguish bfjtwcen docun^^nts v/hich ai^ internal opinions or
roco;in:ndations and those vvhicfi are stcterents of fact. In some
Instances, v.ncre the riaterial vas severable, factual dat^ was
required to be severed fro-, internal opinions and reconirTondations and
miQ available under the Act.
6. l-'hile the Freedom of Infomation Act provides exemptions for certain
cateriories of records, the intent of the Act and the attitude of th'*
Copartr ;:;.it of Justice is in fr.vor of disclosure except where there
are cogent reasons to the contrary.
7. fjor.ially the Attorney General's Coral ttes is consulted only wh.-^n a
fijuldemal of a re-ijuest is to be n.?de under a prior discussion.
In tie case of An.3C, v/e have established no procedures for such steps
a<: prelirninary denial, appeal, and final denial. Tho denial of any
records represents a final rV"iinl ni tlui I'lriul ; '-r r-vi — d h/
tho .Co'-^iftfer? "n^s Cor5:^ittoe can bo convened v^ithin a natter of days.
222
- 3 - "
I rocorxtend that we submit hn IntcHn response to the Peoples
Aiiorlcan Revolutionary Bl-Ccntennlal Coiiinlsslon along the lines of
the attached.
I f'jrt>.or reco.-7ffind tliat tho seven transcripts be reviewed to
IsolatG nu-ist1on.->.blG ratorial -- I.e., that \Mc'r\ could be
■^crtarrassinfj or that v.-hich cores v/1thin any of the exemptions of the
Act.
Such nstericl should than bo rcvicv.'i^d by the Director and/or the
Chairman and a decision made on its availability to the applicants.
If at that tine the Judqnent Is made to deny any portion of the
requested material , It can be reviewed by the Attorney General's
Cor.!m1ttee.
Attachment
cc: Mr. Hall
Dr. Carroll
Mr. Coffoy
Vt. Busor
Capt. AUendorfer
bcc: ARBC files / chron
Skora files
drafted: EJSkora: jam: 3/31/72
223
Exhibit No. 31
(Referred to on p. 72)
THE WHITE HOUSE
WA S H I N G T O N
April 3, 1972
Dear Jack:
In response to your memorandum of March 29 concerning the request of
the People's American Revolutionary Bicentennial Commission, I have
these comments:
With respect to transcripts, I urge the Commission to be as forthcoming
as the law will permit about making these available. Few things irritate
the Congress or the public more than the denial -- or the appearance of
denial --of information to the public when there is no very obvious
reason why the information should be held back. I would hold back as
little as possible, consistent only with advice from the responsible
officials in the Department of Justice. In the future if you and Dave are
concerned about the privilege of Commission meetings, you may want to
operate without transcripts; they may be convenient to your staff but they
are an invitation to the invasion of that privilege.
Concerning the logo, I would be much more stringent. The law is so
very clear on this point that you and Dave coulf^. well be criticized if you
do not move to enforce it. Perhaps your first enforcement action should
be a letter from your staff to Miss Lawrence pointing out the provisions
of the law and asking for cease and desist, but if they persist, I think you
owe it to the many other organizations which will abide by your rules to
make the rules uniform.
Sincerely,
u
Leonard Garment
Mr. Jack LeVANT
Director
American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
736 Jackson Place NW.
Washington, D. C. 20276
224
Exhibit No. 32
(Referred to on p. 72)
DAVID J. MAHONEY
CHAIRMAN
HOBART LEWIS
VICE-CHAIRMAN
AMERICAN REVOLUTION BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
736 JACKSON PLACE. N.W.
WASHINGTON. D.C. 20276
April 4, 1972
Ms. Deborah Lawrence
Peoples American Revolutionary
Bi -Centennial Commission
1346 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. -Room 1021
Washington, D.C. 20036
Dear Ms. Lawrence:
It has come to my attention that the letterhead of the Peoples
American Revolutionary Bi -Centennial Commission bears the
synt>ol adopted by the ARBC as the official symbol of the
Bicentennial.
You may not be aware that exclusive rights in this symbol
are vested in the ARBC pursuant to Public Law 91-528,
approved December 7, 1970. On March 27, 1971, a notification
of the adoption of this syntol was published in the Federal
Register, as required by the above law.
No one may use this symbol without the written authorization
of the ARBC. Inasmuch as the Peoples American Revolutionary
Bi-Centennial Commission does not have such authorization for
use of this symbol, we request that you discontinue its use.
Sincerely,
Eugene J. Skora
General Counsel
Enclosure
225
Exhibit No. 33
(Referred to on p. 72)
.776-1976"
^rnplrs Auirrirau Snuilutimtary iBi-(rrntrmual (Ennmiiiiiiinu
1346 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, D. C. 20036 - Room 1021
(202) 833-9121 (212) 242-7440
April 6, 1972
Mr. Eugene J. Skora
General Counsel
American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
736 Jackson Place, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20276
Dear Mr. Skora:
Thank you for your letter of April k, 1972
referring to our use of the Bicentennial Logo.
We would appreciate receiving from you the
formal criteria and forms for application for use
of the official Bicentennial Logo.
We are requesting a list of those groups,
projects, organizations, etc., having received
permission to use said Logo, and those whose
requests have been rejected.
We look forward to hearing from you in the
very near future.
In the Spirit of '76,
Deborah W. Lawrence for
The People's Bicentennial Commission
t :•: i:
t' r- ' r.'
! I
Tl
' '•'' ;■■ r M
i I !
n
I..
226
Exhibit No. 34
(Referred to on p. 72)
April 19, 1972
NOTE: Messrs. Dobal and
Buser cleared letter by
telephone.
per amr
Ms. Deborah W. Lawrence
Peoples Anferican Revolutionary
Bl-Centonnial Commission
1346 Coiinecticut Avenue, N.W.-fNOom 1021
Washington, D.C. 20036
Dear Ms, Lawrence:
I refer to your letter of April 6, 1972 regarding the
ARBC logo.
The only authorL^atlnn for use of the lof]o to date (other
J.I J., ._ .... ij-\ I.-- I . . • i" . .
biiuii ujv. Ill iit.no iiicuiu/ iiaa uccrii avvarucu tu {jruytciiiR> diiu
activities "recognized" by ARUC as being in furtherance
of the national Bicentennial program. These are the
City of Niagara Falls, the Denver Olympics, Mount Rushmore
and the sickle cell anemia program of the National Medical
Association. A copy of the AR3C criteria, "The National
Bicentennial Program Criteria," is enclosed.
Sincerely,
/$/ Eugene J. Skora
Eugene J. Skora
General Counsel
Enclosure
bcc:
Mr. Dobal
Mr. Buser
Capt. Allendorfer
Mr. Skora
ARBC file/chron
Summary
ARBC:EJSkora:amr 4/18/72
227
Exhibit No. 35
(Referred to on p. 72)
NOTE: "Contents of proposed
letter OKed by Brad Patterson
by phone."
JL
April 18, 1972
Ms. Deborah Lawrence
Peoples Ar.-.erican Revolutionary
B1 -Centennial Coraiisslon
134C Connecticut Avenue, N.W.-Room 1021
Washington, D.C. 20036
Dear Ms. Lawrence:
This 1s In response to your request for an opportunity to review
transcripts of certain hc"ar1nc;s of the American Revolution Bi-
centennial Corxiission, Its Executive Committee, and Its
Communications Coirmittee.
Transcripts of the Comnlsslon mQetlncjs of Oct^'bc-r /, 1971,
December 10, 1971, and February 21, 1972, will be available for
vour review at AROC headquarters, 735 Jackson Place, N.W..
cav-N
Monday through Friday. Please call Mr. Lamar Whitaker (254-8028)
at least 24 hours 1n advance of any proposed review In order to
peralt us to make arrangements for a room, the availability of
transcripts, and stavf assistance. Costs to you will be determined
1n accordance with appropriate 0;-'3 requirements (0M3 Circular A-25).
In view of the fact that this material Is being made available to
you as a matter of policy. It Is not necessary for us to determine
v/hnther It Is exsiipt from compulsory disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552. U'"'
Transcripts of ARDC Executive Cornilttc-e Meetings and Cormini cations p^; .;
Coiimittee n:e?;t1ncis which you requested are not available for rev1e\v.
They are within tlie statutory oxerptlons of 5 U.S.C. 552, parti-
cularly under subsection (b)(5). To a large extent the matters
under ccnsifieration by these Committees are still in the process
of developnent. These transcripts are records of deliberations of
Co,Tin1ttee moinijers and staff and their disclosure would inhibit full
and franl; discussion and exchange of Ideas by the meni)ers of the ..-p-
Comiiittoes and would negate their advisory function to the full
Concrission.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Jack LeVANT
Jack LeVA.NT
Director
bcc: Mr. Mahoney
Mr. LeVAI^IT Capt. Allendorfer v^RBC file/chron
Mr. Coffey Mr. Whitaker
Mr. Hall Mr. Skora ARBC:EJSkora:amr 4/17/72
Mr. Nutter Mr. Buser
»*.. n _ J. X _ /ill. .■4.- II. \
228
Exhibit No. .36
(Referred to on p. 72)
3?riiplrB Amrrirau iRrunliilinnani l^i-(!lriitrimial (EfliumisBinu
1776-1 976-: I ^ 1246 Connecticut Avenue. NW. Washington. D. C. 20036 - Room 1021
REC'O DmECrOR'S (202)833-9121 (212)242-7440
JUN ^0 1972
ornct &■
f Juue 7,^972
,^
FWO TO_L.M^^QAr]i»_
0-- t^c;
o
o
Mr. Jack LeVANT i-V, C lo^ i'
:£
Director t^. ._ ,
American Revolution Bicentennial Commission 3^ ^ '^ic
736 Jackson Place, N.W. «^
Washington, d.C. 20276
Dear Mr. LeVANT:
ii~.i>
In reference to our use of the so-called ARBC Logo, we have several
question pertaining to the official National Bicentennial Program Criteria
which we received from your office.
One section of your basic criteria states "DOES THE ACTIVITY CONTRIBUTE TO
A REVIEW AND REAFFIRMATION OF THE BASIC PRINCIPLES ON WHICH THE NATION V/AS
FOUNDED AND TO A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF OUR HERITAGE AND OUR COMMON PURPOSES?"
Your interpretation of this statement is "Has the activity been conceived in
aul'icrcr.cc to prcf;;:icr.nl ?*-'">A-i-rA<> and ficceotable interpret nttona of these
principles and this new understanding?" You further define the two underlined
phrases as "Professional standards relate to those established or adhered to by
recognized associations or distinguished individual authorities or practioners.
Acceptable interpretations are those which are originated by an individual of
standing or recognized by a school of thought which, by virtue of the integrity
of Its leadership or the numbers of Its followers, can be said to have Important
backing."
What does all this mean? What, In fact, are professional standards? What
or who are the recognized associations or distinguished Individual authorities
or practioners? Who in your organization talces the responsibility for Judging
"the Integrity of its ('an Individual of standing or a school of thought')
leadership" or for deciding how many "followers" there must be before such an
individual or school of thought "can be said to have Important backing?" Are
you Sfiylnf> that because an individual does not have a following which is
considered large enouRh, by the judgement of you or someone on your staff, his
i-rojjrfims or plans will be rejected?
Your criteria is confusing and poorly defined, and we have been completely
at a loss as to how to go about complying with it. We would appreciate your
response to our questions as soon as possible so that we may completely under-
stiand what we have to do.
In the Spirit of '76,
Deborah W. Lawrence
229
Exhibit No. 37
(Referred to on p. 73)
October 25, ig?**
19975 Holiday Hd.
Grosse Pte . Woods,
Mloh. ^+8236
Dear Slri
I am writing to ask If I may be put on the AHBA's mailing
list to receive the free monthly and weekly reports, "Bicenten-
nial Bulletin", and "Bicentennial Times."
I would also like to know where I may obtain a copy of
Arneri ca's Birthday by the Peoples Bicentennial Comiulsslon.
Thank you,
(Ms.) Darlene C. Zlolkowskl
230
Exhibit No. 38
(Referred toon p. 73)
December 5, 1974
Darlene C. Ziolkowski
19975 Holiday Road
Grosse Poilnte Woods, Michigan 48236
Dear Ms. Ziolkowski:
Enclosed you will find general Information on the Bicentennial
celebration. This Includes an application to be put on our mailing
list. Once on the list, you will receive the Bicentennial Times
monthly. There Is, of course, no charge.
As per your request for America's Birthday; the People's Bicentennial
Commission Is one of many private Bicentennial organizations. You
may find the book in question in any bookstore. However, if you have
problems locating a copy, contact the PBC at the address below and
they may be able to send you one.
People's Bicentennial Commission
1346 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
Room 1025
Washington, D.C. 20036
Thank you for Interest 1n our nation's Bicentennial.
Sincerely,
Ted Lopatkiewicz
Office of Communications
Enclosures
cc: ARBA Flle/Chron
TRLOPATKIEWICZ/trl/12-5-74
Hold
231
[The following exhibits relating to PBC's July 4 demonstra-
tions in Washington, were submitted by Mrs. Walton sub-
sequent to her testimony. They were ordered into the record
by the Chairman.]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION
ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR JULY 4
M«i#km«Bia CELEBRATION IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
PEOPLEI
BICENTENNIAL "independence from big business"
COMMISSIOIf ^^° "DEMOCRACY FOR THE ECONOMY"
1346Conn.c.,cu.Av«u,.NW ^O BE MAJOR THEMES
Washington. DC 20036
(202)633-9121
The PEOPLES BICENNTENNIAL COMMSSION. will hold a July 4th gathering
on the steps of the Capitol - Washington, D.C.
The rally will call for a rebirth of the democratic promise of
social, political and economic justice set forth in the Declaration
of Independence by challenging the power Of big business and special
interests .
The PBC celebration will begin at sunrise with a commemoration service
honoring the men and women who for two hundred years have dedicated
their lives to America's democratic principles - from the American
Revolution through the Abolition, Women's and Peace Movements to the
Civil Rights caunpaigns and Labor struggles.
A march will be held after the service from the Jefferson Memorial
to the Capitol Building where the major portion of the day's activities
will be held.
Nationally known spokespeople from each major interest and issue area -
consumer, environmental, labor, women, third world, education, et al -
will speak to the general economic theme from the perspective of their
particular area of concern. We are inviting prominent actors, entertainers
and others to join us in blending the economic theme into the historical
context of America's Revolutionary traditions.
Among the speakers who will be featured are:
* DR BARRY COMMONER - leading environmentalist
* ED SADLOWSKI - pres. of the largest steelworkers local in U.S.
' CAROLE TUCKER-FOREMAN - director. Consumer Federation of America
KARL HESS - community activist and organizer
* FLO KENNEDY - founder of the Feminist Party
JONATHAN KOZOL - author and revolutionary educator
EQBAL AHMED - authority on Third World Revolution
PHIL FONER - leading American Labor historian
- NICK JOHNSON - former FCC commissioner
* SID LENS - author, historian and labor organizer
* SAM LOVEJOY - critic of nuclear power
For More Information, Contact
Jeremy Rifkin, Ted Howard (800) 424-1130
232
ON JULY 1st, 2nd, AND Srd, OVER 150,000
PATRIOTS WILL CARAVAN TO WASHINGTON, D. C.
CARE TO JOIN ?
On July 4th, 150,000-250,000 patriots will gather at the U.S.
Capitol Building to rededicate themselves to the founding
principles, and raising the call for economic democracy.
On the preceding days, July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, literally tens
of thousands of cars will set out for Washington, D.C. from
every section of the country.
PBC is encouraging groups of individuals, organizations, and
the local PBCs to form car caravans to come to this historic
event. You can do it too. Just get together with family, friends
and area activists, and pool expenses and cars. Already, hundreds
are being formed in virtually every section of the country. Not
only is this helping get folks to the July 4th rally, it does so
with a spirit of unity and purpose. *
But even more can happen on the road.
PBC is designating special Patriots Caravan Routes from every
section of the country. These special routes (see map) will
allow all the local caravans and individuals to feed into the
main cross-country routes to Washington, D.C continually
building larger and larger caravans as everyone rolls toward
Washington.
Formal coordination of these groupings will not be attempted -
indeed, the idea will be to head out on the highway with your
own group of cars, marked with home-made, bright yellow "Don t
Tread on Me" antenna flags. These flags will be the identifiers
for those heading for the D.C. rally
All you have to do is keep your eyes open - and you'll see other
cars and caravans as you drive along. JOIN THEM I I
AND JOIN ALL OF US AT THE CAPITOL BUILDING
ON JULY 4th : : :
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL PBC TOLL FREE: 800-424-1130
233
9
I
§
69-239 O - 76 - 16
234
DECLARE YOUR IN
I WANT T
DMiCE FROM BIG BUSINESS!
n I can supply my^wn
n I need a ride
n lam driving a^^^take — pabJPliyers
D Yes I want t<4|e part oi the trans-national
caravan to Wgijiinoton
D I have a
D Please s
my friends
What add
from [if di
I WANT TO HELP!
anize for the fourth in
□ I want to h|
my area.
□ Postering
Fund raising
Telephoning
Setting up localmeetings
Neighborhood carwass^g
will send you all^upPsary material.
Washington
Street Address
Phone
DECLARE YOUR INDEPEMDETiCE
FROM BIG BUSINESS
JOIN THE SECOND
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
FOR A
DEMOCRATIC
ECONOMY!
CAPITOL BLDG.,
WASHINGTON, D.C
CELEBRATE WITH THE
PEOPLES BICENTENNIAL
COMMISSION
Call Toll Free (800)424-1130 Or Write
Vac. 1346 Conn. Ave. N.W.. \»fash., D.C. 20036j
235
DECUREYOUR
BK BUSINESS!
JULY4
irsouRDHin
CELEBRATE AT THE
CAPITOL BUILDING,
WASHINGTON, DC
WITH THE PEOPLES
BICENTENNIAL
COAAMISSION
* J'
I 4 ;C
!f
^# f m »- ^^■
-ijf
-** S
FOR MORE INFOR\WION
OMLTDUFRS (8001424-1130
IN VWSHINGION, DC AR£^0\U 1202) 833-9121
OR WRITE TO P8CWSHINGION, DC 20036
^m m s'm
236
(In submitting this document Mrs. Walton pointed out that
the July 4 Coalition in Chicago is operating with the same
address and phone number as the Chicago PBC.)
July 4ih
Coalition
TJie Cnlcagc Jaiy i
Coal^tion
2440 N. Lincoln Av*
Chicj-c, 111. 6061'
327-1976
D«i;- Prlinc:,
K .-W ■ *B»»* £
•r- a U^l Alt Uw^Wr.
T»:ie i» l^'VOf the Ulcuivanniel ytsr of Uia U.S.A. ?Me
official c»l»brkt.lon of viis BlcMtenni*! iriLlj be h-slil m
Pnll9C»ij»hl« oi» wuly 401. It is orjer.iiea tr.c flnflnoic! by
the govtnvkeut ei^ cor;»orfit« powet . It wU 1 be r>-e»ld«i ovar
by }»r»eli*nt Fcrd, syBbolislng tae fact thet thla "celnbra.lon"
is rt&liy en t ff irmi-tlon of e a/sl-sa thi't Lrs goi^ilstsntly
piac»d frivite pro/l^u ov»r nu«an r^aeos. The I'heccrlo of
«n^r Bicfcnt«>nni*l will taiiC of prosperity, equriity, and
defflocrtey. But what la tn« reality behind buch words?
k Ckt>alM| Omim J
'••w^i »ifi^ >*r4>
•- ^, ^m "ttn* llhW tW> Utf III
■Upi<r««> ^ Mai CM (. r> T C
tr iMM I -ryiu H
• * «> Jl ■ lu
Instead of prosperity we f-ce unacployment, lioflatlon,
and cutbaolts. Iristea;! oi justice and equal c/»port'jJiity for
all peopl*! there is tne Mrpetuiiticn of racism agninst Black,
Lstln, kbiBCi, tTti NbMva A.-Mrlcan people. Inetsad of equality
for voaien, there is econoaie and social dJ. a crimination. And
instead of dafenciljig d^oocracy around thp world, th.ia govem-
Bent supportb racist And reoressivo regiaea liXe those in Chile
.and Soutn Africa— wt.iifl the U.S. govemaent itself naintalns a
direct colonial hold o'^or Puerto Rico, the Native Ameriaan
nationa, and tr.a Panniaa C.'.ial Zone.
We carinot allow thoite in power to cl&iui tho Bicentennial
a* their own* It ie an ocoasior. that allows u« the unique
opportunity to point ouw tn% diapari ty between tjio rhetoric
and the jreality of AoBerlcan life today. The Ju-ly 4th Coalition
la calllB^ for a aasalv« danonatration that nU.I brin^ together
broad progressive foroaa around certain bcsic goals that we all
•h«roi eoohoslc aecurity for all] an end to the op^B-eaoion of
Binoritlea and wononj an end to colonlaliaa and foreign Intarv
tion.
Chicago has a rich history of labor etrueglea, and many
i«port«nt struggles continue here todjiy. Wc believe that Chloa
go can sake a contribution to the strength . of the Ptaiadelphia
deaonstratlon, and that the national aoblHaatioa can aid the
local work that each of ua are Involved in. 'Aisre will be an
organitatlonal aeeting for the Chicago July 4th Coalition on
April 19, at the r^rat Con^egational Church, 40 N. Ashland, at
6tOO p.m. This will be a dinner neetlng with Alfredo Lopez,
National Coordinator of tne July 4th Coalition, and organieatlc
•re aaked to send two repreaentativea. The cost of each dinner
ticket is 15*00. At StOO p.a. there' will be a forum on the
July 4th ■obilitatlon open to all interested persons.
We urge you to attend or to have your organization aead
a repreaantatlve. United we oan advance the concema of us al
In Solidarity, The Chicago July 4th Coaliti
237
The American
Revolution
Comes Alive
with Publications
fiomthe
Peoples Bicentennial
Commission!
238
Not Recommended
forlbries*
America's BlrthiUr (Simon uid Schutter. S3.95)
America's Bmhday may be the only book to coine
along that is dedicated to Sam Adams and Tom Paine, and like
these revolutionaries, the modern authors want to shake up their
readers A readable, challenging and handsomely illustrated
and designed book . . .
Ney.' York Times
•This volume is.
first of all. a handsome
piece of work, replete with
inspinng. amusing, or in-
structive graphics from the
Revolutionary Era Bui it is
much more a study guide,
an organizing manual, a
persuasive tract with many
practical suggestions for
community organizations,
churches. schooK and col-
lege — all designed to help
create "a ikw movemeni
to reclaim the democratic
ideals upon which this na-
tion was founded " Not
recommended for Tories.
The Progressive
<.;*iA
Americ^^
L^ A planning end
ActwityOuide^^.^
The Spirit of '76: A CalciMUr (Simon mni ScbiuUr, S3.95)
The Sptnt of ^6 A i. alrndar iv much more than juti » ^hjf
(o tell the days of the week and month by It is a history of the American
Revolution, its causes, the people who made it possible, its develop-
ment and tts consummation It is rare indeed that a calendar is good
for browsing in as this one is
Times-Pxcayune
New Orieans. La.
PBC QuUbook of the
American Revolution
(Bantam Books, Si. 25)
A star spangled
collection of tnvia, puzzles
and word games about the
Revolution An entertaining
and enjoyable way to bone
up on your history. In-
cludes
• Hang a Tory
• Know Your Patriots
• Mi»ed-up Quotes
• Revolutionary Faces
.^^^S*^^,
\.
^ EARLY \
AMERICAN
ALMANAC
PBC EaHy American
Almanac (Bantam Booki,
$1.95)
A collection of re-
ceipts, humor, essays, po-
ems, songs, stories and
home and farm lips which
captures the spirit and fla-
vor of the Amencan Revo-
lution. Lavishly illustrated
with drawings, engravings
and advertisements from
the period. Including:
• Month-by-monlh
Bicentennial CaleT>dar
• A Revolutionary
Alphabet
• An Eye-witness
Account of the Boston
Tea Party
■ Recipe for Raisin Wine
239
The Red, White, and Blue LEFT
JEREMY RIFKIN
The prevailing wisdom that radicalism in America, especially among the young, is moribund rests
on appearance, not reality. The absence of televised confrontation, the waywardness of coverage
by the news media, and the presence of factional strife among the Left— all these have created the
impression that the Left has shrunk to ineffectual griping about the system and the establishment
In our judgment this impression is false. The Left has entered a period of reflection and planning
Une of the most significant developments is the emergence of a group of young radicals whose
radicalism is home-grown. They find their inspiration in the radical idealism of the American
Revolution. They reject classical Marxism and other importations in favor of social and economic
analysis that fits the American scene. They are committed to a new democratic focus in these
Bicentennial Years— the years between now and the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence.
Among the spokesmen for this movement is Jeremy Rifkin. He has been a coordinator of the
Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes, which conducted veterans' hearings in cities
throughout the United States, culminating in Congressional hearings last spring. He is now serving
the Peoples American Revolutionary Bi-Centennial Commission and the New American Move-
ment The Commission is working with individuals and groups to plan and carry out alternatives
to the Government's official bicentennial observances. —The Editors
The American war is over, but this is far from
the case with the American Revolution. On the
contrary, nothing but the first act of the great
drama is closed.
^Benjamin Rush (1787)
As THE Revolution of 1776 was launched by the
■'*• ringing language of grievances against the British
Crown, expressed in the Dcrl.u.nion of Independence,
so today unmet grievances against our governmental,
economic, and social institutions compel us to launch
a new struggle to recapture control over our lives: the
next act in tlie drama of ilie American Revolution.
Consider that today:
• The hunger, misery, and despair of thirty million
Americans are met with silence.
• The frustration and bitterness of millions of work-
ing people, who see the fruits of their exhaustive labor
syphoned off into the coffers of the very rich, are ig-
nored.
14
• Two hundred huge corporations dominate the
American economy and the Government, manipulate
the tax structure to their advantage, and engineer the
very patterns of American life.
• Our environment is being destroyed by these
corporations and by the mass consumption they induce
in the interest of profit and expediency.
• Subtle, and not so subtle, forms of coc-ion and
intimidation continue to mock our Bill of Rights and
bar the way to the people's full expression of their opin-
ions. These acts of suppression and coercion are em-
ployed to deny the expression of unorthodox or creative
thought, thus locking us into a condition of uniformity,
obedience, and passivity.
• The Government's policy of genocide in Southeast
Asia and its economic, political, and military exploita-
tion throughout the world go on in the face of over-
whelming opposition by the American people.
• The terrifying specter of nuclear holocaust hangs
THE PROGRESSIVE
240
over all of us as our leaders play out military fantasies
of another age.
• The questions of racial and sexual exploitation,
the neglect of old people, inadequate housing and
health care, population congestion, chronic unemploy-
ment, urban decay, rural poverty, rising crime rates,
anachronistic educational institutions, cumbersome bu-
reaucratic mismanagement, political corruption and
incompetence, and a host of other urgent problems
that threaten our very survival, go unanswered.
• Our need as human beings to find meaning and
value in our lives and to explore freely our relation-
ship to all that is eternal and of the spirit is cruelly
extinguished by the oppressive environment in which
we live.
These, in briefest outline, are among today's major
assaults on the constitutional mandates conceived by
the Founding Fathers to "promote the general
welfare."
During the past year. President Nixon, one eye
cocked on the election of 1972 and the other on the
political dividends to be harvested from the approach
of the bicentennial celebration of the Declaration of
Independence in 1976, proclaimed his new American
Revolution. An examination of his "revolutionary pro-
gram" revealed a bit of tinkering and a lot of patching
— the whole wrapped up in a package of meaningless
rhetoric. To be true to its revolutionary origins, the
new American Revolution must not be a revolution
in rhetoric, as President Nixon and the leaders of both
political parties are advocating, but rather a revolution
in fact. The new American Revolution must bring
about fundamental changes in our social, economic,
and political institutions. It must advocate and be pre-
pared to implement solutions to the grievances that
now go unredressed by our present American system.
The clear need for revolution does not guarantee it
will happen. As the political and economic crisis deep-
ens in America, the present balance in numbers be-
tween those who believe that the root cause of our
growing crisis is institutional and those who still
believe that it is the fault of "Communists" and other
"alien" and "subversive" forces is likely to shift dramat-
ically toward one pole or the other. Such a shift would
bring with it either demands for fundamental change
or vehement repression to uphold the status quo.
For the American Left to develop a strategy that
can win popular support for programs that answer
present grievances, it must first gain a clear under-
standing of the role which the American heritage plays
in the formation of the American people's political
attitudes and behavior. With such an understanding,
our heritage can contribute to building consciousness
and promote programs and demands in the spirit of
the American revolutionary tradition.
The American heritage embodies a set of principles
or ideals which provides the great mass of people with
a unique social identity. It is a statement of our beliefs
— what we stand for and to what we dedicate our-
selves as a people. We give our loyalty and allegiance
to political and economic institutions which we re-
gard as consistent with our collective beliefs and
capable of translating promises into reality. An accu-
rate analysis of the American spirit must take into
account the fact that the American legacy is at once
both reactionary and revolutionary.
Our revolutionary beliefs — popularized through the
words and deeds of such great Americans as Thomas
Paine, Benjamin Rush, Sam Adams, Henry Thoreau,
William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, Lucy Stone,
Sojourner Truth, Eugene V. Debs, W. E. B. DuBois,
Mark Twain, and A. J. Muste, and the movements
they inspired or led — derive from the principle of the
inherent unity and fraternity of all mankind. These
aspirations have led to a set of beliefs that forms the
revolutionary aspect of the American experience — hu-
man equality; respect for the judgment of the com-
mon man ; distrust of those who command positions of
power and privilege; allegiance to freedom of expres-
sion and the right to self-determination; cooperative
enterprise; government of the people, by the people,
for the people; conscience above property and institu-
tions; sympathetic interest in the new, the untried, the
unexplored ; equality of opportunity ; confidence in the
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JUSTUS
IN THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR
Thi Big Hang-up
November, 1 97 1
15
241
ability of the people to create a more just and Iiumanc
world; faith in the brotiicrliood of all mankind.
Our reaolionnr>' beliefs — popularized through the
words and deeds of such Americans as Alexander Ham-
ilton, John Adams, and John D. Rockefeller — come
from the principle that hostility and war, the survival
of the fittest and to hell with the rest — the public be
damned — constitute the natural condition of man. This
principle is the basis of a set of beliefs that forms the
reactionary aspect of the American experience — the
sacred value of private property; the ruthlessly compet-
itive spirit as the motivating force for self-fulfillment;
the authoritarian family; material accumulation as a
measure of man's achievement on earth.
The crisis of American beliefs lies in the increasing
polarization of both the revolutionary and reactionary
elements in the American legacy.
The escalating political and economic crisis does not
alter the basic positive truths of the American heritage.
On the contrary, it would be impossible to point out the
contradictions in the American system — to expose the
exploitation and dehumanization at all levels of Amer-
ican life — without in some way appealing to the rev-
olutionary beliefs and ideals with which so many Amer-
icans identify.
The growing crisis has brought into question the
more reactionary aspects of the American tradition.
Those beliefs which reinforce our economic system and
which have, for so long, provided a rationalization for
the individual's role within that system are under
unprecedented attack.
The bureaucracy and teclmology of our capitalist
economy have increasingly forced the average worker
into the role of a small and insignificant cog in a vast,
dehumanized production cycle. In the past, this process
was tolerated and even accepted with varying degrees
of enthusiasm for several reasons, all embedded within
the American ideology. Implicit in the process was ac-
ceptance of the contradictory myth that one's economic
and social role within the capitalist system was essen-
tial to the common good, to the ultimate realization of
the more revolutionary collective aspects of the Amer-
ican ideology, which means, as George Orwell might
have put it, that a man can be free only if he is a
slave. This contradictory myth is now being challenged
on several levels. For example:
MATERIAL ACCUMULATION
For many years, emphasis on material accumulation
and economic security seemed to balance the negative
effects and meaninglcssness of one's own role in the
economy. Yet within the last decade the rise in the
numbers of middle-class families lias — for many — been
accompanied by a reduction in the psychic value of
material accumulation as an end in itself. The decline
in the psychic value of material possession has served
to reinforce the feeling that one's automated position
in the production process was largely insignificant and
meaningless.
THE FAMILY
Though his economic position offered little in the
way of recognition or status, the average working adult
could, in the past, still take refuge in his position of
unquestioned importance within the family.
This is no longer the case, for a great many middle-
class children and young adults have begun to reject
the structure and authority of the family unit, as well
as the role and values of their parents in the economic
process. A significant portion of the youth community
has come to attack and ridicule the entire set of as-
sumptions upon which the average American adult has
rationalized and justified his own existence within the
family and society — including the concept of material
accumulation, the notion of postponed gratification,
the work ethic, competition, filial gratitude for paren-
tal sacrifice, and pre-marital chastity.
THE WORK ETHIC
Political and economic events of the past decade
have forced the middle class into a painful re-exam-
ination of the work ethic — the concept that work is
ennobling in itself, no matter what it produces and
what toll it takes from the worker. By exposing the
tragic state of affairs within America in recent years,
the forces of change have seriously damaged the myth
that all capitalist production is socially valuable, and,
with it the individual's own justification for his eco-
nomic contribution to society.
MAN AND TECHNOLOGY
Science and technology have been viewed, for the
most part, as the means for man's salvation from the
oppression of the physical world. The validity of tech-
nological "progress" as our "most important product"
is now being challenged. Loss of faith in technology
as a practical means for attaining total fulfillment,
fear of its increasing control over human life, and its
dehumanizing effects on the human species and the
natural environment — these have led to a resurgence
of religious fanaticism, drug culture, and back-to-the-
earth movements, especially among the sons and
daughters of the middle and upper middle classes —
the chief beneficiaries of the technological society.
NATIONAL OMNIPOTENCE
For Americans more than for most peoples, the
nation state has always stood for greatness untarnished
by the humiliation of military defeat or surrender.
Never having suffered defeat at the hands of another
nation, Americans have come to accept "greatness"
as a way of life. It follows that defeat is unthinkable
and un-American. We never lose, we have assured our-
selves, because we are never wrong. Other nations
might seek conquest and empire and, therefore, de-
16
THE PROGRESSIVE
242
serve humiliation and defeat. The United States seeks
only freedom and democracy for all nations and, there-
fore, must always triumph.
In the past, Americans have found personal signif-
icance and self-confidence in identifying with the great-
ness of the nation. Today, after seven years of bearing
witness to America's genocidal policy in Southeast
Asia, of knowing (but not accepting for some time)
that our cause was without honor, and, finally, of
realizing that the United States miglit be defeated by
a small country fighting for its independence, most
Americans feel bewildered and confused. Consequently,
they are beginning to question the very values and
institutions which for so long were regarded as in-
vincible and sacred.
For many Americans, this constitutes a grave crisis
of confidence. The State, as the ultimate extension of
their own being, has been stricken with impotence in
the international arena at tlie very moment when its
domestic institutions are proving themselves incapable
of coping with the demands for change at home.
The traumatic change in American attitude from
one of hope and progress to one of pessimism and
retrogression 'is analyzed in two recent polls conducted
by the Gallup and Roper organizations. Typical of
many surveys of public opinion was this finding of the
Gallup Poll: "Forty-seven per cent of the American
people believe that unrest is likely to lead to a real
breakdown in this country. Traditional optimism about
the nation's steady progress has faltered. The average
American feels that the United States has slid back
over the past few years."
The average American feels stripped of his identity:
He feels increasingly isolated and powerless in a world
that seems to have lost all meaning and purpose.
THE NEW LEFT
The New Left movement of the 1960s was born out
of this "crisis in meaning." In its celebrated Port Huron
Statement of 1962, Students for a Democratic Society
put it this way: "A new Left must transform modern
complexity into issues that can be understood and felt
close-up by every human being. It must give form to
the feelings of helplessness and indifference so that
people may see the political, social, and economic
sources of their private troubles and org-iniic to change
society."
The New Left started as a movement to force Amer-
ican institutions to live up to the revolutionary aspects
of American ideology. Now, ten years later, the niovc-
ment has been fragmented into a constellation of
factions whose ideological perspectives, slogans, tactical
formats, and heroes are borrowed largely from Euro-
pean and Asian revolutionary struggles.
Why has the New Left rejected its own revolutionary
American heritage? The emerging Left of the 1960s
was not prepared for the overwhelming succession of
events that was to sweep the nation during that turbu-
MAULDIN IN THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"It was designed as a
flag, bitddy — not as a blindfold"
lent decade. The black revolution, race riots, political
assassinations, Vietnam, pollution, campus confronta-
tions, drugs, and a host of other developments intensi-
fied the movement's sense of urgency in dealing with
American institutions. Impatience and frustration
mounted as the movement found itself more often
reacting to rather than initiating the course of political
events. The contradiction between American ideals and
practice became more visible and pronounced for the
New Left with each successive political confrontation.
Conditioned by a Judeo-Christian sense of morality
• — to believe that man is the master of his fate and
the captain of his soul, that he makes conscious de-
cisions between good and evil on the basis of some ab-
solute moral premise— the New Left became over-
whelmed by the disparity between what Americans pro-
fessed to believe in on the one hand, and political real-
ity on the other. Outraged by this dichotomy, the New
Left began to conclude that the gap between perform-
ance and principle was attributable to the hypocrit-
ical, deceitful, dishonest, and evil character of parents,
political leaders, the American (white) people, and, by
association, American history and ideology. A feeling
of powerlessness and isolation began to engulf the
movement.
The New Left broke entirely with its American
November, 1971
17
243
heritage because it failed to giasp a basic liistorical
contradiction — that American ideology' is at once both
revolutionary and reactionary' and that the American
people are at once both reactionary and revolutionary.
Though it ignored this contradiction in its assess-
ment of American history and tlie American (white)
people, the New Left did apply simple logic in analyz-
ing the condition of the poor and the blacks within
the American system. Black behavior was defined in
terms of the economic and social forces that acted upon
the black community. If individual blacks participated
in anti-social or inhumane actions, their behavior could
be defended as the inevitable consequence of victimiza-
tion by an exploitive and inhumane system. The New
Left was unable, however, to apply this understanding
to its own immediate environment — white, middle-class
America. Within its own experience, white America, the
left-looking movement continued to apply the Christian
concept of individual moral choice and the judgment that
there were good and evil people, especially within the im-
mediate family and governmental structure. The mo-
rality of the Left turned into a Christian sense of guilt
for being associated with an ideology and history that
exploits and colonizes racial and ethnic minorities at
home and nonindustrialized peoples abroad.
The emergence of Third World identity — the identity
of underdeveloped peoples struggling for their fair share
in the world, both here and abroad — overwhelmed
the already shaky identity of the New Left, and hastened
the process by which it separated itself from any identi-
fication with its own American heritage — even with
the revolutionary aspects of that heritage. What started
as a movement to make institutions live up to the rev-
olutionary part of the American dream transformed
itself into a rejection of that dream itself.
In divorcing itself from the American experience,
the New Left has given those who seek the per-
petuation of a reactionary system carte blanche to
exploit those reactionary elements of our historic legacy
that can be used to maintain allegiance to reactionary
institutions and to disregard those revolutionary' ele-
ments of the ideology that could seriously challenge
institutional performance.
WHERE PEOPLE ARE AT
Large numbers of Americans have become aware
of the gap between institutional performance and be-
liefs. This awareness could well lead to fascist reaction
if tliose in power manage to convince people that the
"If particular care and attention are not paid
to the ladies, we are determined to foment a re-
bellion and will not hold ourselves bound to obey
any laws in which we have no voice or represen-
tation."
— Abigail Adams to husband John, 1776
gap is a fabrication: that the desperate human condi-
tion is not the result of American institutions but rath-
er of alien, sinister forces determined to undermine
those institutions. The potential for a fascist reaction
is enhanced by the kind of identification that the
New Left has assumed. Its non-American style and
rhetoric offer a perfect target for the forces of reaction.
The Left movement's character has become increas-
ingly strange and, at times, even frightening to many
Americans. Most people perceive little or nothing that
they have in common with the New Left. At present
the New Left has found no way of dealing with this
fear and misunderstanding, since it has abandoned or
rejected much of the heritage and most of the symbols
to which the great majority of the American people
can respond. Through its rhetoric and actions, the
movement has tried to force the American people to
identify with Third World struggles at home and
abroad before they have even identified with their
own oppression and their own revolutionary struggle
in this country.
The new awareness that this country is in the
midst of a grave crisis — a realization which millions of
Americans have acquired in recent years — can lead to
a mass-based revolutionary struggle if the movement
will discard its self-imposed ideological isolation and
begins to re-identify with the revolutionary principles
and symbols of the American heritage.
To do this, the New Left must be willing to meet
people where they are at rather than where it would
like them to be. Millions of Americans are aware,
for the first time, of the fact that many of America's
economic, social, and political institutions are perform-
ing in ways that undermine the revolutionary ideals
and principles to which the nation purports to be ded-
icated. But for many Americans, the principles — if not
the language — enunciated in the Port Huron Statement
of 1962, and by the Berkeley Free Speech Movement
of 1963 and the Russell War Crimes Tribunal of 1967
are only now beginning to make sense. If the New Left
hopes to engage this new consciousness and give it
positive direction through political struggle, it must
first take a long hard look at itself and what it
represents.
Even now, much of the New Left continues to act
as a liberal movement. Although its rhetoric is often
revolutionary, its analysis and its actions reveal a deep
sense of misguided moral outrage and collective guilt.
On the one hand, the movement attacks the social
and economic system for so dehumanizing and brutal-
izing the American people that they have lost touch
with their own humanity. On the other hand, it con-
tinues to castigate and condemn the American people
for being dehumanized by the system — as if people who
have been indoctrinated and victimized by an ex-
ploitive social environment are still totally free to
maintain and act upon some higher moral premise
that goes beyond their experience. A slave of any
kind of system cannot be expected to choose among
18
THE PROGRESSIVE
244
alternatives wlicii the o|3tion to clioosc has, in fact,
been foreclosed. TIic freedom to act in accordance with
human values requires that the individual be able to
perceive the insanity that masquerades as the normal
human condition and rise above it.
By continuing to place primary emphasis on the
"here and now" morality or immorality of each indi-
vidual, the New Left reinforces the assumption that
: the great majority of people are free to exercise their
own will and to determine their own behavior within
contemporary American society. The ultimate expres-
sion of this approach is the New Left's attitude to-
ward political and economic leaders. It tends to view
decision-makers as free individuals exercising their
' own will for their own evil ends, rather than as the
most intensely indoctrinated victims of the system.
To rise above social conditioning to a new sense of
* values, people must come to understand how they are
victimized by the American system as it operates today.
By failing to help people recognize their social con-
ditioning, by continuing to make moral judgments on
the assumption that people are free to make meaning-
ful choices, the Left thwarts the development of a
revolutionary consciousness in America.
If to be "liberal" means to identify with someone
else's oppression before one's own, then the Left move-
ment is still liberally oriented. The New Left still focuses
much of its energy on aiding and defending the revolu-
tionary struggles of the black and Third World com-
munities. Its sense of guilt keeps it from developing a
revolutionary identity of its own, since doing so would
necessitate an identification with the revolutionary
[ aspects of its own American heritage. The New Left
: talks about the need for a revolution in this country,
but its ideology threatens to exclude it — and most of
white America — from the possibility of developing a
■revolutionary identity.
At best, the New Left offers white America the
option of vicarious involvement as defenders and cheer-
leaders for the black and Third World struggles. Some
attempt is made to engage that section of the white
work force that is employed in blue-collar and service
jobs. But even here, little effort is made to remind
people of the revolutionary history of their own strug-
gle in this country. Rather, the strategy, ideology, and
rhetoric are taken largely from the experience of work-
ers' struggles in other countries.
If the objective conditions for a revolutionary move-
ment exist for white as well as black Americans — and
I think they do — then it makes more sense for whites
to identify with the revolutionary heroes, slogans, prin-
ciples, and beliefs that make up the most positive
aspects of the American heritage than to attempt to
import a European or Asian ideological format. Tliat
' does not mean that non-American revolutionary
thought cannot serve as an important aspect of cul-
tural, educational, and political direction; it docs
mean that far greater emphasis must be placed on a
tradition that most people already identify , with — the
revolutionary aspects of the American experience.
Declaration of Independence II
BURCK IN THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
At this critical stage in American history, it makes
no sense for the New Left to allow the defenders of
the system the advantage of presenting themselves and
their institutions as the true heirs and defenders of the
American revolutionary tradition. Instead, the revolu-
tionary heritage must be used as a tactical weapon to
isolate the existing institutions and those in power by
constantly focusing public attention on their inability
to translate our revolutionary dreams into reality.
The Federal Government and the nation's business
community have launched a five-year multi-million
dollar campaign leading up to the celebration of Amer-
ica's 200th birthday in 1976 — to rekindle the "Spirit
of '76" and to promote the words and deeds of the
Founding Fathers. The Left must take this up as a
challenge and turn it into a campaign designed to cre-
ate a mass revolutionary consciousness in tune with
.the revolutionary legacy of 1776.
Reinforcing the revolutionary beliefs is essential be-
cause it provides continuity with the heritage of tlie
past. This identification is necessary to create an atmos-
phere of confidence among the people in their abil-
ity to shape the future, to explore and enter unfamiliar
areas of experience.
Understanding the revolutionary currents and move-
ments that have influenced American life can help
those of us already involved in political struggle in
developing a revolutionary perspective that is germane
for America. Past struggles in America, such as the
abolitionist and women's suffrage movements, and the
farmer and labor insurgencies, cannot be expected to
provide a blueprint for revolution in the 1970s, but
November, 1971
19
245
"The first step in the new revolution must be to
find out who we arc and how to build on the base
erected in the revolution of 1776 and
refurbished in the successive dramas of
change that characterize the most affirmative
periods of American history."
they can tell us much about American behavior and
the American cliaractcr. We cannot build a contempo-
rary revolution without an acute awareness of ourselves
as a people, as citizens of a nation born in revolution.
A genuine understanding of American revolutionary
ideals is what links the American people with the
struggles of all oppressed people in the world. Not un-
til the masses of Americans begin to re-identify with
these principles and develop their own revolutionary
struggle will they be able to form a real bond of fra-
ternalism and solidarity with the struggles of all op-
pressed people. Solidarity comes from understanding
the collective nature of our separate struggles and the
cry for humanity that is shared by all.
Without confidence in our revolutionary heritage,
deteriorating economic and social conditions are liable
to lead to an increased sense of hopelessness and fear,
and a defense of the most reactionary aspects of the
American ideology — with appeals to national honor,
duty, courage, and vigilance in protection of the mother
country — as the American people make a desperate at-
tempt to hold onto what is familiar in their everyday
life.
The first step in the new revolution must be to
find out who we are and how to build on the base
erected in the revolution of 1776 and refurbished in
the successive dramas of change that characterize the
most affirmative periods of American history.
The black movement had to rediscover the positive
aspects of its own heritage in order to build an identity
that would give it confidence in its ability to initiate
action, sustain discipline, and win support from the
black community. The white movement must do the
same. Confidence in our ability to maintain discijiline
and to develop a long-|fange revolutionary perspective
that is neither rigid nor authoritarian must come from
an understanding of who we arc; and most of what
we are has to do with our unique American heritage.
Such an understanding will help bring the existing fac-
tions and groupings within the New Left community
itself.
COMING FROM THE GRASS ROOTS
There now exist in most large conmiunitics several
independent organizing projects and collectives cen-
tered around experiments as diverse as consumer
unions, free schools, health care .centers, abortion coun-
seling services, alternative employment agencies, tenant
unions, food cooperatives, alternative media, veterans'
projects, draft services, and many others.
Up to now, these projects have been viewed either
as alternatives for only those immediately involved in
them, or as organizing techniques for involving large
numbers of people in political struggle. The first ap-
proach leads to isolation and elitism and the second to
despair as limited resources and societal constraints
preclude the possibility of any meaningful participation
by large numbers of people. A more realistic approach
would be to reach out to the community in a limited
way commensurate with the manpower and resources
available, with emphasis on improving the quality
rather than the quantity of social actions taken and
services rendered. In this manner, projects and pro-
grams are redefined as "models for political alterna-
tives" and free themselves from the unrealizable goal
of asserting to be the alternative itself.
In a period of growing political alienation, when
people no longer accept the tired old programs or the
idle promises of new approaches that never materialize,
these models can offer productive alternatives in which
people can begin to believe and on which they can con-
struct alternatives to the existing institutions, programs,
and values.
Those involved in the independent projects and col-
lectives must begin to realize that disenchantment and
alienation can appear on many levels, and that no one
project or program can hope to answer all of the com-
plex needs of the residents of a community. For this
reason, these separate projects should begin to come
together on the local level around some commonly
agreed upon set of principles, demands, and goals.
To stimulate revolutionary consciousness, the New
Left must develop a strategy by which the American
people can identify the movement's demands and pro-
grams with the most noble and revolutionary principles
of our common heritage. Without this positive identifi-
cation those in power may succeed in isolating the
movement from American society.
In determining effective strategies, more critical at-
tention must be focused on new ways of reaching
people. Too often, the New Left continues to pursue a
single strategy of confrontation, even when its con-
tinued use is alienating and ineffective, merely because
it has met with some measure of success in the past.
To a large extent, this has been due to t'^e New Left's
failure to develop a realistic analysis of the American
system and to create a long-range revolutionary per-
.spcctive. Lacking thoughtful analysis, strategy is often
an aimless reflex reaction to momentary crisis. Strat-
egies tend to become ends in themselves or substitutes
for lack of ideology. Victories are so rare that any suc-
cess is frequently elevated to the level of a sacred rev-
olutionary principle. Those individuals and groups in-
itially associated with a particular strategy tend to de-
velop a vested interest in its continued use so as to
rationalize their past position of influence within the
movement. This results in a reluctance to experiment
20
THE PROGRESSIVE
246
with new strategics for fear of being attacked as
reformist.
A serious re-thinking of the strategics of confronta-
tion, engagement, and mobilization will have to begin
to take into account as major weapons of change the
use of electoral politics, especially in communities with
large student populations, research operations on tiie
local level patterned after Nader's Raiders, mass media
as a means of reaching out beyond tlie student and
radical communities, and entry into government and
corporate bureaucracies in order to gain vital informa-
tion and to influence attitudes and behavior.
Re-identifying with the American revolutionary her-
itage during the Bicentennial Years can provide the
New Left groupings with the beginning of a new phil-
osophical and political focus as well as a new spirit
of enthusiasm and hope. This new focus and spirit
are essential if we arc to overcome the isolation, fac-
tionalism, and defeatism that now exist within the
movement.
THE NEW AMERICAN REVOLUTION
The goals of this new movement are as revolutionary
for our time as were the goals of those who framed
the Declaration of Independence.
Today's revolution will be one in search of new
human values and new institutional structures. It will
JUSTUS IN THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR
"You chaps are looking a bit tired"
bring together large sectors of the American population
around common goals and aspirations. Whites, blacks,
Latins, native Americans, middle class, workers, poor
people, women, and men will forge a new unified
identity around a common revolutionary heritage.
This movement must be a revolution in which:
• Human values are placed above property values.
• Economic cooperation is substituted for competi-
tion and corporate profit.
• Personal interests can be identified with the collec-
tive interest.
• Health care for all people is defined as a human
right rather than a market-place commodity going to
the highest bidder.
• Technology is brought under control to serve rath-
er than exploit man and the environment.
• Production for profit and war is replaced by pro-
duction for human needs and peace.
• Control of the economy is taken away from the
very rich and very few and returned to the hands of
the worker and consumer.
• Economic, social, racial, and sexual barriers will
give way to a new form of equality and opportunity
for all.
• The human aspirations we seek to fulfill at home
will also guide our relations with other peoples of the
world.
• People regain control over decisions and institu-
tions that affect their lives.
• Orthodoxy is challenged and creativity is en-
couraged.
• The search for transcendence and ultimate aware-
ness of ourselves and our environment is nourished as
the highest aspiration of mankind.
• We are dedicated to the proposition that "all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
Above all, this must be a revolution built upon hope
and alternatives for the future, rather than the fears
and dismay of the present.
Today's revolutionaries are not so naive, nor so be-
mused with romantic adventurism, nor so unaware of
the lessons of history that they believe in the overnight
attainment of these goals through instant revolution.
Their first steps may be modest, their first demands
transitional, but they will achieve their ultimate goals,
which are built upon nothing less than our own Amer-
ican Dream.
In 1976, we, the American people, will celebrate the
two hundredth anniversary of the signing of our Dec-
laration of Independence. It must be our goal, in the
next five years of struggle, to recapture our revolution-
ary heritage and to build on it a society worthy of our
legacy.
November, 1971
21
INDEX
NoTK.— The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee attaches no significance
to^the mere fact of the appearance of an individual or an organization in this
A
"A New Age Begins" (book) _ ir
"A Conversation With Page Smith" (article) 07
A Mass Celebration of the Bicentennial . __ /_____/'/ gg
"A New Age Begins, a Peoples History of the American" Re"volut[on"
(book) ,r cj.
Abraham Lincoln Brigade _ ' "T^
"Activist Groups to Hold Picnic" (article) 21^
Adams, Charles Francis " "" 07
Adams, Abigail '_ iq4"2T^ 24-^
Adams, Diana 194, ^ici, ^4d
Adams, John_ 5,'56,"58,'75,l7,l3i,"l78;213, 241
Adams, Samuel 6, 24, 41, 62, 75, 76, 83, 84, 91, 118, 180 214 240
Adams, Ihomas _ ' ro
Advance Manufacturing _ __]^ llllllllll SI
Africa ,2 A(i
Ahmed, Eqbal 231
Air and Space Museum _ ~ ' 47 if?
Alaska :_" ^^' \\l
Albania ' \'^'„
Alinsky, Saul I"]''^ 142
Allendorfer, Capt ___ " ' ooo'ooa 097
Alliance to End Repression. . . ' % io
Ambassador West Hotel ^ kVS
American Bar Association ~___ ~ tq
American Bicentennial Research Institute. _I III"' ~" /'_"_ si
American Civil Liberties Union . __ _' " ' ' "~ ro
American Express '^i
American Freedom Train ' rr 01 qa
American Heritage llllllllll ' 24 31
American Historical Association _~_ I ~" '72
American Indian Movement (AIM) _._ _'"" '/_' "~ -m q-,
American Indians _ . _ "" ""' _"" m
American Issues Forum ... "' " '_' '_"_ rr 2ir
American Nationalism ._ .... / _ _ ~ 7lhs'^
American Revolution '_'/_ ~_ ', lu, 00
^'^}^'Ja''3 ^•^' ^^' 46-487 56,"57r62783," 97; 987l' 18," 130, 131^
178,179,183,191,198,202,239 ...,,,
American Revolution" (book) 10 31
American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA) ' 7
A, • o 1 ■ T. 25, 26, 30, 34, 58, 70-73, 81, 82, 219, 23()
American Kevolution Bicentennial Commission 220-226 228 229
American Revolution Considered as a Social Movement, The" (book) ' ' 183
American Servicemen's Union.. ..... ...... 1 iS
"America's Birthday" (book) \//.l 6
u . T , , . 10, 23, 31, 34, 50, 54-56, 58-66,"72,"73,'ii6,"ii8,'230, 231
^^ An Introduction to the Peoples Bicentennial Commission" (article) . . 15, 98
An Open Letter to the American Left" (document)... 40
Anarchists' Cookbook"... 33
Angola j2
Aptheker, Bettina _ _ 35
(i)
11
Page
Aptheker, Dr. Herbert 10, 38, 39, 56, 57, 186
ARBA. {See American Revolution Bicentennial Administration.)
Arco 81
Arno Publishing Co 106, 109
Asia 1 2, 26, 1 1 0
Attucks 131
Ayers, Bill 52, 136
Ayers, John 52
B
Bantam Books, Inc 58, 67, 183, 197, 199, 238
Learning Ventures Section 58, 60, 199
Barnett, John 215
Barrington, 111 59
Baustian, Sister Joan 42, 43, 128
Bayh, Senator Birch 47
Becker, Carl 182
Beckstead, Ken 171
Bellarmine School of Theology 42, 132
Benefit for Chicago Workers School 42
Berkeley 80, 134, 136
Bernstein 179
Bible, The 35, 36
"Bicentennial" (article) 75, 118
"Bicentennial Bulletin" 229
"Bicentennial Era 1972-76, The" (publication) 46
Bicentennial Gardens 47
Bicentennial materials, order form 199
"Bicentennial Times" 292, 231
Bill of Rights 35, 54, 61, 62, 68
"Birthday Parties For Kids" 49
Black Panther Party 134, 147
Black Panthers 214
Blumer, Frank 80
Bolivia 11
Book-of-the-Month Club 15, 58
News 15,31,97
Boston 82, 109, 134, 136
Boston Globe (newspaper) 64, 209
Boston Harbor 63
Boston Tea Party 55, 62, 64, 65
Boy Scouts 82
Boyte, Harry 78, 80
Bras, Juan Mari 31
Bratislava, Czeckoslovakia 40, 44, 130, 143
Bregman, Randy 80
Brentano's (book store) 59, 60
Brickner, Balfour 112, 113
Bronson, Gail 81
Brooklyn 136
Brown; John 75, 118,240
Buck, Tom 68
Bughouse Square, Chicago 66
Bunker Hill, Battle of 82
Burck 244
Burns, George 67
Buser 222, 226, 227
"Busy Independence Day Projected for the Mall" (article) 116
Butler, Bill 101
Butz, Earl 63
C
California, University of 58, 97
At Berkeley 38, 140
At Santa Cruz 97
Callahan, Bill 55
Galley 112, 113
Ill
Page
Cambridge, Mass 143
Campfire Girls 4, 82, 85, 98
Canada 12
Capitalk (publication) 116
Carroll, Dr 222
Carroll, Lynn 101
Case Western Reserve University 157
Casey, William 60
Castro, Fidel 12, 31, 34, 41, 85, 131
CBS-TV 82
Center for the Study of Public Policy . 143
Central YMCA College 69
Champaign-Urbana 9, 27, 28, 48, 179
Chicago 7,8, 16,41,45,50,52,57,64-67, 78,79,96, 138, 139, 146
Chicago Coliseum 134, 136
Chicago Conference on Hunger and Malnutrition 65, 66, 215
Chicago Council for American Soviet Friendship 85
Chicago Daily News 65, 66, 216
Chicago Eight Trial 136
Chicago Patriot (newsletter) 45, 145
Chicago Peace Council 43, 66, 68, 216
Chicago Sun Times (newspaper) 42, 244
Chicago Tomorrow — Social Service 41
Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) 68
Chicago Tribune (newspaper) 7, 13, 14, 32, 44, 60, 65, 68, 69, 84, 143, 216
Chicago Welfare Rights Organization 215
Chile 120, 122
China 12, 13, 136, 138, 197
Chinese Revolution 12
Chomsky, Noam 26, 112, 113
Cicero 43
Citizens Alert/ Alliance to End Repression 42
Citizens Commission of Inquiry 26, 75, 110, 239
City Colleges of Chicago-Uptown education programs 41
Cleaver, Eldridge 8,9, 86, 141
Cleveland Area Peace Action Council 157
Cleveland, Ohio 3, 51,81, 157
Cleveland Press 157
Cohn, Fred 112, 113
Coffey 222, 227
Collins, Pat 220
"Colonial Era, The" (book) 186
"Colonial Era of the American Revolution, The" (book) 57
Columbia University 134, 201
Commager, Henry Steele 181
Committees of Correspondence 45, 67, 89
Common Sense (publication) 22,
31, 33, 47, 48, 62-64, 67, 83, 116, 150, 198, 203, 204
Common Sense for a Democratic Economy 48, 154
"Common Sense 11" (book) 32, 50, 58, 60, 82, 83, 200
Commoner, Dr. Barry 231
Communist 39, 84
Communist Manifesto 48
Communist Party 16, 30, 38, 66, 69, 70, 146, 158
, China ___-.....___.- 138
Illinois 40, 68
Missouri 50
Philippines 30
USA (CPUSA) 10, 14, 26, 38, 56, 67, 68, 85, 216
Communist Party Bicentennial Festival Committee 68
"Community Programs for a Peoples Bicentennial" (publication) 198
Concord Bridge . 63
Concord, Mass . 4,5,22,26,33,63,64,117
Battle of 63
69-239 O — 76 17
IV
Page
Concord River 84
Connecticut, University of _5
Conspiracy 157
Consumer Counteraction 42
Consumer Federation of America 231
Continental Congress 176
Cook, Theirrie 80
Cooke, Alistair 82
Cooperative Highschool Independent Press Syndicate (CHIPS) 165
Corbett, J. Elliott 70,218
Corning Glass 212
Cowan, Anita 171
Create Your Own Birthday Package (flyer) 58
Criley, Richard 68
Crockett, Davy 118
Crumb, Jan 112, 113
Cuba 12, 16, 131, 136, 138
Cuban Secret Police 31
Czechoslovakia 40, 44, 130, 143
D
Daily World ' 45
Daley, Richard J 8, 86, 88
DAR. (See Daughters of the American Revolution.)
DAR II. (See Descendants of the American Revolution II.)
Dartmouth College 97
Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) 35, 65, 67
David Kennison Chapter 65
Daughters and Sons of Liberty 45, 67, 89
Davenport, Iowa_ 28, 114
Davidson, Bill 112, 113
Davis, Ossie 26, 112, 113
Davis, Rennie 8, 9, 86
Debray, Regis H
Debs, Eugene V 8,9,75,86, 118, 130,131,141,240
Declaration of Economic Independence 46, 155
Declaration of Independence 18-21,
35, 48, 50, 99, 176-178, 181, 182, 239, 240, 246
Declaration of Student Independence 50, 51, 53, 61
Dellinger, David 112, 113
Denver, Colo 1 1 0
Descendants of the American Revolution II (DAR II) 45, 67, 89
Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) 171
DFT. (See Detroit Federation of Teachers.)
DGI (Directorio General De Inteligencia) 31
DiMaggio, Joe 81
Dobal - 226
Dohrn, Bernardine 13-^, 136
Domhoff, G. WiUiams 95
Dowd, Douglas 26, 112, 113
Drinan, Congressman Robert 62
DRV (North Vietnam) 40, 1 30
DuBois, W. E. B 75, 118, 240
Duncan, Donald 112, 113
Dupont Plaza Hotel 112
Dylan, Bob 13o
E
East India Co 83
East St. Louis 8o
Eastern Illinois University 69
Eastland, Senator James O ^lo
Ecumenical Institute --.- 49
Ecumenical Task Force on the Religious Observance of the Nation s Bi-
centennial 49, 56, 70, 2 17
"Editor Responds, The — Marxism, Its Limitations" (article) 91
Pago
Education Liberation Front 7
Einstein 131
Elmhurst College 56, 66, 214
"Empire and Revolution" (book) 140
Engels 11, 131
Ensign, Tod 112, 113
Episcopal Church 70
Europe 30
Evergreen Review (magazine) 10, 11, 88
Exxon 47, 117, 120, 122, 210, 211
"Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution" (book series) 104-106
F
Fair Play For Cuba Committee 16, 33, 85
Falk, Richard 112, 113
Faneuil, Hall 62, 63
Far Left 61
Farah 172
Federal Bureau of Investigation 1, 52, 143, 148
Federal Communications Cominission (FCC) 122
Feinberg, Rabbi Abraham 112, 113
Feminist Party 231
Fernandez, Richard 112, 113
Fields, Marjorie 79
Finch, Robert 143
Fincher, Jack 97
First Congregational Church 236
First National Bank 68
"First Principles" (booklet) 9
Fisher, Alan.' 218
Florv, Ishmael 67,68
Foner, Phil 231
Folklike Festival 47, 117
Fonda, Jane 112, 113
Ford, Bernie 68
Ford, President Gerald 48, 63, 84, 117
Founding Fathers 20, 36, 47, 48, 55, 56, 76
FPS 53
Francis, Everett 70, 218
Franco 12
Franklin, Benjamin 118, 213, 214
Free Speech Movement 38, 75, 139, 243
Freed, Don 112, 113
Freedom of Information Act 71
Freedom Train. (See American Freedom Train.)
Frontany, Hilda 215
G
Gallup poll 242
Garment, Leonard 71, 223
Garrison, William Lloyd 75, 118, 240
Gay Liberation Front 158
Gei'smar, Maxwell 112, 113
General Foods . _ _ 212
General Motors (GM) 47, 66, 81, 117, 210, 211
Genovese, Eugene D 26, 112, 113
Georgia, University of 2
GI's United I 157
Girl Guides 50
Girl Scouts 31
Capitol Area Council 31
Githn, Todd 133
Glass, Sgt. Charles 215
Glusman, Paul 133, 134, 140
Goodell, James 103
Gordon, JeflF 136
VI
Page
Gordon, Jerry 157
"Government Bicentennial Is Very Shallow, The" (article) 82
Gould, Jay 118
Governor's Advisory Council 39
Grass Roots Community Coalition 158
Gregory, Dick 112, 113, 157
Great American Revolution of 1776 40
Gruening, Hon. Ernest — 112, 113
Guardian (organization) 30, 31
Guardian (publication) 8, 28, 86, 114, 142
Guevara, Che 6, 11, 16, 34, 76, 118, 131
Gulf Oil 82
H
Hacker, Rev. Iberus 41,42,65,66,215
Hale, Nathan 5
HalL 222,227
Hall, Gus 38,45,64, 146,217
Hamilton, Alexander 75, 1 18, 241
Hancock, John 81
"Hand-Me-Down Marxism and the New Left" (article) 133
Happy Birthday USA (organization) 117
Hard Times Labor Day Picnic 66
Harris, Fred (former Senator) 47
Harvard 97, 134
Hatcher, Richard 215
Hawk, David 157
Hayden, Tom 8,86, 141
Haywood, Bill 8,9,86, 131
Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) 143
Henderson, Harold 80
Henry, Patrick 83,84
Hess, Karl 231
Hessell, Dieter 70,218
High School Action (paper) 54, 170
High School Bill of Rights 51-53, 156
High School Information Service 111
High School Youth Against War and Fascism 54
"Hijacking the Bicentennial" (editorial) 32
Hill 131
Hill, Carl 62
Hogan, Father William 68
Hollander, Nanci 140
Hoover, J. Edgar 143
Hornblower, Margot 116
Horowitz, David 133, 140
House Committee on Un-American Activities 51
House Internal Security Committee 66, 85
Houston 172
Houston 12 Defense Committee 172
"How to Commit Revolution American Style" (book) 11, 14, 32, 93-95
"How to Research the Power Structure of Your Secondary School"
(pamphlet) 1 68
"How to Start a High School Underground Newspaper" (pamphlet) 53,
160, 165, 168
Howard, Ted 55, 117, 119, 124,231
Human Kindness Day 117
Hunt, H. L 118
Hutchings, Phil 112, 113
I
Ichord, Congressman Richard 14, 15, 32, 85
Illinois.,-- - 16,29,37,47
Illinois Coalition for Youth, Jobs and Education 69
Illinois, University of 9
Illinois Worker (publication) 85
vu
Page
"In the Minds and Hearts of the People" (display package of books) 62, 202
Indiana 29
International Amphitheatre 67
International Business Machines (IBM) •_ 82
International Publishers 186
International Socialists (IS) 114, 115, 157
International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) ,.. 47, 117, 122,210,211
Institute for Policy Studies 143
Institute for Social Studies 42
Iowa 29
Iranian Student Association 42
J
Jameson, J. Franklin 183
J. C. Penney Co 82
Jefferson, Thomas 5, 24, 55, 91, 97, 118, 131, 177, 178, 213
Jencks, Christopher 143, 144
Joe Hill Caucus 136
John Brown Caucus 158
Johnny Appleseed 7, 8, 9, 44, 61, 131, 142, 145
Johnny Appleseed Movement 40, 42, 43, 54, 67
Johnny Appleseed Patriotic Publications.. 7, 8, 11, 44, 45, 86, 88, 89, 140, 141, 145
Johnny Appleseed Press 40, 43
Johnson, Bob 112, 113
Johnson, Kathy 55
Johnson, Nick 231
Joint Committee on the Bicentennial 117
Jones, Charley 55
Jones, Lloyd Jenkins 32
July 4th Coalition 35, 236
Justice Department 120, 124, 223
Justus (cartoonist) 240, 246
K
Kaleidoscope (underground paper) 8
Kaufman, Mary 112, 113
Keller, Helen 8, 86, 141
Kelley, A. M 182
Kelly, Dean M 70,218
Kennedy, Flo 23 1
Kennedy Stadium 47
Kennison, David 65
Kent State 9, 90
Khan, Ayub 138
Khrushchev, Nikita 138, 137
Kim II Sung 161
Kirkendall, Richard S 201
Kiwanis 15, 83
Khng, Jack 67
Klonskv, Michael 135
Knight, Carlton, III ._ 72
Knoll, Erwin 111
Kozol, Jonathan 213
Kraft Foods 66, 81
Kroch's (book store) 59, 60
Kunstler, WiUiam _ .. . ._. 39
Kurtis, Bill . 215
Kushner, Sylvia 26, 68, 1 12, 1 13
L
Lake View Latin American Coalition 215
Lamb, Art 47, 117
Lamont, Helen 112, 113
Lancaster, Pa 81
Lang, George 25, 101
vni
T'age
Lauter, Paul 112, 113
Lavelle, Mike 215
Lawrence, Deborah W 25,71, 101, 111,219,224-228
Lenin 5,
6, 12, 15, 16, 17, 34, 38, 76, 118, 131, 136, 146
Lens, Sid 231
Leonard, Bob 55
Lerner, Michael 78, 80
Lerner Newspapers 65
Lester, Julius 112, 113
LeVant, Jack 71, 101,220,223,227,228
Levin, John 135
Levy, Howard 112, 113
Lewis, Hobart 224
Lewis, Sinclair 130
Lexington, Mass 4, 5, 63
Liberty Bell 24
Liberty Hall 41-43,62, 145
Library of Congress 2, 55
Library of Human Resources 81
Lieberj Mike 215
Lifton, Robert J 112, 113
"Light in the Steeple, The" (pubhcation) 49,56,70,98,142,217
Lin Piao 135, 138
Lincoln, Abraham 118, 131
Lincoln Memorial 47
Lincoln Park 65
Lipman, Carol 157, 158
"Little Red Book" 8,86
"Little Red Book of Quotations" 10
"Little Red, White, and Blue Book — Revolutionary Quotations bv
Great Americans" 8, 10, 44, 86, 89, 96, 141
Lockheed 120, 122
Lopatkiewicz, Ted 73, 230
Lopaz, Alfredo 236
Los Angeles 67
Lovejoy, Sam 231
Loyola University of Chicago 44
Lyle Stuart, Inc. (publisher) ^ — 33, 96
Lynd, Alice 78
Lynd, Staughton 95
Lynn, Conrad 112, 113
Mc
McCarthy 25
McColgan, Edward 82
McKeun, Arthur 62
McKissick, Floyd 112, 113
M
Mack Truck Co 82
Madison, Wis 42, 136
Magidson, Herbert 112, 113
Mahoney, David J 71,219,224
Malcolm X 131
Mao Tse-tung 5, 6, 8, 13, 15, 16, 76, 118, 131, 133, 135, 136
Maoism 13,84,85, 138
Maoist 14, 31
Maoists 61
Mapes, Jo 215
Marshall, Chip 80
Marshall Field & Co -"^O
Martin, David 1-73
Martin, Joseph Plumb 182
Martinez, David 215
IX
^lartinsen, Peter _ ,,„ .^^f
mSsS''' --------5:i3;36:56;§i:i3i,i36;u6
"Marxism, Religion'and'Revolution'' "("speech)" ' ^^' ^^' ^^' ^^' ^''' ^^^' ^'-fi
MarSf:Len.,sC:::::: '^''''''''''''''ll12l145^!i
Marxist-Leninist-Maoist (weeklvKV ' ' ' ^'' ^^l
Marxists ' _ " ko'dh A^ a-
Mass Celebration of the Bicentennial ' ks 9?r
Meachani, Stewart.. 110' Tio
Merlo, John '_[ ""' J)'?
Merridew, Alan '" ~^~"~ 91R
Metropolitan Museum of Art __ " "o^
Michigan ?^
Middle East ^^' '^f,
Miles, Pvt. Joe. .1^
Mihtant, The (publication).. -1 ;2l
Mills, Wright c ::: -. f' ]i]
Milwaukee ^'^6, 141
Minneapolis Star (newspaper)... ^ah oar
Misnik, Joanna ff S' ?f o
Mitche Co ' ci
Mitchell, John .°J
Monsanto . _ ■ _ _ ^f*
Mora, Dennis n^ f|^
Moran, John \\i' |J^
Moratorium. . . " '1^7
"More Mao Than Thou" (article)". _" l ^.q 1 ?I
Morgan, Edmund. __ ''''' 1 cq
Morgan, Helen... |°^
Morison, Samuel Eliot- . . qo 07
Morris, Richard B ?ci%m
Moses, Nancy ... oJ' f^o
Movement for Economic Democracy ' '" /i?
Muste, A. J ■" - „ 47
My Lai massacre ---------------.".".".."."."".".":.".": 112 113
N
Nader's Raiders 24.R
NAM. (5ee New American Movement ) " " "
"NAM Sets New Left Program" (article).. 114
Nashville (film) ! _ i\i
National Archives 3
National Caucus of Labor Committees ] 42" "l 44 1 V?
National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry" "o"n""u"s" wkr '
Crimes _ _■_ " ■2c 119 iiq
National Council of Churches. 4."^n"7n"s9"s'^ sk qs' 91s
National Day Care and Child De"velopm"e"n"t"Co"u"ncn" of America, The ' 49 98
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) 25-27 101-103 111
louth Grants Division ' im'ni
National Interim Committee... 79 SO SI
National Interim Committee for a Mass Partv 149
National Lawyers Guild ' . " 26
Naf Innnl ^''^^'' ,^'°"* ^^^^^ ::::::::::::: "40," 130," 134," i36, us
XNational Media Analysis 3
National Observer (publication) ... " " " . .._" I qo
National Park Service ' " '// " i?y
National Trust for Historic Preservation .." ~_ 72
National Veterans Inquiry into U.S. War Crimes IT?
Nave, Henry " ^2
Navy pier $f
Nebraska /.'.'.._. 29
"Negro in the American Revolution" The^ '" "(book) " " " ' ^7
Neilands, J. B ^]" ^^2 113
NEH. (See National Endowment forthe Humanities^'
Page
New American Movement (NAM) 3-5,
12, 14, 15, 28-31, 35, 42, 76-80, 114-116, 239
First national meeting 78
New American Movement (newspaper) 3, 6, 11, 16, 78, 118
New Left 3, 6, 11, 14, 39-41, 96, 136, 139, 143, 242-246
"New Left: Old Traps" (article) 133, 139
New Mobe. (See New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Viet-
nam.)
New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (New Mobe) _ _ 143, 144
New Party, The 144
New Patriot, The (newspaper) 7-11,13,44,45,87-89,91,144,145
New Patriot Handbook 10
New Republic (magazine) 143
New Trier West High School 42, 54, 59
New York City 109, 134, 148
New York Civil Liberties Union 52, 159
New York State 22
New York Times (newspaper) 19, 32, 104-106, 238
Newsweek (magazine) 124
Newton, Huey 8,9,86, 141
Newton, Isaac 13, 91
Nichols, Cicely 55,80
Nixon, Richard 63, 179,240
Norman and Billick (law firm) 52
North Korea 136
North Vietnam 131, 136
Northern Illinois University 69
Northrop 120, 122
Nutter 227
O
October League 42
Ogilvie, Governor 39
Ohio 17,29
Old Left 6,39,40,41,44
"One, Two, Three . . . Many SDS's" (publication) 44, 133
Oneonta, N.Y 179
"Open Letter to the American Left" 42, 44
Open Pantry 65
Organization of American Historians 62, 201
Newsletter 62, 202
"Origins of the American Revolution, The" (book) 182
Oshkosh, Wis 48
Oxtoby, Ken 170
Paine, Thomas 5,6,8,24,48,56,75,76,86,91, 118, 131, 141,213,240
Pakistan 138
Palestinian Liberation Movement 12
Paley, Grace 112, 113
Panama Canal Zone 236
Parmalee, Patty Lee 114
Party of the Permanent American Revolution 61
Patriots Caravan Routes 232, 233
"Patriot's Handbook, The" (publication) 57, 174, 175
Patterson, Brad 227
Pavlik, Keith 171
Peace Corps 139
Peck, Sid 157
Peltz, Bill 30, 35, 36, 48, 92
Penn Dairies 81
Pennsylvania 22
Pennsylvania, University of Hf*
Wharton School of "Finance 96, 110
Pentagon 38
XI
PagL'
Peoples Bicentennial Declaration 46
Peoples Bicentennial Festival 67-69, 216
People's Park 140
People's Research Operation for the Bicentennial Era 48
"People's Textbooks" 57
Pepsi Cola Co 66, 81
Permanent Investigations Subcommittee 134
"Permanent Revolution, The" (book) 61
Peter Hart Associates 22, 23
"PBC Early American Almanac" 238
"PBC Quizbook of the American Revolution" 238
Philadelphia 35, 109
Philippines 12
Pick Congress Hotel 69
Pittsburgh Plate Glass 212
Plavbo V (magazine) 32
Port Huron 1 39
Port Huron Statement 75, 242, 243
Powell, Paul 88
Prairie Fire Organizing Committee 30, 31, 35
Preservation News (publication) 72
Primack, Max 112, 113
"Private Yankee Doodle" (book) 182
PROBE. {See People's Research Operation for the Bicentennial Era.)
Procter & Gamble 212
Progressive (pubUcation) 42, 238, 239
Progressive Labor Party (PL) 16, 114, 134, 136
Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) 115
Prudential Insurance 81
Public Advertising Council 67
Puerto Rican Socialist Party 30, 31, 35
Puerto Rican Solidarity Committee 30
Puerto Rico 30, 130, 236
Punkatasset Hill 63, 64
Q
Quebec 130
Quebecois Liberation Front 12
Quotations of Chairman Mao 48
R
Radical Caucus 158
"Radical Group Presses for New Bicentennial View" (article) 32
Rainbow Coalition 41, 66, 215
Ramparts (magazine) 44, 140
Randall, Tony 112, 113
Raytheon 82
Reagan, Ronald 47, 48
Red Guard 135
"Red, White, and Blue Left, The" (article) 95,239
Redden , Lou 55
Redgrave, Vanessa 112, 113
Reformed Church in America 70, 218
Religious and Civil Liberty National Council of Churches 70
Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) 82
Revere, Paul 5, 24, 81
Revolutionary education project 53
Revolutionary Mass Party 44
"Revolutionary Nationalism and the American Left" (article) 10, 88, 95
"Revolutionary Quotations from the Thoughts of Uncle Sam" (booklet) __ 7,
8, 9, 12, 44, 86, 141
Revolutionary Union (RU) 135
Revolutionary War research project 102, 104, 106, 111
Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM) 135, 136, 158, 157
RYM II 66, 135,214
Xll
Page
Rif kin, Jeremy 3-9,
11, 12, 14-16, 19, 22, 24-28, 30, 32-3.5, 40, 42, 43, 47, 55, 58, 64,
70, 75, 78, 80, 82, 85, 92-96, 103, 104, 109, 110, 112, 113, 117, 119,
124, 209, 217, 231, 239
"Right of Revolution, The" (book) 95
Riordan, Mary . 171
Rising Up Angrv (underground paper) 8
Rockefeller, David 212
Rockefeller, John D 75, 118, 241
Rockwell, Susan 42, 45
Rodriguez, Alex 172
Rollins, Sheila 55
Roosevelt University of Chicago 51
Rosenbergs 131
Rossen, John 7-12,
14-16, 32-34, 41-44, 54, 55, 65, 66, 69, 70, 84, 85, 88, 91-96,
140
Rotarys 15
Rottenberg, Isaac 70, 218
RU. {See Revolutionary Union.)
Rudd, Mark "_ 135, 136
Rush, Benjamin 6, 10, 75, 76, 87, 91, 118, 176,239, 240
Rush, Bobby 136
Russell War Crimes Tribunal 75, 243
Russia 138, 197
Russian Revolution 61
RYM. (See Revolutionary Youth Movement.)
S
Sacaroflf, Mark 112, 113
Sadlowski, Ed 231
Saloschin, Robert 220
Samuels, Jerry 112, 113
San Francisco State 134, 136
Santa Barbara 179
Santa Cruz 58, 97
Scheer, George F 182
Schnall, Susan 112, 113
Schoenman, Ralph 112, 113
Schultz, Richard L 1-73
Schwartz, Edward ._ 55, 95
Schwinn, Jerrv 112, 113
Scotland "_ 38, 130
Seattle 28
"Search for Justice, The" (book) 95
Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) 120, 124
"Seeing Only Red for the Bicentennial (article) 84
Seitz, Erie- 1 26, 112, 113
"Selected Reprints" 54, 168
Shaht, Gene 55
Shay, Martha Jane 25, 101, 102, 111
Shell Oil 82
Sherman House Hotel 45
Shero, Jeff 157
Short, Robert J 1-73
Showl, James 55
Simon & Schuster 6, 31, 34, 54, 58-60, 67, 118, 238
Simpson, Dick 215
Sitting Bull 8, 86, 141
Skora, Eugene J 101, 220, 224, 225-227
Slaughter, Jane 78, 80
SMC. {See Student Mobihzation Committee.)
Smith, Adam 119
Smith, Eloise . 97
Smith, Page 15,58,62,97, 202
Social Democrats 61
Xlll
Page
Socialist Revolution 16
Socialist Workers Party 51
Sojourner Truth Organization 114
Sons and Daughters of Liberty 35
Sons and Daughters of the Revolution 35
Sons of Liberty 7, 9
Source Catalogue (publication) 7, 8
Source Collective 7
"Sources and Documents Illustrating the American Revolution" (book)__ 181
South Dakota 22
Southeast Asia 239, 242
Soviet Union 1, 138
Spain 12, 16, 131
Spector, M. L 224
"Spirit of '76, The" (book) 181, 182
"Spirit of (19)76 The; Is it a Bicentennial or a Buy-Centennial?" (article) . 4, 81
Spock, Benjamin 112, 113
Spring Mills, S.C 81
Springfield, 111 69
StaHn, Josef 84, 13, 138
StaUnism 1 3, 84, 85
"Stamp Act Crisis, The" (book) 183
Stanford 136
Stapp, Andy 1 1 2, 1 1 3
Statler-Hilton 113
Statue of Liberty 82
Steinmetz 131
Stern Foundation 25
Stone, Lucy 75, 1 18, 240
Stop the Draft Week 139
Stuart, Lyle 33
Student Bill of Rights 51, 53
Student MobiHzation Committee (SMC) 51, 157, 158
Student Mobilization Committee National Conference 157
Student Mobilization Committee High School Bill of Rights 51-53, 156
Student Mobilizer (publication) 51, 52, 156
"Student Rights Handbook" 52, 159
Student Teacher Programs for a Peoples Bicentennial 49, 61, 98, 198
Student and Youth Organizing (pamphlet) 166, 168
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) 14,
16, 49, 52-54, 66, 59, 84, 114, 134, 136, 137, 140, 141, 242
"Suit Forces Name Change of Communist Rally" (article) 68, 216
Sunday Booster (newspaper) 65, 66, 215
Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) 14
T
Tarabochia, Alfonso L 1-73
Tashdinian, Armen 7? 25, 101, 111
Tea Party 55
"Teaching and Rebellion at Union Springs" (pamphlet) 168
Tenneco 120, 122
Texas Instruments 212
Thieme, Art 215
Third World 6, 138, 139, 157, 243, 244
Third World Revolution 231
"37 Percent Think the United States is in Decline" (article) 22
Thomas, J. Parnell 88
Thoreau, Henrv 75, 118, 240
"Thoughts of Chairman Mao" (booklet) 12
3M Corp 82
Time (magazine) 124
Today Show 55
"Toward a New Patriotism" (pamphlet) 41
Treasury Department 120, 122, 124
Treiger, Mary 135
Trends (magazine) 70, 218
XIV
Page
Trotsky, Leon 61, 136
Trotskyist 61
Trotskyists 62
Truth, Sojourner 75, 118, 240
Tucker-Foreman, Carole 23 1
Tufts University (Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy) 96, 110
Tulsa, Okla _' 32
Tupart Monthly Reports on the Underground Press 2
Turner 131
Twain, Mark 75, 118, 240
Tyner, Jarvis 146
Tyson's Corner 24
U
UCLA 97
UFWA. {See United Farmworkers Union.)
Uhl, Mike 112, 113
"Unfinished Revolution, The" 209
Union of Free Americans 89
United Methodist Church 70, 218
United Farmworkers Union (UFWA) 42, 170, 215
United Presbyterian Church 70, 218
United States 2,
12-14, 19, 22, 38, 40, 46, 49, 63, 70, 84, 131, 136, 143, 146, 154
Capitol Building 47, 232, 234
Congress 27, 32, 71, 73
Constitution 18, 68, 72
House of Representatives 14, 15
National Park Service 47
Senate 16
Supreme Court 61
U.S. News & World Report (publication) 5, 27, 31, 82
"U.S. Study Head Linked to Viet Cong" (article) 143
Urbana, 111 10, 29, 35
"Uptown: Poor Whites in Chicago" (book) 140
V
Venceremos Brigade 42
Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) 83
Veterans for Peace 66
Vietcong 16, 6.5, 143
Vietnam 85, 138, 143, 157, 242
War 12
Vietnam Amnesty Vigil 66, 216
Visitors Center (Union Station) 47
VISTA 110
"Voices of the American Revolution" (book) 183, 197
Voices of 1 976 67
Voight, Jon 67
W
Wagner, Richard 81
Wales . 130
Wall Street . ...4,22,47,117
Wall Street Journal 4, 5, 22, 32, 80
Walton, Mrs. Mary O., testimony of 37-73
Warner, John 1 70,71
Washington, D.C 7, 24, 30, 33, 43,
47, 62, 67, 72, 75, 83, 84, 98, 103, 109, 113, 144, 151, 231, 232, 234
Washington, George 82, 192
Washington Post, The (newspaper) 22, 23, 32, 33, 1 1 6
Washington Square 215
Washington Star (newspaper) 5, 31
Wasko w, Arthur 143
Watergate 122
Watson, Jr., Francis M., testimony of 2-36
XV
Page
WBBM 66,215
"Wealth of Nations" (book) 119
Weather Underground (organization) 31, 52, 54
Weathermen 14, 66
Wedemever 131
West Point 52
"What Dare We Dream" (article) 64,209
Whitaker, Lamar 227
White House 71,83, 84, 94,223
' ' White House Conference on Youth" (pamphlet) 168
White, Robert G 218
Whitman, Karen 78
Wiedrich, Bob 7, 13, 32,84
Wilbur L. Cross Library 5
Williams, Martha !. 79, 80
Wilson, Mary 111
Wilson, T. G. G 112, 113
Winston, Henry 69, 146
Wisconsin 29
Wollins, Leroy 66
Women for Peace 42, 66, 216
Women's Union 79
Woodward 179
Worker-Student Alliance (WSA) 134
World Magazine 146
WSA. {See Worker-Student Alliance.)
Wulf, Melvin L 112, 113
X
Xerox 82
Y
Yale 134
YAWF. (See Youth Again.st War and Fascism.)
Young Lords 214
Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) 85, 98
Young People and the Law (pamphlet) 168
Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) 158
Young Workers Liberation League (YWLL) 38, 45, 69, 146, 158
Youth Against War & Fascism (YAWF) 158, 170-173
Youth International Party 158
Youth Liberation 53, 54, 160-163, 165-167
Organizing Kit 165
"Youth Liberation" (publication) 162, 168
Youth Project/Peoples Bicentennial Commission 103-105
Youth Rights Bicentennial Festival National Committee 69
Youthgrants in the Humanities 103
YWLL. {See Young Workers Liberation League.)
Z
Ziolkowski, Darlene C 73,229,230
O
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