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fi On April 19 a delegation of four U.S. Communists who witnessed US. air raids
upon Hanoi and Haiphong issued an “appeal to the conscience of the people of
the United States” to force the Nixon Administration to end the “mass mur-
der” bombing, which we reprint on this page.
The appeal was signed by Gus Hall, general secretary and Presidential can-
didate; Jarvis Tyner, Vice Presidential candidate; Rasheed Storey, N.Y. State
Communist Party chairman; and Jos. North, author-editor, World Magazine. ag

~

We who have now experienced the brutal bomb-
ing of Hanoi and Haiphong make this appeal to the
conscience of the people of the United States.

We saw with our own eyes that the main targets
of the U.S. bombers were the heavily populated work-
ing class centers of Hanoi and Haiphong.

We saw the newly constructed working class apart-
ment houses in Haiphong that were destroyed by the
criminal pilots sent by the arch criminals of the Nixon
Administration.

We saw the hospital and spoke to the women and
children whose blood was smeared on the steps as we
entered.

We saw the workers’ quarters where the planes
returned three times to complete their destruction.

This is no accident. Civilian targets are the main
objective of the government. We saw market places
bombed, restaurants bombed, factories bombed, water-
front warehouses bombed, vital water mains bombed.

We saw British, Soviet and German Democratic
‘Republic ships attacked in the harbor. As we crossed
a bridge entering Haiphong, crowded with families
of mothers, fathers and their children, a U.S. plane
streaked above us and people. scrambled for their
lives.

We saw the same in the beautiful capital of Hanoi
where we experienced two waves of bombers. It was
the same in peaceful country villages by the rice
paddies where we met a farmer whose friends, a
family of seven, had been killed in that morning’s
raid.

We have now seen the crushed bodies of little girls
who only moments before played peacefully with their
dolls, and the bodies of small boys whose friendly
games of marbles were disrupted forever by the mas-
sive tonnage of U.S. bombs. We saw the: shattered
hands of workers who will never again be able to
provide for their families. We saw some who were
blinded by the flying debris.

In the name of our own children we appeal to all

Americans to save the children of Vietnam, Cam-
bodia and Laos. We appeal to your humanity, com-
mon sense and reason. ‘

We who have seen the iron will, the unprecedented
courage, the unbreakable determination, the united,
unflinching commitment of the Vietnamese people in
their struggle for national salvation against U.S. im-
perialism appeal to all Americans who value human
life and dignity. :

We appeal to you to see the Vietnamese love of life
as your own, to see the Vietnamese people’s struggle
for social progress as your own, to act now to save

Cicaiitiaie peng Sisnster.

Those who thought that the withdrawal of troops
was intended to end the aggression in Indochina now
see that it was Nixon’s camouflaged way of escalating
the war via criminal air power—the new Mylais of
the B-52’s—that are designed to undertake an im-
possible task to break the unshatterable will and
determination of the Vietnamese people.

This is why the targets are heavily populated cen-
ters and not the so-called military objectives. This we
saw with our own eyes—the genocidal policies of the
Nixon Administration. Now that we know this, we
must act now or accept the verdict of humanity of
complicity by complacency in mass murder, in geno-
cide.

As long as the aggression continues we cannot, as
Americans, escape the stigma of what is a national
shame. As long as the bombing goes on, we can never
wash off the blood of the millions of victims of U.S.
imperialist aggressors.

We know these murder policies of aggression are
dictated not by the will of the people, or even of the
U.S. Congress, but by the giant monopoly corpora-
tions—the Rockefeller, Morgan, I.T.T. interests, etc.,
who maintain and extend their riches through the
destruction and suffering of the Vietnamese and other
peoples of the world. : :

We must see, though, that we bear a responsibility
as long as these acts of barbarism are perpetrated in
our name.

The bombings are the work of desperate men gone
insane, Nixon, Kissinger, Agnew, these Dr. Strange-
loves of Washington.

The victories of the Vietnamese National Libera-
tion forces have created a totally new situation. They
have virtually destroyed the best of the puppet troops.
They have shattered once and for all Nixon’s hoax
of Vietnamization. As the Pentagon-trained Thieu mer-
cenaries turn their guns and tanks on U.S. puppet
troops, the arrogant predictions of General Creighton
Abrams and Defense Secretary Melvin Laird go up
in smoke.

The retaliation bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong has
smashed to smithereens Nixon’s phony “peace for
generations” fraud. This insane act destroyed the
illusion that Nixon’s troop withdrawals were ever
intended to lead to the end of the aggression in
Indochina.

This is a moment of great danger. Nixon’s irrespon-
sible acts of desperation are those of a mad butcher
and can lead to a world confrontation. But above all
else, the very acts of desperation have opened up
momentous possibilities of putting an end to the
aggression now.

‘ Wy
The escalation of the bombing has set int? vat

an escalation of the world’s struggle agains
imperialism. It has created a new stage in thé
gle. It will let loose the greatest waves 7
imperialist movements to date.

But we in the United States have the main ef,
sibility. In meeting this challenge we will be © ag

our responsibility to ourselves and to all the i
of the world.

We appeal to all Americans: to every shoP vA
to all members of the trade union movem
peace and democratic-minded Americans, ' jag!
Americans, to all Chicano, Puerto Rican, 0",
Asian Americans, to the youth, to the students 0
women, to the veterans, to the unemploy®™ |
intellectuals, to all who feel the impact of the
a thousand different ways—on our living stan
our taxes, on the decline of our cities, OM ©)
tion of racism, and the destruction: of der
rights. aa

We appeal to all whose sheer humanity is a
by this war. a

This moment in history cries out for unity in
This is a moment when we must unite a? F
trate our total efforts to end this criminal W47
this mass murder, to end this imperialist 482) )

An absolute precondition for the right of |
namese people to determine their destiny oa
withdrawal of all U.S. military forces from ,
These actions must continue on every level ¢
localities. These actions must be intensifie@
and scope, until the U.S. Government retum
Paris negotiations in good faith, until it a
just seven-point program of the Provision@
tionary Government of South Vietnam. 5

These actions must continue until the U. all |
ment sets the date for the withdrawal of 8 he
from Southeast Asia — the ground troop of!
Navy, the U.S. Airforce, the CIA and all
personnel!

There have been many important act
U.S. on behalf of peace since this wat it
moment cries out now for the greatest UP
of us all—to achieve the end of this W4
of our people and the peoples of VietR®
Indochina, on behalf of human progress, on
our children and all children of the worlds. it

We make this appeal from the air-raid "dl

Hanoi. eed gt"
SIGNED: Gus Hall, Jarvis Tyner, Rash

Joseph North. Delegation, Communist

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