Mark Rudd first came to the University in 1969 to speak to students as one of the founders of an anti-war group called The Weather Underground. He returned to the University Friday for a screening of a documentary with the same name and answered questions following the film about his experiences with the FBI.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Speaking to more than 1,000 KU students, Mark Rudd demanded a “mass democratic movement to overthrow America’s ruling class, which perpetuates racism, diploma factory education and other exploitations.”
That was 1969.
With 40 years of experience, including dodging the FBI for most of the ’70s, Rudd returned to campus to speak Friday night.
The Ecumenical Christian Ministries hosted a potluck dinner and a screening of the documentary “The Weather Underground.” The film covered the extremist anti-war group of the same name, which Rudd helped found in the late ’60s. The Weather Underground organized campus protests, riots and bombings of government buildings nationwide before eventually surrendering.
The screening was followed by a Q&A session with Rudd, in which he presented a new message. He emphasized the greater effectiveness of political organization rather than the violence his group had previously endorsed.
“We had the wrong idea,” Rudd said. “We went from good organizing on campus, to bad organizing with militancy, to worse organizing with The Weather Underground.”
Rudd said his tactics had been too stubborn and self-assured. He said real organizing was “going to people that disagree and starting a dialogue.”
This was certainly not his approach while running from the FBI from 1970 to 1977. He was wanted on charges of bombing and conspiracy. When Rudd turned himself in, the charges were dropped because of the FBI’s questionable investigation in which they kidnapped people to gather evidence.
A year later he moved to Albuquerque and became a math teacher at Central New Mexico Community College where he taught until 2007.
Rudd’s first visit to the University 40 years ago filled the Kansas Union Ballroom to its 1,000 person capacity. Friday’s visit gathered close to 60 people, many of whom were old enough to have attended the first event. Even so, Rudd made an effort to reach out to the younger members of the crowd. He initially refused questions from anyone older than 30, raising the age limit incrementally as comments dried up.
Considering similarities between today and Rudd’s college days — unpopular war, economic hardship, national discontent — Rudd laid out what he considered to be three essential differences:
■ No draft means no reason to pay attention. Without the looming threat of involuntary military service, no one cares.
■ Entertainment culture has intellectually infantilized students, meaning the focus on keeping entertained has dulled interest in more serious areas.
■ Young people who are aware have no model. Rudd and his comrades took their cue from the civil rights movement they grew up with.
Reanna Putnam, Salina junior and event coordinator for the ECM, reinforced that last sentiment in her one criticism of the talk.
“I feel he didn’t talk enough about corporations and the government,” Putnam said. “Even if you got progressive Democrats in office it wouldn’t really change the way things happen.”
Lee Ann Stone, Salina senior, left the event sympathetic.
“I’d never heard about any of that before,” Stone said. “I can see why they did it.”
— Edited by Jonathan Hermes
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