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Vets Day: VVAW-WSO On The Move

By VVAW

Veterans Day 1974, whether held on the traditional November 11 or on October 28, is the first day of national actions in the VVAW/WSO national program. While the reactionary vets organizations celebrate the imperialist role of the US military, VVAW/WSO actively points out the true nature and use of the military, and the shabby way in which Vietnam-era vets are treated.

Nationally, VVAW/WSO actions on that day focus on four demands: Universal, Unconditional Amnesty; Implement the Agreements/End All Aid to Thieu & Lon Nol; Single-type Discharge for All Vets; and Decent Benefits for All Vets. But Veterans Day actions are not a one-shot deal for VVAW/WSO; two months of day-to-day work and many local actions have gone into building for Vets Day; and Vets Day actions look forward to bigger, more militant actions over the next seven months.

Because of the fake amnesty which Ford concocted, and because of the very pardon which provided a place for Nixon to slink away and hide from the anger of the American people, our campaign for universal, unconditional amnesty has taken a big step forward. Hundreds of public appearances, speaking gigs, newspaper interviews, radio and TV shows have taken place around the country. Amnesty forum programs took place in Chicago, and the Buffalo chapter of VVAW has taken an amnesty forum on the road to educate people about the anti-imperialist nature of amnesty and help build the organization. In addition to this work, local chapters and regions have been in the forefront of organizing people to greet Ford wherever he turns up as he hops around the country.

Demonstrations have taken place in Chicago (where Ford came to announce his bogus amnesty plan); in Columbus, Ohio; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; in San Francisco, California (where VVAW/WSO members from Northern California were part of 2000 angry demonstrators who protested the presence of Vice President designate Nelson Rockefeller who was substituting for Ford). In Burlington, Vermont, 2000 demonstrators from a coalition of groups demanded jail for Nixon and universal, unconditional amnesty for war resister.

In one of Ford's several appearances in Burlington, he was inside partying at $50-a-drink with party fat cats; outside, the demonstrators were selling apple cider at 5 cents a glass. Later, during a $50-a-plate dinner, protesters operated a 10 cent per plate breadline outside, underlining the policies of the US government which place the burden of inflation on poor and working people. Before Ford got his dinner, however, he was forced to shove his way through a parking lot full of angry demonstrators.

The demonstration in Burlington concluded the observation of the "International Week of Concern," a week-long series of actions pointing to the continuing war in Southeast Asia, and focusing particularly on the 200,000 political prisoners still held in Thieu's prisons and the billions of tax dollars which the US government continues to squander in order to keep Thieu and Lon Nol in power. Working in coalition with other groups, VVAW/WSO chapters used leaflets, dinners, talks, and guerilla theatre to keep the continuing war -- and US sponsorship of it -- in front of the American people. In New York City VVAW/WSO participated in a demonstration at the United Nations which called for the seating of the Royal Government of National Union of Cambodia as the sole legitimate representative of the Cambodian people, and the removal of the representatives of Cambodian dictator Lon Nol.

In the many appearances by VVAW/WSO members attacking the Ford "clemency," the over 580,000 vets with less than-honorable discharges are discussed and the demand for a single-type discharge is raised. In Denver, as part of actions building toward Vets Day, the chapter sponsored a picket-line outside the unemployment office (filled, as usual with vets, especially those with bad discharges). As a result of days of prior leafleting and talking to people at the phone company, post office, campuses, and factories, there were many new people at the picket.

While all four demands are being put forward at most actions in which VVAW/WSO is involved, often combined with other national or local demands, actions at Veterans Administration (VA) facilities concentrate on the demand for decent benefits for all vets. The anti-imperialist thrust of these VA actions is carried out through the VVAW/WSO refusal to be separated from the rest of the working class -- we demand quality healthcare and education for all the people, not just for vets; and through our understanding that our demands will only finally be accomplished when US imperialism is smashed. Demonstrations, pickets, selling of Winter Soldier, and consistent agitation around VA facilities were all used to build for actions on Vets Day.

Focusing on the VA and its floundering attempts to co-opt the struggle of vets; and, through a series of demands, tying together the struggles of vets and students; Milwaukee VVAW/WSO spent two days camped at the Milwaukee campus of the University of Wisconsin. The action was aimed in part at the "vet rep" program, a new brainchild of the VA to have their own "friend of the vet" on college campuses to personally hand over GI benefits and to help the vet plow through the swamp of VA bureaucracy. The whole program is another sham by the VA to try to use a cosmetic answer to cover-up the real problem: there is no doubt that the red tape can be cut in individual cases, but the "vet rep" can do nothing about grossly inadequate benefits (whether on time or late), or any of the other problems which come from the VA being unable to meet the real needs of veterans. The Milwaukee camp-in exposed the true nature of the "vet rep" program and presented our four demands; over 250 people came together for a rally on the final day.

Around the country VVAW/WSO is on the move; there is an offensive against Ford and his amnesty, against the VA, against the continuing war in Indochina, against the discharge system and against the repressive and racist conditions in the military. There is surge in day-to-day, mostly unpublicized work to build to the first day of actions in the national VVAW/WSP program, and from there on to the nest day of nationwide actions (on January 27th, the anniversary of the signing of the Peace Agreements) in our continuing war against imperialism.