25 CENTS VOL. 1, NO. EARLY 1972 NATURAL CHILDBIRTH in Vermont commune: an interview with Lorraine THE PARTY: a report on the St. Louis convention Movement. Published biweekly by the Liberty Union. a political party in the state of Vermont. Send remittances and correspondence to P.0. Box 43l, Essex Junction. Vermont 05452. Single issue? 25 cents. Yearly subscription, $5.00 (for 25 issues) Copyright 1972 by Liberty Union. Editor: Bernard Sanders I enclose $5.00 for a one year (25 issues) subscription. Send check to P.D. Box 43l, Essex Junction, Vermont 05452 Name Address Zip EARLY AUGUST, 1972 Page One LORRAINE: Att abpect? o5 tt?e one netated-?and tt to onty a ochtZOphnentc tactety ouch at aunt oegnegateo them and putt them tnto tepanate boxet. We go to Achoot and ttady "edu? catton? and and and and (t5 tt't a ochoot]. How ab? ound: Att o? tt?e to one and t5 we want to know, 60h exampte, how can natton can napatm tn Vtetnam-? AND NOT CARE --tt to necetoany to go wett beyond we have got to get tnto the aneao 06 ?eettng and emotton, path and toue--and how peopte netate to each othen and how peopte that 055 theta And ate o? taken at way back to can mommtet and to the way they deatt no when we wene tn?antt. Amentca to and one 06 the moot tmpontant aneao 05 change to tn and neantng and eat? ty educatton. yeano ago, ?on exampte, bneatt deedtng was conotdened taboo and tn?antt wene ?ed on attembty ttne Achedatet deatgned by attembty ttne doctont tn onden to pnepane them 60a attembty ttne toctety. But ttmet one Now handnedt o? thOuAandt 06 women one vta natunat ane bneatt seedtng thetn babtet, and both men and women ane netattng to theta tn at a way at Some women one gotng even ?anthen and ate gtutng to theta at home. They pne?en the com?ont and tecuntty 06 theta own homet and theta ?ntendt to the and 06 the modenn hoopttat. Loan? naiurul childbirth in 0 Vi. commune? atne to one each woman and tn tnt- envtew the hen expentencet o6 tn a hoapttat [hath hen otden daughten) and at home in hen commune. Lonnatne to a ?atend 06 mone. She ttueo tn a commune tn the Nontheatt o? Venmont. tntenvtew hat been dtutded up tnto two panto becaaoe 06 tength. The tecond pant 06 the tntenvtew appean tn the next totae 06 Movement. ??Bernard Sanders B.S.: Lorraine, could you tell us a lit? tle bit about your background? Lorraine: I was born mont, on the edge of town in a big white house with two willow trees out front and I had a lot of woods to play in. My father was an optometrist, so we were sort of middle class. We had all the comforts of home. I had some friends who lived on farms and I liked to go visit them. I lived in Rutland until I was eighteen or nineteen years old. And then I met this folk?singer named Peter, and he and I started a folk singing group that turned out to be a marriage. And then this little girl named Amelia came along. When I got pregnant with Amelia, I guess I really didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know anything about natural Child?birth so I went to the hospital to have her. in Rutland, Ver? B.S.: Where was Amelia?your older daugh? tor-born? THE PARTY On the evening of July 23rd, 9 members of Vermont's Liberty for President and Vice Presi? dent, and build a national 3rd the rules to allow non?elect? oral political groups to part- Union piled into 2 cars, one party. One Speaker described icipate in the Convention, and of which pulled a small, run- the Convention as an effort to was seated as such with each down trailer, and headed west build "a party of people" to Child having one vote. The to St. Missouri to at? oppose the two major parties Children's Liberation Caucus tend the National Convention "of the corporations, run by was taken quite seriously by of the People's Party. It had the corporations and for the the entire Convention, and been decided by the Liberty corporations_" especially by the world?famous Union State Convention of June pediatrician turned Presiden? l7th that whatever Liberty Vermont and the District of tial candidate, Dr. Benjamin Union members went to the Peo? ple's Party Convention would automatically become the Lib? erty Union delegates. Those who made the 2400 mile journey were: Doris Lake (last year's Liberty Union candidate for Congress); Peter Diamondstone (the present Liberty Union candidate for Attorney General of Vermont); Aaron, Ian, Jesse and Paula Diamondstone; Ellie Harter (LU's nominee for Vt. Lieutenant Governor); Martha Abbott (a LU candidate for the Vt. House of Representatives); and Jim Rader (a member of the LU Exec. Committee). We arrived in the campground near St. Louis where we would. spend the few hours left over from each long day during the week. In the morning, the Ver- mont delegation converged on the 16th floor of the Gateway Hotel to find almost 200 peo- ple from all over the country who had arrived to write a platform, nominate candidates Columbia were the only delega? tions that had brought more delegates than the number of votes they were allotted. The Convention voted to make an exception for these two dele? gations and to allow them as many votes as they had dele? gates so as to give each dele- gate attending the Convention one full vote regardless of whether he or she? were from a small or a large state. All of the delegates parti? cipated in the writing of the agenda and the rules by which the Convention would operate and in the writing and revis? ing of the platform. There were no age restrictions plac- ed on Convention participa? tion. In fact, approximately ten of the children present formed a Children's Liberation caucus which appealed to the Credentials Committee to be allowed to vote as a special interest group, a procedure that had been provided for in Spock. Spock met with the group at their request, to the great delight of the press who interviewed the children and gave them substantial cover- age. Three of the four Dia- mondstone?Lake children in the Vermont delegation were very actiVe in the group. Writing the platform was felt to be the most important job of the Convention and it received the most amount of time and attention. Some of the Platform positions adopted by the People's Party are as follows: -?Immediate withdrawal of all U.S. trOOps from Indochina and from all other areas of the world where American mili? tary forces are located. -?Distribution of foreign aid only through international supervisory organizations such as the United Nations and the Red Cross. ?-Government recognition of Page Two Lorraine: In the Proctor Hospital, out- side of Rutland. It was a small hospi- tal. I knew I didn't want to get into a whole hospital scene, but I didn't know anything about the LaMaze method or anything like that. So I went to Proc- tor Hospital, which was small, and I thought I would get better care and it wouldn't be so hectic. And it was pret- ty nice. I went in in the middle of the night, and I was having these contrac? tions. I was sort of scared, and I didn't really know what to do with the contractions. They put me in this room which they called the labor room, on the bed, and this nurse came in and shoved her hand up my ass to check how far a? long I was. And they were punching my stomach. They were pretty nice. This one nurse, though, was pretty rough with her hands, which upset me. They let Pe- ter be in there with me and the contrac? tions continued to get stronger and stronger, and I didn't know what to do with them, so I was just screaming and pulling 0n the bed posts and grabbing Peter's hands -- and he was going crazy. He didn't know what to do. And then every once in a while, they would tell Peter to leave, and everybody would leave, and I would be stuck in this room all alone with the big white lights and white walls. 8.5.: Why did they tell everyone to leave? Lorraine: Because the nurse was going to come in and check me and she'd always take her time coming. It was a very businesslike affair. You know, it was like get the baby out and be as nice about it as possible. There wasn't any accounting for the spirit of the whole thing. The physical thing was taken care of reasonably well, but there was no allowance for anything Spiritual. 3.5.: You mean, they really didn't care how you felt other than the fact that they were sure you were going to live and that the baby was going to come out? Lorraine: There may have been a little concern, like they'd ask me how I was feeling but then they'd just sort of say: "Well, you'll get through it.? No? body told me what to do to make it any better. Finally the doctor came and he was sort of drunk. B.S.: Really? Lorraine: It was a late night, and he seemed to be. He was sort of a crazy guy. I don't know for sure. I didn't smell his breath, but he seemed to be. He was the first one to give me any helpful advice. He said to push with the pain like you'd push when you're having a bowel movement. I got into doing that and that helped a little bit. But I had no training with my body, so I didn't have the strength to push through all the pains, and I didn't breathe right. So it didn't help me that much. I did pretty well when my waters broke. I was sort of blanking out and then I'd come through. 8.5.: Did they give you any anaesthesia? Lorraine: They have me a shot of some- thing but they wouldn?t tell me what it was. They just sort of came in and gave me a shot. "What's that?? "Uh, uh, uh." They didn't tell me. I was start- ing to have contractions, and they were getting ready to put me in the delivery room they had down there. They got me in the delivery room and there was one lady who kept telling me not to scream so loud because I was waking somebody up. Which was a drag, that I couldn't scream. Here I was in all this pain and I had to feel guilty about screaming. So they got me in there and they turned me on my side and right in the middle of a contraction, they stuck this needle in my back, and I kept saying: "What is this?" And they kept saying: "saddle- block." And I had no idea of what that was. Pretty soon I didn't feel any more pain. In fact I didn?t feel anything. I was completely numb. So they laid me down on my back on the table and put my feet up in these stirrups. And then I felt this very vague sensation like a sponge being pulled out of my vagina, which was Amelia coming out. And that was that. And then the doctor was sing- ing and sewing me up. When Amelia came out, she was really filled with mucuous. It was really frightening. So they took her over to this machine in the corner that went Woosh, and they put it over her mouth and it sucked all the mucuous out. And I really wanted to hold her and they wouldn't let me. B.S.: What do you mean they wouldn't let you? Did you ask to have her with you? the courage and moral integri? ty of all those who refused to participate in the Vietnam War. ??An end to the draft. --A steeply progressive in? come tax which recognizes a maximum income and an end to all other forms of taxation. --An end to the corporate system as it now exists to be replaced by a system in which the corporations and indus- tries are run by Boards of Di? rectors consisting solely of workers and consumers. --A system of price supports for farm products to insure that farmers receive at least 90% of parity and an end to the policy of paying land? owners not to grow food. --An end to welfare subsi~ dies and tax breaks for the rich and a subsidization of human life at the annual rate of $6500 for a family of four. system of price controls without wage controls to end inflation. -?The right to unionize and the right to strike of all workers. --Free and adequate health care and legal services for all Americans. --The abolition of all laws relating to crimes without victims (such as abortion, homosexuality, suicide, and drug usage). -?Full rights of citizenship (including the right to vote and the right to hold office) for all citizens regardless of age. ??An end to legal and social discrimination on the basis of age, sex or race. system of neighborhood control of police. ??Abolition of all laws that interfere with the Constitu- tional right of citizens to bear arms. --A system of rehabilitation centers with educational and services to re? place the present penal sy? stem. --A voucher system to fund alternative forms of education and an end to laws which make state education compulsory. ?-Public control of national resources to prevent exploita? tion of the national environ- ment for private profit. The only major conflict that occurred over the platform was on the issue of drug laws. A group of former heroin ad- dicts who call themselves RAP presented to the Convention a position which differed from the position taken by the pro- visional platform which had been written by the People's Party last year. The RAP people argued that the current drug laws should be maintained and, in fact, more strictly enforced. These people, who were all former heroin addicts, felt that be- cause of the despair caused by the economic and social condi- tions under which ghetto peo- ple are forced to live, drug addiction would not be cured in the ghettos unless there were strict laws against it. RAP also felt that it was the intentional policy of the gov? ernment not to enforce the ex- isting import, sale, and use laws in an effort to keep the ghetto communities addicted, and therefore, immobile. The RAP proposal set up an excellent system of rehabili- tation of addicts by former addicts which the Convention liked very much. But, after considerable debate, the Con- vention decided to maintain its original position that drug addicts should not be treated as criminals. The Peo? ple's Party thus placed all drug laws in the same category as other victimless crimes such as abortion, homosexual activity, and suicide. The Convention felt that to deny a person control over his or her own body would be a flagrant violation of civil liberties and would further accentuate the trend toward totalitarian government as well as being an ineffective approach to drug addiction. The differences between the St. Louis Convention and the Miami Democratic Convention which preceeded it_ by 2 weeks were strikingly apparent. In Page Thtee Lorraine: I kept saying: "Where's my Lorraine: After Amelia was born I movod baby? I want to see her." And they kept around the state. Peter and I had gone saying: "on, it's a girl." I don't our separate ways. I've since evolved think I said, could I hold her. 1 think into a much different sort of life I just knew they Weren't going to let style. Right now I'm sort of into a me and I didn't dare to ask. I was so community communal life style. when I unsure of myselfgot here to Glover I got into living out hands. I had nothing to do with it ex? in the woods much more and got acquain+ cept that it came out of me. I didn?t ted with plants and herbs and realizing do it myself. And Amelia sort of fought What the land was all about. I had the machine when they put it on her known for quite a while that I had wan? mOuth. She grabbed it with her hands. ted to have another baby. 80 I wanted So then they took her off the machine to have another baby and I discovered and I didn't see her Until hours later that I was pregnant. I wanted to have when they brought her in to me. her at home and so I started planning for it. I got into a really good diet?- B.S.: Had you told them that you wanted eating lots of organic multi?vitamins, to breastfeed beforehand? and lots of nuts and fruits. I also tried very hard to keep my head straight Lorraine: Yeah, I told them I wanted to by keeping good feelings within me. I breastfeed. And they made a really big knew that any bad feelings I let go in deal out of it. me go into another room. didn't know too much either not too many women breastfed. It was sort of unusual. ing my head straight. B.S.: You didn't see the baby for sev? winter I did Yoga eral hours. Lorraine: Yeah. other than that when I was feeding her. fight that because at that didn?t know that anything could be any Like every time they brought her in to breastfeed, pulled a curtain around the bed The breast feeding was sort of left up to me. I had no idea of how to do it but they They just brought it for you to feed and then took it away? They put her in a nur? sery. I could walk down the hall and look through the glass and see her but I could only I didn't really time, I my body would also go into the baby and they would change the way it would develop. or made It's like when you let anger or sadness or any emotion envelop your body com~ pletely, you put poisons into your sys- tem through your hormones, etc. didn't want to do that to the baby, so it gave me a real source of strength in that way-?a good reason to work at keep- fruit. some to make sure healthy. a few heavies see her day Living communally, have much dried fruit Throughout the and I had to stash we didn't so I had to stash I had enough to stay Then spring came along. I had in the spring because of that old spring fever. I remember one I got sort of crazy and I was run- ning screaming and yelling and pulling up plants and then I said: ute, this isn't good for the baby." And "Wait a min- different. I sat down and got myself together again. About three mOnths before the B.S.: Did you have a feeling that that baby came I began studying the LaMaZe situatiOn was bad or wrong or what? method reading books and getting ac? quainted with it. Two months before she Lorraine: I felt Sort Of??W81l: I'd lay was born I started doing LaMaze exer? in bed all day and I'd think: am I cises. The father of the baby is un- here in this hospital. 0h, a baby. My sure. There are three men who might be baby is down the hall in the nursery." But other things were going on Peter had had cal problems and he sort of went crazy as I was having the baby because be It was too heavy for him. So he was in the process of going time as well. couldn't help. to the mental hospital. B.S.: Could you contrast Amelia's birth tant_ in the hospital to Rahoula's (Lorraine?s younger daughter) birth at home? St. Louis, there were no com- promises made in the platform for the purpose of not aliena- ting votes. There were no "professional" politicians and no issue "experts". There were no closed procedures. The attempt to nominate a liberal candidate of another party "because he has a chance to win" failed miserably. The attempt to replace provisional Vice Presidential candidate Julius Hobson also failed. Hobson, who has a bone disease which may prove fatal within 5 years, convinced the dele- gates that he is capable of campaigning actively and that he would do so. This was an interesting contrast with the Eagleton case where the Demo? cratic Vice Presidential can? didate was dumped despite his protestations that he would be an able candidate. The size of the support for McGovern was fairly small but it caused a good deal of dis- cussion and debate which ended with 1 state delegation (Ken? tucky) and a handful of other delegates walking out. Benja? min Spock, whose untiring ef? forts have held the party to- gether over the last year, won the overwhelming support of the Convention. In his accep? tance speech, Spock discussed the differences betWeen Mc? Govern's goals and those of the People's Party. He pointed the father. at that here at the time, doing twice a day in tune. exercises and Breathing exercises They gave me over my muscles because wnat happens in One of them, and he worked with me And that involved certain yoga type ex? ercises to strengthen the muscles and the abdomen and just keep the whole body I was also breathing are the most impor? doing LaMaze method. Ernie, was doing relaxation exercises. a lot of control labor is that in the first part of labor out that McGovern does not in? tend to close all the tax loopholes, only some of them. He noted that McGovern took out an ad in the Wall Street Journal to disclaim any notion that his economic policy is anything more than a mild re- vision of the existing econo? mic system. He also noted that McGovern does not support a guaranteed annual income that is livable and he refuses to take a stand on the issue of abortion. Spock also contrasted the fundamental differences be? tween the People's Party and the two major parties. The People's Party, he told his listeners, seeks to bring about basic social and econo? mic change and is committed to building a movement which will help people to construct their own non-electoral community organizations and meet their own needs when the government fails to respond. This, Spock stated, is in sharp contrast to the McGovern movement which is not building anything but an organization for the pur- pose of electing George Mc? Govern. Spock went on to say that this basic difference is why a McGovern endorsement by the People's Party would be incompatable with the Party's avowed goal of creating a so- ciety in which people are able to control their own lives and destinies. An endorsement of McGovern by the People's Party would maintain the that basic change could be expected to come from within the exist- ing system, rather than from the grass roots level, Spock said, and would be detrimental to everything the People's Party has been working for. The Liberty Union delegation and most of the other dele? gates heartily agreed. When it came time to head back to the Green Mountains, the mood of the adjourning Convention was that of the end of a family reunion. Most of us had never met before and yet we all went away with a spirit of community and a com? mon purpose to return home and build an ever?widening circle of lOVe, hope, peace, and justice spreading out from the center of St. Louis. ??Martha Abbott Monika Abbott is the Chain- penson 06 Libenty Union?-and this is has tapes: to the mem- bership on the Pe0p?c's Parry Convention which was haid in St. Louis during the week 06 Juty 23nd. As most 06 you know, Libeaty Union is lated with the Peop?e's Fairy and we ate uesy pnoud that On. Spock will be on the Venmont ba??ot in Novembea as the city Union candidate 50a Pies? idenz 05 the UnLted States. SsaJppv dIz ewes 17519 e, the uterus starts to contract and sort of a wave-like motion moves down to the opening which is called the cervix. It goes down and the cervix opens and very gradually these waves keep passing down over it. The idea is to breathe long and deep with these waves and to flow with them and not to tense up. If you get tensed up, the cervix contracts instead of opening and you are like working against yourself. And so the training was deep breathing for that part of the labor, to breathe in and out like the ocean, and to keep the movement up and down, very smooth and relaxed. And'then as the labor progressed you do a differ- ent kind of breathing, a panting kind of breathing. And by concentrating on that breathing you wouldn't be concentrating on tensing up your body, and so it wouldn't tense up. It would tend to re? lax and work better. I was doing all those exercises and got to where I could hold my breath for two or three minutes. It was really good and everything was going well. I was doing my usual amount of regular work and most of the things I would normally do. I remember the night the baby came. I cooked supper and was doing some yoga exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. so anyway the night she was born some people were in the steam bath. All day long I was having contractions and I knew it was coming, but I didn't tell everybody until later on. I didn't want everybody to get too excited. The idea was to keep things relaxed. So I final- ly told people, and some people went running out to get Jack. ?zgpgo iuowuan '1uomaan i0 ~1uamanou xo? 'O'd 01 PuaS DJQUJBQ ZJOQLPE (sanss; 93) 4935 sun 9 an; 00's; asolaua I 'uolun Kq alsl ?siuaa 93 ?anss; al?ugg xassg 'Lgp x09 'o'd 01 pue puas x3553 aneis an; u; Kiipd leagiilod a 'uogun Kiiaqij aqi Kq ?lxaamgq at" uo node: 5,!1d03d 3H1 -uo;1d;435qns ZSVSU luowJan ?uoiidgaasqns KLJEBA o: sgno1 15 '(sanssi 93 40;) 00's; 8.5.: Who was Jack? Lorraine: Jack was the guy who lived across the lake. He had deliVered one other,baby and had been at the delivery of one other baby. He studied all the midwife books with me and was acquainted with the LaMaze method and he was going to help me deliver. He's a sort of guy who just had a really good Karma with him about being a midwife. He?s sort of a natural midwife. He didn't have much training but I had really good confi? dence in him. B.S.: Did you ever have any doubts about whether this was what you wanted? Were you always sure throughout the pregnancy that you wanted to have the baby at home? Lorraine: Yeah. I went to a doctor in Burlington to get checked just to make sure that everything was okay. And this doctor tried to talk me out of it a lit- tle bit. But he also said that I was in excellent health and probably that every thing would go alright. So that sort of supported me. He wouldn't come and help deliver though, because he just didn't like the idea . . . . .. It was summer time and we had a vehicle and I figured that if anything went wrong I could get rushed to the hOSpital. But I think part of nothing going wrong is having a real positive attitude that nothing would-~and just having everything right. To be continued 01 my? meyuaiug un augnu HRIIGCHIHD 1VllanN ELSE 'an??v OUDWWOO ho C) RI :2 .4 0h