Mayday In Boston

Monday and Tuesday demonstrators tried to shut down Washington. They failed. The flow of traffic to the Ministries of the Capital was not held up more than an hour; the killing in Indochina did not pause for a second. Police and paratroops rounded up nearly 10,000 of them and tucked them away in jails and camps where they could no longer intimidate the President of the United States or endanger his global war machine.

But the Mayday tribespeople made a brave try to shut down the administration of a vicious war, and we who were not there owe them honor and emulation. Their action will be a failure only if their spirit dies in Washington.

Today and tomorrow Boston will make its own stand against genocide in Indochina. Today there will be a rally on Boston Common with speeches and rock music. A large turnout will build for tomorrow's attempt to shut down the John F. Kennedy Federal Building.

Thurday's action is important for a number of reasons. In the wake of yesterday's mass arrests in Washington, we can expect the traditional punditry about the disorganization of the antiwar movement. A massive civil disobedience in Boston just two days after the Mayday actions will serve dramatic notice that the movement will not go away until the murder is stopped.

Further, continued civil disobedience will deepen the sense of crisis in this country. The President, the Senators, and the Congressmen all have seen the results of ?oll after poll indicating that the American people overwhelmingly favor immediate U.S. withdrawal-a Gallup poll several mouths ago stating that 73 per cent favor withdrawal by New Year's Day, a Harris Poll released Monday showing that 58 per cent regard the war as immoral. They have ignored polls in the past, and they will continue to ignore them as long as they feel confident that massive protest will not leave the methods they understand-lobbying, letter-writing, voting in elections. The spectacle of more and more of their constituents turning away from electoral politics and risking arrest and prison may spark a dim realization that the voters can no longer be appeased by delay and futile gestures: that they want withdrawal, and that they will make trouble until U.S. troops and bombers stop slaughtering the people of Indochina.

And a massive show at the Federal Building tomorrow-a peaceful, disciplined civil disobedience by protesters from all levels of society-can build the antiwar movement into a stronger, more confident force, which can suffer temporary defeat and rebound strongly and confidently, without the prolonged soul-searching which has characterized protest in the last year.

Monday and Tuesday our brothers and sisters were beaten, gassed, locked in wire cages, and gassed again. Today and tomorrow we can stand up with them and say no to the plans for end-less war in Asia. And we can make our protest felt.