Last Sunday's Vietnam demonstration in London was one of the most important marches to have taken place in this country since the War. It was this for a number of reasons, among which the actual numbers taking part was perhaps not the most important. The size of the demonstration was, of course, extremely encouraging; at its peak some eight to nine thousand were marching, and there were over five thousand in the 'invasion' of Grosvenor Square. It would be impossible to list all the organisations participating;. there were numerous Constituency Labour Parties, Y.C.L., Young Liberal and Y.S. branches; university groups from, among others, Oxford, Warwick, Reading, Cambridge, Leicester, Southampton, London, Essex and Sussex; contingents behind the banners of the Irish Workers' Group and 'The Week'. The most prominent groups were those behind the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign banner, which led the march, and the large number of Americans who followed the Stop-It Committee American ‘tank', The only absence to be regretted was that of trade union branches and groups (though many trade unionists were present individually), with the Barbican Workers the sole organisation represented here, This absence can perhaps be explained in terms of a failure on the part of the political organisations in the Vietnam movement in this country, and it is to be hoped that the V.S.C. trade union conference on December 3rd will bring advances here. The long term future of the anti-imperialist movement in this country clearly depends upon it. More important than the actual numbers participating, however, was the nature of the demonstration itself. Firstly, its solidarity position; and, secondly, its militancy. What was important was the political position for which so many thousands marched - a full and conscious solidarity position. The speeches at the Trafalgar Square meeting - notably those of John Palmer and Pat Jordan made it quite clear that the demand of the march was for an NLF victory; ina dramatic speech Tariq Ali linked the Vietnamese struggle with that in Latin America ('Che Guevara is fighting in Vietnam!'), and Obi Egbuna with the Black Power movement. If there was any doubt that this was a full solidarity demonstration, the slogans on the route and in Grosvenor Square must have ended them, Attempts to chant uncommitted peace slogans were immediately drowned by the roaring of 'Victory to NLF' by the vast majority in the Square. The lesson from this must be clear. For a number of years V.S.C. has been subject to the criticism that the only way to achieve a large and effective protest movement is to create a broad front by putting forward a minimum demand (*peace'). V.S.C. has constantly argued against this, maintaining that the only way an effective and dedicated movement could be gathered is to adopt a non-mystified position; to demand not negotiations but solidarity. Last Sunday's events must be seen as vindicating this latter strategy. The second advance was in militancy. The atmosphere of the march as it entered Grosvenor Square was an uncompromising one; people were packed closely together, and could not see what was happening at the front, yet there was never any doubt about what would happen to the police cordon around the gardens; it was clear from the entry into the Square that the demonstration would confront the Embassy from inside the gardens. Two years ago the sight of thousands of people chanting 'Victory to NLF' in front of the U.S. Embassy was a distant aim; on Sunday it became reality. Police efforts to break the demonstration horse charges and skilful anti-riot tactics - were met with a degree of resistance not often seen here in protests on ‘international affairs'.
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