Behind the Scenes at the BRPF, the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, and the Russell Tribunal

Abstract

russell: the Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies n.s. 34 (winter 2014–15): 135–61 The Bertrand Russell Research Centre, McMaster U. issn 0036–01631; online 1913–8032 c:\users\ken\documents\type3402\rj 3402 050 red.docx 2015-02-04 9:19 PM oeview bssay BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE BRPF, THE VIETNAM SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN, AND THE RUSSELL TRIBUNAL Stefan Andersson stefankarlandersson@live.com Ernest Tate. Revolutionary Activism in the 1950s and 60s: a Memoir. Vol. 1: Canada 1955–1965. Pp. xvi, 274. C$15; £9; €11. Vol. 2: Britain 1965–1969. London: Resistance Books, 2014. Pp. xviii, 402. isbn: 978-0-902869-60-8. C$21; £13. i. introduction rnest (Ernie) Tate was born in 1934 in Northern Ireland and emigrated to Canada in 1955. He describes himself as “a working class activist without any formal education, politically formed mainly by my experiences in a small Trotskyist group in Canada” (Memoir 2: 164). He came to Britain in 1965 to establish, with much help from his partner, Jess MacKenzie, a British Section of the Fourth International. This is when the International Marxist Group (img) was born. In this review I will limit my comments to Tate’s activities in his second volume relating to the brpf, the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (vsc) and the International War Crimes Tribunal (iwct). Tate describes how the img came into being and some of its main personalities : Ken Coates, Pat Jordan, Geoff Coggan, and in particular Tariq Ali. Ali was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1965 and organized the first teach-in against the Vietnam war in the uk. He was a delegate on behalf of the British Peace Committee to the Communist-dominated Helsinki Peace Conference, visited Vietnam as a member of one of the investigative commissions sent out by the iwct and reported his findings at the session in Stockholm in May 1967. He was recruited to the img, thanks to Tate’s initiatives (2: 240–1), and became editor of Black Dwarf. Tate has a whole chapter on Tariq Ali. “He was a very important addition to our ranks and he would eventually become one of our most well-known leaders”1 (p. 241). Tariq Ali became for the student protests in the uk what 1 There are nine letters from Tariq Ali and five to him in the bra. In the first, from 20 b= 136 stefan andersson c:\users\ken\documents\type3402\rj 3402 050 red.docx 2015-02-04 9:19 PM Tom Hayden and Carl Oglesby were for the sds (Students for a Democratic Society) in the us, and Rudi Dutschke was for Sozialistische Deutsche Studentenbund (Socialist German Student Union) in West Germany.2 Both Hayden and Oglesby had been presidents of sds. Hayden had written the draft of the Port Huron Statement in 1962 and visited Vietnam in 1965, and Oglesby was a member of the iwct, participated in both sessions and wrote about it. December 1964, Ali asks if he can buy two pamphlets on Vietnam. I sent an early draft of this review to Ali, who answered: “Hi: Read your review which I like ... what seems missed out is the role of Jean-Paul Sartre whose involvement was as important as that of Russell ... in fact the two philosophers made an amazing duo. It’s a pity if Ernie left the French out because they were crucial to the operation....” 2 For a well-researched and favourably received book about the relationship between the sds in West Germany and the sds in the United States and international relations between the different student movements in general, which all had one common interest: to stop the United States’ aggressive war in Indochina, see Klimke’s The Other Alliance (2010), where he also refers to a cia investigation “International Connections of us Peace Groups” (available at: http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/ files/document_conversions/89801/DOC_0000538627.pdf ). It shows how concerned Johnson was about the possible effects of the Russell Tribunal. Klimke says that in the report: “People like Dave Dellinger and Tom Hayden stood out as main organizers and international intermediaries, the latter especially because of his visit and contacts with Hanoi...