Chicago: Poor Climate for Weathermen

You don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

—Subterranean Homesick Blues, by Bob Dylan

Assuming that it was blowing their way, a faction of the sundered Students for a Democratic Society known as “The Weatherman” took to Chicago’s streets last week in a desperate attempt to re-ignite the violence that marked the Democratic National Convention, One lure was the trial of eight radicals accused of conspiring to incite the 1968 upheaval. But the youngsters had a selection of excuses for agitation: the second anniversary of Che Guevara’s death, their avowed goal of “bringing the war home,” the desire to upstage more moderate modes of protest,

They hoped to galvanize public opinion by goading Chicago’s tough cops into more of the publicity-catching repression meted out last year. Despite the provocations, the police for the most part kept their temper. Nor did many allies enlist in the cause.

Get Hoffman. Some 400 Weathermen and hangers-on gathered in Lincoln Park at evening, eager for a confrontation. Fueling a bonfire with park benches, they listened to obscenity-laced speeches until their own “riot squad” of 100 helmeted members arrived. Many of them carried clubs. Then, as a bearded speaker urged them to “get Judge Hoffman,” they broke from the park and raced into the streets.

When police, who were on the scene but unobtrusive at first, refused to play, the Weathermen vented their frustration in a senseless rampage. They stopped cars and beat the bewildered passengers, smashed windows and glass doors, and urinated on everything in sight. Some charged head-on into squads of policemen. The cops retaliated with nightsticks, tear gas and, in a few instances, guns. Police arrested 60 that night. Later they obtained warrants and, in a predawn raid on the Covenant United Methodist Church of neighboring Evanston, picked up 43 of the nearly 200 S.D.S. members staying there. Three demonstrators were wounded by gunshots, one of them seriously. Twenty-one policemen were hurt.

Guard Mobilized. After failing in their first attempt to set off widespread violence, the radicals tried again the next day. Seventy helmeted Weather-women, many equipped with clubs, attempted to march on an armed-forces induction center. But the Amazons fared no better than their men. A line of police withstood their charge, arrested twelve, and dispersed the rest.

While the Weathermen’s demonstrations caused Governor Richard Ogilvie to mobilize 2,600 National Guardsmen, neither the demonstrators nor the efforts of less militant S.D.S. groups succeeded in disrupting the trial. Members of Revolutionary Youth Movement II, one of the more moderate of the S.D.S. factions, found themselves outnumbered when they attempted to “take over” Cook County Criminal Court Building. They had to content themselves with predictable speeches to a generally indifferent audience before heeding police instructions to move on. Even the elements seemed to be against the Weathermen. A downpour washed out another attempt to hold a rally in Lincoln Park, scattering demonstrators and inspiring the Chicago Sun-Times to report: “The revolution was called on account of rain.”

The recess did not last long. Participating in a weekend march through the Loop, some 300 Weathermen suddenly split into small groups, smashing shop windows and attacking police and bystanders. Assistant Corporation Counsel Richard El rod was paralyzed from the neck down after he was kicked in the head by a demonstrator, and 23 policemen were injured. Police, tough but controlled, arrested more than one hundred and National Guardsmen moved in to help patrol the area.

Rather than winning followers, the violence served only to widen the gap between the extremists and the rest of the peace movement. Boosted by rising discontent over the Viet Nam war, few antiwar groups are willing to jeopardize their newly won acceptance by associating with extremists. Even the hardline Black Panthers disassociated themselves formally from the Weathermen demonstrations. There were few black faces in the mob. While disturbances resulted in some injuries and damage to property, the faltering effort at disruption underscored the fact that premeditated violence is still alien to most of the protest movement.