Vol. 4, No. 30 October 7, 1966
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SWP HEADQUARTERS FIRE-BOMBED IN NEW YORK
New York
The national headquarters of the Socialist Workers party, the American Trotskyist organization, were bombed at about 5:40 a.n. September 29. Four unidentified men threw as many as four Molotov cocktails at the windows of the headquarters, which are located on the second floor of a building on Broadway, near Union Square. A witness said he saw the men lighting the gasoline-filled bottles in the street.
One of the bottles hit the window of the office occupied by National Organization Secretary Edward Shaw and the flaming gasoline poured inside. However, the fire was quickly brought under control by firemen from the fire department station which happens to be across the street.
Molotov cocktails thrown at the adjoining office of The Militant failed to achieve their objective, falling back into the street and exploding as the terrorists ran away.. One bottle flamed. against a window of The Militant but burned out without setting that part, of the building ablaze.
There were no injuries | ‘although workers were already coming into the building. ; Le,
. At a press conference called a few hours later, which was attended by reporters and camera crews from all the major papers and television stations, Judy White, the SWP candidate for governor of New York pointed out that the bombing was in the same pattern as the bombing that wrecked the national headquarters of the Communist party in New York on September 4, the national headquarters of the W.E.B.DuBois Clubs in San Francisco on March 6 and the headquarters ; of the Vietnam Day Committee in Berkeley on ‘April 9.
"Possibly a single right-wing or fascist-type organization is responsible for all these outrages," she said. "The commandos evidently hope by violent means like this to intimidate organizations that oppose the war in Vietnam.
"It is part of the general climate of violence in the United States that is being given continual impetus by the Johnson admin-— istration's escalation of the war.
"This atmosphere inspires the hatemongers ‘to imitate the murderous actions being committed by the Pentagon on a huge scale in Vietnan.
"In Detroit, for instance, a political assassin walked into the headquarters of the Socialist Workers party last May 16, lined up two members of the party and a member of the Young Socialist ~ Alliance and shot them, killing Leo Bernard, a Socialist Workers
candidate for Congress in-1964, and seriously wounding Jan Garrett and Walter Grahan.
"If the right-wing terrorists think they can intimidate us by such tactics, however, they are mistaken. We intend to continue our opposition to Américan intervention in the war in Vietnam and our opposition to Johnson's escalation of the war. We will continue to demand the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops. ;
"We appeal to all. opponents of the war in Vietnam to rally with expressions of solidarity against the pattern of violence being -useG@ in hope of silencing opposition to Johnson's drive toward a war with China and a possible nuclear catastrophe. Answer the terrorists by closing ranks. no Fore