fi~rlnid i)an Dutj
Seventy-seven years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan
under authority of Board in Control of Student Publications
V'Are
the dogs
necessar
By PHILIP BLOCK
THE PEOPLE in the halls were singing songs like "Down by the Wel-
fare Store" and "Amen." About half of them were mothers and
their children. The other half were students.
Prosecuting Attorney Delhey entered the hall flanked by Sheriff
Douglas Harvey and several plainclothes detectives.
"My name is William F. Delhey, prosecuting attorney for this
County. This building is closed according to the resolution of the
County Board of Supervisors. Under law you are commiting criminal
trespass. We will wait five minutes after which you will be placed under
arrest."
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich.
News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in. The Michigan Daily exp ress the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1968
r
NIGHT EDITOR: HENRY GRIX
Welfare children:.
To school with torn pants
NOTHING in the recent past has
brought the plight of the American
poor to the attention of the general pub-
lic better than the Poor People's March
on Washington. All too often, however,
marches of this kind which attract wide
news coverage and public comment lose
momentum before they can be translated
into meaningful programs for the people.
The results of such misfortune are now
being brought home to the poor of Wash-
tenaw County.
The Washtenaw county mothers receiv-
ing Aid, to Dependent Children (ADC)
benefits from the state say they cannot
send their children to school on the $9-a-
month allowance they receive for the
clothing and personal expenses of each
child. They have begun and will continue
to demonstrate, sit-in, and if necessary,
be arrested to dramatize their demands to
the public and the welfare officials. Tues-
day's blockade of the social services offi-
ces in the County Building gave proof of
their determination.
The demands for immediate assistance
in essential needs were not completely
unforeseen by the welfare workers. The
mothers report that they have repeatedly
expressed their needs throughout the
summer to each of their case workers,
but that no assistance has been provided.
The lack of preparation to meet these
demands by the welfare department has
shown its ineffectiveness and short-
sightedness in anticipating and providing
for the needs of its clients. The general
assistance fund, originally earmarked for
families unable to qualify f o r welfare
benefits, has been, at the request of the
County Board of Supervisors, taken into
consideration as a possible source of
funds. This and other possible sources
should have been sought out long before
the week the children were expected to
return to school.
ACCORDING to Leon Cohan, Deputy At-
torney General for the State of Mich-
igan, Attorney General Frank Kelley sent
a letter to Bernard Houston, State Direc-
tor of Social Services, giving the opinion
that if an ADC mother did not have suf-
ficient funds to clothe her children for
school, it could be considered as an emer-
gency under the state ADC act. Under
this act the mother would then qualify
for emergency funds.
There seems to be general agreement
among the parties involved as to the va-
lidity of the requests of the women, Few
questioned their plight related in passion-
ate and sometimes tearful accounts.dur-
ing the series of meetings held for the
past few days. The only barrier t h a t
seems to remain is the monetary o n e,
which should be resolved without delay.
The mothers, as a group, h a v e been
meeting with welfare officials since last
Thursday. Their time is being unneces-
sarily wasted. As of yesterday, the best
offer they received was a flat rate of $40
per child instead of the requested mini-
mum of $12.0. The mothers will not settle
for the lower figure, which they consider
unrealistic to the needs of their individ-
ual cases.
So, while the social services officials
and the County Board of Supervisors con-
tinue to haggle, many of the ADC child-
ren will start school. In last year's pants
torn at the knee, and a little cramped in
the toes of last year's shoes, they will
compete for an illusive but prized spot in
our great society.
-MARY WOLTER
THEN HARVEY spoke to the crowd, but they didn't listen to him
very much either. He said that he didn't want anyone to get hurt.
One black student got up and said that he had heard that there
were dogs downstairs, but he didn't see why-they had to be used, since
everybody was being non-violent. Harvey said nothing.
I asked Delhey about the dogs. He said he hadn't heard anything
about them. Later one reporter said that he saw six police dogs being
led into the building just before the arrests.
Up to now the mood had been one of optimism. But soon it would
change.
The five minutes were up, and I decided to leave.
As I turned the corner to go down the main hall toward the front
of the building I saw what may soon be called Harvey's army.
TWO COLUMNS of deputies were walking along the wall toward
me.
Then I started to think of Chicago--how we reacted to it with
great disgust while not knowing what it was like at all. Now I was
beginning to see what it was like to force people to put their thoughts
into action.
I ran around to the back of the building where they would be
taking out the arrested protesters.
Escorted, dragged and sometimes carried by two deputies on each
side, each protester was brought
out and thrown into the paddy
wagon which was parked at the
rear of the building. They some-
how forced twenty of them into
"w the wagon and drove toward the
exit of the parking lot.
4
Police evacua te detonstrators
Phoographs by Andy Sacks
#
ALL OF A sudden the back door
of the paddy wagon burst open.
Apparently caused by the crush
of the people inside. For several
seconds everybody just stopped
and watched the deputies in the
front cab get out, curse the pro-
testers and close the doors again.
Nobody inside the screened wagon
made a move to get out when the
doors had opened.
I ran over to the County Jail
across the street so I could see
how they would handle the un-
loading procedure.
As they dragged the ',prisoners"
from the wagon,-I heard hundreds
of curses being spewed out at the
"fascist pigs."
Sgon the bus carrying the rest
of the prisoners arrived. In the
first wagon there were only stu-
dents, many of whom had been
arrested several times before and
almost expected the type of treat-
ment that the deputies handed
out. In the bus were the ADC
mothers and I could' hear their
screamingrand crying before they
even entered the jail's ;parking lot.
pf
Rationalizing violence
Pickets at County Building Alone after the arrests
THE ANNOUNCEMENT that President
Johnson's commission on violence will
inavestigate the disorder in Chicago dur-
ing the convention should perhaps be
greeted with wry amusement.
The commission, all but forgotten
three months after its birth, should have
been allowed to die quietly under the
weight of its own ineffectuality. But now
a rather impotent commission has de-
cided that the violence that led to Sen-
ator Kennedy's death is not enough of a
raison d'etre for its continued investiga-
tions.
Too often this kind of commission is
appointed by political leaders who feel
that they must demonstrate to their pub-
lic that they are doing somehing about
an unalterable and tragic event.
The commission on violence seemed
doomed to this fate from its inception.
The controversy surrounding the Warren
Commission's shoddily researched conclu-
sions destroyed any aura of credibility
for the public.
Almost immediately after Johnson ap-'
pointed his commission on violence,
Arthur Schlesinger Jr. attacked the selec-
tion of its members. He said that certain
members had already pre-judged the
facts surrounding Senator Kennedy's
assassination, which limited the possi-
bility of an objective investigation.
The commission on violence sunk quick-
ly into oblivion. Until the announcement
that they had volunteered to investigate
Chicago, most people had forgotten that
the commission even existed. But now it
has come back into the spotlight think-
ing that somehow it can render the pub-
lic some additional service.
FROM THE taxpayers' point of view, we
should all be grateful to the unselfish
devotion of the commission. At least the
expense of appointing still another com-
mission can be saved. Yet from the point
of view of the establishment of the Demo-
dratic Party, Mayor Daley and the Chi-
cago police - the gain may even be
greater.
The television coverage of the police
behavior during the demonstration in
Chicago convinced 'many people that the
police acted with undue and often savage
brutality. Many think that these attacks
were ordered by Mayor Daley and perhaps
even by the coterie who were the Demo-
cratic convention.
Daley, of course, claims that the news
coverage was one-sided. Naturally, he and
the new Democratic team will appreciate
any efforts to absolve them from respon-
sibility for their role il the Chicago dis-
order.
iBut y it seems that the commission,
whose existence has certainly little effect
onf the amount of violence, will have to
do some incredible investigation to pin
much of the blame on the anti-war dem-
onstrators for all the bloodshed in Chi-
cago
TOO MANY people saw what happened
in Chicago through television cover-
age. No matter what the commission
finds, it is unlikely that many people will
forget the scenes of police and youths
flashing on the screen.
And once again, nothing really will
happen. The commission will not change
many minds. The forces of the establish-
ment have lost face and now make an
attempt to regain prestige. A kindly
jesture, but an unconvincing cover-up.
-STEVE ANZALONE
Changing the raules of party politics
By
BRUCE LEVINE
Editor's note: Bruce Levine
is administrative vice-president
of SGC and a member of Voice-
SDS.
NTIL t h e Convention, people
with little knowledge of the
Democratic Party might sincerely
have believed in the possibility of
"taking it over" and "making it
into the kind of party we want."
No longer.
The events of the last week in
August have dispelled such illus-
ions. The police state tactics. The
gallery-packing ("We have Mayor
Daley!" shouted all the little ma-
yor Daleys). The packing of the
credentials and platform commit-
tees. T h e rather unique gavel-
wielding ("Ifthereisno objection
wewillallowthe hacksto continue
runningthenpartyhearing gone itis
soordered").
And of course, t h e s e goodies
were only those visible to the TV
camera. Hidden was the backstage
maneuvering of the national com-
mittee, the threats to rebellious
local party members of patronage
lost and to restive local candidates
of endorsement and funds with-
held.
THE MACHINE MEN are pro-
fessionals, and their first conside-
ration is to keep power. T h e y
would therefore much prefer to
run a hackrand risk losing an elec-
tion than run an unknown quan-
tity, who, while a better bet in
November, is also far too irrespon-
sible (independent) for machine
tastes, thank you. From the point
of view of the professionals, it is
far better to lose votes than con-
trol.
To change the Democratic Par-
ty from within, therefore, the ma-
chine (shorthand for assorted
hacks, regulars and ward-healers)
will have to be forced from power.
Working with it, infiltrating it,
coercing it, scaring it - that's
dreaming.
But even assuming such a coup,
what follows? Presumably the ma-
chine will not sit idly twiddling its
thumbs, smiling like an idiot.
Forced from control, its very life
is threatened. It will fight for that
life. Nor are the battle tactics dif-
ficult to imagine. Those w h o in
have been .ousted f r o m power,
deed lost control, will simply pick
up and ,get out, open up s h o p
across the street, call themselves
the "True Democratic Party," de-
nounce the opposition as Reds
who've grabbed control of the
Democratic Party for their own
insidious, un-American purposes.
Humphrey used similar tactics to
destroy the radicals in the Min-
nesota Democratic Farmer-Labor
Party.
AND IF, through all this, the
storm is weathered, what has been
won? Control of the Democratic
P a r t y? Nonsense. Presumably,
what makes the Democratic Par-
ty worth capturing in the eyes of
men like Al Lowenstein is that it
is already a smoothly-functioning,
nationally-operating, prestigious,
powerful, and respected organiza-
tion.
Once the party has been "taken
over", it will cease to be all these
things. The kind of prestige which
it now commands will not survive
I ,
above. The national scope a n d
smooth operation will disappear
with the machine that makes it
possible. With gavel in hand, the
reformer will preside over an em-
pty hall, having captured only
himself.
It is time for a new politics. It
is time for us to open up across
the street, for us to denounce the
hacks as manipulators who use
people for their own purposes.
It is time for us malcontents to
identify ourselves as such in no
uncertain terms. To make clear to
the public that we are not content
to work within so corrupt an or-
ganism as the Democratic Party
machine. That we are democrats
(small d), and do not believe in
using people for whatever purpose.
T h a t in order to make crystal
clear that we mean our movement
to be democratic, we are starting
fresh, from scratch if you please,
and that we are going to build a
party which will be simply t h e
mnvomPnt. fnr npn.t+a with frpPtlnm rm.dittAli7.AM And wbpr
t h e smear campaign outlined electoral arm of a much larger confused, the impatie
nt and the
n woc r
movement for peace withi freedom.
IT WILL BE a party unlike the
Democratic or Republican, one
which doesn't spend four years in
preparation for a ritual ballot-box
-stuffing. We will instead spend
those four years working in the
community to construct a move-
anent and institutions capable of
m a k i n g "meaningful social
change" something more than
jargon.
This means such things as mem-
bership control over the party, the
platform, the candidate, you-
name-it. This means a determina-
tion to eliminate the ubiquitous
gavel-pounder of whatever politi-
cal shade. And it means a final
abandonment of the dead-end' of
"permeationist" politics in favor
of the politics of opposition. We
are not out to win the Democratic
Party's game. We are out to
change the rules.
We will receive the disgusted,
the enlightened, the angry, the
radicaized. And whnen we sarz
out declaring ourselves as oppon-
ents of the system; as activists
first, politicians incidentally; as
angry radicals rather than bloated
Babbitts - with all this clear
from the start, no amount of "rev.
elations" or "exposures to that
effect by the Democratic Party
machine can harm us.
If we are powerful only through
the people, we need make no com-
promises except with the people.
And if it can't be done with the
people, it can't be done. And it
shouldn't be done.
FINE, WE NEED a new party,
a democratic, radical (or radical-
izing) party. Now what must be
its minimum credentials? Aside
from ,democracy, radicalism and
militance, thereremains at least
one more requirement. Unless' we
want to play in-again-out-again
with futility, the party's absolute
minimum position must include
total opposition to the Democratic
party and its candidates at all
levels.
It should be clear by now that
this isn't just way-out, far-out
leftist dogma. Unless we want to
get sucked back into "tactical al-
liances" with the machine; into
playing hack games; into com-
promising issues, principles, post.
tions as well as our independent
opposition itself-unless we want
to be absorbed by a structure far
more adept than we are at game-
playing and dealmaking (i.e., the
Democratic Party)-we must an-
nounce as a basic principle a re-
fusal to associate ourselves in any
way with the standard parties.
We cannot deal with them be-
cause we cannot beat them at
their own game. We cannot make
deals as well as they do, confuse
issues as they do, fudge cam-
paigns, water-down principles with
the skill that they have. A two-
bit carbon copy of the Democratic
Party will never be as good as the
original. If we want to play those
games, we should stay' in the
Democratic Party.
THE CONCEPT of a new party
outlined above is not utopian. For
at least a year people have been
working on just such a project.
In Michigan, the New Politics
Party is already on the ballot.
V
4
Not enough for Biafra
NIGERIA finally agreed Monday to tem-
porarily loosen the deadly blockade it
has been maintaining on the inflow of
vital food and medicine into the strug-
gling secessionist state of Biafra.
Now, the thousands of starving civil
war refugees can look forward to a ten-
day respite from the necessity of relying
solely on the bare fraction of needed sup-
plies which the Red Cross and other pri-
vate groups have been sneaking in by
gle thing to preserve human life in Bia-
fra.
IT SEEMS that the U.S. economy is suf-
ficiently delicate that the needs of
starving masses in Biafra and other de-
veloping nations must be sacrificed to
maintain it.
Struggling farmers such as Sen. James
Eastland (D.-Miss.) must be paid to de-
stroy crops desperately needed in non-
I
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