©O11GIGJ0 The Biweekly Magazine of the Michigan State News v Tuesday, April 22,1969 2 Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan lEDCEttl REVIEW Radicals a (hie iiortluiliHe action spurred by llic radicals, is the reexamination of I lie /purposes of the I nirersily. llic adequacx of leaching methods, ami llic releruncy of 'armies, decrees and anuses . . . I am strongly opposeil lo the idea of Italian >0 spmed-oaI speed freaks Irian SltS attempting to exacerbate aa already lease situation . . . Intellectual ferment from llic yeast of SIts discontent may yel ctmrert MSl corn into good bourbon . . . I slrotiglx furor increased student pouct. but I find it impossible to re¬ spect ami relate to a clamoring grtmp of students demumli tig lo In- heard bul who fail to recognize llic fat I lltal il might In' easier lo be heard if somelhing mitre liable than men' social disorder and ohscenilies were presented . . . By VALERIE RESTIVO State News Reviewer -from Letters to the Editor published in the State News Red Cedar Review, Winter Issue. Peggy Case, Editor. $1.00. From those represented in the winter issue What is a radical? A socially- who feel strongly about the ques¬ of the Red Cedar Review, Peter Wild should conscious and politically active hu¬ tions raised will respond (in this is¬ be elected Poet Most Likely to Succeed. His manitarian who offers the world sue Carl Rollvson writes on Nat poems. "Ambush" and "Smoky," are notable Turner, in response to an earlier for their moods. The images have freshness: its only chance for survival? Or a fanatic who selectively ignores article by Bruce Curtis). "moons revolve over his purple hide and flash like pages through my eyes "We saw bothersome truths which contra¬ We feel that radicalism is a rele¬ them as great stone bears soaring in on log and dict his divine theory of the Good vant and timely subject, meriting tarpaper wings . . . Wild's "Note on Your the consideration of all members of Picture Taken in the Town Square of Cananea. and the True? Where on the spec¬ Sonora" is, if not profound, at least genuine trum of social values do radicals the university community. Witness in its poetic expression. The poet has ideas, fit? last weekend's incident in which a feelings and the courage to express a theme not garbled bv pretended magnitude of pseudo- This issue of Collage presents group of black students at Cornell ambiguity radicals writing about themselves, University took over the student The winter issue of the Red Cedar Review is their goals, and their organizations. union for 36 hours before reaching beautiful. The black, browns and orange- browns of its cover and art pages blend har¬ It is not a "balanced" issue: it does an "agreement" with the adminis¬ moniously with the smooth ivory of the feature not give superficial coverage to tration. Temporary student take¬ pages. Mimi Ward's cover woodcut, "Boy overs such as this have become several perspectives. It does at¬ Watching." is sensitive and fine. It's all put commonplace, but this time there together like a gorgsous ad for a weak product tempt to present some facets of radicalism at MSU. was a new factor. The students The featured story by Professor Virgil Scott is embarrassingly sophomoric. His Home Is Collage serves as a forum for re¬ were heavily armed with shotguns Where The Heart Is ior its equivalent! has actions to this and other contem¬ and rifles. No shots were fired . . . appeared in many high school and college this time. magazines. The dialogue is stilted. The pseudo- porary phenomena. As with past Now is the time to listen and issues. Collage hopes that those . . . O. Henry finish climaxes a third-rate attempt at »homo ^v<\ to respond. sameness of semi-affluent, suburban existence James C. Baloian's The Indians is one of those mediocre prose paragraphs made poem-like by the ordering of lines. If the paragraph were read a life, directed, political man as prose, it might well pass unnoticed The peak of profundity might be "He knew he could Shut predicted, one nation indivisible will fall sheltered. the windows. And no one would come to his in the hands of liberty and toleration >door." Its poetic form makes the content's by grinning pastel shades when we orderly form a more perfect union mediocrity blatantly apparent. by neon wall clocks, in bedpan kitchens to have police guide us by justice Albert Drake's review of Rick Sterry's first yawning street lamps that sack the night and commonly defend our desires novel. Over the Fence, is neatly done. The nov¬ tearing tarry racks in the world and i will do everything between honey textured squares. el should be put on the connoisseur's "must i can for welfare loving people by smiling ivory piano keys. read" list. who take life hard sitting down and plastic garbage caskets Judith Anne Greenberg's poems are appeal¬ until negroes rot in hell when gun laws that preserve predestined glittering cans ing and sensitive, yet somehow lacking in that have to be restricted to stop injustice which distinguishes poetic feeling from poetic from rotting. that is unequal to deaths of viet cong but none of it art. There is an occasional, fine line, as in and must be helped for my sake none of il, "Childhood Shadows:" "Did you follow me is mine. please elect me and i promise you everything down along sleep0" Lines such as "I can hear you still padding down the long hallway," or -Nancy Brackstone "I cannot call you back again" are honest, yet —phil may trite. Lorrie Keister's Breakfast Out is another high school anthology story. It is overwritten and passe. The Sensitive. Young. Married Woman who tries to change Routine hasn't the Cour¬ age. Melodrama needn't be inherent in the sit¬ uation: the network of human communication is complex and important enough to provide an artist much territory for exploration. Linda Amorosi's poem "Grandfather." suc¬ ceeds because of its freshness: ". . . came to know/your love warm in the hand held springward The Review's graphics are excellent Ginny Fry's "they" is especially outstanding, and should share first place with Mimi Ward's cov¬ er design. Copyright 1969, Michigan State News Justin Kestenbaum's photographic study of Spiro's (that was the Place that was—remem¬ director Michael O'Neal cover P^oto joe Tyner ber? )—is beautiful. He captures the poetry be¬ graphics editor Sandy Moffat cover processing Wayne Munn yond the existence he records; his pictures are editorial adviser David Gilbert artwork, pages 11, 12 Judy Jewele more eloquent than most of the words in the Alan Levy, Ginny Osteen, Jo Hooper, J. Sat- radical photos Mike Marhanka. Review. tel. B. Ayres, Valerie Restivo, Carl Rollyson, Larry Hagedorn It is unfortunate that good local poetry and Marion Nowak, Linda Wagner, Bob Steuding, Berryman photo, page 9 ...... Bob Peter. fiction have been relatively scarce in recent Catherine Hendricks, Jim Yousling, Peter son; Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Inc. issues. Whether the fault lies with the editors Dodge, James Hale, Nancy Brackstone, Phil Snyder photo, page 9 Donald M. Al- or with non-contributing local artists, it is sad May. len; reproduced in Six I'oets of the San that a creative arts magazine, published by hrancisco Renaissance by David Kherdian. young and enthusiastic people, does not address The Giligia Press, 1967. itself to a young and enthusiastic public Tuesday, April 22, 1969 ^ A Radical's doing so They will not purge themselves vol¬ credibility and the force of his argument is By ALAN LEVY blunted Similarly we have an attempt to dis¬ EDITOR'S NOTE: Alan Levy is a Phila¬ untarily. credit the very idea of criticism. To attack You have no alternative. Your sole end is delphia senior majoring in psychology. He destruction. You must be positive as well as the structure of our society, America the is a member of MSI -SDS. free, home of the brave, is be be un-Ameri¬ negative. Our entire program is motivated bv a view of what is positive. The critique of can. Only "constructive criticism", (i.e. "Man is what he eats"--Feurbach suggested reform measures i can be con¬ contemporary society is only possible because sidered legitimate. It is nihilism, anarchy "The history of all hitherto existing society we recognize the alternative. The society must function in accordance with its social contract. and evil to put the essence of the society in is the history of class struggles." --Marx It must serve the interests of the people question The answers are considered self- evident. Radicals are not citizens, but de¬ The social wealth must be utilized to meet "When will you learn to see?" viants: they should be exorcised, as quickly the social needs. There are several modes of "When will you learn to take sides?"-- social organization which can fulfill this goal, and humanely as possible, from the body of Peter Weiss', \hmil/ Smlv American citizens. America, land of George but it is for the people to create in its par¬ Washington, still is embodied in this land of ticular complexity the future state. It is the General Motors. Spiro Agnew and Vietnam When you claim the title citizen you assert height of paternalism to presume their pero- and there can be no doubt as to its valid¬ gatives at this point in history. The role of a willingness to abide by the social, legal the radical, much like that of the practicing ity. and ethical usages of the state In what sense What is not immediately evident, and for is a radical a citizen'.' A radical claims that psychoanalyst is to shatter the fetters of the most part ignored is that these quest¬ false consciousness which hobble the people the existing organization of the society is ions are empirical questions. Their answer to the existing structure and make them aware inherently flawed, and that the inequities and lies in reality, not in the reiterated slogan¬ of their alternatives. The radicalness in radi¬ injustices of his history are not isolate ab¬ cal humanism is the belief that a self-aware eering of a threatened power structure. In¬ errations from a basically sound program, but asmuch as truth threatens the prevailing in¬ unavoidable consequences of the basic proposi¬ people will create a better society. terests. that is the degree that a radical is This dialogue is a common diet of the stu¬ tions of that program In what sense is such dangerous. dent activist at Michigan State, indeed it a society a state0 ! It is bitter irony, a testimony to the eff¬ A radical advocates drastic change, and he is probably prevails through out the country. ectiveness of control that is exercised over It is the bedrock on which the demonstrat hardened to the inevitable dislocations and the contemporary American mind, when we ions, the leaflets, the rallies for the most chaos, with their probable measure of human see radicals characterized as close minded, part rest Within the movement it is some¬ suffering. He has adopted a utilitarian cri¬ as we frequently do. What other group in our times ill-reverentlv referred to as the terion of action; he claims that the existing society has challenged the ruling class myth¬ Rap ' I. at least, assert that the "Rap" • society is founded in human exploitation and ology in its interpretation of American society. is a strong force for social change with a that this suffering can only be alleviated by Who asks: Why Poverty9 Why Vietnam'' Why his revolution The state ideology holds that compelling power to its arguments. I would Racism? Why Militarism9 Why Profit? Who even go so far as to claim that in its mature . all individual human rights are precious and else confronts the American dream with that the radical in his advocation of a violent development, which is not even approximated America today. in this essay, the "Rap"' is irrestible to any change is actually a dangerous hatemonger. The United States is home , for over two Human rights are precious only in the real¬ openminded individual. This brings me to the hundred million people who are primarily ization. and a society which mouths the theory, questions that are posed at the beginning of the essay. engaged in providing themselves with com¬ but denies their practice is the worst of fortable lives. Is this not enough9 All crea¬ lies. - so the radical replies. The "Rap"' is rendered ineffectual if its tures accept this as their purpose, but it is advocate is discredited. The "Rap"' is ir¬ Exhaust the available channels of reform: left to the human animal, with its critical relevant if it attacks an entity maintained by employ the force of reason: engage in dialogue. faith Thus the establishment through its faculty, to attempt to answer the question that We are concerned with changing the locus is denied the others. Is this wav the best control of the media, the government and the of power in this country. We propose to strip way9 Can we reduce the level of suffering, educational system strives to supply the "cor¬ the ruling elite of their oppressive influence the waste of labor, realize more human po¬ rect"' answers to those question. A radical and reinvest it in the people. Our demand to tential9 It is a terrible human tragedy to ig¬ is in effect disenfranchised. He is an outside the ruling institotions of this society is. De¬ nore this question. It is s heincjs crime to agitator, crazy kid. drug fiend, communist stroy yourself. It would be naive to think that inspired. hedonistic. valueless. spoiled, suppress it. To be a radical means to ask they will meet our demand by reform, reason the question. middle class hippie. He is stripped of his or dialogue: in fact, they are incapable of Jo By JO HOOPER Hooper' speaks out the world over; but most important because the with help from possibility of defining the future through our B. Ayers and J. Sattel own actions and theory is becoming a reality, Until recently, SDS has been exclusively some people are too willing to fall into the old a student movement. Furthermore, it has formulas and slogans of other places and other been a student movement concentrated pri¬ times. People in SDS are not immune to this. marily on the elite campuses of Berkeley. Too often Marx or Mao is quoted in one of the Princeton and Michigan. This is beginning to endless series of SDS meetings, not because the change. This week's events at Harvard are all man once faced a similar question but because it the more notable given the relative quiescense is hoped that his solution is somehow our solu¬ of the Ivy League this past year. This year San tion despite the passage of years and miles. Francisco State has replaced Berkeley. Michi¬ Such a ready-made answer is no answer at all gan State has replaced Michigan as the impor Within both local and national SDS. this is a tant centers of struggle. And SDS begins to central issue. The United States' corporate spring up in high schools and off the campus might has extended itself over the face of globe, altogether. liberation has revealed to many in SDS the need siphoning the real wealth of almost the entire Even more importantly, movement is hap¬ for an intensity and commitment that •few of "free world" for the benefit of the few in this in the SDS of just several years ago ever country The same corporate powers allow fan¬ pening in places that no previous theory of rev¬ us olution or change would have predicted. In glimpsed. The identification of the black peo¬ tastic inequities of wealth and life-changes to most cities, high schools are blowing up so fast ple with the struggles in the Third World-cou exist here at home, alternately playing black SDS organizers cannot keep up with them. pled with the fight of the Vietnamese against against white, student against shop-hand, young Community and junior colleges-places as the U.S. behemoth-brought the white move¬ against old to both maintain their dominance in diverse as Muskegon and Macomb J. C. out¬ ment a clearer understanding of imperial this country and to whip-up anti-communist hys¬ side Detroit-are increasingly the scenes of ism: the need of the Black Panthers to arm teria when the empire is challenged abroad It struggle and confrontation. Servicemen's un themselves in self-defense against the mur is within such a situation that first the blacks, ions and active resistance in the army has made derous assaults of the Oakland police indicated and now the young have the audacity to chal¬ it the time-bomb of those who purport to rule the limits of pacifism; even today, the forma¬ lenge this system this country tion of black caucuses such as Detroit's Dodge The challenge, of course, has already been The students are not in motion alone In the Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUMi with given. Blacks and youth are already in motion. forefront is an increasingly sophisticated van¬ in the racist bureaucracy of the UAW indicated But what can be said of their expected success9 how far the liberal's faith in progressive trade- Is the university system, for example, a target guard of black people that have translated the futility of the "civil-rights" struggle of the ear- unionism" has been a failure. worthy of those who would challenge the funda¬ liar part of the '60 s into an advanced political The question, therefore, for a movement that mentals of this society? There are those liberals, struggle for black liberation. This black con¬ takes itself seriously is how to extend the cur¬ blind to the complicity of universities in build¬ sciousness has been born out of the special rent struggles of young people and black people ing and maintaining our military machine, who forms of oppression that have been both the into a force that can fundamentally alter our so¬ argue the university is the last repository of historical and material experience of colored ciety. Because this is a period of crisis: because humane values in our inhumane society. The people in this country. Occupying an almost colo¬ people in SDS and the movement are being ar reality of MSU and the large bulk of schools nial status vis-u-vis the many privileges en¬ rested and slapped with long jail sentences; be¬ (continued on page 7) cause our societv continues to murder people joyed by whites alone, the struggle for black Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan Alliance with the workers EDITOR'S MOTE: This article, excerpted economic assets. This means, for the United universities into the shops to build the revolu from "Perspectives lor the Movement. " a States, tion The point lust is to build .i strong more war against the oppressed peo¬ pamphlet h\ SDS Internal Education Seere- ples of the world. And this means more student movement which has the possibility tar\ Fred Gordon. was submitted to Col¬ strain the U S lot diving with the Working class This means on economy at home to pay lage b\ members of the MSI Worker-Stu¬ lor these wars The strain has already be¬ tli.ii the student movenent must engage in dent Alliance as representative of their struggles on campus, struggles in the interest gun to be intense It is reflected in the tact views. As a rule Collage does not reprint that the ghettoes are decaying, not improv¬ of students which, as much as possible, are material. also in the interests of working people ing It means that real wages for workers SDS began in an argument with the lib¬ have not risen in the past two years And it Fights against ROTC t which make it very erals People in the movement were able means that there is a large draft that builds clear that imperialism exploits students and to see things about the society that the lib¬ workers too*, fights against high rents around opposition among students and other young erals simply blocked out or evaded SDS universities, against fare hikes on public people. It the United States must be im¬ saw that America was not a peace-loving transportation, fights for open admissions, perialist. as it must, then there must be nation, and that there was poverty in Ameri¬ war. and if there is to be war. there must be are a few things that have been done so ca. and racism. So SDS began as an anti¬ discontent at home. far to build worker-student alliances. I he That discontent now ex¬ war movement; a civil rights movement, ists and is growing As the United States importance of these struggles is only partly ana a movement to expose the existence the demands that won. It is absolute becomes more and more tied down in im¬ in are of poverty. lv necessary that the politics of these strug perialist war. the discontent will grow still At this poirtt, there has been a general more. As the discontent grows students gles be clear and that they educate people increase in strain on the American system and workers across the country are uniting on and off campus about how the immediate that has forced the liberals to admit that issue at hand relates to the nature of the in campus and factory struggles in an alliance the original perception of SDS is correct. against the ruling class of this country. capitalistic state, to imperialism, and. when Poverty, racism, and war are. in fact, part possible, to racism and poverty wis products ot the nature ot the system the name of of capitalism > the system is corporate capitalism and cor¬ Around 50 per cent of college students do porate capitalism produces them not graduate. A great "number of those who American businesses make monev They drop out become production workers It is make it not out of some vague preference important to reach them. Of those who grad¬ for it. but because under capitalism, it is uate. around half become teachers and necessary to seek to maximize profits in workers. This is a middle sector which is o| order to survive. Money means tne abili¬ pivotal importance for any social change ty to cheapen production processes, to pro¬ With rising worker militancy, they can play duce huge quantities of goods at competi¬ either a. reactionary or a progressive role. In tive prices and to capture new markets. the Mew York teachers' strike, teacher turned Mew markets mean more profits and that against working people and built racism in turn enables the American capitalist to There they played a reactionary role that The US electronics industry, for example, will take years to undo. The potentiality in was more powerful economically than its Mew York was for teachers to side with French counterpart Today. I S. firms own parents, to pull off. a very different kind of 80 per cent of the French electronics in¬ strike, a united strike of parents and teach¬ dustry. Were the United States to lose out ers against the City of Mew York This would in this competition, foreign companies could have shaken the Mew York government to its be capturing American markets and buying WHY A WORKER-STUDENT ALLIANCE? foundations. As it is. racism has again worked out the American economy instead ot the oth¬ Students are an oppressed group. It is clear in the favor of the ruling class. er way around. The effort to maximize that the university is a factor for turning The priorities of the student movement can profits is not. then, a matter of preference for out highly trained workers. What a student then be defined: to 1* reach the college stu¬ American capitalist, but a matter of survival learns in college is 1 > skills which are ex¬ dents who drop out: 2* reach people who are American investment ploitable by modern industry and 2* art ideo¬ going into the white collar sector (particularly j,n ^Ihe .Third. Wocld. despite the claims of liberal capitalists, logy which obscures the class nature of teachers and social workers* while they are in does not build up these nations. While American capitalism. (In economics courses, pro¬ college: and 3> impress on both groups the fits are extracted and most for example, one learns that the economy need for a worker-student alliance against a goods are sold is competitive and that anyone can make it: to aeveiopea marKet countries le g burope and in sociology courses, one learns to treat oth¬ Japan > the existence of American busi¬ ness monopolizes these nations' economies er people as objects: and in humanities and courses, one is taught to identify with the prevents the growth of domestic in¬ Western philosophic-cultural tradition, i.e. dustry U.S. imperialism assures the con¬ tinued poverty-and in the case of India and that we all share the same culture and that Latin America, the increasing impoverish¬ are exploited materially and intellectually. ment of hundreds of millions of people They have a direct interest in fighting for their liberation Vietnam represents the most advanced But two things are becoming increasingly struggle today against U.S. imperialism It is a test for the whole apparent. One is that students alone do not imperialist thrust have the power to change this svtem. The capitalist imperialist system that exploits of I S. foreign policy It the Vietnamese other is that the objective interests that stu¬ both groups materially and by perverting so¬ people win. it is a sign tor oppressed people dents have in social change are congruent cial life. around the world that American imperialism with the objective interests ot working peo¬ There is lot of can be defeated If Vietnam loses or gives up a opposition in the student the ple This means that an alliance between movement to the politics of a worker-student struggle, it will temporarily set back the students and the working class is 1 > object¬ alliance. Without truly building this alliance, anti-imperialist struggle around the world. The U.S. is determined to make the ively necessary for revolutionary social change ♦it seems to us that the student movement price and 21 objectively possible based on the real of anti-imperialist war as high as possible. can move in two directions. It can move 11 What is at stake is not just Vietnam but self interest of both students and workers. toward student power, viz to a movement dozens of other oppressed peoples who are now To effect real social change, then, the stu¬ for a greater slice of the pie for the American dent movement must ally with working middle class. This is a movement that in moving to open warfare against U S imper¬ people: if it does not. there is no possi the end cannot call itself leftist it cannot ialism and its representatives in their own lands. bilitv of building a base for power against basically change society and will have to The A me r i ca n i m pe r i a 11 sm. concede, in the end that it never wanted to. US will have to fight all of these wars. Vietnam has shown the ends to which Concretely, what does a worker student Or 2' toward the politics of expression the U.S. will go rather than lose its vital alliance mean' At this point, it does not and "life style This sort of politics is sim¬ mean that radical students stream out of the ilarly non-revolutionary It says, basically, that we will seek to live the best we can under the present system Recently, it has taken on a revolutionary and violent rhetoric and seeks to make a revolution under the rubric ol the tree and violent expression of social alienation. Concretely, these pontics do represent a form of freedom One is com pletely free to run down the streets shouting We will kill America and break bank windows One is also free to be hit over the head by the police to wake up the next da>. and to run down the street again. The point about this freedom is that it will never create a free society • To make a free so¬ ciety. it is necessary to deleat I S impor lalism To do 'hat. -i is neee^ try to bii'ld a real has. i till r . «• \\«* 11 Working people- on th<- basis ■-! then objective scit interest \ society without exploitation is it- the in¬ terest ol even sector of the American popu latioti. save the pei.; * who hold power SDS Worker-Student \!lianc< < nc Tuesday, April 22, 1969 5 Will the real Nat stand up? their child a fundamental skill denied to al¬ His meaningful intellectual exchanges By CARL ROLLYSON are with white. His sexual fantasies are most every other slave in the South? Could the Much of the recent unfavorable criticism of master or his family have taught them'' From lily white. The most meaningful human William Styron's novel. /'/»*- (tmfessitms of \at the original document we know that the relationship he experiences is with a Turner. attacks the book for it's supposed his¬ whites in the area surrounding the Turner plan¬ w hite girl . . . William Styron's Nat Turn¬ torical inaccuracies. Several critics, including er wants white. He wants to be integrat¬ tation were well aware of Nat's literacy, and Mr. Bruce Curtis in the last issue of Collage, ed. they are depicted in Gray's pamphlet as warn¬ point out to us what appears to be Stvron's neg¬ ing that such an educated black would never Again Mr. Curtis is suggesting that Styron lect or distrust of mere historical fact: be content to suffer in a servitude so debas¬ wants to prove something about his political the book is neither racist nor a tract, ing Yet for some reason !\jit Turner's master philosophy Yet one need not take Mr Styron's but a novel, an essay of the imagina¬ neither sold Nat nor prevented him from portrait of a black man who both hates and tion where the necessities of always loves his people while at the same time reach¬ reading and preaching Nat also mentions to questionable 'fact' often become sub¬ Gray that several white people taught him to ing out for the supposedly ideal, the clean, the sumed into a larger truth. (Nation, April pray. Whether Nat's white master ever posi¬ pure, the wonderful white woman! One only has 22. 1%8, 5451 to read such black writers as Calvin Hernton. tively encouraged him to read we shall never Mr. Curtis believes that the author "insists know, but to reject Stvron's interpretation of James Baldwin. Claude Brown, and Malcolm X to know that given a long history where the upon his right and duty to reject discrete his¬ white influence out of hand is a bit hasty to say torical facts when they impede his novelistic the least black man has been treated as a peculiarity, purpose of seeking a larger truth i Collage. It should be stressed here that Stvron's in¬ a "Negro." a piece of filth, he will often and April 8. 1969.3- sometimes unwillingly finally submit to the terpretation is being defended as one possible The fundamental assumption most of these caricature that whites have made of him This way of thinking of Nat Turner but surely not critics make, however, is that thev know Nat includes at times a desire for the most valu¬ the only way. Certainly Styron in his various Turner very well and are capable of judging able" of all flesh, white flesh. Since so little comments about his novel has demonstrated when Mr. Styron has strayed into the territory is known about Nat's actual sex life, there is no that he actually believes he has recreated the of his fantasies. Actually we know very need to censure its appearance in the novel. own historical Nat Turner, but we are not com¬ little about Nat Turner, and most of the infor¬ Furthermore. Nat never does ravish a white pelled to accept him as gospel or accuse him of mation that we do have is found in a document making points for integration. For the Nat also called the (onfessions of \ul Turner. Turner of his novel is not just another ra¬ written by a Southerner with obvious racist cist view of a dumb darky who is lifted out of opinions. Most of the other information is con¬ his degradation by white education. On the contrary, the Nat of the novel is an inherently bright child who steals the white people's books even before he can read or the whites show- any interest in him. Furthermore, he is curi¬ ous about his parents and his heritage. He is given the example of his father who runs away rather than accept even a momentary insult by a white man. Nat's grandmother dies of a brok¬ en heart and even tries to destroy her own child rather than allow it to be subjected to slavery. Finally. Nat rejects the white religion that preaches slaves must obey their masters for his own reading of the Bible, especially the Old Testament prophets It would also seem reasonable that even a brilliant black slave, the leader of a rebellion, would-feel certain in;'de.a After all none of the slaves had been in positions of leader¬ ship. none of them had ever known the feeling of wielding power or even simply carrying themselves in any other manner than as pro¬ perty. Yet Mr. Curtis objects that too much importance has been placed on Nat's close relationship with white people: A MAN woman, and he explicitly orders his fellow tained in highly unreliable Southern newspa¬ rebels never to "defile the white woman." pers that reported every rumor, every white I \hin witx killeil today Styron's reading of Nat is not contrary to the fantasy, every scare story that proliferat¬ The sun iliiln'l set early spirit of the original document. For in the docu¬ ed at the time of the revolt. To be brief the ment one is impressed with Nat's unremitting Hirils continued to fly document previously mentioned was supposed devotion to revolt, his unshakable belief that Inil the clouils still held the mouii to be a transcription of Nat Turner's actual his mission was ordained by God. and it is easy in place words as he sal in jail awaiting his trial and to conceive of such a man deciding to be¬ Some peo/ile saiil it was hanging Although the document was actually come a celibate to insure that his human fail¬ my fault written by a Southern racist it is usually tak¬ ings would not endanger his divinely revealed I wasn't there en as genuine because despite his prejudice, calling. the author. T. R. Gray briefly described Nat III• u as supposed to hare been as a very human, very courageous, and a very ureal Another strange objection Mr. Curtis raises astute human being. It is this Nat Turner, the lloes that mean is that Styron is not a historian, and therefore, I'm responsible for only ureal mei seems to have "little use for history." Yet Sty¬ one described in a 5.000 word pamphlet, that ilea ill ron claims to have spent over twenty years do¬ Stvron lifts out and transforms into a Via¬ ble black slave who to the very last was un- II isn't rery stra nut- ing historical research and thinking on Nat lie's beiiif! killed somewhere else Turner. Also. Mr. Styron grew up near South¬ repentent and considered himself not guilty lotla v of his alleged crimes because he did not feel ampton County, the scene of the Turner revolt i ml Ti e only been awake a short and is well acquainted with the people and the so It is on the basis of this article, then, that we must consider whether Stvron 'ignores and time geographical area. Other eminent historians Hul I'm responsible of the South including C. Vann Woodward and alters some of the soundest facts about Nat I'm fitting to die Eugene Genovese describe Styron as a re¬ Turner i Collage, April 8. 1969. 3) Mr. Curtis suggests that one of the soundest someday markably good historian. Finally Mr. Curtis tail I won't be on the states that Styron's Nat Turner "would almost facts" is that Nat Turner learned to read and write from his black parents. No mention J'ronl paf/e certainly be unrecognizable to the original. is made of this in the novel. Instead Nat Turn¬ I'll be t orered by Again he is making it seem like there is a real tlirl Nat Turner, an objectively historical Nat Turn¬ er is taughi to read by his kindly white mas¬ I nil not uaih er. that can be made to stand up. Mr. Styron ter. Samuel Turner. What does Stvron have in So you don'I hare to worry was aware of the weakness of such a position mind in this seeming alteration'.' Mr. Curtis Heeause I'm not impoi ml enoufih lo be in his author's note when he stated it was a suggests that it is because Stvron wants "black fault your "meditation on history." The best we can say and white to become reconciled." Stvron. so the . . . for the novel is that it gives us one way of con¬ Curtis argument continues, is an integrationist —John Ihtwlinf! and wants to emphasize the fact that black and sidering how Nat Turner may have felt, but we shall never know historically the truth of our white must learn to live together. The empha¬ sis in the novel is pushed from the "black slave feelings. The best one can do is to return to the document of 1831 and compare it with the nov¬ quarter to the white big house." One must keep in mind, however, that Styron based his novel \ el. A detailed and thoughtful analysis of the two will lead us to conclude that Mr. Styron did on a very short document. In putting together not distort the meager historical facts, but his novel Styron obviously had many ques¬ Va rather he provided us with a wealth of insights tions that needed answering: Who taught Nat's -.X to help understand what slavery must have parents to read'.' How is it that slaves on the Turner plantation were not only allowed to read but indeed they were allowed to teach 0 been like as it crossed and recrossed the paths of both black and white individuals. Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan hisTorfcai outline ft, By MARION NOWAK cause of these "extremist" views and because as a largely political device. Its goals were 1961: In this year, as through the rest of the the group refused to seek official threefold: first, circulating a petition of draft recognition Kennedy era. semi-complacency rather than A senior who began here in 1965 says of an resistance reading in part "We. young men of the supposed involvement of concerned youth experience with freshman orientation. "CSR draft age. certify our refusal to serve in Viet¬ was the rule. The State News was still able to was big then (summer of '65> and was nam or to submit to conscription in any form"; passing print front-page headliner articles discussing out leaflets to prospective freshmen claiming second, counseling on alternatives to the draft; "meeting the threat to our society from the that orientation was a bunch of bullshit. At a third, working in communications, occasionally Communist bloc'' with a straight face. The only Meet ASMSU' presentation, a sleek, slick ses¬ referred to bv members as agitation and pro¬ really radical group around was the Young sion for orientation students, someone asked paganda: agitprop. Sometime during this per¬ Socialist Club, and its strength in influencing who was passing out the leaflets. An equally iod CSR as an organization of any sort died the University's student body was virtually sleek, slick ASMSU girl emphatically ex¬ SDS. however, kept in there punching with nonexistent. The big radical event of 1961 was plained that it was from an UNAUTHORIZED political activism of a non-local focus. (This the arrest of student Woollcott Smith in Missis¬ student group and the leaflets were, therefore. in itself may account for its perennial nature: sippi for freedom-riding. A Student committee UNAUTHORIZED. I was horrified and sick¬ minimum local radical involvement with em¬ for Woollcott Smith, formed to raise money for ened at the thought that I had accepted the phasis on the national and international. Sig¬ bail and fines, fell far short of its goal. leaflet." Yet on February 23. 1965, 4.202 stu¬ nificantly. every MSU radical group with a 1962: On May 21. the board of trustees triggered dents signed a CSR petition demanding im¬ basis in a local issue, from CSR to SLA in '68. the year's major controversy by banning com¬ provement of off-campus regulations. has expired from apathy and lack of momen¬ munist speaker Robert Thompson from the The same term, the State News was finally tum. ) campus. Instead, Thompson finally spoke in able to note with delight that "MSU finally Fall, 1966: SDS. in a change of tactics from the yard of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternitv. to made it!" The event admitting us into this those of the previous year's Careers Carnival, vague big-league was MSU's very first peace¬ held a highly organized protest in the form of ful anti-Viet Nam demonstration. A series of leaflet distribution at the carnival. The leaf¬ civil rights sit-ins in the Lansing area shifted lets were based on the idea that "War is Good the general sense of amazement at this fledg¬ Business" and that the majority of the com¬ ling form of activism away from Berkeley and panies represented at the Careers Carnival all toward MSU. Suddenly there was not just a contributed in some manner to the support of Young Socialist Club and CSR but a Committee the war machine. on Vietnam and, soon, an MSU chapter of SDS (that was to be the most long-lived radi¬ Orange Horse Rally cal group here). In fall. 1965 the chapter, in a protest at the annual Careers Carnival, found The same term the university's most suc¬ several of its number arrested in the melee cessful radical confrontation in terms of popu¬ of the protest. This event, however, was lar support exploded around the mediocre fa¬ large¬ ly submerged as a greater controversy, one of cade of Bessey Hall, submerging the work of the two most significant radical-oriented con¬ SDS for some time. The entire issue was troversies in MSU history, unfolded. touched off when the ATL dept. told three instructors that they would not be rehired when thoir june 0f the follow ing year. The men. William Gary Groat, John Paul M. Schiff was a graduate student from Kenneth Lawless and Robert S. Fogarty, all de¬ New Rochelle, N Y . who had been accepted manded some reason for the termination. (As to the University in 1963 on provisional status has been seen, tradition here holds that no rea¬ working toward a masters in economics. In son need be given for such administrative ac¬ Spring of '65 Schiff did not enroll, instead ap¬ tions as student suspension and contract, termi¬ plying to MSU for readmission as a history nation). The most immediate results of the master's candidate. term were a request from the American Asso¬ On June 3, Schiff received a letter from this ciation of University Professors (AAUP) to re¬ history dept. informing him that he'd been so view the ruling on the trio on the grounds that accepted. On June 21, he received another there existed considerable doubt that they had letter from Registrar Horace C. King inform¬ been "denied reappointment for purely profes¬ an audience of 2000. mostly hecklers. Subse¬ quently ten members of the fraternity were ing him that he'd been denied readmission. sional reasons." According to the three men, John A. Fuzak, vice president for student such was most definitely the case. Groat was fined a total of $500 by their Lansing alumni control board. A campaign by the Young Social¬ affairs, said that the reasons for Schiff's de¬ an editorial advisor, and Lawless a contribu¬ nial were not political. Schiff had, however, tor to Zeitgeist, area magazine which Groat ist Club, Thompson's original sponsors, man¬ ex¬ hibited what the administrator felt was a said "rocks the boat" against the University es¬ aged to raise $100 toward the fines. The final result of the Thompson controver¬ "pattern of disruptive behavior" here, best tablishment. Fogarty, although not connected sy was }he formation of the Campus Club Con¬ exemplified by such actions of subversion as his with Zeitgeist, felt that he. too, was being fired ference Composed of the heads of nine influ¬ circulation of Logos (CSR's satirical publica¬ for rocking the boat in the classroom. ential student groups ranging from Young So¬ tion). Schiff, thus, was being refused read- The ATL controversy spawned a new radical cialists* to AUSG (All University Student Gov¬ mission for entirely nonacademic reasons. organization. United Students (US), with ac¬ Schiff's prominence as a radical figure here tivism directed at local level than the ernment, forerunner of ASMSU), the purpose a more of the conference was to sponsor unapproved was great. He had been president of the speakers. In October the CCC presented a ser¬ Young Socialists Club fall '64 and winter '65, on the steering committee of the Committee ies of non-approved speakers from SNCC with¬ out incident. on Vietnam and an active member of CSR. His case against the university contained six Transition Years major points: that there exist a lack of speci¬ fically defined regulations which are easily accessible to students; that the 1964-1965: These were the transition years from university V- ^ r* . _ restricts freedom of expression; that the Uni¬ . complacency into involvement, from general f*■*•■■■ T:" *. ' apathy to greater (relatively, of course) con¬ versity lacks any written bill of particulars gov¬ . cern. Importantly, the complacency-concern erning students; that the University acts in a denial of due process; that there exists here A . J pattern is paralleled by the death of Kennedy a distinct lack of freedom of and ascendancy of Johnson. political expres¬ The most vital event of 1964 was the forma¬ tion of the Committee for Student Rights (CSR). CSR was not and never sought to be¬ sion and that non-academic considerations have taken precedence over academic ones in ac¬ cepting students. In November, Schiff took his case as a com¬ V ) : come a University-approved organization. Their goals appear merely liberal at best today~but plaint against MSU to the federal court in Grand Rapids which handed the case back to (affording a brilliant view of the MSU student MSU. On January 11. 1966, he was. after over body five years ago) they were condemned as a term of controversy, formally readmitted wild, subversive radicals whenever they sur¬ to the University. A faced, which was frequently. The wild subver¬ On the occasion, Eldon R. Nonamaker, dean sive goals of CSR were several. In February, of students, said that "we never suspend stu¬ 1965 they iterated them as: liberalization of y women's hours and of overnight permissions, dents for more than a year." He termed the entire action "routine." improvement of restrictions against moving In the same month, MSU's chapter of SDS off-campus and elimination of the University's voted to form an anti-draft union. The idea "in loco parentis" attitude toward its students. of this union, the forerunner of various na¬ CSR was largely condemned by both the ad¬ tional resistance movements, was designed ministration and much of the student body be¬ Tuesday, April 22, 1969 ' Hooper R&dicjaLjSj (continued from page 3) like it with their emphasis on instrumental and corporate-serving skills easily disposes of such myopia. There are also those, in some ways ev¬ en more blind, who argue the university is mere¬ ly a stopping place for children of the middle- class on their way to the society of the suburbs. In some sense, this is the more dangerous view because it forms a large part of the ideology of the university itself. From the time one politically-oriented SDS. US organized the main events was the emergence of the Black Stu¬ arrives at a campus like MSU, you are told of part of student protest against the firing, in¬ dents' Alliance (BSA), which following the the "privileges" you enjoy; of the "careers" cluded such mass meetings as the all-night death of Martin Luther King presented a list that await you. and of the "knowledge" you are November 15-16 Orange Horse rally, attend¬ of demands concerning black recruitment and receiving. In the classroom, the emphasis is al¬ ed by 1.100 students (where an obscure psy¬ Afro-American studies programs to the Uni¬ ways on the safe and distant past, or on the chology instructor named Bert Garskof told versity. horizonless future for which you are being the crowd that if the three were ultimately The next event took place during finals week prepared. In either case, the individual experi¬ fired, it was the students' fault), and a in a massive three-day protest before every¬ ence of futility, the genuine one went home. The protest was triggered oppression one ex¬ vigil in Bessey Hall lasting through the follow¬ by the periences doing meaningless work for some fu¬ ing weekend. arrest of 12 students for drug possession. In pro¬ ture employer is denied. One can either wait un¬ intimately, everyone from ASMSU to the test of the methods used in the arrest, several til he or she enters the "real world" or one can. AAUP demanded reasons for the actions of the students from among a crowd of emotional pro¬ out of guilt, assume the oppression of others--as dept. But the three, in spite of one of the best- testers sat in at the Administration Building, al¬ happened with regard to the old civil-rights supported student movements at Michigan State lowing themselves to be locked in when it movement--to give meaning to one's own life. were not rehired. United Students lasted closed at 4:30. At this time they were technically Both responses are self-denying. Even more im¬ through the school vear, wilting awav sometime trespassers on University property and. as such, portant for our concern with building a strong in '67. were promptly arrested. Consequent climactic movement, both deny the legitimacy of moving Meanwhile. MSU's SDS continued to plan anger and indignation led to the creation of an against this society where one is at. political activism. Ad Hoc Committee to raise funds for their What is not understood in both these objec¬ Winter, '67: the group announced final develop¬ bail, and for the fines of those arrested on mari¬ tions is the centrality to which American col¬ ment of their Anti-Draft Union, designed to juana charges. When finals week ended, so did leges and universities have moved in our so¬ block the draft in any feasible manner of pro¬ the protests. ciety. Ours continues to be a capitalist society test. They gained converts but popular atten¬ In Fall, 1968, the Ad Hoc group reemerged in dependent upon the extraction of profit from an entirely different form. tion was soon transferred once again to more Having over the sum¬ the many for the benefit of the few, but not a local issues. mer announced a goal of giving students more capitalist society in which the wage-earning Spring, 1967: After years of effort beginning control over the decisions of the university, class is composed of semi-skilled factory hands with the early work of CSR, the Board of Trus¬ they appeared fall term renamed the Student as in Marx's day. Rather, the continuance of cap¬ tees finally agreed to two major issues that Liberation Alliance (SLA). The first major SLA italism is dependent, among other things, upon were startling innovative in terms of adminis¬ activity was the disruption of the Hannah con¬ the availability of a large, highly-skilled, tech¬ trative attitudes: liberalization of women's vocation welcoming incoming freshmen. nical-scientific labor force. No single corpor¬ hours and acceptance of an actually written ation can underwrite the many years of train¬ Academic Freedom Bert Garskof Report. ing (i.e. "education") necessary to maintain it¬ Fall, 1967: SDS continues its efforts against self. The requisite labor force is trained by the the draft. An attempted dialogue with Navy Winter, 1969 SLA took part in the attempt to re¬ universities, high-schools and armed forces and Marine recruiters in December succeed¬ instate assistant professor of psychology Bert "tech" schools under the guidance of the state ed in attracting students (many because of the Garskof. The Garskof controversy, reminiscent and paid for by all working people in the form electric bandi but failed in of the ATL creating any dia¬ controversy of 1966. began with de¬ of taxes. In a very real sense, the universities logue with the recruiters* * mands for reason? (rvr uoncontinuation of Gar¬ are part of the - production process. 196K-. Digressing from its 3nti-draft skof s contract. Christening itself The Move¬ Some of us. in SDS feel that whatever strate¬ plans, SDS began concentration on the local ment, the pro-Garskof action absorbed such gy we adopt for challenging our society, it must issues of the University by requesting permis¬ groups as SLA in trying to attaint emotional be informed of such realities. Such a strategy sion to hold a cost-price booksale of paper¬ re-run of the ATL controversy. To avoid becom¬ revolves around a seminal proposal made five backs in the Union. The request was denied ing a one-issue movement, the organizing com¬ months ago by Mike Klonsky at a national coun¬ on several grounds, mostly based on such re¬ mittee of The Movement magnified its de¬ cil meeting in Ann Arbor. Entitled. "Toward a gulations as a prohibition against selling non- mands to include one concerning "the class di¬ Revolutionary Youth Movement," it was based student publications on campus and a solicit¬ visions in society." In the words of the com¬ on an understanding of the antagonisms that ing regulation. mittee: "We demand that the University insti¬ already exist in our society, riz. the black lib¬ The booksale was held anyway. The most tute a policy of open admissions for black. eration struggle and the movement of young Third World, and white working class people." significant occurrence was that books were people. sold. The University never took action against It was largely because of this added demand At MSU, in developing a revolutionary youth the booksellers; yet neither did SDS follow up that the objectives of The Movement failed. movement that will change society, we must its new advantage. Any movement seeking popular appeal must expose and struggle against the AID program use popular issues, play upon popular fears, Spring, 1968: Several significant radical events and the International Center, the ROTC which took place this term. The most vital of these to get the student body's attention. In the Schiff trains the army for aggressions abroad, the po¬ case, the general fear of suspension by the lice administration school which enforces laws powers that be was played upon. The ATL con¬ protecting the interests of the unpropertied troversy was MSU's most successful radical few, the entire system of channeling students confrontation because it was based on the uni¬ into specific slots and skills that will serve to versal dislike of the ATL dept. But the Move¬ perpetuate America's imperial ambitions. We ment, in its discussions of organic learning, the must build a movement here that defies the "Third World" and "brothers and sisters" man¬ university's right to make decisions that affect > aged largely to alienate students who felt left out. In such middle-of-the-road an atmos¬ our lives. We must build defies the a movement here that university's right to participate in the phere, the Garskof controversy atrophied. oppression of people around the world. We Spring, 1969: While The Movement still contin¬ must build a movement here that defies the ues. the Garskof issue has lost importance student's right to be recruited to kill or parti¬ as other than a symbol. Garskof's firing, how¬ cipate in the oppression of people around the ever, inspired the formation of yet another world. We must build a movement that will radical group. Composed of faculty, staff and end racism at this university. graduate students, the organization calls itself Such a struggle must eventually incorpor¬ the New University Conference. Dedicated to ate all sections of America's working class but lv liberation from the repressions of American society, the Conference has chosen to begin it can only begin here with each of us. such liberation at the universities because, in the words of a member writing in this issue, \ \ "the university is strategically involved in the world society." (NUC's platform is dis¬ •J cussed on page 8.) The appearance of several controversies this term can already be pre¬ \\ dicted: foremost among these are an attempt to eliminate ROTC at the University and an at¬ C. c/ tempt to secure more academic and social freedom for students within the structure of the University. Whether the groups forwarding these at¬ c'v. tempts can manage to survive remains to be seen. CSR holds the MSU local-issue radical record of a year and a half. It will take much longer than this to "liberate the University. The new multitude of MSU radical groups is fighting not just the stereotypes of adminis¬ tration and apathy, but the stereotving of time 8 Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan Gorskof's legacy The New University Conference is a radical The transformation of these conditions poses organization composes primarily of professors, several obstacles which are not to be mini¬ staff and graduate students. Our mized. Quite obviously, some of us are in history is brief, having started with the fir¬ danger of being fired or at the least alien¬ ing of Bert Garskof. ated from our colleagues. Of a more com¬ Our primary concern is to change those plex nature is the involvement of potential conditions which, under the present State, NUC members who are committed to sup¬ suppress and pervert the human spirit. Our port present university policies, by virtue of their long records of complicity and out¬ goal is the creation of a society which will liberate our finer and subtler selves. We right approval To renounce one's past act begin the struggle at our University, for ions demands intense honesty and critical not only are we physically present in a thought. The relatively stable environment university community, but the American uni¬ of academia doubtless engenders insufficient versity is strategically involved in world self-appraisal among our professors. The affairs in a fashion directly counter to our idea that a correct political analysis, upon ideals. The university provides brain power and which effective action is based, is deemed organizers for numerous repressive govern¬ impossible by some and undesirable by others mental activities, and develops little more Students, surrounded by hypocritical authority than "socially useful" capacities of its stu¬ on all sides, bombarded1 by conflicting reports dents. from numerous sources, and witnessing the increasing and slanderous attacks upon the Maintain our existence as an example of New Left, are uncertain of any truth." radical political action: much less its execution. Many of the faculty Continue with the Garskof case; assume a position of neutrality Establish a critical university wherein we may examine our system with the sole aim NUC feels that these tendencies can be of making it fit for human life: countered by individual direct involvement Eliminate ROTC and other destructive pro¬ The person changes with action. Our actions grams: have political consequences and therefore Provide information and analysis of specific we must investigate our situation and act in issues. We have just comprised a fifteen-page terms of our awareness and feelings. document considering Dr. Garskof's dismiss¬ al: What does NUC hope to do in light of its Cooperate with and aid other radical groups objectives and obstacles'.' We hope to do the with oui coinciding interests Young Socialists in Action By GINNY OSTEEN that he is 'in basic agreement with our poll revolutionaries, we see the present struggle of national minorities for self-determination its' ftesire to label and classify everv tics All political decisions are made demo¬ cratically hut aace the majoritv decides on as a prelude t" the revolutionary struggle of tin: *9traSfcCi can public has chosen to lump all radicals a policy, the entire organizatiorf works to¬ own lives through socialism into the political grouping known as the New gether as a team to carry out these deci sions. In contrast. SDS embraces a number Although the Young Socialist Alliance is Left.'Yet. for all its expediency, this classi¬ relatively young-, it has been growing in num¬ fication is extremely inaccurate, for we of the of varving-and at times conflicting -tenden¬ bers. strength, and political experience. We cies. such as Maoists, anarchists, and those Young Socialist Alliance do not consider our¬ have a rich tradition behind us: we have not. selves part of the New Left. In terms of with no concrete political analysis at all. as those of the New Left have, rejected the The Young Socialist Alliance is part of the years, we are young and new-, in terms of lessons to be learned from Marx. Lenin. international revolutionary socialist move¬ political traditions and experience, we are as Trotsky, and Debs. Indeed, we have enriched old as the "Communist Manifesto" of 1859. ment. We have co-thinkers in almost every their teaching with those of modern revolu¬ The YSA was organized in 1960 by a group country of the world, and sister organiza¬ tions such as the JCR in France which was tionary leaders such as Malcolm X and Che of individuals who saw the need for a r#volu- Guevara in the leadership of the student-worker re¬ tionarv socialist youth group in the United States composed of young workers and stu¬ volt of May and June, and the YS LJS in Can¬ ada. To defend and support the revolutionary struggles for liberation occurring throughout the world today constitutes one of the most important tasks of the YSA. Mobilizing masses of American people to demonstrate against the Vietnam war has been an important phase of our activity, for this anti-war work is the best way to defend the Vietnamese rev¬ olution. We support the Czechoslovakian work¬ ers and students in their fight for democratic- socialism against the Russian bureaucracy. Because of our unceasing defense of the Cuban revolution, fourteen YSA members received in¬ vitations from the Cuban government to attend the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Rev¬ olution. After spending six weeks in "el territorio libre de norteamerica," these mem¬ bers are presently traveling across the United States, telling the truth about Cuban society The black liberation struggle and the fight against racism cause much controversy today among the various radical factions. The YSA realizes that to destroy racism one must attack its economic base--capitalism. To fight racism without fighting capitalism is to cut In closing. I would like to quote from the off the top of the weed without pulling out its Where We Stand" Declaration of the Young roots. In the United States. Afro-Americans Socialist Alliance adopted at the 1963 Con¬ dents. Various political parties existed-all and Third World people consider themselves a vention. claiming to be revolutionary socialist par¬ national minority, and therefore merit the "We believe that socialism can be init¬ ties, but there was no autonomous youth right to self-determination--the right to re¬ iated only as a result of struggles of the group as such. The YSA bases itself on the move themselves from the racist exploit¬ working class and its allies against the cap¬ revolutionary principles of Marxism as de¬ italist exploiters, which culminates in the ation of American capitalism. We defend veloped by Lenin and Trotsky, and works their right to lead their »»<« struggle for creation of a new type of state, a workers' closely with the Socialist Workers Party, Socialism will that for the first liberation by means of their nun organizat¬ state. mean although we have no structural ties with it. The Young Socialist Alliance is a disciplined ions, e.g., an independent black political party, time in history, man will control his own national organization -- not a federation of such as the Black Panther Party; black cau¬ creation-soeiety-rather than be controlled autonomous local groups. We operate under cuses within the trade unions, such as the by it. The dynamic of socialism involves a Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM i continual expansion of human freedom in all the principle of democratic centralism which was developed by Lenin in the Bolshevik Party. in Detroit; and Third World Liberation Fronts, spheres: in politics, economics, culture and such as the one at San Francisco State. As in every aspect of personal life." When a person joins the YSA, it is understood Tuesday, April 22, 1969 9 Poets and scholars meet Songs." It won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Poet¬ Among other guests on campus for the con¬ ry His Toy. His Dream." His Rest"-the ference will be the British poet Jon Silkin: poet 1968 book which won for him this Stanley Cooperman of British Columbia: novel¬ year's .Na¬ tional Book Award for Poetry-is a further col¬ ist .Joyce Carol Oates (whose 'Expensive Peo¬ lection of the dream songs, over 300 of them ple was nominated for the 1969 National Book Witty, deliberate vet free, the songs impress the Award in Fiction>; bibliographer Emilv Wal¬ reader with their searching honestv and their lace: poets Jim Harrison. Tom Fitzsimmons, idiomatic rhythms. Michael Heffernan. Conrad Hilberry. Dan Ger- Berrvman will read at 8:30 p.m.. in Kellogg Au ber. J D. Reed, and Stephen Tudor; novelist ditorium. Admission is free, and students are E. M Broner: poets Frederick Eckman and cordially invited. A. J M. Smith: critic Roy Harvey Pearce; Mrs. On May 3. Gary Snyder. Paul Carroll. Louis Anne Ridgewav. editor of the Robinson Jeffers Martz. Gene Bluestein and Mr. Berryman will letters: and many other scholars and writers. present papers dealing with manv nhases While Mr. Berrvman's reading is open to the modern poetry and song. Beginning at 9:30 a m. public, students wishing to attend the Saturday in the Lincoln Room of Kellogg Center, the pro¬ meetings must pre-register. Anyone interested gram-as follows-will run until 3:30. should contact Professors Albert Drake or Lin¬ "Paterson A Plan for Action." Louis da Wagner. 323 Morrill Hall, co-chairmen of the Martz. Yale University. (Professor meeting. Martz' recent book "The Poem of the Mind" brings together his well-known work in earlier poetry with that in mod¬ ern writing > "From the Middle Generation.' John ■ Berryman. l \ of Minnesota John Berryman By LINDA WAGNER John "Poetry and the Primitive. Gary Sny¬ Berryman. winner of this year's Na¬ der. San Francisco poet. (Mr. Snyder's tional Book Award for Poetry, will read at MSI' recent books are "The Back Country" on May 2. Berryman and other major contem¬ and "Earth-house Hold." > porary poets will highlight the eighth annual Conference in Modern Literature, sponsored bv the Dept. of English and the College of Arts and Letters The Impure Poem A Radical Innova¬ Long considered a controversial poet. Berry¬ tion in American Poetry Since 1960." man is as likely to berate his audience as he is Paul Carroll, editor of Big Table books to read politely to them. One of those poets who wrote many years with little recognition. Ber¬ "Folk Tradition and the Individual Tal¬ ryman burst into international prominence four ent." Gene Bluestein. Fresno State Col¬ years ago with the publication of his "77 Dream lege. Paul Carroll The child of the mountain god EDITOR'S NOTE: Gary Snyder, one of sev¬ He took various jobs in the city-one was in¬ America. After a year of work and study in a zen eral contemporary poets coming to MSU for stalling burglary alarms-roomed with class¬ temple in Kyoto, he signed on as a wiper in the the Conference in Modern Literature, will read mate and fellow poet Philip Whalen; and then engine room on the ship Sappa Creek. Paid off from his works on May 1. This reading, to be in the summer became lookout on Sourdough in San Pedro, California in April of 1958, Snyder held at 8 p.m. in the Union Gold Room and Mountain. This locale became the setting and open returned north to San Francisco. to everyone, is sponsored by the ATL Dept. inspiration for the poem praised by novelist "Riprap," his first book, was published the Jack Kerouac, "Mid-August at Sourdough following year. However, enamoured with Ja¬ By BOB STEUDING Mountain Lookout," later to become the lead The pan, he returned that spring for a stay of five poetic roots of Gary Snyder are deeply poem in Snyder's first book, "Riprap." embedded in the earth and in the "riprap of years. During his absence, "Myths and Texts" In spring of the following year, Snyder began (1960) was published. In 1964 Snyder returned things": in his belief in the sanctity of the com¬ a period of intensive study and meditation. He to the States and taught at Berkeley for a term, mon man and his delight in the actions of all rented a shack in Berkeley and began his life¬ and then saw the publication in the following living creatures; in the topography and spirit long study of Oriental language and philosophy, of the year of his third and fourth books, "Riprap and West; and in the traditions of the Orient. taking courses at the university. During this Cold Mountain Poems" and "Six Sections From He is son of Thoreau, Muir, and Burroughs. three-year period he met Kerouac, author of Mountains and Rivers Without End." In 1966 He is student of Pound. Williams, Whitman, "On the Road," poet Allen Ginsberg, and oth¬ his collected poems, "A Range of Poems" was Han-shan, Miyazawa Kenji, and Basho. Not a ers and participated in the much publicized published in London. The Levison Prize for "beat", but a legitimate and important contem¬ "San Francisco Renaissance." He also worked poetry, the highest award given by the presti¬ porary poet. Gary Snyder is a poet of joy, a new during the summers in lumber camps and on a gious "Poetry Magazine," was bestowed upon primitivist whose work, I believe, will be in¬ trail crew in Yosemite National Park. Snyder in 1968 for his "Eight Songs of Clouds creasingly more significant and more influen¬ In May, 1956 Snyder sailed for Japan to study and Water," and also in that year Snyder's sixth tial in the very near future. under scholarship at the First Zen Institute of book, "The Back Country," came out simul¬ On May 8, 1930 Gary Snyder was born in San Francisco. Two years later, during the depths taneously in New York and London. Recently, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in of the Depression, his family moved to rural the creative arts for 1969. Washington and began a dairy farm. Here Sny- der loved to roam the woods and read, and pov¬ Through the medium of the book review and the magazine article, Snyder first gained cri¬ erty did not seem to bother him. In 1942 t^ie. tical attention and later reputation. Kenneth family again moved; this time to Portland, Rexroth called Snyder a "Protean young man" Oregon where Snyder entered Lincoln High with "a lot to say and an urgent need to say School. The adjustment to this new life seems to have been difficult for Snyder, however, but (continued on page 12) he took up archery and continued his reading, camping and hiking in the forests south of Port¬ Mid-August at Sourdough land as much as possible. In the fall of I94S Mountain Lookout he enrolled with scholarship at Reed College. Summers Snyder spent in the mountains on lookout towers and on tankers ;it sea. In 1951 Down valley a smoke haze he graduated with a B.A. in anthropolog) and Three days heat' after five days rain Pitch glows on the fir-cones literature. As Across rocks and meadows Snyder later pointed out. all the themes and Swarms of new flies. subjects which he subsequent!) developed in his poetry were first stated in his bachelor's I cannot remember things I once read thesis. "The Dimensions ol a Myth." That sum¬ A few friends, but they are in cities. mer after graduation Snyder worked as a tim¬ ber scaler at the Warm Springs Indian Reser¬ Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup vation where he began writing many of the Looking down for miles poems to he included in his second hook. Through high still air. "Myths and Texts In the tall he tried stud\ing -by Gary Snyder linguistics at Indiana University, but left after (reprinted from Hi/mi/i. Ashland. Mass. Garv Snvder one term and returned to San Francisco. Origin Press. 1959> o s High Kinetic "Curse ' Auditorm)We>ls litorumnc>Wehsi >W(ie8g:a3n0d WielsCn;corad) Gtharloeugv. 30 9W.1ie0l6s PIinet WAEDPNRSIALY, Non"nthoyWte«8l:0s.1 CV>inc Wlso» Fhld) btProamri¬sce, We(l8:s0*.1 Conrad) IVliect AnoyFairchd) loicavtrnsu 2AFPRIR5DIALY, JTEoi(8sh:n3ee0tr. 9(."Blow-Upa1n70d Cvbel""Saunndadys 9W;omen(".a17n0d 9"(delzaBa7n.d 8Sade"(:P0AC. JReefcirtal.y AM>(uu8sd:1ic.5, 2ASPAT6RURIDLY, Cvbel""aSunnddays 9("adelzaBn7.d 9W(1ao0n7mden 9.B1alown-Upd'(7 8S.(0PaAdCe JToEi(nh8st):e3e0r. 8C<:Jo0nutdesg.in "Two "Mar t Gradu te bone "Two •• "Mar t Phil FFA 9.1a0n6d Gtharoluegy, (8pi:a1n5o. K(o3:bs0. '8pi:a1n5o. (7 2APRIL FS8adae"ii:rPc0hAldC). Ex(hKibetsogn GLRreegcooitiaannl,. NDMSavoI'mtsree. W9i.eE<1anl0fnos76rdce F8aSar:de"c(PhiA0dC. 2ATHPU4RRSIDLAY. DFiongre.frs F8aSaidre"c:h'0PldA'C. PRoawetrecicitsa,l. TUESDAY. "Mart AFacrutlty 271 Gradute MAiusiudc Basebal. Fiield April A PWRE I D L N 2S3A Y . "The "Mar t 50 Bedazl' "The Wiells B r 9 7 o a 1 d n.vd "Mar t Senior Ai Musiudc Tuesday, April 22, 1969 11 And on the thi By CATHERINE HENDRICKS mother and one Metzchen. Dad says it's be¬ I tried to listen li ve had lots of practicei. EDITORS NOTE Catherine Hendricks. De¬ cause she's from Belgium. I guess that's but I never seem to understand. Mom said it's troit sophomore, is an English major and a what they call grandmothers there It really because she's from Belgium member of Honors College. made it easier to tell them apart. Metzchen Dad is crying harder again and he's shak¬ Their voices were hushed and weary. I lav is dead. Metzchen is dead She's so small ing I put my arm around his neck. I'm afraid still, not even breathing. The cross at church is awfully big he'll wake Metzchen. but I guess that would "How do you want to tell Peter'.' "On the cross at church'.'" be OK. I couldn't really veil at him for it. How do you think he'd understand best'.' "Oh no. Peter She was sitting in her Should I crv9 If I crv we'll wake her for sure. Maybe you should tell him. rocking chair in the living room and I'ncle Maybe later. The couch was lumpy and there was a Edward and Aunt Orissa were there They I'ncle Edward and Aunt Orissa are spring sticking out next to my elbow, but were all watching television standing in line for the kneeler. I pull I was used to it. I'd been sleeping there a They were watching television and she on Dad's elbow and point. He takes long time, almost live years. I faked sleep died. my hand and we stand up. Dad shakes ' better than any kid 1 knew, that's how I was But then how did she die'' ' hands with I'ncle Edward Aunt Orissa able to listen. It was also how come I knew "She had a heart attack. Peter. The doctor gives me a soggy kiss on the forehead. so much. Wonder what they think I won't came too late. " "Peter. how much you've grown!" understand this time. Maybe a new baby'' She had a heart attack. Dad was standing That's the first thing she always I don't think I want a new baby. Or a divorce'.' with his back to us. but his shoulders were says to me. Mom says some adults Last night after I went to bed. they talked shaking and I could tell he was crying again. have difficulty talking to children. She about Jamie's Mom and Dad. That's what said that to Dad. She didn't tell me they're doing next week, getting a divorce. The funeral parlor had white pillars. A man what it meant. Dad didn't seem to think it was worth the in a black suit held the door for all of us. "Oh, no. It's just my suit from last money. But then, that was the same thing He didn't smile or even shake hands with Dad. Easter. The pants were too short when he said the time Mom talked about driving He nodded his head and said good morning and I got it. Who else is coming9" to New Jersey to see the relatives. we followed him. It wasn't like a regular Don and his wife and Aunt Alaine "Mmm." house. It was bigger and it just seemed like and Uncle Nick." I gave them my little wakeup signal and a lot of living rooms. It was quiet, and I I pulled on Dad's pocket. started to move my legs. That'll give them didn't even see a teevee. I thought it smelled "Can I watch you guvs play euchre?" "We won't be playing euchre for a long while. Peter Metzchen is dead." He bent down so he was my size and looked at my face like Mom had done. "Do you understand. Peter9" he whisp¬ ered. I nodded my head and tried to look as serious as he did. I wasn't going to wake her up. "Rnfh?" Mom came up behind us. T think the V'anderwere's are here. They've brought their children. Maybe there's someplace downstairs they could time to decide just what they're gonna' do pretty good, at first, like the church at Easter all play. about or Dad's flower garden. But it was awfully telling me. Eor three days it was great. Billy, "He's waking. I guess I'll tell him It'll strong. Dad held onto my hand, tight. The and Tom and sometimes Cheryl played be easier for me. " smell didn't seem to bother him cards with me in the basement. There I blinked. It was funnv. they were both all "We must be the first ones here was a little room with chairs and a dressed. I opened my eyes. The lights were Dad and I .stood at the edge of one of the tablg. and lots of magazines. Billy was all on. Dad's jacket was lying across the end fiving rooms, t here were dining room cfiairs seven and he read to us out loud. Cheryl of the couch just touching my feet. around all the walls and in rows in the cen¬ mostly played around with her doll. "Peter." ter. There was no teevee. but this was sure I didn't go upstairs much, but when I Mom's voice was quiet, but I sat up straight. where the flowers were. Mom was holding did it was always the same She and sat on the edge of the couch Dad's other hand. "She looks came over lovely. They really did and brushed my hair out of my eves with her "I thought Ed and Drissa said they'd be a wonderful job! " hand. here early to check the arrangements before "The make-up is so lifelike. She looks "Hi. Mom! Mornin' Dad'" people started to arrive. " very peaceful." Dad had been standing kind of in the hall¬ Dad just looked at her without saying any¬ "Have you seen the flowers from the way with his back to me. His hands were thing and let go of my hand. He walked neighbors yet?" stuffed in his pockets and he was looking around the rows of chairs and toward the end "Mrs. Schwyn did the collecting, didn't down at the floor and running his toe back of the room. she?" and forth across the patterns in the lin¬ "Where's he going"1" "Yes. I think she did." oleum. "To see Metzchen. " I love the colors in the arrangement. "Good morning. Peter." "I didn't know she was going to be here." Subdued, yet somehow gay He sounded tired His eyes were all red "Yes, Peter, she's here. When Daddy's and blurry. I'd never seen Dad cry. but I fig¬ finished we'll go up to the front and pray ured that's what he was doing. .for her." T pray for her every night." "Why is Dad crying0" I whispered to Mom. She looked at me. ran her eyes all up and "Wait till Daddy's finished. Peter. down my face, and then tried to smile. The We were too far away for me to tell what corners of her mouth lifted a bit and the Dad was doing. He stood for a while and glow almost came into her eves. Her eves just looked, then he knelt down on the kneeler were red even worse than Dad's. The linen and covered his face with his hands. I could handkerchief she carried in her purse to tell he was crying again. church on Sunday was scrunched in a little "Stay here. Peter. Don't move until I come ball in her hand. I'd watched her iron it after for you. I'll just be with Daddy for a minute." my nap yesterday. She walked up behind Dad and put her hands "Peter. Peter, there's something we need on his shoulders. She knelt beside him and he to tell you. Please try to understand. Do cried against her dress like he'd just gotten you remember the stories I used to tell you hit in the nose by a baseball. about baby Jesus'.'" I was more than half way to the front I nodded my head A baby. That would be when Mom saw me. She couldn't seem to get OK. I guess. But then why were they cry¬ mad. She took my hand , ing "Kneel next to your Daddy. Peter." "Do you remember what happened when he I closed my eyes and knelt down I d seen that Metzchen was wearing her good black We ate at a little restaurant near lie grew up'.' The apostles'.' " I smiled and nodded. Of course. I remem¬ dress, the one she wore for Cousin Don's funeral parlor every afternoon. The tirst bered wedding 1 didn't say anything. I was afraid day I had chocolate milk with my ham¬ I d wake her up. She'd never yell at me. but burger. After that. I always had Coke "Do you remember how he died on the cross and went up to heaven'.'" I knew Dad would. She never talked to me We went home for dinner, but Mom "No. he rose, you know, on the third much either. She'd only smile with her eves never had to cook. Mrs. Schwyn had and plav with my chin. When I came over dinner the table when home day." on we came after school she'd bring out the Sander's candy the "Well yes, Peter. He rose. But you dol first night. Mom said that a funeral remember that he died " and I could have one piece Before I left was the real test of a good neighbor. I nodded she always went to her purse and got me a The next two nights we called Dino's "And it wasn't a bad thing, was it'.' Well. dime. My allowance is a nickel and baseball Pizzeria for an extra large with just Peter, Metzchen is dead. Daddy's mother is cards are a nickel; wax mustaches are two cheese. dead. Peter. That's why we're both crying." cents I go to see Metzchen only when I need The fourth day was different: I had Metzchen is dead Other kids had two a mustache. She talked to Dad and to I'ncle to wear a clean white shirt and Mom Edward and Aunt Orissa. but never to Mom grandmothers, but not me. I had one grand (continued on page 12) Tuesday, April 22, 1969 12 Michigan State News, East Lansing, Michigan Third day ELECTION CHEER made me (continued from page 11) promise to keep my tie on. We were going to church, and I knew impaled b x her past of fakery failed the facade— litis it." Snyder (continued from page 9) Reviewing "Riprap" ("Poetry: 96. 196(1), she lies strelcheil icith negation. Robert Sward called it "impressive" and not¬ it wasn't Sunday. The church was just til!hi pellet eyes ed its simplicity, honesty , and appeal to the sen¬ around the block, but we didn t walk shocked b v frigidity ses. Thomas Parkinson ("Prairie Schooner": like usual. When we got in the car. await late surgery. 34, 1960-61), reviewing "Myths and Texts," men¬ Mom whispered that we were going though distant, confusion dins tioned the "pagan quality" of the work and back to the funeral parlor to see Metz- chen first. nervous clatter praised Snyder's "terrible sanity." The first of frightened dependents prominent poet to review Snyder was James "Are we taking her with us to church'.'' " Yes. Peter, we're taking her with us splash Dickey ("Poetry": 97. 1961). In reviewing as eavesdrops heard from within, hut to church." Snyder's books among those of other notable Dad had deep black lines under his she. poets, Dickey stated that Snyder's work was in traumatic solitude, "the best of them ." Indicating Snyder's debt eyes, he had to wear a clean white shirt, . . views what the doctor will do. to Pound. Dickey took care to point out that the too. He lifted my chin and turned my on her couch of frozen response indebtedness is not imitation, hut is "unmis- head. "Don't you understand0 She's dead. she snickers at takeably the right technique for Mr. Snyder to his satchel of tonics and tricks— use." In a thorough and extremely sympathetic Peter. She's dead. mindless eyes turning essay ("The Sixties," No. 6, 1962). poet, critic, an eyeless mind and translator Robert Bly attested to Snyder's originality--a much sought after quality in mod- america e i poetry-and then cited the "high-points" of his works published to that date: the poet's —James llale celebration of physical life and use of its rhythms in his poetry ; his "superior sensitiv¬ ity" and delicacy of treatment; his sense of privacy, yet his "humorous awareness" and ability to laugh at himself; his elemental devo¬ tion to life in all forms; and his ability to re¬ THE PARIS PEACE TALKS create his own myths, creating a poetry of "authentic strangeness." In 1965 David (a viar Kherdian wrote a biographical sketch and com¬ a nd stiff posed J'i ngers piled a checklist of Snyder's work, and "Epoch: like the erect napkins A Magazine of Contemporary Literature" (Vol. polished silver 315) published Richard Howard's " "To Hold a fine vintage Both History and Wilderness in .Mind": The "He understands. Michael. He must. Poetry of Gary Snyder." Howard likened Sny¬ Mom had her arm around my shoulders. I'lie conferences der to Thoreau and discussed the spiritual qual¬ We already in the funeral parlor stiffly pressed collars were ity of Snyder's work. With the reaffirmation by parking lot. polished slutes Rexroth of the prominence of Snyder among "Are you having something for people and empty briefcases, young poets and the publication of "A Range afterwards0-' tin' varnished table of Poems" (1966) came further favorable cri¬ "Edward planned to have a buffet keeping up appearances. ticism. Lisel Mueller ("Poetry": 111, 1968) lunch at Cadieux Cafe called the collection "a remarkably solid " That's a bar. isn't it?" I In' napalm severing book, strong and sharp . . ." Snyder, it was add¬ "It's a Belgian bar. People used are ofliberation ed. possesses a style "unassailable in its com¬ to going there. escalation mittment to the exact image, the lean phrase, "Can we bring Peter'.'" burnt defecation the faithful but detached record of things I don't see why not seen." "The Back Country" (1968). Snyder's a. h-ir v<< he- y//A« « a while. \n » TCw«it <-»<.»*,« H«v«k iv< tys received simi¬ fore. In fact. I couldn't think of a single lar praise. kid on the street who had There were more people inside than ever before All the people that had stopped by in the last three days had all come back at once. I watched as Dad and Uncle Edward walked up and kissed Metzchen on the lips. "Wouldn't you like to kiss Metzchen good-bye. Peter0" Mom was bent down my size. "No. that's OK I'll see her after school tomorrow. I haven't bought any baseball cards all week The same tears rolled down her cheeks. "Oh. Peter. She squeezed me tight and crushed the wax mustache in my pocket "Peter, how can I explain'" She didn't have to explain. I'd been to church. I'd listened hard. I knew Church was longer than on Sunday. Father talked more about Metzchen than about God. He read the part about rising again. Everybody was crying now. I wondered what Metzchen would have said to Dad if she'd come to church with us. We drove in a long line to the cem- etarv Dad said I couldn't have the little flag that was stuck on top of our car. He said it belonged to the funeral parlor, but I figured Uncle Edward would give me his. It was January and it was cold and muddy. We stood in a brown tent It was almost warm with so many of us inside. Father had come with us. but even Aunt Orissa wouldn t tell me why. Two men in green overalls came and lowered the box into the ground. Father had to pray awfully loud because everyone was crying. "That's Metzchen in the box. Peter She's dead and now we have to bury her. We can come and see her again as soon as the grass starts to grow. Dad was my size and his eyes were blurry and red. Over 100 Publishers Stocked In Our W arehouse I nodded my head. She had died, Across From The Union Across From Berkey Hall and now she was buried. In three days she would rise again. And then the City Parking At Rear Door Free Parking At Storeside Easter Bunnv would come.