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Fighting Military Oppression

By VVAW

The history of struggle within the US military is a long and courageous story which dates back to the colonial days of our country. As far back as 1756, a group of American militiamen serving under the British in Canada deserted from Fort Ontario because of intolerable conditions and lack of pay. Since then, there has been continued resistance to oppression within the military to everything from racism to poor conditions, to being used to support US imperialism and foreign dictators. This struggle of GIs, however, remains a little-told story within American society, just as with the story of the veterans movement, because the people who run our country want each act of resistance to appear as an isolated incident by a group of "misfits." It is important to look at the struggle of GIs not as "isolated incidents," but rather as a part of the overall struggle against oppression in our society.

That struggle was reflected in the military even before the founding of our country, but it became even more intense when the US achieved independence from Britain. The wealthy landowners, bankers and businesspeople saw that they were now faced with having to protect their wealth, and they needed a federal standing army to do it. The majority of the people, however, were in favor of keeping the local militias as their defense. They were also in favor of maintaining the principles of the local militias which allowed for election of officers, and required consent to be called up to active duty for more than three months or for service outside their colony. US Presidents from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln tried everything in their power to do away with these ideas and form a federal standing army. By the end of the Civil War, the wealthy people had succeeded in wresting control of the military from the farmers and other working people and they formed a federal army.

By 1877, the strategy of controlling the military proved to be an important asset for the wealthy people, since it was then that they were faced with their first major strike-the national railroad workers strike. Local militias proved to be ineffective in breaking this strike, and General Sheridan was recalled from the frontier to fight the strikers. It was during this struggle that it became crystal clear that local militias could not be trusted to kill their neighbors and that professional army, isolated from the people and disciplined into submission, was a much more effective tool.

The group of people who control the country also had other plans for their standing army. It would also be used to steal the land of the Indians and Mexicans. And as American businesses at the turn of the century began forming monopolies in an effort to accumulate more profit, they also began looking beyond the borders of the US in search of new sources of wealth. It was during this period that US imperialism took form and began using GI's as one of its tools to develop and maintain its resources all over the world. The conquest of the Philippines was the first important example of US imperialism in action in a foreign country.

The interests of the rich have always been in opposition to the interests of the rank and file GI's, whether it means killing peasants in Vietnam or miners in Colorado and consequently there is little interest in seeing that GI's have good living quarters, safe working conditions, democratic rights or unity between Third World GI's and white GI's. All of these problems permeate our society and are just as much a problem for all working people. At the same time that we struggle against this common oppression, however, it is important to understand that while GI's come predominantly from a working class background, the role they are forced to play in the military is in direct opposition to the rest of the working people in America. As pointed out earlier, the federal military was developed for the purpose of serving wealthy group of people who run our country, and therefore the military must be looked at as a tool of those people.

The war in Indochina brought a new wave of militant resistance within the military which reflected the anti-imperialist consciousness which was rapidly developing within American society as a whole. As thousands of GIs in Indochina were refusing to go into the field, avoiding contact with the liberation forces, deserting, or fragging their officers, there were also important struggles developing on Navy ships on the west coast that were preparing to go to Southeast Asia. There were also many cases of resistance at other bases in the US. Many soldiers signed petitions and marched against the war everywhere from Ft Hood, Texas, to Jacksonville, North Carolina. There were also many cases of rebellions in the stockades such as the one at Ft Dix, New Jersey, and the Presidio in San Francisco.

Directly on the heels of this new level of resistance has also come a changing world situation, both within the military as well as for US business interests all over the world. Today US imperialism faces a crisis--a crisis that is being increasingly pushed onto the backs of the American working people through inflation and runaway shops. And with the "Vietnam draft" no longer being used to force people into the military, more and more of the armed forces are being filled by the "economic" draft--that is, people looking for a steady income. That of course means the percentage of the military coming from low-income families, especially Third World people and women, continues to increase.

Once in the military, GIs are forced to play a role that is directly in opposition to their families and friends in civilian society, as well as their own interests. Many people in the military have been forced to act as strike banners and riot cops; others are forced to defend dictators in other parts of the world.

As a job, the military is, of course, quite different from a civilian job. GIs are not permitted to strike or quit, and to see that they don't quit or strike, the system of bad discharges was designed to control them. (Since the beginning of the war in Vietnam, the military has given out over 580,000 bad discharges to GIs who were fed up with conditions in the military.) The military also has a spate judicial system set up to keep GIs in line, called Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The only thing that is uniform about the code, however, is its consistent lack of basic democratic rights. One of the commonly used parts of the UCMJ is Article 15, which allows commanders to fine, imprison and reduce in rank any GI who so much as looks cross-eyed at them. The only recourse that a GI has is a court martial, which could land him or her with an even heavier sentence, including a bad discharge. For Third World GIs and others who fight against repression and racism in the military, Article 15s and bad discharges are so common that they could actually be called a ritual!

GIs are not taking this harassment lying down, though. As the military re-adjusts to the "winding down" of the war in Indochina, and more and more women, Third World and other working people continue to join the military simply out of economic necessity, the level of resistance among GIs is also re-adjusting. More and more women in the military are beginning to fight back, such as Andrea Sternberg (formerly in the Navy), Mary Lou Follett (formerly a Lieutenant in the Army) and Specialist 4th Class Daria Smith (a Black woman in the Army stationed in Germany); more and more Third World GIs are continuing to fight back against racism as evidenced by the walk off from the aircraft carrier USS MIDWAY in June of this year, and the struggle of Black GIs in the Navy in Norfolk, Virginia; more and more GIs are fighting petty regulations, such as the GIs stationed in Germany fighting hair regulations; more and more GIs are directing their resistance squarely against US military involvement in Third World countries, as shown by the struggle of the five Marines in Iwakuni, Japan, trying to expose the role of the US in supporting a dictator in South Korea; and more and more GIs are beginning to fight back behind the military prison walls, as shown by the continuing struggle of GIs such as Mosi Chiwanda Imarogbe (Gregory Jackson) inside the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

As the crisis of US imperialism continue to deepen, so too does the level of repression and ultimately, the label of struggle directed against it. It is becoming increasingly important in the GI movement, just as with the struggle of workers, to recognize the need for conscious, anti-imperialist leadership and organized resistance. Without developing organized resistance the spontaneous actions of GIs will remain only sparks--sparks that will never turn into a fire. As these spontaneous actions continue to grow in the military, GIs are also learning that their strength lies in themselves, and not in counselors or chaplains. Only through their won organized, fighting strength will GIs be able to change the conditions they face.

The struggles of GIs around working and living conditions, democratic rights, racial oppression and the oppression of women can only be seen as part of the overall struggle against imperialism. These struggles are no less anti-imperialist than the struggle to end the war in Indochina. In fighting oppression in the military, just like any other type of struggle, it is important to avoid making an artificial division between "anti-imperialist" work and "day-to-day" work. Every act of resistance every type of oppression should be turned into a fight that enables us to see who the real enemy is.

In developing an anti-imperialist movement in the military, GIs also face several barriers in trying to unite. The most important barrier is racism--a barrier that the brass constantly uses to keep GIs separated from each other just as managers use racism to keep workers divided from each other. The only solution to this problem is through an understanding that the common enemy of both Third World and white GIs has no color at all. US imperialism is the system that we are all struggling against, and it is this common form of oppression that we all share that should be the basis for unity.

Another important barrier to unity, both in the military and in civilian society, is male chauvinism. The military constantly plays on the idea that men are superior to women and that women in the military are there merely to look attractive and pleasant for the men. This attitude among men will have to be constantly combated in a manner that serves to unite men and women rather than dividing them.

At the same time as the GI movement continues to grow, it is of critical importance to link up the struggles of GIs with the struggles taking place throughout our society, especially those of workers, Third World people, and women. The development of this unity with other struggles in this country and with progressive struggles in other countries is the key to final victory over the system of imperialism. It is only through such unity around out common form of oppression that we will gain the necessary strength to defeat our common enemy: US imperialism.

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