Editorial, March 23, 1934, Page 3
Another Point of View
As many students already know, plans have been drawn for an anti-war demonstration to be held on Friday, April 13, at 11 o'clock. The plan calls for the "cutting" of the third period recitations, a march to L.I.U. for an anti-war meeting, and a return in time for the fourth hour class.
Previously we have stated–and we here reiterate–our opposition to wars of aggression. But war for war's sake–or for the sake of the pockets of the international munitions manufacturers–we can not approve.
To come now to the situation at hand. We recognize that the proposed anti-war demonstration might easily be misinterpreted by the public. Misinterpretation might very well react unfavorably on Brooklyn's plea for a site and buildings. There are opposition groups not only to a site and buildings, but to the continuance of free higher education. This would be fuel for their fires.
When we sponsored the anti-war protest last week we made it clear that we believed the protest would be effective in showing the people of the City of New York that we were unmitigatedly against war.
We thought that the protest of Brooklyn College, combined with those of practically all the colleges of the United States, would show that the students of today, who have been told that they are the leaders of tomorrow, would refuse to lead or take part in any future war.
An orderly, college-wide, efficiently-run protest would, we believe, be an effective student weapon against war, just as an efficiently conducted strike is an important factor in avoiding wars of a purely industrial nature. A strike which foments discord, which attracts attention to those who are striking rather than to the merits of the cause, is not a strike which we are inclined to support. We have come to believe that the plans for the proposed demonstration have reached that stage wherein they will be controlled by an extra-collegiate body whose methods do not apply to this situation.
If we are accused of merely "changing our minds" we remind our readers that intellectual honesty, if it means anything at all, compels us to do so. So–let the brickbats of criticism fall where they will.
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May 20, 2004