Preamble and Text of Resolutions
Adopted at Conference Against War
Seventeen years
alter the last World War in which millions of workers and students
died, we find war imminent once more;
Whereas, this
emphasizes the fact that the students today are not isolated from
society arid will be called upon to fight should war be declared, we
condemn all tendencies heading towear, of which the chief factor is
fascism;
Whereas, we realize
that wars are brought about through monopoly capitalism, which is ever
seeking new markets and oppressing colonial peoples;
Whereas war and
fascism cannot be considered apart from one another, because Fascism is
the open dictatorship of monopoly capitalism, and intensifies the
international armament race and inevitably leads to war, and monopoly
capitalism is the force making for modern imperialist war;
Whereas, we realize
that students must ally themselves with the workers whose strategic
position in history and modern armies make them the decisive factor in
the fight against war,
Whereas, at the
same time, students must cooperate with farmers, professionals and all
other forces fighting against war,
Therefore be it
resolved. that:
1. We endorse the
call for the April 12 strike, and request all organizations to support
it.
2. We shall set up
a continuations committee composed of three people from each college
which will also act as a strike committee.
3. We endorse and
support the activities of the American Student committee against War
and Fascism, and call for an American Student Congress against War and
Fascism to be held in the near future.
4. We also adopt
these slogans for the strike:
a.
Strike against Imperialist War.
b.
Fascism breeds war. Fight against Fascism.
c.
Schools, not battleships.
d.
Abolish the ROTC.
5. We adopt the
Oxford pledge against war, which states: "We, students, of Brooklyn
College, will not support the government of the United States in any
war it may conduct."
6. We recommend
sending a letter to the Board of Higher Education asking them to call
off all classes: during the demonstration.
7. We recommend
sending letters to the Bd. of Education and principals of high schools,
asking them not to give examinations during the strike hour, and
requesting that no disciplinary action be taken against high school
students.
8. We recommend to
the Brooklyn College Association of Instructors, Tutor, and Fellows,
that individual teachers, professors in Brooklyn College and other
colleges, endorse and support the strike, and request that classes be
called off during the demonstration.
9. We support the
program and organization of the American League against War and
Fascism, The Labor Chest, The American Youth Congress, and all other
organizations sincerely opposing and struggling against War and
Fascism, and we suggest that the continuations committee affiliate
itself with the American League.
10. We condemn as
fascist in tendency the following actions of the present United States
government: the sending of youth to CCC camps; the compulsory
arbitration of labor disputes; the regimentation and codification of
industry which gives great power to monopoly capital; the drive against
foreign born workers; and we also condemn such incipient fascist
movements as those of Coughlin, Long, and the shirt organizations.
11. We are opposed
to the curtailment of academic freedom and fascist activities in
colleges and universities, especially the Casa Italiana at Columbia
University, and the actions of the CCNY and Hunter College
administrations in the matters of the student expulsions, and the
faculty curtailment of student government.
12. We condemn the
un-American activities of Hearst, such as his campaign against academic
freedom; and we call upon the Nye committee to investigate the Hearst
newspapers and Hearst's industrial and financial interests, and any
connection they may have with fascist organizations.
13. We actively
support Senator Nye's investigation into the munitions industry, and we
oppose the manufacture and shipment of munitions; and we call for the
publication of the entire evidence of the committee.
14. We demand the
abolition of the ROTC, which is distinctly militaristic in character,
and ask that its funds be turned over for scholarships, student aid,
and free education facilities.
15. We support the
labor movement as a most strategic factor in the struggle against war,
and whereas the company union is a weapon of the ruling class to break
the organized labor movement, we oppose the regimentation of workers
into company unions.
16. We support the
unemployed workers by demanding that all war funds be allocated to the
unemployed and the passage of the Workers' Social and Unemployment
Insurance Bill, HR 2827.
17. We condemn the
fascist dictatorships in various countries of Europe; and we call for
the liberation of all anti-fascist prisoners.
18. We support the
boycott of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
19. We support the
peace policy of the Soviet Union and its call for the immediate and
universal disarmament, and all other peace policies in other countries.
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