MILESTONE FOR EUROPE'S ANTIWAR YOUTH
By Werner Grave
West Berlin
Berlin hasn't seen anything like it since the demonstrations against Hitler in the early thirties. In fact, since the U.S. aggression against the Vietnanese began, Europe has not seen a mass demonstration as large and as radical as this one. The demonstration called for February 18 in West Berlin by the Brussels conference of vanguard ‘youth organizations turned out to be a spectacular success.
The police admitted that "more than 10,000" participated. The AP correspondent, as well as most of the local papers, put the figure at "more than 15,000." The West Berlin Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund [German Socialist Students Federation], the sponsoring organization, counted 21,800 participants.
The demonstration was preceded by an international congress on the theme of victory to the Vietnamese revolution. The mood of the young revolutionists, who came to Berlin from more than twenty different countries, was clearly shown by the fact that this giant affair -- a nonstop session of more than twelve hours -remained packed from beginning to end, with a huge overflow after all the standing room was gone. Thousands had to meet in the large portico of the Polytechnical Institute, and hundreds of others followed the proceedings in two other halls where simultaneous translations were provided in French and English. The attendance at all these various places ranged between 5,000 and 7,000 during the twelvehour meeting.
The congress and the demonstration were the work of a broad united front consisting of almost eighty organizations. Among them were several official Communist party youth organizations (Austria, Denmark, Norway and West Berlin) and a few that were unofficial, such as the Lambrakis Youth from Greece.
Negotiations had been undertaken with the large Communist youth organizations in France, Italy and East Germany. But they did not participate because of their objections to the central slogan and to the nonexclusive nature of the action. (They didn't like the phrase, "Vietnamese Revolution," and they condemned some of the participating groups as "anti-Soviet" and "Trotskyist." They sought in particular to exclude the French youth organization Jeunesse Communiste Révolutionnaire. )
Later, when they saw the scenes on
television, no doubt they recognized the
tremendous success of the demonstration
with mixed emotions. The East German
press, radio and television gave exten-
sive coverage to both the congress and
the demonstration but sought to hide its
militant character and its true composi-
tion.
The three main themes of the con-
ress were: (1) The Vietnamese revolution;
2) the Vietnamese revolution and the rev-
olution in the Third World; (3) the anti-
imperialist and anticapitalist struggle
in the metropolitan countries.
On the first theme the main speak-
ers were Kurt Steinhaus of the German SDS
and Tariq Ali of the British Vietnam Soli-
darity Campaign. Official messages were
read from the delegation of the South Viet-
namese National Liberation Front in Prague
and from the Central Committee of the
Cuban Communist Youth.
The keynote of the second theme was
the need to extend the solidarity shown
to the Vietnamese revolution to other anti-
imperialist revolutions throughout the
world. The main speakers were Robin Black-
burn of the New Left Review, Jeanette
Habel of the Jeunesse Communiste Révolu-
tionnaire, Gaston Salvatore of the German
SDS, and the Iranian revolutionary social-
ist Bahman Nirumand. Gilman of the British
Radical Student Alliance read a message
from the African National Congress of
South Africa.
The main speakers on the third
theme were the German writers, Peter Weiss
and Erich Fried; Rostango, a representa-
tive of the youth of the left-socialist
Partito Socialista Italiano di Unita
Proletaria [Italian Socialist Party of
Proletarian Unity]; a representative of
the youth of the Venstre-Sosialistisk
Parti [the Left Socialist party of Den-
mark]; Alain Krivine of the Jeunesse Con-
muniste Révolutionnaire, Rudi Dutschke of
the German SDS; and Ernest Mandel of the
Belgian revolutionary-socialist movement.
Messages were read from Bertrand
Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre and the German
philosopher Ernst Bloch.
Dale A. Smith, European representa-
tive of the Student Nonviolent Coordina-
ting Committee and Jean-Marie Vincent of
the French Comité Vietnam National,
brought fraternal greetings. Dozens of
organizations sent telegrams or messages
that could not be read for lack of time.
Two Americans living in West Berlin burned
their draft cards.
Along with its spirit of spontaneity, the meeting was well organized. The main organizational committee remained in constant touch with the portico and other halls through walkie-talkies. A childcare center was set up inside the Institute where young mothers could leave their babies and small children in order to participate in the congress. A firstaid center functioned smoothly. During the short intercessions it was possible for the thousands to get a coke and hot dog without undue waiting.
Only one attempt was made to disrupt the proceedings. A West Berlin rightwing lawyer rushed to the podium, declared the congress "dissolved," and tried to disable the microphone. He was hustled out of the hall without difficulty. In the afternoon, he came back, promised to state his point in an orderly way, and was given the floor for a few minutes.
The popular West Berlin student leader, Rudi Dutschke, called strong attention to the newly gained capacity of West European revolutionary socialists to unite in action. When he introduced Ernest Mandel, who was to deliver the final report to the congress, Dutschke said he was the one who had contributed most in the process of lifting the radical West German students to political maturity in the past two years and bringing them to realize the importance of acting in common. During the procession through the streets of West Berlin, Dutschke demonstratively marched side by side with Alain Krivine, the main leader of the delegation of three hundred French youth representing the Jeunesse Communiste Révolutionnaire.
The congress was a lively affair. Besides applause for points that met with approval, protests and whistling voiced opposition. The discussion was a free one, with give and take.
The speech by Ruderst, the representative of the West Berlin Khrushchevist Freie Deutsche Jugend [Free German Youth, which in East Germany is the official youth movement], was well received when he spoke for unity of action, but met with strong opposition when he tried to defend the Soviet Union's passive attitude toward the Vietnam war.
Several speakers, among them Dr. Wolf, a German doctor who has been prac-— ticing in Hue (South Vietnam), cautioned the congress on being too optimistic about the present victory of the National Liberation Front. In the opinion of these speakers, the war may last for years before the imperialists decide to withdraw from Vietnan.
Other speakers, representing the Khrushchevist minority inside the German SDS, opposed the line adopted by the Havana conference of the Organization of Latin-American Solidarity [OLAS], as an oversimplification. They criticized the line of guerrilla struggle in particular. They were answered by both Mandel and Dutschke.
Weeks before the demonstration was announced, the West Berlin Senate (the municipal administration) opened a smear campaign against the SDS in particular and the radical students in general. The organizers of the demonstration, it was claimed, wanted to "provoke incidents against G.I.'s" in order to "endanger the status of West Berlin." The slander was even spread that the students were "conniving" with the Soviet military forces. The slandermongers said that the "West Berlin population" would refuse to be provoked by a "small radical minority." After a real lynch atmosphere had been whipped up against a demonstration which had been planned from the beginning as_a peaceful one, West Berlin's mayor, Schutz, banned the demonstration on the pretext that it would inevitably provoke grave incidents and disturbances in the streets.
This arbitrary and antidemocratic act had the opposite effect from the one intended. Leading intellectual and religious figures in West Germany and Western Europe protested the ban on the demonstration. Telegrams of support poured into SDS headquarters. Meanwhile the radical student and working-class youth organizations reacted in the only way that could bring genuine pressure on the authorities. They decided that the demonstration would not only take place as scheduled but that an extra effort would be made to build it up even bigger than projected.
Dozens of buses left the principal West German cities on Friday, February 16, and early Saturday morning loaded with demonstrators. It is hard to estimate the total number of participants from cities other than West Berlin in West Germany, but it certainly exceeded 5,000.
While the municipal administration refused to let them sleep in schools or other official buildings, a broad solidarity movement developed. Food and lodgings were provided for all of then.
West Berlin religious leaders issued a proclamation stating that their churches would remain open day and night as sanctuaries for those fleeing from police brutality. While Schutz mobilized thousands of cops, the SDS bought hundreds of helmets for its defense squads. And the congress decided that the march would be staged, with or without the mayor's permission.
West Berlin student organizations that are in a united front with the SDS,
asked the West Berlin Supreme Court to issue an injunction on the grounds that the ban on the demonstration was unconstitutional. While the poet Erich Fried was speaking Saturday evening, SDS National Chairman Wolf interrupted him -the court had granted the injunction!
The answering applause was the stormiest I have ever heard. When Fried finally continued, he said that in all his life he had never felt so pleased over being interrupted while he was speaking.
Rudi Dutschke summed up the lesson of the victory by saying, "The bourgeoisie grants you your rights only if you win them by mass pressure."
From then on it seemed certain that the demonstration would be a huge success. And this impression was confirmed by the sight of the many groups assembling late in the morning on the Kurfurstendamm, the street that has been built into a show window to display the supposed eternal superiority of capitalism over Eastern style “communism." What many observers have noted in recent months was again exemplified -- for West German youths, an abundance of consumer goods no longer constitutes a reason for supporting a system responsible for countless crimes against humanity everywhere in the world.
A year ago, even at student demonstrations, it was rare to see a red banner. (Red banners are associated by the predominantly anti-Communist population with the red flag which the Soviet occupation troops hoisted over the Brandenburger Tor in May 1945.) In the demonstration February 18, more than a thousand red flags, besides many NLF flags, and any number of portraits of Karl Liebkmecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, and Che Guevara were carried by the 20,000 demonstrators.
The demonstration was even more lively and colorful than the congress. Many students sought on their own to involve the spectators at windows and balconies and on the sidewalks. The demonstrators chanted as they formed snake dances. One of the favorite slogans was, "Hey, Hey, LBJ, How Many Kids Have You Killed Today?"
Other favorites were "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh"; "FNL Vaincra"; “For the Victory of the Vietcong"; "Che Guevara"; "Che Is Alive." The main official slogan was: "For the Victory of the Vietnamese Revolution."
The democratic and nonexclusive nature of the demonstration was clearly to be seen in the variety of banners in the march, representing a gamut of political tendencies. Some took a straight Moscow line, others were pro-Mao; some expressed the violent opposition of the Social Democrats to the "wall" built by Ulbricht which divides Berlin into two separate parts.
One huge banner called for "Workers Councils Instead of the Bourgeois State" [Arbeiterrat statt Unternehmerstaat].
The final rally was held, appropriately, in front of the Berlin Opera House at the very spot where, eight months before, a few hundred students demonstrat-~ ed against the Iranian shah. One of them, Benno Ohnesorg, was killed by the police in trying to put down the protest action. Now, 20,000 demonstrators listened to eight speakers. After paying tribute to the martyred Ohnesorg, they continued their action, distributing tens of thousands of leaflets.
The city authorities had appealed to the population to stay home so as to avoid "incidents." But they permitted, or encouraged, a few hundred right-wing provocateurs to range from one point to another seeking to start fights. The disciplined students and young workers, knowing that the reaction had suffered a great political defeat, ignored the provocateurs. A "counterdemonstration," staged in front of the city hall and addressed by one of the mayor's lieutenants, managed to round up about 100 participants.
The three political parties that constitute the "establishment" in West Berlin immediately went to work to organize an answering demonstration under the slogan, "Berlin is on the side of freedom." It is certain that they can mobilize tens of thousands of people with a vague slogan like that which plays on the elemental opposition of Berlin's population to Stalinism and the SED regime in East Germany.
But even these pro-American stalwarts of capitalism do not dare come out openly in defense of U.S. policy in Vietnam. This alone is sufficient commentary on how discredited this policy has become in West Germany. In its own way it also pays the highest tribute to all those who have tirelessly campaigned in defense of the Vietnamese revolution and against the U.S. imperialist aggression since 1965.
In Liége, on October 15, 1966, in the first international demonstration organized by revolutionary socialists in many years, some 4,000 demonstrators turned out. The 4,000 swelled to 20,000 in West Berlin sixteen months later. This is eloquent testimony to the progress that has been made by the new youth vanguard in Western Europe.