The author was present at the historic Columbia University revolt of April 1968, when students took over the campus to protest the racism behind the construction of a new gymnasium and the university’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
Like many alienated youth of the late 1960s, I had run away from home to join the hippie subculture of New York’s Greenwich Village. At that time, there were a number of radical left organizations working to fulfill their revolutionary agenda. I worked with Mobilization against the War and the Greenwich Village Peace Center—a way station on the underground railroad—moving draft resisters and deserters to safety in Canada.
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As I would find out later, all entrances had been closed when the students took power on campus and created their own modern-day version of the Paris Commune. The only way to enter was a small entrance beside the gate guarded by the Students for a Democratic Society, who monitored all those who came or went.
Inside, the air was filled with revolution. Speeches abounded by Mark Rudd and Bernadine Dohrn, as well as other student orators. We were greatly inspired as they spoke about why we were partaking in these actions and the importance of our solidarity with the neighboring oppressed community. They wished to stop the university from building a gymnasium in the park, a racist project that included a separate entrance for community members from Harlem. The school was also providing the Defense Department their services as a think tank, thereby contributing to the Vietnam War efforts.
Five buildings had been occupied, and on the last night of this revolutionary action, the police decided to try to take the campus back. At first, their efforts at taking Harrison Hall resulted in temporary success, but they unleashed the full force of the protesters’ rage. Protesters threw bottles, stones, and anything they could find and physically assaulted the police, forcing them to withdraw from the campus. The night air was pierced by the sounds of victory that arose from those valiant defenders.
A few hours of peace had settled upon the campus when we were suddenly informed that the NYC tactical police, the elite riot battalions, were being massed for a renewed attack at Amsterdam gate. Crowds surged resolutely toward the defense of the gate. Row upon row of people faced the gate with locked arms, waiting for the inevitable onslaught of those minions of the ruling class.
The barricades were dismantled, and the helmeted and jackbooted army in blue descended upon the gate’s brave defenders. The batons rose and fell upon the victims of that ferocious attack. As the first and second rows were beaten to the ground and trampled underfoot, the remaining rows broke. They retreated to the shelter of the buildings behind them, hounded and sought out by the goons of the state.
In the end, the campus was taken back, and the revolt was put down with 150 wounded and over a thousand arrested, including innocent bystanders. For their brave efforts, those who participated in that action would have their demands met. The racist gymnasium would never be built, and the university would disengage itself from the Vietnam War effort.
It is hard to express in words the feelings of exhilaration from partaking in a historical moment of our movements’ struggle against war and oppression. The Columbia revolt reflected the political climate of the era, yet it is still relevant today as a reminder of what the people can achieve through militancy and organization.
We should work with staunch determination to learn the lessons of the victories won then in order to apply them to the struggle against the U.S. government’s latest imperialist war. Bring the troops home now!
