The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign on the March

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An outstanding weakness of this year's Easter March was the political confusion displayed in relation to Vietnam. From the slogans carried and chanted, one would not have thought that since last year's march there had been the dramatic sharpening of the Vietnam conflict, One would not have: thought that a bestial colonial war was being waged against a small nation by the most powerful military complex the world has ever known. One would not have thought that crimes comparable with practically everything the Nazis had done were being committed daily in South Vietnam. However, the intervention of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign in the March did something to restore the balance, The most positive and striking thing the Campaign achieved was the manufacture and distribution (mostly sold) of over 500 National Liberation Front flags. This act alone brought people to think about and talk about the character of the Vietnam war and the attitude the movement should take towards it, The most significant feature was that the bulk of the marchers were very sympathetic to the idea of identifying themselves with National Liberation Front; the opposition to the idea came from a small pacifist and Anarchist minority. However, the discussions revealed a great deal of confusion - even from those who very much want an N.L.F. victory - about the question of negotiations. There is no doubt that a large proprtion of the marchers found it difficult to distinguish between the Campaign's line of opposition to putting pressure on the Vietnamese to negotiate, and the accusation of being in favour of war, On the other hand, the very discussions provoked by the activity of the Campaign enabled a great deal of educational work to be done on this question, Apart from many thousands of an appeal to people to support the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign , supporters of the Campaign distributed 2,000 copies of a message from Lord Russell which welcomed the proposed demonstrations against the American Embassy. This demonstmtion took place in three waves, the first of which, several hundred strong, took place under the banner of the Campaign.