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Open Letter from NYC VVAWBy Ben Chitty, David Cline, Clarence Fitch, Mike Gold, Greg Payton, and Steve SomersteinPhoney VVAW and "Revolutionary communist Party's" VVAW A.I. The following letter was sent out by the coordinating committee of the New York/New Jersey VVAW chapter. During the late 1960's and early 1970's, the Revolutionary Communist party, took progressive stands on issues such as ending the war in Vietnam, the rights of veterans, and the needs of minorities and of poor and working people. Because VVAW members agreed with many of these positions, VVAW worked with the RU (and RPC) on a number of projects. As the 1970's ended, however, the RCP began to take positions which were further and further removed from reality and from anything of interest to anyone except the few members who still belonged to the RCP. VVAW found it necessary to make clear that we had no connection with the RCP cult, which is why VVAW eventually filed suit in a Chicago court to forbid the RCP from using and perverting the name of our organization. In most places around the country the RCP does not exist and no one cares. In a few spots—nearby the New York city area and some places on the West Coast—the RCP-dominated version of VVAW causes some confusion. To address that confusion, the leaders of the New York/New Jersey Chapter of VVAW wrote the following letter]: BEWARE OF "VVAW-AI" Recently, it has come to our attention that a handful of people in the New York/New Jersey area have been representing themselves as the Vietnam Veterans Against the War—"Anti Imperialist. This letter is to set the record straight regarding that outfit. "VVAW-AI" is not a faction, caucus or part of VVAW. It is not affiliated with us in any way. "VVAW-AI" is actually the creation of the Revolutionary Communist Party, an ultra-left sect whose main activities appear to be to pump up the rhetoric level and disrupt any organization or movement they get involved in and to create provocations and violent confrontations at demonstrations whenever possible. In 1978, after becoming politically isolated, a few of these clowns began putting out leaflets claiming they were the "real VVAW." At that time our national office initiated legal action and, in an out-of-court settlement, the frauds agreed to stop using our name and insignia. For a long time these people have dropped out of sight; recently they have resurfaced calling themselves "VVAW—AI") and hoping to cash in on the current veterans' peace movement. They have met with little success however and have been excluded from the Veterans Peace Coalition as well as last summer's Veterans Peace Convoy To Nicaragua because of their dishonesty. Their newly formed "NY-NJ Chapter" is nothing new either. Previously, the three individuals involved—Joe Urgo, Skip Delano and Dave Blalock—called themselves the Vietnam Veterans United To Prevent World War III, a mouthful of a name but not much of an organization. Now they have come up with this new scheme to pimp off of VVAW's history and continued activism. They recently put out a pamphlet claiming that there are "two VVAW's" in this area. They know this is a lie. None of them can even claim involvement in VVAW for over 10 years. Their purpose is obvious—create confusion and deception in order to promote themselves. Our organization was formed 22 years ago when 6 vets marched under a banner declaring themselves to be Vietnam Veterans Against the War at a major peace demonstration in New York City. Within the next few years, chapters formed throughout the country and we became a national organization. We take pride in being the founding chapter and have continued operations in this area since that time. Over the past few years, we have been conducting a successful program of having veterans speak to young people in the schools about the war and the military. We continue to fight for justice for veterans. We are active in the movement against the war in Central America. Together with Veterans for Peace, we sponsored "Big City," a 2 1/2 ton truck on the Veterans Peace Convoy which is now being used for housing construction in Nicaragua. Last December, two of our members went back to Vietnam on a national delegation, and we are working for reconciliation and normal part of the anti-apartheid struggle. We are proud of our past and present efforts and intend to continue fighting against unjust war and for social justice. We are not interested in political infighting. We will not remain silent, however, when people dishonestly represent themselves and trample on the integrity of our organization. We urge all progressive organizations and people to beware of "VVAW-AI" and hope that we have clarified any confusion they may have created. Signed: Ben Chitty, David Cline, Clarence Fitch, Mike Gold, Greg Payton, and Steve Somerstein—the coordinating committee for VVAW NY/NJ.
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