"Large numbers of students, many of them from Black colleges, participated. For many it was their first

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point of the rally. But this estimate was not shared by most participants, who interrupted his carefully prepared speech with polite but unenthusiastic-applause.

Dukakis's speech was filled with empty rhetoric about marching for social justice, his commitment to the "golden sunshine of opportunity" for everyone, and the need to end apartheid in South Africa. Of course, lest anyone misinterpret his remarks, Dukakis urged people to maintain their faith in America and assured them that laws are already "in place to end discrimination if we work at it."

Jackson's subdued tone

Most demonstrators regarded Jesse Jackson as the star of the rally. When the lead contingent of the march passed by the onlooking crowd, shouts of "There's Jesse" rang out while Dukakis was largely ignored.

The tone of Jackson's speech was unusually subdued. He did not want to detract from Dukakis's earlier speech. Although he received the most enthusiastic response when he called for D.C. statehood and day-care funding, most of his remarks concentrated on attacks on Reagan and Bush. He urged his listeners to register and vote because "hands that once picked cotton can now pick mayors, governors, and presidents."

While Jackson failed to mention Dukakis's name in his speech, he made his support to the Democratic Party clear as he said, "George Bush is not in Washington today. He must not be here for the inauguration next January."

March organizers tried to further reinforce the illusion that change can be achieved through the Democratic Party by listing the elected offices now held by many of the organizers of the '63 march.

Confusion on the left One of the most surprising political evaluations of the march was given by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). While the Sept. 9, 1988, edition of The Militant, the SWP's newspaper, failed to report on the demonstration, it quoted SWP presidential candidate James Warren at a speech he gave in Greensboro, North Carolina.

"The rally today in Washington, D.C., on the 25th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington ... has nothing whatsoever to do with struggle or building a movement," Warren said. 'It was a campaign rally that promised to solve the problems of the Black middle class if they can mobilize Black working people to vote for Dukakis."

Unfortunately, Warren's statement highlighted only one side of the demonstration. While it is an undeniable fact that the organizers of the rally supported the Democratic Party and used the speakers' platform to reinforce illusions, this is nothing new.

The organizers of the '63 and '83 marches, which the SWP helped build and supported, had these same goals. Not only was the '63 march called with the express purpose of pressuring Congress into passing a votingrights act, but the speeches were even subjected to prior censorship to ensure they didn't step outside the framework of the two capitalist parties.

By characterizing the demonstration as simply the case of a Black middle class deceiving the Black working class, Warren fails to recognize that the overwhelming majority of participants were workers and students. Furthermore, the most positive responses came not to calls for voter registration, but to calls for decent jobs, housing, and healthcare for all.

The official call was not a call to a Democratic Party rally. It stated: "On Aug. 27, 1988, people from across our nation will once again March on Washington for jobs, peace, and freedom and commemorate the Great March on Washington 25 years ago when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his famous 'I Have a Dream' speech to hundreds of thousands."

This call sums up the reason most demonstrators participated. They came not for a Democratic Party rally but to celebrate the real democratic gains of the past 25 years and to demand "jobs, peace, and freedom." It's the current Black leadership-and the trade-union bureaucracy—that tries to give these mobilizations a proDemocratic Party flavor.

Rather than rely upon the Democratic Party, Blacks need to form their own independent political party to fight for these goals.

A mass-action strategy Like the SWP did in 1963 and 1983, socialists should join with other supporters of civil rights to build and mobilize for these actions. Rather than stand on the sidelines, thereby giving up the field to pro-Democrats, socialists should use these activities to explain how the civil rights gains were won: through mass marches and rallies independent of the two capitalist parties.

Despite the failure of the leadership of the Aug. 27 demonstration to point the way forward, a majority-Black crowd of 55,000 demanding "jobs, peace, and equality" in a presidential election year is significant. It shows the deep-seated sentiment for real change and the potential for building a movement which could successfully address these issues.

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