April 15 March

On April 15, millions of people across the world will take to the streets to demand that the United States end its aggression against Vietnam and immediately withdraw all of its troops. In Detroit, the Coalition to End the War has called for a mass march, rally and local school strikes. The Fifth Estate endorses this call and asks all of our readers to join with the staff in participating to the fullest extent possible.

The major action will be a mass march down Woodward beginning at Wayne State (Cass and Putnam) traveling down to Kennedy Square where a rally is scheduled from 3:30 to 7:00 pm. The rally will feature rock music and speakers including Betty Friedan from the National Organization of Women (NOW); Mort Furay, Hotel, Motel and Restaurant Workers; Tom Turner, president of the Detroit AFL-CIO and the NAACP and several others representing black groups, GIs, youth and labor.

Although the organizers of the march declined to speculate on the number of people they expect to participate, most felt the number would well exceed 10,000.

At Wayne State an all day strike has been called by the Student Mobilization Committee (SMC) to support the march and to devote the day to anti-war activities on campus. There will be activities on the Mall beginning at 9:00 am with rock bands and an 11:00 am community speak-out at which speakers from different sectors of the community will tell how the war specifically affects them.

Following that there will be workshops held in the WSU student center from 1:00 to 2:30 on how to end the war. At that time the group will reassemble on the Mall for a pre-march send-off rally which will feature a GI speaking on the anti-war movement within the armed forces.

There will be activities at many area high schools and several have called for strikes and boycotts, including Southfield, Highland Park and Cass. SMC organizers expect many spontaneous walkouts at schools particularly in the inner-city. This has been the case on past Moratorium days.

James Lafferty, Chairman of the Detroit Coalition, told the Fifth Estate that his group wanted to emphasize that the war was nowhere from over and in fact was beginning a process of spreading to other areas of Southeast Asia. “Vietnamization is a hoax,” he said. “Not only is the war in Vietnam continuing as before, but U.S. activities in Laos have already laid waste to 1/3 of that country. The U.S. must end its war immediately or Nixon will suffer the same fate as his predecessor.”

Sidebar: Attention Salesmen

The Fifth Estate may be picked up at our office for distribution at the march beginning at 9:30 am on Wednesday, April 15. Sales will be fast and many with the thousands of persons that are going to be on the streets for the day’s anti-war activities. Papers cost the seller ten cents and are re-sold at twenty; so come in early and get a bundle.

Related

See Fifth Estate’s Vietnam Resource Page.

In this issue: Why March?