'Big push is needed for April 20 actions,

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Eugene "Gus" Newport, mayor of Berkeley, Calif., addressing the first organizational meeting of the S.F. Spring Mobilization for Peace, Jobs and Justice. Over 350 activists attended the meeting at the First Unitarian Church in San Francisco on Jan. 24. Newport is one of four co-chairs of the Spring Mobilization, which is organizing a mass SOCIALIST ACTION FEBRUARY 1985 The Reagan administration continues to walk a political tightrope as it attempts to avoid provoking massive opposition to its war policies in Central America. Washington is thus pushing the diplomatic maneuvers by Secretary of State George Schultz in the Geneva disarmament talks as a peaceful smokescreen to cover up its war policies in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

In another move intended to quiet dissent, the administration continues to proclaim Reagan's substantial electoral victory as a mandate for his Central American policy. But this boast is tempered by the comments of many media editorialists and pollsters, who warn that the majority sentiment against the arms race and U.S. intervention did not shift with the November elections.

In fact, this majority sentiment has forced the government to proceed more slowly than it would like in providing direct assistance to the "contras" seeking to overthrow the Sandinista government and to the bloody Salvadoran and Guatemalan regimes.

Significance of April 20 There exists great potential today for mobilizing this mass sentiment against the U.S. war drive. It was thus extremely significant that several months ago the anti-intervention movement announced plans for national protest actions during the week of April 1522. Mass demonstrations are scheduled for April 20 in Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Denver.

Dozens of national organizations and hundreds of local groups have pledged support to these actions and to the four themes: No U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Caribbean; Freeze and Reverse the Arms Race; Jobs and Justice; End U.S. Support to Apartheid in South Africa. • The April national actions already represent a giant step forward for the antiwar movement by combining demands of the antinuclear weapons and anti-intervention movements. With the additional potential of attracting anti-apartheid sentiment, a unique and powerful coalition around the four national themes is possible.

It is also possible to enlist the support of important sectors of the labor movement in these national antiwar actions. In recent years, a large number of unions have begun to break away from the cold-war ideology of the AFL-CIO leadership. Fact-finding tours to Central America by top union leaders have challenged the lies of the administration, while several official union publications have linked the war spending to the economic plight of U.S. workers.

West Coast examples

In its latest issues, Socialist Action has reported on the progress of the San Francisco Spring Mobilization for Peace, Jobs, and Justice Committee. Attracting unprecedented labor, religious, and community support, this unified coalition has obtained free office space in a union office building, printed 20,000 leaflets, and established functioning working committees.

At its first mass meeting on Jan. 24, over 350 Bay Area antiwar activists enthusiastically pledged to build the April 20 demonstration as widely and Carl Finamore is a member of Socialist Action and of the steering committee of the San Francisco Spring Mobilization for Peace, Jobs and Justice. broadly as possible. [See accompanying photo-story.] Good progress is also being made in Los Angeles, where a broadly sponsored coalition held its founding meeting on Jan. 31. Organizers of the April 20 mobilization [see interview with Don White on page 7] expect to gather hundreds of additional endorsements for this action.

But other results across the country are not as promising. The national coalition responsible for the Washington actions-the April Actions for Peace, Jobs, and Justice Committee-has only recently acquired an office with one full-time staff person.

Moreover, insufficient effort has been made to encourage the development of local coalitions-particularly on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Yet, substantial participation from Midwest and Eastern seaboard cities has always been essential for the success of a national action in Washington.

The national coalition has called for march and rally on April 20. Cagan (continued from page 7: “Leslie Cagan: «We must be more public and assertive"”) developed and where things stand today for the April actions?

Cagan: The idea for major protest activities in the spring came out of discussions that were held about a year ago within the nuclear disarmament movement on the need to begin to link our work to that of other forces in the peace and justice movement.

We found ourselves jumping from issue to issue. At one point we focused on the Euromissiles. At another point we focused on the MX missile. This is not to deny or undermine the very hard and good work that a lot of people were doing. But this work was still scattered.

We ended up feeling the need to project something that could serve as a vehicle to help unify and strengthen the peace and justice movement. We focused in on the need for major protest activity, regardless of who would be elected in November.

This evolved into a plan that calls for national actions in April and that links several movements that are working on different issues. We have a call that addresses U.S. intervention in Central America, the situation in South Africa and U.S. support for apartheid, nuclear weapons, and the domestic situationthe large military budget and the lack of social spending. four days of protest in the nation's capital-including lobbying and civil disobedience-but appears to have serious doubts about the potential for building a massive demonstration on April 20. But the examples of the San Francisco and Los Angeles coalitions should be sufficient proof that it is possible to tap and mobilize the massive antiwar sentiment of American working people.

We need a mass action In the months prior to the November national elections, most anti-intervention groups and individuals devoted their efforts almost exclusively to defeat Ronald Reagan by campaigning for Walter Mondale or Jesse Jackson.

Protest rallies and demonstrations came to a near standstill as energy, money, and false hopes were placed in the ability or desire of the Democratic Party to end U.S. aggression in Central America. Today, many of the leaders of these organizations have now become demoralized by Mondale's defeat. They falsely believe the voters' rejection of Mondale represented an acceptance of Reagan's war drive.

But there is absolutely no evidence to indicate that the American majority sentiment for peace in Central America has been reversed. It is wrong to equate What we are trying to project is a more coherent and more unified peace and justice movement. We see the April actions as an important arena for making this kind of public statement, both in Washington and in actions on the West Coast.

S. A.: What are the actions being planned and what are the dates projected for them?

Cagan: The dates are April 19-22. We are planning activities on this day which are not just the traditional march and rally. We are trying to be creative about developing activity that sends a strong political message and can also be inspiring to the people there, regardless of the number of people who come. There will also be lobbying efforts and non-violent civil disobedience on that Monday.

S.A.: How is April 20 building in other cities?

Cagan: It varies from city to city, but we know there are coalitions already underway and doing work in virtually all the major East Coast cities and in a number of Midwest and Southern cities. There is a major organizing effort out on the West Coast with activities in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle. These are activities that we will project as part of the national actions packet.

The other thing is that we are encouraging local activities on Tax Day, which Mondale's electoral defeat with an endorsement of Reagan's pro-war policies because Mondale's support to the invasion of Grenada and his pledge to quarantine Nicaragua revealed that his views were hardly distinguishable from Reagan's.

The anti-intervention movement has traditionally become disoriented during election periods. This was the case in 1984. But today we must put this confusion behind us and recognize the need for a massive and united display of opposition to the threats posed against the people of Central America.

We should also understand that focusing on lobbying or individual acts of civil disobedience is no substitute for building mass actions. As the anti-Vietnam war movement taught us, mass actions are the most effective way to tie the hands of the warmakers. We need mass antiwar actions in order to prevent a U.S. invasion of Nicaragua.

The April 20 demonstrations in the five designated cities are designed to bring together the broadest sectors of the population in the most massive and visible display of opposition to Washington's war policies. More than ever, a great push is needed to make the April 20 actions a success.

Socialist Action/Joe Ryan is April 15. This is important in and of itself but also as a building action for the national demonstrations.

S.A .: The San Francisco Bay Area coalition is building very broadly. It has involved labor leaders, the church, elected officials, and community and solidarity activists. How do you see this fitting into the national picture?

Cagan: What San Francisco is doing is also a priority for the national coalition. We must all pull in not just the peace and disarmament constituencies but the other groups that work on very important issues. This includes labor, the Third World constituencies-particularly the Black community-the student population, and others. This is beginning to pick up some steam. For instance, there are already some national labor unions that are on board or have expressed interest.

S.A.: How would you advise our readers as to the next step in building and organizing the April actions, particularly April 20?

Cagan: The most important part of a process like this is to get the word out in the unions, at the workplace, in school, in newsletters, and in the media. And I think we should promote these actions not just as a one-shot deal, but as part of a process of building a more unified movement in this country that is going to last beyond April.

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Anti-Vietnam war movement:

BUILDING APRIL 20 form of protest would be able to draw the "ordinary person" into action. This approach was geared toward reaching out to working people (whose union America and against nuclear weapons stand on the shoulders of the Vietnam antiwar movement. Many of the lessons