People's Anti-War Mobilization

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People's Anti-War Mobilization

The People's Anti-War Mobilization (PAM) was a creation of the then Trotskyite Workers World Party (WWP). For a complete history of the WWP and how it split off from the parent Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the 1950's, see the House Internal Security Committee (HISC) report from 1974[1].

During the 1970's, the WWP and its youth arm, Youth Against War and Fascism (YAWF) expanded while the SWP and its youth arm, the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) stagnated and eventually broke into competing Trotskyite factions in the early 1980's. The WWP had a hardcore membership in chapters in each major city and a few smaller ones, but they found out that they could best succeed by creating new fronts on specific topics, so those of the early 1970's began to be reorganized into larger organizations including the domestic issued-oriented All-Peoples Congress (APC) and the defense/foreign affairs-oriented People's Anti-War Mobilization (PAM).

In fact, PAM supplanted, in the national protest arena, the old Communist Party USA (CPUSA) "united fronts" known as the various "Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam" Mobes, and then the CPUSA-created Peoples Coalition for Peace & Justice (PCPJ). The SWP had formed their anti-war front for students known as the Student Mobilization Committee Against the War in Vietnam (SMC) or "Student Mobe", which began to disintegrate in 1973, thought the SWP had created a new National Peace Action Coalition (NPAC) in 1971 to counter the CP's PCPJ. Both began to disintegrate after the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement on Vietnam in January 1973, which allowed the Hanoi Lobby coalition of Tom Hayden to take over the anti-Vietnam movement in the form of his Indochina Peace Campaign and the reformed "Mobe" movement now known as the Coalition to Stop Funding the War (CSFW), which later morphed into the National Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy (NCNFMP), a lobbying group.

Thus the WWP, with its two new creations, APC and PAM, made their move to take over the street demonstrations on national issues. The WWP had led the first major anti-Vietnam protest in 1965 and aimed to retake that position on U.S. military and foreign policies in terms of protests, which they started in earnest in 1981. Over the next 25 years, they did this through PAM, then the International Action Center (IAC) created with the help of Ramsay Clark, followed by Act Now to Stop War and Racism (ANSWER). The signs and slogans of each of these organizations were literally the same in both design and color so that they became immediately recognizable to observers.

While they failed to have much influence on the revived CPUSA "united front" protest organizations of 1982-83 concerning SSD, the placement of Cruise and Pershing missiles in Europe, and related U.S. strategic defense policies, they did continue to hold many demonstrations under the auspices of both PAM and APC.

One PAM protest was held in 1981 (DETAILS HERE).

January 21, 1985 Counter-Inaugural Protest

A major protest occurred on January 21, 1985, to protest the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan as president of the U.S. An ad appeared in the maoist weekly publication "Guardian" on Jan. 9, 1985, P. 6, entitled "Demonstrate Against Reagan's Inauguration". It was jointly sponsored by the All=Peoples Congress (APC) and People's Anti-War Mobilization ((PAM). The following is what appeared in this 1/2 page ad.

"Demonstrate Against Reagan's Inauguration" In Washington, D.C., Monday, January 21 (Locations given),"Let's Unite and Say"

  • Death to Apartheid in South Africa
  • U.S. Hands off Central America & the Caribbean
  • No Budget Cuts
  • Jobs, Equality, Human Needs - Not War!

Partial list of endorsers of January 21 Counter Inaugural:

(Organizations listed for identification purposes only)

For more information, transportation or to help in your area contact: National Office: 19 W. 21st Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10010 (212) 741-0633 Regional Contacts:

Form for making donations. End of Ad.

References

Template:Reflist

  1. ↑ Workers World Party, Report on, HISC, 1974
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