(Existing NAM materials are grossly deficient in dealing with anti-imperialism. Regardless of the plenary’s decision concerning the rest of the war and imperialism workshop proposal, it is essential that all NAM descriptive materials include the sense of the following:)

PROPOSED TEXT FOR USE IN NAM INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL

The struggle to build a socialist movement in the United States cannot succeed if it is conceived only as an internal problem. The politics of NAM must locate American working people in a world- historical context from the beginning. We must recognize that a central task of all socialist and working class organizations is the defeat of world imperialism.

United States imperialism limits the development and threatens the lives of people throughout the third world and in the United States as well. Every successful struggle by third world people to free themselves from imperialism weakens capitalist dominance in the U.S.

One of NAM’s goals shall be to develop a coherent foreign policy program based upon the global interdependence of working people. Toward that end NAM should seek to develop a working relationship with groups which are doing substantial anti-imperialist work from a socialist perspective. (Research, education and propaganda, as well as liberation support groups, should be invited to become NAM chapters.)

The most important anti-imperialist struggle continues to be that of the Indochinese people. It is the responsibility of every NAM chapter to insure that its program work is definitely related to the need to end the war. Furthermore, each chapter should seek to incorporate an anti-imperialist perspective in its ongoing education and organizing.

ACTION PROPOSALS

I. The war remains an acute crisis demanding continued action. No left organization can abandon this, thus de facto giving into the myth that the war is almost over. As long as the war goes on, no matter its level, radicals should be in the forefront of any movement opposing it. The decrease in U.S. ground involvement might make our job more difficult, but no less important.

II. The NAM will play an active role in on-going anti-war activities. We will participate on the basis of the following principles:

—Immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops and equipment from Southeast Asia.

—End all wage controls;jobs for all.

—End all forms of racial and sexual discrimination

—Promote the PRG 7-point program as the basis for the peace settlement.

III. We propose the following as implementation projects, as individual NAM chapters shall deem appropriate:

  A. Build contingents for local and national demonstrations on the basis of the above principles.

  B. Aggressively take our programs to working people by organizing, in conjunction with local workers’ groups, rallies at their work places. We should demand that the local unions endorse such rallies, and also demand at the rallies that the labor bureaucrats who oppose the war put their words into actions by mobilizing their rank and file.

  C. Seek to participate in or initiate other local anti-war actions. These may include civil disobedience, being careful that the style of these actions clearly reflect our understanding of who is the enemy and who are our potential allies.

  D. Organize and get on the official ballots referenda about the war for the ‘72 election. The referenda should be clearly worded and include the text of the most recent peace plan of the PRG as a means to end the war. Where this is not feasible, the referenda should at least include a proposal for immediate and total withdrawal of all troops and equipment from Indochina.

  E. Conduct campaigns against other forms of militarism, such as chemical and biological warfare, military/police aid to reactionary regimes in the third world, ABM nuclear testing, etc., using the tactics of propaganda, demonstrations, and civil disobedience.

IV. NAM fully supports the struggles of antiwar: GI’s and Vietnam veterans, and recognizes the key role they can and are playing in ending the war. We especially endorse and support the campaign of GI’s against the class system of oppression in the military. We pledge to work for greater unity of the popular and working class anti-war forces with GI’s and veterans. We also support draft resistance and the refusal of orders by GI’s. An end to the war must include amnesty for deserters and draft resisters.

V. Crisis alarm system: It is possible that a successful PRG offensive this winter could force Nixon into a major escalation, perhaps with tactical nuclear weapons. We need to have laid the groundwork for an immediate and militant mass reaction, both by having educated people to the nature of Nixon’s policy and the possibility of this occurrence, and by having planned in advance a course of action that can be immediately implemented, and a structure to carry it out. The alarm system would leave it to individual chapters to make arrangements for quick public demonstrations in their areas. Each chapter should, in turn, constitute itself as a crisis alarm system to do the same thing in its own area, using telephone chains, wall newspapers, and other forms of communication to spread the word about political actions. (A similar crisis provision should be made for national emergencies, such as Attica.)

EDUCATION

I. Every NAM chapter should devote some of its resources to education around the international aspects of imperialism and the nature of Nixon’s policy to continue the war indefinitely. This activity should be coordinated with other programs, specifically programs around the economy. This should include (a) internal education to develop within NAM a more sophisticated understanding of international imperialism and (b) mass education to make clear the international nature of capitalism and the need to fight it with an international consciousness, and on the continuation of the war.

II. NAM must develop materials geared especially to anti-war and anti-imperialist work illustrating how the war affects both Indochinese and American women. (e.g., issues such as the relationship between CBW and birth defects, effects of civilian casualties on Indochinese culture, changes in sex roles in both cultures, domestic effects of the war economy on women.)

III. NAM periodical publications should include open forums analyzing the interrelationship between U.S. and world issues, particularly those connected to the interests and struggles of working people. Examples include the role played by US banks and corporations in maintaining the racist apartheid government of South Africa in power; struggles of Latin American people against regimes propped up by U.S. investments and control of natural resources; U.S. corporations’ manufacture of complex equipment used in the automated battlefield in Indochina. While avoiding the bulletin board effect, information about the development of liberation movements, problems and achievements of socialist countries, and major international crises should be covered. Guest articles should be sought from specialized research/education groups such as NACLA and The Africa Research Group. Debate should be kept open by publishing exchanges of letters and articles taking opposing positions.