The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.42           December 1, 1997 
 
 
25 And 50 Years Ago  
 December 1, 1972
BATON ROUGE, La., Nov. 20 - "There would have been no violence if the students had not fired the first shot or whatever." Incredible as it may sound, this is one of the first public statements Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards made concerning the death of two Black youths on the Baton Rouge campus of Southern University the morning of Nov. 16.

Having brought along an armored personnel carrier and a tank- like armored vehicle equipped with flame-throwers and bazookas, they [sheriff's deputies and state police] were prepared to wage war. The officers themselves, one student remarked, were equipped for battle in Vietnam, bearing tear-gas grenades, Thompson submachine guns, M-16s, riot-20 shotguns, M-79 grenade launchers, and M-1 carbines - complete with bayonets.

Sheriff Amiss claims his men fired only tear-gas shells from their weapons. But according to one student who observed the incident, "I saw one dude over behind a tree with an M-16 just popping away." Other Black witnesses claimed that each time the police fired a round they would pick it up from the ground and put it in their pockets.

Sheriff Amiss originally claimed that the students had thrown homemade bombs loaded with buckshot at the deputies ... and killed the two students.

December 1, 1947
CHICAGO, Nov. 24 - Chicago tenants scored a partial victory in their militant campaign against the proposed 15% blanket increase. This recommendation of the Chicago Rent Board, packed with real estate representatives, was temporarily rejected by Tighe Woods, Federal Housing Expediter and 10 new members, including CIO and AFL representatives, were added to the Chicago Rent Board.

Spearheading this campaign, the [North Side Tenants] League called an emergency meeting on Nov. 9 to review the crisis faced by Chicago tenants and to map out a militant program to foil the proposed rent swindle. Officers of the League reported that five of the nine members of Chicago's Rent Advisory Board including Chairman John J. Ryan were real estate operators. The lone labor representative, an AFL official, had voted in favor of the increase; the tenants were not represented at all. No public hearings had been held although such procedure is recommended by the Federal Rent Act.

Meanwhile, Ryan, ignoring the sentiments of the overwhelming majority of the city and recommendations by Tighe Woods to hold public hearings, reapplied for the 15% increase. The Tenants League immediately took steps to carry out the decision for a mass picket line. Though held at noon on a working day, scores of tenants participated in a well organized and militant picket line.  
 
 
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