0.1. THIS BLOOK IS DEDICATED TO NEW JERSEY COPS...

WHO SHOWED ME HOW CLASS BARRIERS WORK

"You're teaching Communism to the police! The Legislature will call me!" the Dean of the State college where I taught history yelled.

Background:

On May 4, 1970 the National Guard fired on 300 unarmed students protesting the Vietnam War, killing four. It is remembered as "The Kent State* Massacre."

*A public university of the State of Ohio 

       No higher resolution on Wikipedia / zoom

The government then proposed that police follow classes in State colleges, with salary increases for passing grades. It hoped that familiarity would lessen hostility between students and forces of order, the attitude that lay behind the shooting.  

One of those institutions was "William Paterson College in the State of New Jersey" (now William Paterson University), where I taught.

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When students demonstrated against their presence I wrote an article for the school paper, titled "Why the Cops are Brothers." It said that the reason for joining the police was not to attack kids, but for job security.

I volunteered to teach the cops, on condition of telling them that I was a Marxist. "Well, I guess you know what you're doing," the department head said.

Things didn't start well...

"Hi, Baby!"

Except for my assistant. I had asked her to pass out a questionnaire and a reading list. The last class had had the students sitting in a circle instead of in the usual rows... 

When she came back she exclaimed with delight, "I told the cops to put their chairs in line, and they did!" For a young Black girl to tell the cops what to do and have them obey was extraordinary.

They wore civilian clothes but carried hidden guns. Of the thirty, all but one were white. Though many were barely older than the students, they looked very different. Their faces were hard. Some had fought in Vietnam. 

On meeting them I said, "There's a rumor going around that I'm a nun. That's not true. There's another that I'm a Marxist. That is true."

A man at the back of the room got up, walked out...

 ...and slammed the door.

I went on with the class, saying that Marxism had nothing to do with the gulag but showed how basic change comes from economic forces, and helps correctly identify the adversary.

The next day the Dean called me in, as the first drawing shows. I said that I had freedom of speech.

An hour later, the head of the Police program also called me in: "The men are sorry" he said. "They know that telling the Dean was not right. The man who did it is going through a hard time. His wife had a miscarriage. I hope you will forgive him."

A group came up to me and apologized for "Tommy." 

Tommy and I became friends, and I invited him over. He came in, sat down, put his gun on a table — and fell asleep. That showed the extent of his stress, that it vanished in my presence and that he trusted me. Giving a civilian access to his gun could have gotten him fired. 

To get to know the cops, I asked them to write an essay on why they had chosen that profession. A certain Richard Wright wrote 30 outstanding pages. 

He came from a town 20 miles from a famous university (Princeton). When I asked if he'd applied for admission there, he said he had never heard of it. Though on the far right and wary of me, he was one of the most brilliant people I have known: Had he come come from a more favored background he could have had an outstanding career.

Leftist students would sit in on the classes. They, the cops and I were of the same generation. We would gather to play records and talk:

 

I asked one if next time he'd bring his wife."No," he said, "She thinks the students would look down on her." Another said, "When I'm in uniform, even the president of this college respects me."

The Dean did not forget our encounter and I did not get tenure. An uproar followed.

The cops did not join (they would have lost their jobs if they had), but stood by and smiled. 

My last memory:

"Hi, Ritchie, we'll tell you where the bombs are."

"Ho ho!"

# # #

Did they become Marxists? Of course not. Did they see people who did not think in the same way differently? I think so. As did the students. As for me, I saw much more clearly class barriers in a country that calls itself democratic, and the resentment of people toward the privileged who think themselves superior.   

 

Much later, in preparing a visit on La Commune I discovered a catastrophe like that of Kent State.

In 1871 Breton soldiers fired on unarmed demonstrators, killing 11. Their hate had a reason: During the Revolution soldiers of the republic had slaughtered their people. 

Instead of condemning them Louise Michel, a comrade of the shot, cried out "You're misled but not bought. We need your energy. Join us!"

Let's do the same.

Harald Wolff made the sign.

My sign at the American "No Kings" rally in Paris, October 25, 2025

I dedicate this blook to them 

with affection and respect. 

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