| Text leaflet opposing war appropriations and military action. Text reads: "Strike Against War! Fellow Classmates: WE CALL upon the students of the United States in high schools, in preparatory schools, in colleges and universities to leave their classrooms on Friday, April 12, at eleven a.m., eighteen years after our entrance into the World War, in solemn protest against the black pall of war that today encircles the world. ALTHOUGH the storm spots shift, the threat of war remains everpresent. Imperialists still cry for new lands and markets and are willing to sacrifice the youth of the world to get them. At present fresh contingents of troops are embarking for Abyssinia. Conflicting oil interests prolong the war in the Gran Chaco between Bolivia and Paraguay. Japan and Germany, although their populations are starving, rocket their budgets in preparation for the march over the borders of the Soviet Union. WE CALL upon you to act against the war makers in our own country. William Randolph Hearst, notorious for his war mongering, slanders and attacks professors and student organizations in his attempt to reduce the schools to servile instruments of the jingoists and the war department. Our government professes peace but, with an eye upon Japan, brings in the largest peace time military budget, including a $4,000,000 appropriation for the R.O.T.C. Student objectors to R.O.T.C. are being disciplined by the same administrations which converted the schools into barracks in 1917. The Supreme Court, upholding compulsory drill, has further entrenched militarism in education. We are threatened with universal military training. IN BRUSSELS last December students from 31 countries pledged solidarity in the fight against war. Just one year ago, 25,000 students in America went out on strike. This year our strike will know no national boundaries—in North and South America students will rise on April 12th and strike against American imperialism. We strike in solidarity with the students and teachers of Cuba who are demonstrating the effectiveness of this student weapon. WE CALL upon the progressive and liberal forces on the American campus to take a stand. We ask the cooperation of the faculty and administration in our anti-war strike. We call upon them at this particular hour when the atmosphere is so ominously like that of 1914 to support us. IF WE are not willing to accept this responsibility, how grotesque it will seem to the youth who will be drafted into another world conflagration. Our lives are at stake. We have no alternative. Strike against war! Strike Against Imperial War, Fascism Breeds War — Fight Against Fascism, Schools Not Battleships, Abolish the R.O.T.C. |
