peace movement.
Although participation in the Easter marches increased again this year, we now have to conduct the fight against the missiles from defensive positions.
With the SPD out of power, we can no longer hope to bring pressure to bear inside the government party through mass demonstrations and thereby stay the government's hand
Now, we have to show that despite its claims, the government is in a minority on the question of the missiles. We have to do this by forms of action that can mobilize the majority that the polls have shown is against the missiles but which has not yet demonstrated its feelings publicly.
The peace movement is strong. But we are not yet strong enough for our task, that is, to establish our right to intervene in military questions, to challenge
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STAND SP FOR CLEAR After Easter marches, new discussion in peace movement TOGE
the most sacrosanct prerogative of the state, its monopoly of decisions over questions of war and peace.
Already before the elections, the peace movement had begun discussing the argument that it was not enough to show our numbers in demonstrations but that we had to undertake actions that could stop the deployment of the missiles. end, actions were proposed to blockade nuclear-arms bases and likelv missile sites.
Now, a sharp discussion is underway whether such actions should be committed to nonviolence or not. This conflict involves a danger of a split in the peace movement. We saw this at the most recent national conference of the Autonomous Peace Initiative Groups.
The actions proposed fitted into a strategy of civil disobedience. of a spectacular, often symbolic, character designed to provoke the state power Whether or not such actions involve violence, what they all tend to have in common is that they can only be carried out
In order to participate in such actions, you have to be prepared to take risks. You have to expect arrests, fines, and pri-
Those who take part in such actions spend weeks working in groups to prepare for them, including to allay their personal anxieties. They have a great readiness to sacrifice themselves. They are convinced that their personal sacrifices will stir others and impell them to involve themselves.
This is often an illusion. The need for self-sacrifice frightens a lot of people away and reduces the chances of the action gaining mass participation. Severe repressive measures can increase the fear thize with the goals of the peace move-
A lot of people, a great deal more than can be involved in blockade actions, can be drawn into such protests.
Such strike actions represent a qualitative step beyond mere demonstrations. In the unions there are more opportunities for discussing such actions than a
Union leaders have spoken at the Easter marches. District and even regional trade-union councils joined in the call for these demonstrations. In some unions, resolutions have already been passed in support of peace actions in the fall.
We must, therefore, propagate the idea of a national general strike. In order to prepare the way for this, peace-initiative groups must be built everywhere — in the factories, schools, and universities. Such groups must disseminate information about NATO's arms plans and the character of the Geneva negotiations, and build support for strike actions.
All of this does not eliminate the need for mass demonstrations — quite the con-
The peace movement has to show international movement. In Britain, Belgium, and the Netherlands, an international day of action is planned
There must be big demonstrations on this day in all major NATO countries. can show our relation to this international movement best by organizing a big demonstration here on the same date. We have to plan this time for building a demonstration that can go way over the half-
In the peace movement, differences in conceptions about the way to resist have so far been settled in such a way that initiative groups have worked in accordance with the most diverse approaches. At the same time, decisions about central actions have been in the hands of a small group of political organizations. Such methods cannot assure the unity of the peace movement and its ability to carry out coordinated actions.
In the period leading up to the big demonstrations last June, there was almost a split in the peace movement over the call. When the peace movement goes into its decisive phase of resistance this fall, it will need leading bodies of its own, independent of all political parties and recognized as authoritative by all the participants in the movement, in which the various tactical proposals can be discussed and decided upon.
This can only be achieved if a national coordinating committee is built on the basis of delegates, as was done in the case of the Citizens Initiative against the Startbahn West runway at the action conference has to have To that end, the local peace-initiative groups have to follow the principle people who want to go, go."
The central bureau planned by some groups is no substitute for a delegate
Such a body makes sense in* the framework, and under the control, of such a democratic delegate structure.
We must strive to assure that an Action Conference is held in the fall that will be made up of delegates from the local areas. From them, a coordinating committee can then be built with a mandate for coordinating the actions and speaking in the name of the peace movement. The present Action Conference should set the movement on this path.
of personal sacrifices, rather than encouraging people to take part.
In the framework of the British Eas-