Jerry Gordon: 'We must tap the

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SURVIVAL

The following comments on the April 20 antiwar demonstrations were given to Socialist Action by Jerry Gordon. Gordon, an international representative of the United Food and Commerical Workers Union, was the organizer of the Sept. 14-16, 1984, Emergency National Conference Against U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Caribbean held in Cleveland.

Gordon was formerly a co-coordinator of the National Peace Action Coalition, which organized some of the massive protests against the war in Vietnam.

The potential exists for a massive turnout on April 20.

Let's look at the component forces. The first are the anti-intervention forces. The largest demonstration by these forces occurred four years ago on May 3, 1981. It was sponsored by a single current of the movement. They really let loose a good burst of energy and succeeded in turning out 100,000 we felt were sectarian attacks against the antinuclear movement.

We saw it, above all, as an expression of the fear, the concern, and the anxiety of tens of millions of people in this country about a nuclear holocaust. If this is the form it happens to take at this time-a nuclear-freeze movementwe'll relate to it on that basis.

So we viewed them positively and we are working with them as partners in this effort. Of course, we have the experience of June 1982, when the disarmament movement generated the largest antiwar demonstration we have seen in all history-surpassing the ones we had in Vietnam-with a turnout of approximately 1 million people in New York.

Of course, it is one thing to have organized that demonstration when Reagan was talking about winning a limited nuclear war. It is somewhat different now when these talks [a reference to the arms negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union in Geneva] are going on. Nevertheless, the very deep-seated, passionate desire to curb these nuclear maniacs remains.

Anti-apartheid movement

The third component that has developed rather swiftly is the anti-apartheid movement. We are witnessing an exploding revolution of Blacks in South Africa and, at the same time, a spread mood' of demonstrations by all sorts of groups in the United States. The sweep of the opposition to the apartheid regime is immense.

This was triggered by the general strike on Nov. S of hundreds of thousands of workers in Transvaal and the 'The passionate desire to curb the nuclear maniacs remains."

ruthless repression in the aftermath by the cops-the killings, the jailings of trade unionists. The outbreak of the civil disobedience actions in Washington was a result of the demand that these trade unionists be freed.

The U.S. government cannot deal with South Africa like it tries to deal with Nicaragua or El Salvador. This sentiment against the apartheid regime can be a vital factor in the building of the April 20 action.

Struggles at home

We should not overlook the fourth theme, theme, the fourth component-the struggles here at home.

Take what is happening to U.S. federal workers, of whom there are tens of thousands in Washington, D.C. They are threatened with a 5-percent wage cut in October so that the Pentagon can have more money to carry on these wars.

, Temporary workers are being hired in qualitatively greater numbers than we have seen before. That is a union-busting move that is being resisted by the American Federation of Government Employees. The federal workers represent an enormous constituency.

Consider the cuts in social security. The government is threatening to do away with the cost-of-living adjustdown. The tie-in is easier and easier to make by the day. So what is the conclusion when you examine all of this?

The conclusion is that the vision that we had, starting with the organizing of the Emergency National Conference, of demonstrations of substantial proportions is realizable. But obviously, nothing is automatic-nothing is spontaneOus.

The challenge we face in the remaining crucial weeks before April 20 is to close the gap between what the movement is capable of mobilizing for the April actions-given the political situation-and our current state of organization in preparing for those actions.

Some demonstration centers like San Francisco and Los Angeles are going full speed ahead. But other cities, especially some of those building for the D.C. action, have some catching up to do. There is still time.

If an all-out, movement-wide effort is now unleashed, involving the movement's activists and tapping all of its resources, April 20 will see a powerful show of opposition to the U.S. government's war and interventionist policies.

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ment-after all of Reagan's promises. Look at the austerity measures coming