Campaign for Economic Democracy Part I: The New Left in Politics

(Archived document, may contain errors)

September 1980

CAMPAIGN FOR ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY: PART I THE NEW LEFT IN POLITICS

(Executive Summary)

The Campaign for Economic Democracy is a California-based apparatus with national ties, particularly to organizations that function as parts of the-nationwide network created and-maintained by the Institute for Policy Studies, "the far-left radical 'think flnimkl in Washington, D.C." CEO evolved. dixectly from the un-muccess- ful 1976 California campaign of Thomas E'. Hayden, one of the preeminent, radical leaders.of the 1960s, for the United States Senate; and several of CED Is principal activists are also veterans of the Hayden-campaign and of Students for a Democratic-Society, a.militantly leftist organization-in which Hayden played a pivotal role both as founder and as principal author of its basic manifesto, the "Port Huron Statement." With an estimated 8,000 mem ers throughout the state of California and a cla-im d core of 400 activists, CED operates-with a paid staff of 21 people, a steering committee of 40 members and 40 alternate members, and an executive committee of eight members; Hayden chairs both the steering azid executive committees and has been chairman of CED since its inception. In March 19771 the'Campaign claimed-to have 3.5 chapters in California; the most recent estimate places the number at 30.

Hayden's ambitions are-evident in his statement that "We're going to take over.-The next big generation will be those who came to political life during Vietnam, my generation. The country will be under our influence for a long time to come.." It is, in fact, widely felt that CED exists in large measure to serve as an inst:rumentality for the achievement of Hayden's political goals; it is certainly true that his involvement and thinking have been central. to CED's operation, just as the efforts of his wife, radical actress Jane Fonda, have been central to the organization's fund-raising programs. These programs, which support a budget currently estimated at $300,000 per annum, have included direct- mail appeals, "door-to-door soliciting, speaker's honorarilims,

benefit concerts, and many, many personal contributions," according to a 1978 letter circulated by CED over Hayden's signature. An October 1979 tour by Hayden and Fonda to some 52 cities across the United States was reportedly financed largely by speaking fees of as much as $5,000 per appearance. It is generally felt, however, that Fonda has accounted for the lion's share of the CED budget; an article in the leftist Mother Jones magazine reported that "Through direct contributions, film benefits, concerts and celebrity events arranged through her connections, Fonda finances the majority of cED's impressive budget." Fonda has also opened an exercise salon in Beverly Hills, California, according to one source, "to give CED...a new source of income."'

Other sources of support for CED include organizations interlocked with the leftist movement in general and with the Institute for Policy Studies in particular. In 1978, for example, CED received funds from the Youth Project which "enabled the San Diego chapter (of CED] to hire its first staff members." The Youth Project has also made grants to various subsidiaries of IPS. Funds for a series of major conferences in which CED has played significant roles have been provided by the Foundation for National Progress, publisher of Mother Jones and self-described as "formed in 1975 to carry out on the West Coast the charitable and educational activities of the Institute for Policy Studies-" Much of the basic research data for CED's solar energy campaign is contained in a lengthy study published by the California Public Policy Center, the leadership of which interlocks with both CED and IPS; CPPC also prepared and published a 150-page volume of Working Papers on Economic Democracy that was issued in conjunctioL wit7h a CED--or-g-a-n-Irled Second California Conference on Alternative Public Policy (also known as the Santa Barbara Conference on Economic Democracy) held in Santa Barbara, California, during February 1977.

CED has also reportedly benefited from funds provided through government grants to California groups employing CED-affiliated personnel. Specifically, Barron's has alleged that "Organizations with CED alliances ... have found a place at the public trough via CETA or VISTA money." In Santa Monica, California, the Center for New Corporate Priorities, a group run by Ruth Yannatta Goldway, a member of the Santa Monica City Council elected with CED support, received $126,000 in CETA money reportedly used to place some 57 CETA trainees with several community groups, most of them CED- oriented, the result being that the U.S. Department of Labor's Inspector Generalls.office has determined there is "prosecutive merit" in allegations that CETA funds have been used to subsidize CED-connected political activity. other cases of alleged impropri- ety, reported extensively in the pages of the radical Berkeley Barb, have involved allegations that "the Hayden political machinell has

Channeled federal dollars from Western SUN (a federal solar energy project) into community action groups which are affiliated with Hayden's CED. At the

same time legitimate solar groups that are not affiliated with CED are unable to obtain funding from Westen [sic] SUN.

Put CED members on the payroll of Western SUN. Positions in the federal program tend to be filled not on the basis of knowledge or ability in the field of solar power, but on the basis of classic political patronage.

* Obtained federal funding from the CETA (Comprehen- sive Employment and Training Act) program to pay wages to CED members for doing work for CED. The taxpayer- funded work involved little more than political organiz- ing for the Hayden organization.

* Used a Santa Monica crime control program called Communitasr which has a quarter million dollars in federal grants, to promote rent control and other political projects dear to CED's heart, but con@pletely unconnected to crime control.

CED's activities and programs flow from its fundamental tenet that what is needed is for the people "to name -- and publicly challenge the foul thing" known as "Corporate Capitalism" that is allegedly "the source of our ills." These "ills" are characterized as "its racism and sexism and joblessness and wars and inflation and its sugar-coated poisonings of our minds and bodies." CED's efforts to combat this "stagnant thing in our midst" have included electoral politics, community organizing around such issues as rent control and "tenants' rights," and vigorous lobbying campaigns around such issues as solar energy and "progressive-tax reform." CED's solar energy proposal, SolarCal, was brought into being by California Governor Jerry Brown in 1978; Hayden was-appointed by Brown to serve on the SolarCal council, in addition to being-appointed by him to serve as a member of the Southwest Regional Border Commission. The '. relationship between Brown and Hayden and Fonda is known to be a., close one, a fact which indicates a significant degree of accept- ance of CED's leadership among'elements of the political-establish- ment in California. This is further indicated by the fact that CED numbers among its more prominent members and supporters such individuals as U.S. Representative Ronald V. Dellums.,.United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez, and former California Lieitenant Governor Mervyn Dymally. That CED has enjoyed some practical political success is-also indicated by its claim of *at least 17 electoral victories in California; in addition, Governor Brown has appointed CED members to county supervisor positions in Santa Cruz and Orange County, according to one report.

CED has also been involved in anti-nuclear agitation, in boycotts of Coors beer and J.P. Stevens products, in promotion of "state bank" legislation, in opposition to "expensive downtown 'redevelopment' schemes" and "outrageous housing speculation,"

and in "the struggle to get the University of California to 'dis-invest, the public's money from South Africa." A January 1980 account indicated that, in the area of "tenants' rights," Cary Lowe, described as "a tenants' rights specialist for" CED, had been active in "attempting to form a national-renters' lobby-" And, in another program directly related to "community organizing," CED maintains the Laurel Springs Educational Center at the 120-acre Laurel Springs Ranch north of Santa Barbara, California. Purchased in 1977 for a reported $500,000 (in Fonda's words, "a bank loan. based on future film earnings"), this facility is used "to provide a site for the development of alternative sources of energy, such as solar and wind; waste removal and recycling systems; CED's Organizer Training Institute; and a children's summer camp." One source has quoted Hayden as saying that, in addition to training CED activists, "We might contract also with community or government agencies or unions ... people who have staff to train." Programs at the Laurel Springs site purportedly help people increase their "skills in the fields of electoral campaigning and community organizing or learn more about the way our economic and political systems operate and what CED's alternatives are." Children attending the summer'camp have reportedly been exposed:to "such weighty issues as why farm workers should be unionized or why gas companies should not be allowed to construct a liquefied natural gas terminal on sacred Indian land along the California coast." Such subjects are doubtless part of what Fonda has called the "underlying content" of the camp's program, a fact which makes it of more than passing interest that "All contributions" to the Laurel Springs Educational Center "are tax-deductible."

One of the more arresting aspects of CED activity was a meeting between Tom Hayden and President Carter in the Oval office early in 1978. An account of this meeting, based on Hayden's own notes and published in CED's newspaper in February 1978, revealed that the only other person present was President Carter's adviser Peter Bourne, an early Carter supporter who has been active in such groups as Vietnam Veterans Against the War and the Institute for Southern Studies, an affiliate of IPS. Hayden's account indicated that President Carter agreed with his assessment of the power wielded by "the heads of the giant multi- national corporations whom wedo not elect and rarely see" and that the President told Hayden, "I'm proud to get to know you. I've followed your activities with interest, and I think you've made important contributions to our country." The President also reportedly told Hayden to "send our regards to Jane. we respect her very much." To put such effusions into proper perspective, it should be noted that this is the same Tom Hayden who has been quoted as saying that "Communism is one of the options that can improve people's lives" and that Jane Fonda's public utterances have included her statement that "we should strive toward a socialist society, -- all the way to communism."

CAMPAIGN FOR ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY: PART I

INTRODUCTION

The Campaign for Economic Democracy is a California-based apparatus with nationwide connections that operates as a direct outgrowth of the unsuccessful 1976 California campaign of Thomas E. Hayden for the United States Senate. An editorial by Hayden in the June-July 1977 issue of ced news, the Campaign's official publication, indicated that this effort actually began at some point during 1975; dated.June 2, 1977, and captioned "June 1977: The Third Year Begins," this article opened by saying that "It's two years since the Hayden campaign officially began." After Hayden's defeat in the primaryl- an organizing committee worked for several months to transform the campaign apparatus into a permanent vehicle for radical economic and political activism throughout the state under Hayden's leadership.

CED has a paid staff, a statewide steering committee, and an executive committee. Hayden has served as chairman of'both the steering and executive committees and has been chairman of CED since its inception. It is widely felt that CED exists to a significant degree, if not primarily, to serve as an instrumental- ity for the furtherance of Hayden's political ambitions, although it may be that this view is excessively simplistic; it is certain- ly true that many of those activists associated with Hayden and CED were also deeply involved in the 1976 campaign, but it is equally apparent., based on a review of the available evidence,. that the organization's extensive network of interlocking relation- ships with other elements of the radical left across the country indicates a far larger and more long-term intent, an impression that is in no way vitiated by a statement recently attributed to Hayden by the press: "It's coming. We're going to take over.... The next big generation will be those who came to political life during Vietnam, my generation. The country will be under our influence for a long time to come."* In.Any event, it is obvious on its face that Hayden's involvement and-thinking are central to CED's success and have been from the begimning, an aspect of the

-That this has already begun to come to pass is indicated in a previous Heritage Foundation study; see Institution Analysis No. 9, "The New Left in Govern ent: From Protest to Policy-Making," November 1978.' The Vietnam experience was, of course, basic to the development of the New Left in the United States and has created a mentality that has worked a profound alteration even in the aatioa's foreign policy establishment; this phenomenon is treated with great cogency in a remarkable article, "The Rise & Fall of the New Foreign- Policy Establishment," written by Carl G6rshman and published in the July 1980 issue of Commentary. It is not too much to say that Gershman's article is essential to any realistic comprehension of the extent to which the left has managed to achieve institutionalized respectablity in the United States in recent years.

organization that assumes added interest when it is realized that the person generally regarded as primarily responsible for CED's major fund-raising efforts is actress Jane Fonda, Hayden's wife of several years and an activist on the far left of American political life of no mean accomplishment in her own right.

BUILDING A RADICAL COALITION

According to an informative (and, it should be noted, highly critical) account provided by Justin Raimondo in "The CED Syndrome: The Politics of the New Class," published in the January 1980 issue of The Libertarian Review,

The Campaign for Economic Democracy was founded, by Hayden and Fonda, in 1977, after Hayden's defeat in his attempt to win John Tunney's Senate seat. The group is run by a steering committee elected from local chapters; no public cohvention has-ever been held. Hayden claims that membership has doubled-in two years, to a current total of 8000. Of these, approximately 500 to 1000 are activists who can be depended on to come to weekly meetings, integrate CED work into daily life, and travel for the organization if necessary. Founding members include leftwing Congressman Ron Dellums, and Cesar Chavez. It has a budget of about $300,000 per year -- raised mostly by Fonda and her Hollywood connections -- and a paid staff of twenty-one. The superstructure of affiliated organizations are all tax exempt. The California Public Policy Center researches issues like rent control and solar energy. The Organizer Training Institute does exactly what it says it does. There is even a ranch in the hills overlooking Santa Barbara for staff retreats and a .children's summer camp.

A host of CED associates have been appointed by Governor (Jerry] Brown to various positions with the growing solar power bureaucracy; Hayden himself was appointed by Brown to the-State SolarCal Council, a CED idea that Brown championed as California's "soft techno- logy" answer to the energy crisis. Presidential candi- date Brown also made Hayden a "special counsel" to his administration, and appointed him to the Southwest Border Regional Commission. In recent months, Brown has appointed two CED members to county supervisor positions, one in Santa Cruz, and one in Orange County.

But the measure of CED's initial success is more than the measure of Brown's trendy opportunism. Within the last 18 months, CED members and CED-backed initia- tives and candidates for public office have won elec- tions around the state; rural Yolo and Butte counties, Chico, Berkeley, Bakersfield, Santa Monica and Los

Angeles are all scenes of CED victories. CED has been the backbone of the rent control movement in California, which Hayden initially saw as a losing issue, until the victory of Proposition 13 made landlords who did not pass along tax savings to renters an easy target.

CED claims 17 electoral victories in California, so far -- and the Democratic Party leadership is running scared. Hayden's recent tour is an indication that soon the panic will achieve national proportions. Already, a loose coalition is beginning to take shape around the country; Massachusetts Fair Share, ACORN, International Association of Machinists' president William Winpisinger with the Citizens/Labor Energy Coalition, the Progressive Alliance headed by UAW's Douglas Fraser, as well as Michael Harrington's DSOC (Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee] and gioups like the New American Movement, all share a somewhat common political perspective. All'are committed to working within the confines of the Democratic Party -- and, in the final analysis, the confines of State, Capitalism -- in order to hold their own against the anti-bureaucratic tidal wave which is sweeping the country.

In his June-July 1977 ced news editorial, Hayden wrote that "We've laid the foundation for a coalition of progressive leaders, activists, and organizations" and added that "We've introduced a new concept and program -- economic democracy -- for progressive people to rally around. With SolarCal, we are on the way to our first legislative struggle with a chance of success." The final paragraphs of this article provide the reader with an indication of both the basic radicalism and the political ambition of Hayden's and CED's program [emphasis as in original]-':

We've scored some strategic victories. The election of Ben Tom gave us a base in San Francisco politics where many progressive triumphs are'possible in the future. Karl Ory's election in Chico means an early foothold in one of the fabtest-growing areas of Califor- nia. The victories of Lionel Wilson, John George and others in Oakland is a great step for coalition politics with the Black community.

we've become a real challenge to the'establishment, from the Bank of America to the comfortable liberals in power. We are realigning California politics,'giving a voice to at least one million voters. The (Mel] Levines and [John] Tunneys, liberals of yesterday, are fast becoming the conservative wing of the Democratic Party.

And we're attending to the internal problems of political education and organizational structure vital to any long-term movement. Our children's camp is a statement of faith in our future.

The challenge we represent to established power liberal or conservative -- was best described to me by a union leader recently. I asked him why so many of his union friends are bothered by us. "They-don't know how to deal with you," he answered. "If you represen- ted only po tr, they could make a deal with you. If YOU rel?resented only ideology, they could-take it or leave it. But YOU represent both power and ideoloqv, and-they can't control it."

What both the Libertarian Review assessment and Hayden's own 1977 editorial have in common-is, of course, the emphasis on. political power, what is often somewhat colloquially called "clout." In the 1960s and early 1970s, radicals of varying hues coalesced, largely under Communist influence,* in mass demonstra- tions which frequently had as rallying cries a variety of slogans about the need to bring down the "system." Now, as the nation moves into the 1980s, many.of these Vietnam-era radicals have elected to become-a part of the same system, their aim-being to use the nation's political machinery to effect their go 'als from base of political power on the inside of the very system they were challenging in the streets just a few short years ago. It is this development that gives CED a significance it might not otherwise enjoy.

MEETING WITH PRESIDENT CARTER

This is illustrated dramatically by a "Dear Friend" letter circulated over Hayden's signature by CED in 1978. In this undated.letter, Hayden called attention to "a startling revelation" during his meeting with President Jimmy Carter "several weeks ago". in the oval Office: .

Jimmy Carter's first question to me was whether I was "satisfied" at seeing so many once controversial ideas finally being carried out as national policy. The radicalism of the 60s, he seemed to imply, was becoming the common sense of the 70s.

His question reminded me of something which Norman Thomas once'said when asked if his ideas had been carried out by the New Deal. "Yes", the old social crusader answered, "they were carried out--but in a coffin."

So I'm not satisfied, I told the President. The federal budget, I said, expands the Pentagon's war

*For a review of this influence as it developed in the anti-Vietnam war movement, see Heritage Foundation Institution Analysis No. 11, "The Anti-Defense Lobby: Part II, 'The Peace Movement, Continued,'" SeptiTm-be_r1979-

chest while doing nothing new for our ailing cities; increases a dangerous commitment to nuclear power plants over solar energy; seems to blandly accept massive unemployment, particularly among you -t'h, combined with permanent inflation in the cost of-the basic necessities of life.

The greatest issue, I continued,- is a lack of power to do anything about these crises. Then followed this exchange.

"Even you, the elected President of the United States, realIZ have less power then the heads of the giEt-m:u'1t1nati3n_a1 'coE2orations whom we do not elect and rarely see."

"I believe that's true." He told me. "I've learneil UTa-t these past twelve months [emphas"15_,capital- ME 'on, and punctuTE-1-ori as-in _oE`1`gMnal

Hayden's conclusion was hardly surprising:

That's a pretty blunt--and authoritative--admission about the state of our democracy. And it proves once again that we can't leave our future to any single elected leader no matter how "honest" or "decent" or "competent."

The only force strong enough to offset the power of Big Money is that of a determined, positive and effective citizen's movement.

The importance of such a meeting between the President of the United States and one of the most prominent radical leaders of the 1960s should not be underestimated. Such an audience must, by its very nature, work to confer a degree of legitimacy and acceptance that otherwise might never be attained. As Hayden boasted at the outset of his letter,

Ten years ago when I'was demonstrating outside the White House gates against the Vietnam War, I would not have believed that this year I would be sitting in the oval office arguing national priorities with the Presi- dent. And I doubt that Jimmy Carter's aides expected to be scurrying around Washington trying to find a copy of the Port Huron Statement, the manifesto of the 1960's student movement, for the President to study before our meeting.

Indeed. Such a meeting renders quite credible Hayden's earlier-quoted claims that "We're going to take over" and that "The country will be under our influence for a long time to come." It is noteworthy that Hayden's 1978 "Dear Friend" letter included four photographs on.its first page, two of them of

Hayden with California Governor Jerry Brown and another of Hayden talking with President Carter. Both indicate plainly that Hayden has achieved a remarkable degree of acceptance since-the period when he was "demonstrating outside the White House gates." And it is probably fair to speculate that this metamorphosis, especial- ly when viewed in conjunction with the steady movement of other former movement types into responsible government positions at the national, state, and local levels, may well be the most important political development of the early 1980s.

A lengthy account of the Hayden-Carter 'meeting was published in the February 1978 issue of CED NEWS. Based on Hayden's notes of the session, this account b9g-l'xi-sby citing the fact that Hayden was in Washington pursuant to his appointment "by Governor Brown as a California delegate to the White House Conference on Balanced National Growth and Economic Development." After the ritual press photographs were taken, Hayden and Carter began their meeting: "We were alone, and sat down in two comfortable chairs by the fireplace. Peter Bourne joined us-" As noted by Hayden, Bourne "is an activist with historic ties to veterans and anti-war groups. Along with his wife, former civil rights activist Mary King, he was one of the earliest Carter supporters." Accord- ing to Hayden, it-was Bourne who had "spent most of the week ordering white House staff to locate the 'Port Huron Statement', founding manifesto of the 1960's student movement, so that the President could better brief himself for our meeting." The significance of Bourne's being the only other person in the Oval Office with Hayden and President Carter may be seen from the fact that his background in "veterans and anti-war groups" includes active affiliation with both Vietnam Veterans Against the War, part of the Communist-dominated Peoples Coalition for Peace and Justice, and the Institute for Southern Studies, a subsidiary of the Institute for Policy Studies, described in the 1971 annual report of the House Committee on Internal Security as "the far- left radical 'think tank' in Washington, D.C."*

THOMAS E. HAYDEN

According to Hayden's notes, President Carter began the meeting by saying to Hayden, "I'm proud to get to know you. I've followed your activities with interest, and I think you've made important contributions to our country." Such an encomium deserves to be put into proper perspective, which is easily accomplished by quoting the following biographical sketch contained in a study circulated by a government agency in 1969:

Hayden was born December 11, 1939, at Detroit, Michigan. He received an A.B. degree in English from

*Bot@ Bourne and King are discussed in Heritage Foundation Institution Analysis No.'9, "The New Left in Government: From Protest to Policy-Making," November 1978.

the University of Michigan on June 17, 1961. He attended the University of M@__'Jhiganls School of Graduate Studies from September, 1962, until May, 1964. While a student at the University, he was active in the civil rights movement in Georgia and Mississippi.

Hayden was one of the original organizers of the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society] in 1962 and one of its first National Presidents. He was the principal author of the "Port Huron Statement" that formed the ideological structure of the organization.

Hayden has traveled extensively in connection with his rebellion against U.S. policy at home and abroad. In late December, 1965, and January, 1966, he traveled to Prague, Moscow, Peking, and North Vietnam. He was one of 41 Americans who took part in a week-long confer- ence in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, in September, 1967, with North Vietnamese and Viet Cong representatives. He was one of seven Americans who visited North Vietnam in the Fall of 1967 and returned with three American soldiers who had been prisoners of the North Vietnamese. He was in Cuba for the Cultural Congress of Havana in - January, 1968, at which the United States was condemned for its "role of worldwide imperialist aggressor" and support was pledged to the Vietnamese people in their struggle against the United States. In July, 1968, Hayden was in France, where he conferred with North Vietnamese leaders.

Hayden was arrested during the Columbia University riots in May, 1968. That same month, he quit his position as Associate Editor of "Liberation" magazine in New York and went to Chicago to work with the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam [succes- sor to the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and immediate predecessor to the New Mobili- zation Committee to End the War in Vietnam, both offi- cially cited as Communist@-dominated]. Hayden was arrested in connection with disturbances at the Democra- tic National Convention in Chicago in August, 1968. In early January, 1969, he began a series of lectures at the University of California at Berkeley on "The New American Revolution.11

Hayden has spent his entire adult life vehemently denouncing the "sinking and decaying" structure of American society.

Hayden's close relationship-to, and identification with, the cause of the North Vietnamese Communists against the United states may be seen in vivid form in the following letter addressed by him to a North Vietnamese official, Colonel Ha Van Lau (mis- spelled "Lao" in the salutation):

.June 4, 1968

Dear Col. Lao:

This note is to iiitroduce to you Mr. Robert Greenblatt, the coordinator of the National Mobilization [Committee] to End the war in Vietnam. He works closely with myself and Dave Dellinger, and has just returned from Hanoi.

If there are any pressing questions you wish to discuss, Mr. Greenblatt will be in Paris for a few days.

We hope that the current Paris discussions go well for you. The news from South Vietnam seems very good indeed.

We hope to see you this summer in Paris or at a later time.

Good fortune! Victory!

/s/ Tom Hayden

Tom Hayden

This essentially pro-Hanoi and anti-United States point of view was mirrored again as the Vietnam war was ending. According to an article in the April 18, 1975, edition of the New York Times describing a meeting at the Hayden-Fonda home, ey have watched the television scenes of refugee flight and death with --dismay, but not surprise. They place the blame not on advancing- Vietnamese Communist forces, but on American policy." The article quoted Hayden as seeing "this as a result of something we've been working toward a long time. Indochina has not.fallen -- it has risen. What has fallen is the whole cold war establishment." Hayden also reportedly said he hoped the'United States would abandon its "knee jerk acceptance of right wing dictatorships" in favor of a recognition that "Communism is one of the options that can improve people's lives."

Another aspect of Hayden's background that is of some interest is his attitude at various times toward so-called ghetto violence. His volume Rebellion in Newark: Official violence and Ghetto Response, published iH-1967 after the violent rio-t-s-71-n Newark, New Jersey, included the following discussion:

The role of organized violence is now being care- fully considered. During a riot, for instance, a conscious guerrilla can participate in pulling police away from the path of people engaged in attacking stores. He can create disorder in new areas the police think are secure. He can carry the torch, if not all

the people, to white neighborhoods and downtown business dist:ricts. If necessary, he can successfully shoot to kill.

The guerrilla can employ violence effec t ively during times of apparent "peace," too. He can attack, in the suburbs or slums, with paint or bullets, symbols of racial oppression. He can get away with it.. If he can force the oppressive power to be passive and defen- sive at the point where it is administered -- by the caseworker, landlord, storeowner, or policeman -- he can build people's confidence in their ability to demand change. Persistent, accurately-aimed attacks, which need not be on human life to be effective, might disrupt the administration of the ghetto to a crisis point where a new system would have to be considered.

These tactics of disorder will be defined by the authorities as criminal anarchy. But it may be that disruption will create possibilities of meaningful change. This depends on whether the leaders of ghetto struggles can be more successful in building strong organization than they have been so far. violence can contribute to shattering the status quo, but only politics and organization can transform it....

When asked about this during an appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities on December 3, 1968, Hayden responded:

Now I think that that is a clear statement. It is my own view, as much today as it was when I wrote the book.: I think that what has happened in American ghettos since the book was written indicates that the book was accurate in predicting what would happen. If you look at any daily paper, you see that violence is breaking out in the urban areas, wherever people have no organized opportunities for democratic participation in resolving their problems, period. .

And I think that under those conditions, violence is ofttimes defensible.

Another indication appeared in an article published in the December 17, 1967, edition of the New York Times with reference to a December 15, 1967, meeting in New York City at.which Hayden reportedly "made an impassioned defense of rioters in the Newark racial outbursts last summer and of those who advocate revolution- ary action in the peace movement." This account reflects that Hayden stated "a case can be made,for violence in the peace movement" and that he elaborated on this by saying, "It's not as if violence in the slums and in Vietnam appeared in a vaccuum [sic]. It came only after the failure of democratic methods. When I participate in violence it was (sic] out of that failure not as an expression of psychological self-hatred."

HAYDEN-CARTER MEETING, CONTINUED

Hayden's notes indicate an extraordinarily cordial atmosphere during the oval office meeting, with President Carter apparently sharing his view of how ideas regarded at'one point as radical very often become standard doctrine with the passage of time: "It seems to be a pattern that a reform candidate proposes an idea in one year ... and loses, but the idea, particularly if it's a sound one, is picked up by the opponent and in a few years becomes the nation's policy." Interestingly, during a discussion of what it is like to campaign "while being laughed at" as a relative unknown or newcomer to politics, President Carter provided indications of just how important a role Bourne and King had played in his behalf:

Well, we didn't mind the scorn that much. We had \u239\'95 strategy worked out. Peter (Bourne] here had written \u239\'95 long letter urging me to run years ago, and Hamilton Jordan had.framed a plan for the primaries. In Io4a, I visited 110 towns and cities, and Rosalyn (sic] must have gone to 70 or so by herself. In those places, I was taken sexiously. I was introduced as a former governor, after all, and the first presidential candidate they had seen. It didn't matter what the rest of the press was saying. When our plan worked, and we won that primary, then we had to be taken more seriously. And it just kept going that way. We were lucky, too. Then after the nomination and after all the primaries, they suddenly began asking me about the Middle East, Salt (sic] talks, health care. It changed. It was great. But anyway, it was true, we were considered crazy for trying. I used to stay with Peter and Mary (Mary King is now deputy director of Action] here in Washington after they had moved from Atlanta. They were about the only people who thought we could win.

Hayden had come to the White House armed with 'Isdveral working papers on economic and energy issues" for the Presidelit's consideration, as well as a desire "to open a dialogue with you about the issues we are working on." President Carter replied "That would be fine" to Hayden's statement that "we would like our economic democracy alternative considered as a legitimate part of the national debate, and we would like a way to plug our ideas, suggestions and criticisms into this office." Hayden also expressed appreciation for "your stands on-some controversial California issues - the B-1 Bomber, the land issue in the San Joaquin Valley, opposing the Auburn Dam, providing funds for the United Farm Workers" while, at the same time, voicing sharp criticism of the federal budget, which he saw as reflecting "all the wrong priorities. The cities -are neglected while the military budget rises. It aims at getting the confidence of the businessmen who didn't vote for you but not the confidence of the poor, the minorities - those who suffer most." Eschewing any desire to criticize by "personalizing or letting politics enter" any possible

dispute, Hayden instead avowed an interest "in joining the debate on what the national priorities should be, on the need for a solar energy and conservation emphasis, on the larger question of corporate accountability." These, he argued, "are.going to be the great problems of the future."

The meeting concluded with President Carter saying, "Let's remain in contact, and-I'll appreciate ypur (sic] views. And send our regards to Jane [Fonda, Hayden's wife]. we respect her' very much. And please come and see us here again." Carter also reemphasized his admiration for Hayden: "Again, I'm proud to have met you."

JANE FONDA

Like his effusion with respect to Hayden, President Carter's expression of "respect" for Jane-Fonda merits an attempt to place it in proper perspective. This is because, as mentioned at the beginning of the present study, she has apparently prov 'ided the major finaLiacial support for CED and because she has emerged over the years as a formidable radical activist in her own right.

Fonda's support for such groups as the violence-oriented Black Panther Party is a well-known matter of public record, as is her equally vehement support for the cause of Hanoi during the war in Vietnam. In a biography of Jane Fonda published in 1973, Thomas Kiernan stated that Fonda had become involved with support for radical Indians and Black Panthers and that

While Jane was in the process of learning about the Indians and Black Panthers, she attended a party given in Hollywood for [Italian motion picture director Michelangelo] Antonioni (described by Kiernan as "an Italian Communist"]. There she met Fred Gardner, the attractive, persuasive, deadly serious Marxist who had started the GI movement, had written a book about the Presidio mutiny and was currently president of the United States Servicemen's Fund. Out of that meeting came the real beginning of a whole new life for Jane Fonda.

Another mentor was to be Mark Lane, well-known radical attorney who, in addition to his notoriety as a purveyor of conspiracy theories, has a background that includes active member- ship in the National Lawyers Guild, cited as the "legal bulwark of the Communist Party, its front organizations, and controlled unions" which "since its inception has never failed to rally to the legal defense of the Communist Party and individual members thereof, including known espionage-agents." That such association had its impact on her views is apparent from her April 1971 sponsorship of an organization known as the Wilfred Burchett sixtieth Birthday Committee, Burchett being an Australian Communist reporter who has been identified in sworn testimony as an agent

of the KGB. There have also been allegations that Burchett participated in the "interrogation" of American soldiers held by the Communists during the Korean War.

Fonda's best-known activities, however, have undoubtedly been in conjunction with her extreme opposition to United States policy in Vietnam, an opposition that led her to express the most blatant support for the Communist side. On November 22, 1969, for example, in a speech at Michigan State University, she charac- terized the Viet Cong as "driven by the-same spirit that drove Washington and Jefferson" and hailed them as "the conscience-of the world." In a 1971 speech at the University of Texas, she exulted over the growing resistance to U.S. policy within the military, claiming that "No order is accepted unchallenged" and adding that "We should be very proud of our new breed of soldier. They are not even performing the basic functions of a soldier. It's not organized but it's mutiny, and they have every right." And in a speech broadcast by Radio Hanoi on July 26, 1972, the following paragraphs were especially revealing:

This is Jane Fonda in Hanoi. I am very honored to be a guest in your country, and I loudly condemn the crimes that have been committed by the U.S. Government in the name of the American people against your country.

A growing number of people in the United States not only demand an end to the war, an end to the bombing, a withdrawal of all -- all U.S. troops and an end to the support of the Thieu clique, but we indentify (sic] with the struggle of your people.. We have understood that we have a common enemy -- U.S. imperialism. We have understood that we have a common struggle and that your victory will be the victory of the American people and all peace-loving people around the world. Your struggle and your courage in the face of the most unbelievable hardships has inspired all of us in the deepest part of our hearts. We follow very closely the crimes that are being committed against you by the Thieu regime; the people, the brave-people who are speaking out for peace and independence, who are being put away into prisons, in the -- in the tiger cages.

Another statement by Fonda, published as part of an interview with her and her husband Tom Hayden in the April 1974 issue of Playboy magazine, was equally instructive:

I'm very weary of the thinking that says there are two sides to every question. There aren't .... The question shouldn't be whether or not the North Vietnamese or the Provisional Revolutionary Government commits atrocities in the course of the war. The real question is: who is ultimately responsible for the war? For . those who don't already know the answer, I suggest they read the Pentagon Papers, which reveal that the United

States has always been the aggressor in Vietnam [empha- sis in original] ....

The motivation for such-statements is indicated in a number of Fonda's public utterances over the years. Although her father, actor Henry Fonda, has been quoted as arguing that "she's never been a Communist or a Socialist," Jane Fonda's public speeches and interviews are replete with evidence that, philosophically at least, the opposite appears to be the case. In her November 1969 Michigan State University speech, for instance, she said, "I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would someday become communist." In the same speech, she avowed that-socialism is "a good message, and the more people give it, the better." Similar- ly, in a December 11, 1970, speech at Duke University, Fonda reiterated her views by stating that "I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope and pray on your knees that we would someday be communist" and adding, "I am a socialist, I think that we should strive toward a socialist society, -- all the way to communism (punctuation as in original]."

Closely related to her acceptance of socialism and communism is Fonda's stated position on the need for revolution. The July 12, 1970, issue of the Cuban Communist newspaper Granma reportedly quoted her as saying that "Revolution is a natura! -and necessary part of life; it is an act of love." In like manner, the July 18, 1970, issue of the People's World, west coast newspaper of the Communist Party, U.S.A., carried extended passages from a telephone interview granted by Fonda'to another Cuban Communist newspaper, JuventudRebelde, during which she reportedly said that "To make the reVo__1_u_t1_on in the United States is a slow day by day job that requires patience and discipline. It is the only way to make it." She was further quoted in this account as saying that, although she is "one of the people who benefit from a capitalist society, I find that any system which exploits other people cannot and should not exist." To Fonda, "the system is corrupt from the bottom up" and "is at fault and is the problem-" To deal with the nation's difficulties, according to Fonda, one must attack this "corrupt" system: "While nothing is done against the imperialist system, all the rest will be artificial." The relative hardness of her views as of that time was indicated in a statement published in the December 11, 1971, edition of the Dallas Morning News:

We've got to establish a socialistic economic structure that will limit private, profit-oriented businesses .... Whether the transition is peaceful depends on the way our present governmental leaders react. We must commit our lives to this transition. We can't bow to intimidation because welv6 come too far....

Despite Kiernan's statement indicating a conversion to active radicalism because of exposure to the likes of Fred Gardner, a statement generally supported by indications provided by Fonda

herself in her Juventud Rebelde interview as reported by the People's World, another source indicates a possibly somewhat earlier reason. The February 1971 issue of McCall's magazine carried an interview with Fonda conducted by Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci in which Fonda was quoted as follows:

Four years ago I went to Russia. Inspite of my liberal background, I had been a victim of American propaganda. Somehow the idea of the Communists as enemies had been drilled into my mind. So I expected Russians to be strange people, and I saw such beautiful people instead! So much less aggressive than Americans! I was there for the First of May, and all through the military glorification of tanks and missiles, people were carry- ing peace banners and huge paper flowers and singing, "Peace, we want peace, no more war." And there was a smell of freedom and gaiety in their streets. There was not the tension that you see in Western cities....

Whether such a statement indicates a predisposition toward communism or merely a degree of naivete that is almost staggering in its dimensions is, of course, doubtless a matter for individual interpretation; it is certainly true, however, that relatively few objective visitors have ever detected t 'he strong scent of freedom in the streets of the Soviet Union. It is perhaps hardly surprising that Jane Fonda evolved in her radical views to the point that, in a June 1971 speech in Los Angeles, California, at a meeting of Entertainment Industry for Peace & Justice, an allegedly anti-war group which she served as a member of its steering committee, she was moved to declare that "What is needed is victory for the Viet Cong.11.

The record of Jane Fonda's activities, like that of her husband Tom Hayden, has been dealt with at such length because, as indicated above, Hayden and Fonda, in a very real sense, appear to be the Campaign for Economic Democracy. They are certainly 1-ts most visible and well-known activists; and, while it is true that any organization depends--for its growth and ' success on the participation of committed people at all levels, one is entitled to wonder how well CED would have done without either or both of these movement celebrities who seem to enjoy such a remarkable coincidence of views. In this connection, one final quote from Fonda is revealing, reflecting as it does the view attributed to Hayden with respect to the coming influence of the Vietnam generation on American politics; it is taken from a book by Barbara Zheutlin and David Talbot, Creative Differences: Profiles of Hollywood Dissidents, published in 1978'by the South End Press in Boston, Massachusetts:

It's now possible for people who represent the politics of the sixties movements to begin to take political power. We're not interested in being protestors [sic] for the rest of our lives. We're talking about sponsor- ing legislation. And we're talking about making progres- sive movies, because it's important to build a progressive

culture and to open people's minds. Ultimately we must concern ourselves with pulling out by its roots the decadence that controls our culture, the profit motive that controls our culture. But you can't do.that unless you have power.

MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS

From its inception in 1977, CED has projected an ambitious program of political activism built around a variety of issues. "Vol I number 111 of an early CED newspaper, The Cam aigner for Economic Democracy, dated March 1977, characTe-rized the organiza- tion as "an 'organization of organizers' consisting of local activists involved in electoral politics and community otganizing." A "Campaigner's corner" column in the same source outlined the range of "top state-wide priorities for campaigners for Economic Democracy" as of that time:

SOS...Support Our Sheriff, Richard Hongisto, of San Francisco, sentenced to jail for refusing to evict elderly Asian tenants from the-International Hotel. Hongisto is appealing the sentence, result of a lawsuit brought by the powerful real estate lobby and a judgement by unrepresentative, isolated judges. Laurie Bodendorfer, CED San Francisco activist, is coordinating the effort...

CHAIN ... The California Housing Action and Informa- tion Network, a new statewide coalition to fight for housing rights for tenants as well as homeowners., recently kicked off with a well-attended, all-day conference in Los Angeles. CHAIN held 2 regional organizing meetings in San Diego and San Francisco in mid-March, and is now working against efforts to outlaw local rent control ordinances, and for bills to force landlords to pay interest to tenants of more low-cost housing. Cary Lowe, co-director of the California Public Policy Center, is also interim' coordinator of CHAIN. CED forces are active in CHNIN and related efforts, like the attempt'to pass the Berkeley Rent Control Initiative this June...

ISSUES TASK FORCES ... Jim Gonzales, CED Steering Committee member, reports that the Education Task Force, formed at the Santa Barbara conference, has already blocked a bill to exempt Fresno from implement- ing the law on bi-lingual, bi-cultural education. Task Force members met with San Francisco Assembly member Art Agnos, who succeed(ed] in "pushing over" the bill and thus effectively killing it. Task Force members have also joined with other CED groups around the state fighting the Bakke decision, which reverses major affirmative action gains of the past decade...

ENERGY ... CED forces have been a major voice in the need for greater tanker safety, with organizing Committee member Tom Hayden testifying on a half-dozen occasions in Los Angeles. Hayden and CED mainstay Jan Jones spoke at a huge rally in San Pedro after the''Sansinena tanker explosion organized primarily by the Jim Stanbery for City council organization. CED forces have also been actively protesting the attempt to build a SOHIO oil terminus in Long Beach, DOW and ARCO petrochemical plant near the Suisan March, and Southern California Gas LNG plant in L.A. Harbor. Tom Hayden recently released a letter questioning Energy Commission member Alan Pasternack for his reported strategems in closed meetings to foist nuclear energy on the public.

TAXES ... CED forces continue to push for basic tax reform, supporting the growing movement around the Petris Bill in the State Senate which would make basic structural reforms in the state tax system for the first time in recent memory. CED groups around the state are also active on the property tax issue, with CED San Fernando Valley forces particularly active in Los Angeles tax reform. Several CED chapters went to Sacramento to lobby for the Petris Bill in an action called by the Services Employees International Union (SEIU) ...

J.P. STEVENS ... CED has joined the nation-wide struggle to force J.P. Stevens, one of the most notori- ous anti-union companies in the nation, to comply with the National Labor Relations Act. Supporting the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, CED forces are organizing in California to stop the state from purchasing.Stevens products.

FARMWORKERS ... CED forces support the UFW in attack- ing ALRB general counsel, Harry Delizonna, for ordering arrests of farmworkers in Calexico.-, The ALRB needs public pressure to move faster on union grievances and to certify elections...

COMMUNITY CONTROL ... CED forces are preparing a major battle this June in San Francisco, as business and reactionary forces unite to try and recall Prop T. Progressive groups, including CED members, succeded (sic] in passing Prop T last November, which mandated district elections of Supervisors, thus making'them accountable to the neighborhoods for the first time...

CANDIDATES ... Ruth Yannatta, consumer advocate running on an anti-corporate platform for a Santa Monica-West L.A. Assembly seat, has the strong backing of local CED forces. Yannatta's already healthy chances recently improved dramatically when an expected major

opponent dropped out. Her best-financed opponent now was [sic] a member of John Tunney's Executive Committee...- Barbara Filner, CED mainstay in San Diego, is campaign manager for Yvonne Schultz a community activist who was narrowly defeated for City Council last time out...Burt Wilson, co-director of CAUSE, one of California's major consumer groups, is waging a strong fight to succeed Charles Warren, recently named as Council on Environmen- tal Quality head, in the 46th A.D. in Los Angeles. Wilson, strongly supported by local CED forces, led the fight to defeat the ARCO "advance payments" scheme and various telephone rate increases, is an advocate of public control of utilities and a state bank...

Up north, CED forces have mobilized around the campaign of black Judge Lionel Wilson for Mayor of Oakland, and Jane Fonda has organized a fund-raiser for Wilson, with O.J. Simpson, Roosevelt Grier, Willie Brown, and Mervyn Dymally at Redd Foxx1s house ... CED forces in Berkeley are also working for a progressive slate in the upcoming Berkeley-City Council elections, as well as on the rent-control initiative...

Congratulations to Karl Ory, recently elected to the Chico City Council, who was supported by local CED activists and Tom Hayden, who campaigned for him in Chico ... Short-term regrets, high long-term expectations for Manuel Gomez, who was narrowly defeated for the Santa Ana School Board in earlT March. Gomez, who stands a good chance next-time out, was strongly suppor- ted by Orange County CED members, who brought in CED activists from San Diego to campaign for Gomez the last weekend before election day (punctuation as in original] ...

The June-July 1977 issue of ced news, headlined "SPECIAL ELECTION ISSUE," reflected a similarly varied program geared to a selection of issues with obvious appeal to radical activists. * Included was material related to boycottst-of Coors beer and J;P. Stevens products; an attack on California' State Assembly member Mel Levine as a tool of "Califbrnials most influential corporate cliques"; a hostile assessment of CED purportedly prepared by "a Senior Public Affairs Analyst for the Bank of America" and "passed on to CED by a source within the Bank"; discussions of two unsuc- cessful CED-backed campaigns for seats in the California State Assembly, one by Burt Wilson of Los Angeles and another by Ruth Yannatta, also in Los Angeles, Yannatta's involving "over 1.50 CED activists from throughout the state" and expenditure's of $100,000; and CED support for so-called "nonviolent direct action" against a California nuclear facility:

Direct action in California will be coordinated by the Abalone Alliance. On June 12, CED's Steering Committee voted to endorse the nonviolent direct action program of the Abalone Alliance against the reactors at

Diablo Valley. Two members of the Steering Committee, Chuck Carlson of Ben Lomond and Jan Smutney Jones of Long Beach, will meet with the leaders of the Abalone Alliance to work out the details of CED's participation in the overall direct action program in California and particularly in the planned occupation at Diablo on Hiroshima Day in August.

Participation in such anti-nuclear energy activites has been pursuant to CED's policy of opposing nuclear facilities and promoting development of what it calls "a state-owned solar industry." The ced news article which revealed the organization's support for the Wa-13n-eAlliance also described CED's three-part "strategy in dealing with the Carter/Schlesinger energy program:"

1) support the groups that want to force an early confrontation between the nuclear industry and the "unwilling" residents of the state, 2) participate in regulatory and legislative activities to encourage a real policy of energy conservation, and 3) take th 'e leadership in the state in the development of a state- owned solar industry.

The June-July 1977 ced news also carried a "CAPITAL REPORT" written by one Patti Ligh-tst-one, characterized as a 'ICED lobbyist-" This account indicated particular CED concern with three legisla- tive measures before the California State Assembly: legislation on farmworker housing, a bill restoring the death penalty, and a proposal "for tax reform and meaningful property tax relief-" Lightstone's discussion of the tax relief measure is interesting largely for its criticism of California Governor Jerry Brown, who has enjoyed considerable support from Hayden, Fonda, and the CED apparatus in recent years. As of publication of Lightstone's article, there were three "property tax-relief bills" before the Assembly, one of which -- not the one being supported by CED -- was allegedly being promoted "by the Governor" with "strong help from the Republican Caucus." This measure was dismissed by Lightstone as "a counterfeit attempt at tax reform" that "contains insufficient relief for low and middle-income homeowners and effectively does nothing for renters." Another article, "the public eye," indicated further criticism of Governor Brown, partly because of Brown's appointment of "another banker to head the state's chief business agency" and partly because

Rather than attacking potential Republican opponents like [California Attorney General Evelle] Younger as tools of big business, however, Jerry Brown has chosen to fight propaganda with propaganda .... Following its (made in New Jersey) "California Means Business" button extravaganza, the Governor's office has recently issued an "Economic Report of the Governor 197711 which reads more like a Chamber of Commerce brochure than a govern- ment study. Despite the continuing economic doldrums, the report continually refers to the "overall health"

and "dynamic quality" of the California economy ..... Latest reports indicate that Brown is planning a late- August extravaganza to celebrate the space shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base in Lancaster, Californiiall presum- ably both to push his proposal for space colonies and the line that the space program produces jobs (emphasis. and punctuation as in orginal] ......

The February 1978 CED NEWS continued to reflect CED's oppos i- tion to nuclear power k-a-2-11rt-l-es, this time bearing down on the Sundesert nuclear plant and criticizing Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley for his support of the facility and alleging that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power had "emerged as the main force pushing for" the plant, "most recently prodding Mayor Tom Bradley into an open confrontation with Jerry Brown (who is opposed to Sundesert-)-11 The National Association for the Advance- ment,of Colored People was also excoriated for "caving in to the energy corporations" by adopting a "pro-oil company line on such issues as deregulation of natural gas and nuclear power." In the CED view, "corporations apparently not only take over everything from the media to sports teams, but formerly liberal organizations as well... 11 This issue of the paper also contained a "Grassroots Action" calendar similar to the "Campaigner's corner" column in the March 1977 Campaigner for Economic Democracy:

SAN DIEGO:, Recruiting membership through community education and lobbying for responsible redevelopment. A new letter-writing campaign for SolarCal has begun. New office is at 3000 E St., S.D. 92102. Phone (714) 234-0106.

WEST L.A.: Continuing to mobilize pressure for SolarCal on Assemblyman Mel Levine and to work on a poll on rent control and other local issues.

SAN FERNANDO VALLEY: Planning a day with Tom Hayden on March 8 with campus speeches and a community meeting, and participating in a Town Hall meeting Feb. 25 on housing issues.

ORANGE COUNTY: Involved in campaigns of two progressives, Manuel Gomez for Santa Ana School Board and Larry Agran for the Irvine City Council.

M.A.P.C. (EAST L.A.):' Working with the Immigration Coalition on two fund-raisers to send people to testify at immigration hearings in Washington; working with the Solidarity Committee on a Solidarity Dinner March 11.

SANTA MARIA: Continues work on CED member Jim Woogerd's campaign for mayor.

BERKELEY: Major projects include a women's conference (as a follow-up to the Houston conference) on March 5

and a four-day event around Sun Day. Precinct work to recruit memberr!will begin so 'n. Gained the Berkeley Energy Commission endorsement of SolarCal.

RIO HONDO: Working on a fundraising dinner-dance with Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda in April to introduce the new chapter to the community, and doing research on local issues.

YOLO: Launched campaign for publicly owned city bank, and put a referendum on the city's investments in South Africa on the March ball

Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

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