Download PDF of this full issue: v5n7.pdf (7.7 MB)

VVAW National Meeting Held

By VVAW

"Build the Fighting Veterans Movement; Build VVAW" was the key slogan for the meeting of the VVAW National Interim Committee (NIC) held recently in Detroit. This group, made up of representatives elected by their chapters and regions around the country, has the job of summarizing what is happening in their areas and based on that, making decisions which will help VVAW grow and bring in more vets who want to unite to fight against the system. We've had a lot of experience with this system--we were seen off to fight wars for the benefit of the rich and, when we returned home, we found out that all their promises about good healthcare, decent education benefits, jobs were a bunch of lies. And that we have to fight to get what's been promised.

One of the first steps the NIC took was the change of the name of the organization. We know that vets and other people look more at what we do than what we call ourselves, but the name of the organization is what's out front for people to see, so it's important that it can be the best name possible. For the past couple of years, our name has been Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization; the NIC decided to get rid of the last half of the name, so we are now Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

VVAW has a proud history of fighting against the Vietnam war, and for veterans, From a 1971 demonstration where Vietnam vets threw away their Vietnam medals on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, to seizing the Statue of Liberty, to bringing out thousands of people in July 1974 to march in Washington demanding decent benefits, amnesty, honor the peace agreements and kick Nixon out. These are things that VVAW is known for, and we want to build on this reputation. Even more important, however, is what the name says about our work: we want to talk about the rich man's war we were forced to fight in Vietnam, and about the plans that the same gang of thieves have for getting us into another war in order to keep their profits rolling in. Whether in the Sinai, in Korea, in Angola, or in Europe, the class that runs this country is being forced, by its decaying system to try to find a way out of its crisis: that way is war, and we say that we Won't Fight It.

There was a time, a couple of years ago, when VVAW began to forget about the fact that we were, to a large extent, made up of vets. We still talked about the war and how we were used, but we neglected the situation that veterans face when we get back to this country; a serious error. That was when we added the name Winter Soldier Organization. Since that time, however, our work has changed and we are in the midst of the struggles that we and other vets are carrying on. Dropping the name "Winter Soldier Organization: means that our name is now catching up with the work we are doing.

But the name doesn't mean that we're fighting only for Vietnam veterans. A World War I veteran, talking to a VVAW member, pointed out that he had been on disability since 1922, and that the only way vets were going to get anything was to get together and unite, just like the vets did under Hoover (during the 1932 Bonus March). We need that vet and all vets in VVAW also. And we need non-vets who want to join in the struggle with us and build the fighting veterans movement. In order to get out in front of vets exactly what we are doing to build the vets movement, the VVAW NIC discussed and then passed a program for the organization (this VVAWE National Program will be printed and available in the near future). The program talks about the main things we are fighting around: Decent benefits for All Vets, Jobs or Income Now, and We Won't Fight Another Rich Man's War. The program identifies jobs as a vital demand for veterans--when we can't get work, that's when we have to rely more on the sorry VA healthcare system--and when we lose our jobs, we also lose our medical insurance. Many vets in school are there, trying to scrape by on the GI Bill, because they can't get jobs. All the cutbacks that the VA is trying to bring down on vets hurt a whole lot worse when vets can't work and jobs aren't there. No jobs also forces some vets back into the military. And the economic system we lived under, where everything is determined by how much profit makes, is trapped in another one of its crisis which means layoffs and speedups and cutbacks, and is headed toward another war to try to revive.

The VVAW program doesn't just tell about all the problems vets have--most us know about them already. It talks about how VVAW is fighting the system to solve some of those problems. We know that one vet, trying to get his late check or fighting a cutback in disability benefits, can easily get the runaround from the bureaucrats, but that a group of angry and united people can fight and win--we've seen it happen around the country. The VVAW Program points at the sorry state of the Veterans Administration, but also shows that the VA is only a part of the larger system. And the Program talks about many of the specific demands that we--and all vets--have and which, united, we are going to fight to win.

The Program, in short, says that here's what the problems are, and here's what we're going to do about them. To be effective, we need all vets--who have the same problems--to join with us. The program points the director to go.

The NIC also talked about the Bicentennial celebration coming up next year (through some people see the chance to make a few bucks off it, so they've started it early). Remembering the success, the unity and militance of the national demonstration that VVAW sponsored in Washington DC on July 4, 1974, and seeing how the people who run this country are going to try to use the Bicentennial, the NIC enthusiastically decided to hold a national demonstration in Philadelphia on July 4th, 1976. (For more information on the demo, see page 2 in this issue).

We want every vet who can make it to get ready to come to Philadelphia with us and show up the politicians and their owners for what they are--bloodsuckers who live off the sweat and blood of working people, vets and non-vets alike. The NIC meeting closed with the understanding that we're out to build VVAW and to build the fighting veterans movement. Join us!