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Seattle Liberation Front

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The Seattle Liberation Front, or SLF, was a radical anti-Vietnam War movement, based in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. The group, founded by then-University of Washington visiting philosophy professor and political activist Michael Lerner, carried out its protest activities from 1970 to 1971.[1]

The most famous members of the SLF were the "Seattle Seven" — seven SLF members charged with "conspiracy to incite a riot" in the wake of a violent protest at a courthouse. The members of the Seattle Seven were Lerner himself, as well as Jeff Dowd, Joe Kelly, Susan Stern, Michael Abeles, Charles Marshall III, and Roger Lippman.[2]

Formation

After the nationwide organization Students for a Democratic Society disintegrated in 1969, Michael Lerner, an instructor newly arrived in Seattle from Berkeley, California, felt compelled to start up his own local group. He kick-started his efforts by inviting Jerry Rubin, a notable counterculture figure, to speak on the University of Washington campus on January 17, 1970 – two days later, the SLF was formed, largely composed of students and radicals coming out of organizations (like the SDS) that had recently disbanded.[3] One of the SLF's first actions was to hold a demonstration in support of the Chicago Seven, a group of radicals charged with inciting riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Affiliation with Weatherman

Chip Marshall was one of the leading members of the Seattle Liberation Front after the split within the SDS in 1969. In an interview with Time magazine in 1980, Marshall commented on the takeover of the SDS by Weatherman, a radical faction. He said Weatherman had established cultural standards to which members were to adhere. Marshall did not agree with destroying monogamy, family ties, and the value of personal relationships.[4] The relationship between Weatherman and the Seattle Liberation Front remains somewhat ambiguous. Both groups shared many of the same political viewpoints, where they participated in protests and demonstrations.[5] Marshall's comments depict the void that separated the two groups from working together based on their common viewpoints.[6]

Demonstration

SLF planned a demonstration to be held at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Seattle on February 17, 1970. It is commonly referred to by former SLF members as "The Day After" or "TDA." The roughly 2,000 protesters in attendance escalated their protests into violence, throwing rocks and paint bombs at both the courthouse and at police responding to the scene. Twenty were injured in the riot, and 76 were arrested.[7] In March of 1970, the Seattle Liberation Front, UW Black Student Union and Weatherman organized hundreds of protesters at the University of Washington’s campus.[8] The groups wanted the university to sever its athletic links with Brigham Young University, a Mormon school that was accused of racism. Seattle Liberation Front and Black Student Union supporters initiated a riot that moved through eleven buildings at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus[9]. Around 200 chanting demonstrators left a trail of damage throughout the campus.[10]

Charges and trial

Two months later, on April 16, a federal grand jury indicted eight members of the SLF on charges of inciting the February 17 riot (one of the eight, Michael Justesen, disappeared but was later arrested in California by the FBI[11] in an infiltration of the Weather Underground). Federal District Judge George Boldt was assigned the case, which began in his Tacoma courtroom on November 6, 1970. The trial was quickly derailed by the defendants' vocal disruptions, a protest walkout, and their eventual refusal to enter the courtroom.[12] Boldt declared a mistrial on December 10, citing all defendants for contempt of court.[12] He summarily found them guilty of contempt, sentenced them to six months in prison, and refused to grant bail.[12][13] The defendants eventually served three months in prison.[14]

The original charges of inciting a riot and conspiracy to damage the Seattle Federal Building were unsuccessfully prosecuted. Most observers agreed that the prosecution's case was floundering (aided by the admission of government witnesses on the stand that they would "go to any length" to combat the radicals.[citation needed] It is believed that the Seattle Seven would have been freed had they not provoked the elderly judge with catcalls during the proceedings.[15]

Aftermath

Due to the publicity of the trial, the Seattle Liberation Front faced ideological dissension, personality conflicts, and charges of "male chauvinism."[16] In late 1971, the SLF was disbanded. Many of the individual SLF members continued to promote diverse social movements, such as Capitol Hill's "Country Doc" Clinic.”[17] Lerner, the founder of SLF, eventually became the editor of the Tikkun, and an advisor to President Clinton and Hillary Clinton. Jeff Dowd went to Hollywood to become a screenwriter and producer (the character Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski from The Big Lebowski is based on Dowd). Chip Marshall remained active in Washington politics, running for Seattle City Council in 1976 and working as a neighborhood activist in Issaquah.

In the film The Big Lebowski (1998), the main character, Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, claims to be one of the Seattle Seven. The character is based on Jeff Dowd, a friend of the Coen Brothers. Jeff Dowd runs a business called Jeff Dowd and Associates located in Santa Monica, California where he writes and produces films.

Notes

  1. ^ Susan Stern 216
  2. ^ FBI Surveillance Files 212
  3. ^ Walt Crowley, Rites of Passage, A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995)
  4. ^ David Aikman, In Seattle: Up from Revolution Time magazine, April 14, 1980
  5. ^ University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections- Vietnam War Era Ephemera "Protest UW affiliation with BYU" and "Off BYU"
  6. ^ David Aikman, In Seattle: Up from Revolution Time magazine, April 14, 1980
  7. ^ http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm
  8. ^ Sharon Boswell and Lorraine McConaghy, "Outrage and rebellion 'Boomers' bring battle of Vietnam to American Soil-and a counterculture is born." Seattle Times October 6, 1996
  9. ^ David Aikman, In Seattle: Up from Revolution Time magazine, April 14, 1980
  10. ^ Sharon Boswell and Lorraine McConaghy, "Outrage and rebellion 'Boomers' bring battle of Vietnam to American Soil-and a counterculture is born." Seattle Times October 6, 1996
  11. ^ "Nation: Infiltrating the Underground". Time. January 9, 1978. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  12. ^ a b c Anarchy in Tacoma Time magazine, December 28, 1960
  13. ^ Denial of Bail to Seattle 7 Assailed Here by Attorneys The New York Times, January 5, 1971
  14. ^ Susan Stern, a Radical Activist And Writer, Dies at 33 on Coast The New York Times, August 2, 1976
  15. ^ David Aikman, In Seattle: Up from Revolution Time magazine, April 14, 1980
  16. ^ Walt Crowley, Rites of Passage, A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995)
  17. ^ Walt Crowley, Rites of Passage, A Memoir of the Sixties in Seattle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995)

References

  • Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Weather Underground Organization (Weatherman)", (Illinois: Chicago Field Office 1976).
  • Susan Stern, "With the Weathermen: The Personal Journal of a Revolutionary Woman", (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc.) 1975.
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