Ohio Anti-War Conference Begins; Peace Groups Map Spring Action

A three-day conference, called to map out plans for a spring anti-war offensive, begins today at Case Western Reserve Institute in Cleeveland, Ohio.

The National Student Mobilization Committee (SMC) and the Cleveland Area Peace Action Council are the conference's organizers. The Cleveland Council was instrumental in organizing the first national anti-war conference at Case Western last July 4-6.

New Mobe

The New Mobilization Committee, a loose coalition of the groups present at that conference, planned last November's March on Washington.

This weekend's meeting is the largest anti-war conference to date with more than 3000 delegates from two to three hundred groups expected to attend. Organizations as diverse as the American Friends Service Committee and the Black Panthers will be represented. "We invited any organization opposed to the war in Vietnam on any grounds," said a local SMC spokesman.

Spring Actions

Tomorrow, after listening to a speech by Jerry Gordon. co-chairman of the Cleveland Council, the assembly will sit in plenary session to hear proposals for spring anti-war activities from any organization present that wishes to speak. The Beacon Hill Support Group is the only Boston-based organization planning to submit a proposal.

After the last of these proposals has been presented on Sunday, the conference delegates will adopt a program describing the anti-war activities to be organized for the spring.

Though the conference will not offically begin until tomorrow, a number of informal workshops on such topics as racism and women's liberation are scheduled for today. The National Moratorium Committee has announced plans to hold a workshop at the conference to explain its disagreements with the SMC.