◆ SpookStack

Diekipline, cdorccd by thc c * l r l Lett principlc of %m\ocratic ccntralism, "We can argue points in our mcctings, 'I cxplaincd Accanoarapliic major J a y LaVassar, "but after Lhc votc i s taken cvcrybody is rcquircd to abide by the dc- cision of tho majority. Thus, tactical dccisicins o n local issucs are made at the campus chapter levcl, but always within the bounds of national strategy - d e t c r m i n c d b y SWP. To avoid isolalion and h a r s h rcsponse from authuritics YSA's current tactics requirc "dcfcnsively- formulated demands. YSA views demands tikc 8Shut thc Univcrsity Down"'as poor, putting students on the defensive to defend their demand. Rather, clear, rcasanablc demands, s u i h as ISuppnrt Black Control of Olrck Studies" is good, rallying broad s u p v r t and putting the university an thc defensive.. Such' dcmands, in YSA's vicw, have tlic added advantage of putting tlic "onus for any violencc that o c c u r s whcrc it properly bclongs - on thc univcrsity rdmioistra- tioii, not on the eludcnts. is an essential tool of YSA leadership. . At thc national lcvel Itunited.front1@ is the nanrc o f the YSA Pctcr panic. Mass support, Alliance 1catlcrs fcel, rcquircs issues e w k - . ing the broadest sympathy and implying majority backing. Caiircjo (formerly YSAet, now SWPFr and non-student leader of Berkeley's YSA chapter) told his aurliencc (YSA educations! contvr - cnce) in mid-1969, ltYim shoiild try to get cvcryhody wlw is against the war to work togctlicr. The YSA iinclerstands that the bcst way to end this w a r , and to weaken the ruling class, is to gpt niassivc consciousness against tlrc war - and to brcak the conccpt that thc people against the w a r arc! a minority. Trotskyites have always becii anti-war (they view war as imperial ism's ultiniatc wcal'on of opprcssion) and YSA cxpandod this anti-war thesis into its ccntral rallying issue. It's "united front" was a loosr: coalition of youthful anti-war protest movements which now calls itsclf the Studcnt Mobilization Cammittce to End the W a r in Vietnam (ShlC). Formcd in Dcccnrbcr 1966 SMC activists led Vietnam Week protcsts in April 1367; latcr that ycar wcre major participantm in the Pcntagon d c m n - stration: and ip April 1968 'organiacd the n'alionwirlc? Btiidcnt strike. Morc rcccntly SMC, operating within Lhc Ncw Mr,hilizatioti ConiIllilL(?c'R protvst walitioii, 81goL out8t Llrc young during Novciiibcr anti-war dcnron - strations in ,Wasl,ingLon and San Francisco. YSA's vicw tlifit a n t i w a r action i s csscnlinlly anti -intl)t!rialist in character'(thercfore apti-U. S. c;pitrlisni), led it to_ rcgard fhc? Vietnam W.ar as its "sin& issuc"'arwund which to rally niass support and provide a basc for radical education (a la Trotsky). 'Frolii its anti-war basc YSA attcrnpts to enlarge student consciousncss regarding . other "imperialistic8' tools. * 2 . I I I