The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.24           June 17, 1996 
 
 
Mural Won Support Amidst Controversy  

BY MEGAN ARNEY

For nearly ten years the Pathfinder mural has been seen around the world as a visual monument to the working class. The six-story mural, painted by over 80 artists from 20 countries, features portraits of revolutionary and working-class leaders whose works Pathfinder publishes. At the center is a large printing press that reads, "The truth must not only be the truth, it must also be told." An attraction to visitors from around the world, it is painted on the south side of the Pathfinder building, where the publisher's offices and printing plant are located.

Pathfinder has recently announced plans to repair the stress cracks in the wall on which the mural is painted and launched a $100,000 financial appeal. The brick wall has suffered water and structural damage that threaten the long-term usability of the building if not repaired in a timely way. This will require removal of the mural. Pathfinder is asking for capital contributions of $1,000 or more to repair the building. More than $15,000 has come in so far.

Local supporters are planning a celebration of the mural and Pathfinder, and will be raising money to mount a billboard of the mural on the wall after it is repaired. As part of covering the project, which will help ensure Pathfinder's ability to publish books at the facility well into the 21st century, the Militant will be carrying articles about the mural and its history.

From its planning stages the Pathfinder mural has been a pole of attention and controversy. It was unveiled in November 1989 after a two-year painting project. Among the 400 people present for the event were many unionists, artists, and other supporters from around the world. Several newspapers oriented to New York's Black community featured coverage on the unveiling, including the Daily Challenge, Big Red News, and the New York Amsterdam News.

The project also drew attacks, both physical and in the big- business press. The mural was unveiled during an intense debate around the funding and censorship of the arts that had big stakes for the freedom of expression and free speech for the working class as a whole. A few months later, for example, police shut down an exhibit of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and indicted the center and its director on "obscenity" charges. The arts center won broad support, and a jury eventually rejected the charges.

Before the Pathfinder mural was unveiled, the New York City government threatened to fine the project $3,500 for posting leaflets publicizing an open house for artists and cite organizers for alleged scaffolding license violations. These probes were pushed back by a public campaign of protests by artists, trade unionists, and many other supporters of democratic rights.

As early as May 1989, right-wing commentator Patrick Buchanan, now a candidate for Republican party presidential nomination, began his literary rampage against the Pathfinder Mural in addition to other artists and grant recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). He included the mural in syndicated articles as part of his "culture war" attacks on the freedom of artistic expression, barking for the revoking of funds for artists based on their work's content. The Pathfinder Mural received a $500 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.

Another attack came from the two big-business newspapers, the New York Post and the Daily News. On Nov. 19, 1989 the Post carried an editorial about the mural headlined, "Off the wall -

and that's where it belongs." It concluded, "The mural should be removed," a veiled encouragement for vigilante attacks. A few days later the Daily News editors wrote that Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were libeled by appearing with the likes of Fidel Castro.

Soon after these editorials appeared, the Pathfinder Mural was vandalized. On December 20, five soda bottles filled with white paint were smashed against the lower portion of the mural. Shards from the bottles were marked with swastikas and "SS" insignia.

Several portraits were damaged and had to be restored. These included civil rights leader King, anti-slavery activists Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, a scene from the Chinese revolution, and one of the Haymarket martyrs, leaders of the fight for the eight-hour day in the United States. The portrait of Cuban president Fidel Castro was also hit.

Hundreds of letters to the editors flooded the two newspapers and the city administration, protesting the attack and defending the right of the mural to exist, free from censorship, threats, and vandalism.

Carole Byard, who painted Malcolm X, Tubman, and Truth on the mural, pointed out at a December 21 gathering at Westbeth Gallery that "having lived through that period of history when Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were alive and active in the fight for human rights and Black empowerment personally, I cannot recall the Daily News or other major New York papers understanding or supporting either of these men."

At that meeting, a Friends of the Pathfinder Mural committee was set up to organize fund-raising and mobilize support for the mural.

The Post ran an editorial December 29 that denied any responsibility for the defacing of the mural and suggested Pathfinder supporters might have staged the vandalism.

A second paint attack took place in March 1991, again damaging the portrait of the Cuban president.

Supporters organize defense watch
After the first incident, supporters of the mural began a 24-hour-a-day watch to ward off further attempts to deface it. Rich Ariza, a member of Mail Handlers Local 300, estimates he has helped guard the mural between 80 and 90 times since then. "The fact that we could organize this defense watch tells you how much it means to working people. And we have the honor of protecting something that belongs to the working class as a whole."

In 1991-92 more than 100 volunteers from around the world carried out a major renovation of the building. At that point the flagship Pathfinder Mural bookstore was constructed right next to the mural. The bookstore, which is similar to others like it around the world that sell the revolutionary books of Pathfinder, is staffed by volunteers in the area. It allows people who come to look at the mural the opportunity to buy the full range of Pathfinder titles.

Today, supporters of the mural continue a nightly watch from inside the bookstore. Priscilla Schenk, who organizes the mural defense on Monday nights, described the watch as "a test of your ability to carry out a task in a disciplined and proletarian way." Volunteers stay up all night once every month or two, resting in shifts of 1-2 hours. They do this because the mural is "a tribute to men and women who made sacrifices and fought for the rights of women, Blacks, immigrants - those who fought for revolution," Schenk said. She pointed to a banner on the mural that reads, "For a world without borders," in French, Spanish and English. "That flies right in the face of someone like Patrick Buchanan, who would pit working people against each other."

Unionists are among those who volunteer for the mural defense. Jane Harris, a rail worker and member of the United Transportation Union, has not only defended the mural but introduced it to others. "I've probably shown nearly a dozen co- workers the mural over the years."

It is not just long time supporters who defend the mural each night. Sarah Katz was first introduced to the Pathfinder mural about a year ago. She began volunteering for mural duty "for the reason of defending free speech and freedom of expression. I saw the mural and saw how dedicated these people were who defended it and what is behind it - Pathfinder Press, the books, the ideas. I thought `I'd like to do that.' "

After nearly seven years, the Pathfinder mural is quite faded and chipped due to weather, time, and the condition of the surface on which it is painted. But people still stop every day to admire it. In a typical case, two young men from France were stunned by the mural when they passed by walking through the neighborhood June 4. They took out their camera to snap a picture. After some discussion of who was on the mural and what is in the building, one commented, "It's the best way to say that you're against racism, xenophobia, and sexism." Then they asked for a copy of the Militant.  
 
 
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