It is now clear that the nuclear freeze campaign is not a spontaneous grassroots movement springing out of public concern about the horrors of nuclear war. Instead, it is a sophisticated, special-interest lobbying campaign which is professionally directed, financed by sources that are supposed to be non-political, and skillfully targeted against each individual Congressman.
The nationally-advertised freeze demonstration on March 7-8 on the U.S. Capitol steps was a flop; it drew only about 4,000 people, half of whom live nearby and drove in for the day. What the freezeniks lacked in numbers, credibility, logic, and public support, however, they hope to make up for in flim-flam to create a false perception of political power.
A secretive nucleus calling itself the “Monday Group” has worked out a cleverly orchestrated campaign to manipulate Senators and Congressmen. The coordinators meet every Monday at Mott House, 122 Maryland Ave., N.E., Washington, D.C.
Half of the Monday Group organizations are either 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations (which are supposed to be non-political and non-lobbying), or they have a convenient in-house 501(c)(3) organization which uses the same equipment and people and has substantially the same purposes.
In addition, four of the organizations involved in this political-advocacy campaign have received funding from federal taxes, and four others have received some federal benefits. They share the same Maryland Avenue address in Washington, D.C.
Here is the list of the organizations actively working in this coordinated lobbying effort: American Baptist Church, Americans for Democratic Action, Center for Defense Information, Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy, Common Cause, Council for a Livable World, Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, Nuclear Freeze Foundation, Friends of the Earth, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Green Peace, National Association of Social Workers, NETWORK, National Campaign to Stop the MX, Physicians for Social
Responsibility, SANE, Union of Concerned Scientists, Unitarian Universalist Association, United Church of Christ, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
Each of these organizations is assigned to take the leadership role on one or more of the particular anti-defense issues. These include nuclear freeze, MX, first-strike weapons, military spending, Pershing II, ABM, no first use, and chemical weapons.
The most elaborate and interlacing part of the lobbying campaign engineered by the Monday Group is the classification and the specific-issue targeting by specific groups of each of the 535 Senators and Congressmen. First, they are divided on a list into those (1) for a freeze resolution, (2) leaning for, (3) undecided/unknown, (4) leaning against, and (5) against a Treeze resolution.
Then, each Senator and Congressman has one to four anti-defense groups assigned to lobby him personally. At least 24 Congressmen are targeted by four different groups.
Instructions given to the Monday Group participants set forth with great specificity which tasks are assigned to each participating group. The strategy papers show each Congressman’s name, followed by the code letters of the lobbying groups assigned to him.
The lobbying instructions issued by the Monday Group spell out its “Timeline,” telling participants what action to take and when. For example, from January 1 to 26, participants were to “enlist co-sponsors, publicize the vote in newsletters, publicize Citizens Lobby, organize phone trees.”
From January 26 to February 21, participants were ordered to “promote participation in the Citizens Lobby, urge co-sponsors to call on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to adopt H.J. Res. 2, coordinate with other networks, get proxies and money, letter-writing parties, and collect money.”
February 22-24 were two days designated for a national “call-in” to ask Congressmen to co-sponsor the freeze resolution or, if already a co-sponsor, to lobby the Foreign Affairs Committee to vote it out. March 7-8 were designated for a national “call-in” to ask Congressmen to support the House Foreign Affairs freeze resolution.
A careful reading of the Monday Group’s sophisticated lobbying plans should convince Senators and Congressmen that the freezeniks are, in the words of the Bard, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” In the real world, the American people are just as pro-defense as they ever were.
