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Over One Thousand Demonstrate, Support G.M. Strikers in Detroit

By Mark Dillen

DETROIT, Mich.-Drawn by a national call for a "worker-student alliance," over one thousand demonstrators rallied and marched in support of striking into workers yesterday afternoon.

The disciplined, chanting crowd gathered on the Wayne State University Mall for a rally and then walked the mile route to the General Motors Building, which looms over the north end of the W.S.U. campus.

Throughout the day, which was without incident, "student-worker unity" was stressed as a means of combating "GM bosses."

These "bosses" were blamed for many of the nation's social ills. Speeches and chants charged that GM.'s "capitalistic" policies are allegedly war-oriented and racist. Numerous banners demanded that the nation turn to socialism.

The crowd, which grew as it moved toward the GM building, was preceded by Detroit police, who detoured approaching traffic. Tension mounted as the crowd gathered outside the heavily-guarded building and interrupted traffic on West Grand Blvd.

After two speakers addressed the crowd, calling for a "fighting worker-student alliance," demonstration marshals directed the throng back to the Wayne campus.

The marchers included contingents from Georgia, Minnesota, Chicago, Cleveland, and New York, although most of the demonstrators were from the Detroit area.

At the rally preceding the march, one radical said, "We're not the mad bombers, and we've got a lot more important stuff to discuss than the Weathermen." distinguishing between the Weathermen faction of SDS and his own.

Naomi Parker, a Detroit welfare mother, proclaimed, "If you are black, white, green, blue, or even little purple people-eaters, let's get together and get the bosses."

Other speakers, representing radical groups from across the country, exhorted the crowd to "smash GM" and "smash racism."

"Workers need good communist ideas," said Ken Stills, who represented the Canadian Party of Labor. "A boss is a boss is a boss is a boss."

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