Students Join Brigade To Aid Tibetan Rebels

The revolutionary spirit of John Reed '10 may not be dead. About 40 undergraduates have responded to a recent call for volunteers to fight the rebel cause in Tibet.

The summons to arms comes from the self-styled Tibetan Brigade, a force being organized at the University of California in Berkley. Now in the process of raising men and money for the mission, the Brigade hopes to enter Tibet this summer and give military, moral, and material aid to the anti-Communist native forces.

Executive Officer David Duke, contacted in Berkley last night, reported that about 200 men across the country, including the 40 Harvard students, have expressed interest in the operation. Stressing the well-rounded nature of Brigade cadres, an early progress report notes the following composition:

"Four pilots, 2 demolition experts, 2 radiomen, 2 medics, 3 arms experts or suppliers, a dozen marines, 1 Hungarian Freedom Fighter, 3 Cuban (Castro) rebels, 1 Yugoslav guerilla, 4 Chinese, 1 Costa Rican, 2 Negroes, numerous Korean veterans, etc."

In preparation for the summer's expedition, the Brigade has urged that a training program be set up by volunteers in their own localities. Berkeley's group, which according to Duke numbers about 20 active members, features rock climbing, parachuting, horse riding, marksmanship, judo, and demolition.

Other Brigade outposts have been formed or are in process of formation at UCLA, Columbia, the University of Texas, in Alaska and Philadelphia. So far there have been apparently no efforts to organize a training program here.

As for finances for the trip to, and possibly from, Tibet, Duke says that the Brigade "does not yet have sufficient funds to send over a large group." It is hoped that volunteers will be able to provide themselves with arms and passage to either Calcutta or Formosa. The Brigade will give them the names of "contacts" at these places to guide them to the hitherto undetermined mustering point.

Plans call for a small "contact group" to depart for the Far East soon in order to rendezvous with "cetain persons" and investigate the possibilities of crossing the Tibetan border and collecting arms stores.

A few of the Harvard undergraduates who have responded to the Brigade's advertisement yesterday voiced mixed reactions to the plan. At least two said they were ready to go, though with a few reservations: "I don't look forward to putting my life in the hands of these guys who seem to be crackpots.