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What Is VVAW/WSO?

By VVAW

Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization is a mass, anti-imperialist organization based on the accomplishment of its objectives. Founded by anti-war Vietnam vets in 1967, the organization has learned, through our history, that the war in Indochina was a conscious design of the U.S. government to maintain the exploitation of the Indochinese people, and that the way in which to stoop the continuing war in Indochina as well as future wars is to defeat U.S. imperialism. To do this, we invite all people who agree with the objectives and will struggle for their accomplishment to join with us.

HISTORY OF VVAW/WSO

Operation RAW (Rapid American Withdrawal), the first VVAW national action, was a forced march from Trenton, N.J. to Valley Forge in the fall of 1970. To show Americans what their military was doing in Vietnam, vets conducted mock search and destroy missions, interrogations of prisoners, and other maneuvers well learned in Vietnam. During Operation RAW the objectives of VVAW were formulated.

In January, 1971, spurred on by the publicity around the trial of William Calley, VVAW conducted the Winter Soldier Investigation into American War Crimes(WSI) in Detroit. Over 150 Vietnam veterans testified to their personal involvement in war crimes. The message to the American people was loud and pointed: my Lai was not simply a mistake by an American military unit; in fact, My Lai's were taking place daily, though usually on a smaller scale. The U.S. policy of racism and genocide was the cause, not one confused U.S. platoon leader. Several Congressional inquiries, a book, and three documentary films came out of the WSI.

With the spring of 1971 came Dewey Canyon III, a limited incursion into Washington, DC. Dewey Canyon I and II had taken place in southeast Asia, without the consent or the knowledge of the American people; Dewey Canyon III was public and visible. A week of lobbying, testimony in Congressional hearings, guerrilla theater and demonstrations, was climaxed when 1100 veterans threw the medals they had been awarded in Vietnam back at the government.

Both the Republican and Democratic conventions in Miami Beach in the summer of 1972 saw actions by VVAW, despite a concentrated attack by the government on the organization through the Gainesville conspiracy trial. Actions in Miami Beach were large, militant, and legal; completely contradicting government charges that we were plotting violence. The subsequent trial, which drew nationwide popular support, acquitted the Gainesville 8 and exposed the government's tactics of lies and infiltration.

On Inauguration Day, 1973, VVAW was again in Washington; 5000 people marched to demand that the 9 Point Peace Treaty be signed and that U.S. involvement in Indochina come to an end.

The signing of the treaty by the U.S. government did not fool us; we understood that the war continued with economic and military aid replacing American combat troops. To bring the issue to the people once again, we sponsored a week of Solidarity with the Indochinese People in October, 1973; in keeping with increased emphasis on community issues, actions took place across the country wherever VVAW/WSO members worked and lived.

As we identified the enemy as U.S. imperialism, we also opened our membership to all people who supported the objectives of the organization. To signal this change, we added "Winter Soldier Organization" to our name, to become the present VVAW/WSO.

HOW DOES VVAW/WSO OPERATE?

VVAW/WSO works through a national, regional, and local structure to allow individual members of the organization to decide matters of policy and direction. Individual members belong to a local chapter and select local leadership (a coordinator, steering committee, or collective). Local chapters are represented in regional steering committee meetings (held at least three times a year) which in turn select a regional coordinator or collective. Regions send representatives to National Steering Committee meetings, held three times a year, where policy decisions for the organization are made; these decisions must be passed by the general membership.

Members of the National Collective are also selected at National Steering Committee meetings. This collective operates the VVAW/WSO National Office, and serves as the functional head of the organization.

WHAT IS VVAW/WSO DOING TODAY?

National projects and programs of the organization are chosen by the membership as a means of accomplishing our objectives. We recognize our obligations to educate people around the continuing war in Indochina and to agitate for an end to U.S. involvement. A program for universal and unconditional amnesty for all war resisters is carried forward by all chapters; many chapters operate discharge upgrade counseling centers for vets with less-than-honorable discharges. In keeping with our veterans and GI origins, VVAW/WSO does military counseling and in-service organizing; veterans' problems are dealt with in PVS (Post-Vietnam Syndrome) rap groups and demands on the Veterans Administration--supported by militant actions around the VA.

The VVAW/WSO National Prison Project works with prisoners in federal, state, and local prisons around the country; in support of members in the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, the Leavenworth Brothers Offense/Defense Committee was formed. Nationally, the organization supports the struggle of Gary Lawton and Zurebu Gardner in their fight against political repression through the Riverside Political Prisoners Defense Committee. Many local chapters work with political prisoners and political trials taking place in their communities.

Another national project is the building and staffing of a medical clinic in the black, rural community of Bogue Chitto, Alabama-Operations County Fair.

Individual chapters and regions work with and support workers' struggles in their communities or areas. Chapters also sell the Winter Soldier paper which serves to educate and to support struggles for liberations of oppressed people here at home and around the world.

HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER

The only membership requirement is to read, support, and be willing to work toward the accomplishment of, the objectives of the organization. To join, contact the national office or your regional office as listed in the paper.