The stone wall has been shattered by the Summer Project, and demonstrations, tests of public facilities, and other such tactics are coming into use across the state.

To the nation, the Project publicized the plight of the South. Americans became aware that the Southern Negro wanted to vote and was not being allowed to do so. The murder of three civil-rights workers shocked the country, and people began to understand the nature of the oppression that was being practiced within their national borders.

The first direct response came from the federal government. The Justice Department brought more suits against voting registrars in different counties, and a general suit against all 82--U.S. v. Mississippi--was recently argued before the Supreme Court. There is a fair chance that the court may soon rule on this case and perhaps strike down the registration test that is used to keep Negroes from voting. Thus while the Project itself did not register all potential Negro voters, it set in motion the local and national machinery which may eventually do this.

The federal government was not the only national voice to speak out against Mississippi's racism. Industries and individuals are refusing to purchase Mississippi products and business firms are cancelling plans to expand in that state. The president of Cleveland's Work Wear Corporation put it bluntly, "We won't consider expanding in Mississippi until the state and its people join the Union again." Dollars spent on new plants in Mississippi fell by 28 per cent last year, and tourism has declined drastically, a major blow to the resort areas of the Gulf Coast.

Already, this economic pressure has brought some change in the state. Just three weeks ago a council of over 100 Mississippi businessmen announced that they would comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and urged others to do so because "it is the law of the land."

II

The work of the summer culminated in the MFDP challenge at the Democratic National Convention, after which most of the volunteers went home. About 250 workers remained in the state to continue the 30-odd local projects that were initiated last June.

"Freedom elections" were held from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, forming the basis of a congressional challenge in January. And in eight Mississippi counties, Negroes ran in the December elections for county Agricultural Stabilization and Control Boards; by winning some of these, they gained a voice in the control of cotton allotments--a gain of major economic importance.

Despite these new efforts, some project areas have suffered a severe decline in activity, while others have merely consolidated the gains of the summer without advancing significantly. The slowing of activity was not unexpected, and stems partly from the decline in the number of field workers, the cessation of national publicity, a lack of funds, and a need to recuperate from the summer's feverish pace.

But the fall and winter have also revealed some basic weaknesses of the Project and raised questions about future plans. The problems fall into two catagories:

* The Vote--Despite all the efforts of the summer, Mississippi Negroes still cannot vote. How can this be changed?

* Decision-making--One of the basic philosophies of SNCC, and therefore COFO, is that local people must become the leaders of civil-rights activity. Since the SNCC worker cannot stay forever, local people must learn to make the decisions, avoid the mistakes, and continue the work that something like the Summer Project might initiate. In practice, however, this idea has received more lip-service than implementation, in some areas of Mississippi. And so the Atlanta Conference, held last week, was faced with the question: Who had been making the decisions in Mississippi and who should make them?

III

The meeting in Atlanta answered these two questions. It only answered them partially, and in some respects did not answer them well; but its answers are basically sound.

The question of decision-making was answered by a call for "people's conferences." If the local people are to begin making decisions, then the first decision they should make is what sort of summer project, if any, they want. Therefore SNCC will assume the responsibility of organizing conferences of local leaders in Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, to be held during the next two months.

As its reply to the question of voter registration, SNCC declared: "The congressional challenge is the most important political event in 1965." By emphasizing the need for new, federally controlled elections in Mississippi, SNCC admitted that only the national government is powerful enough to solve the voting problem. Between now and July, SNCC plans to mobilize national support for ousting Mississippi's five regular congressmen, and to send 2,000 students to Washington in late June to lobby for the challenge.

In practical terms, the decisions in Atlanta are full of dangers. Since there will be some form of summer project in at least four Southern states, it is unfortunate that detailed plans will not be made until May and June--after the people's conferences. And if the conferences don't issue a call for volunteers until April, it may be too late to attract enough of them, especially skilled people like lawyers, doctors, and ministers. (Some of the Washington lobbyists, however, will probably be sent South after the challenge.) Futhermore, it may prove impossible for the conferences to implement the giant training and security program that protected last summer's volunteers.

But basically the answers from Atlanta are correct. They represent a rededication to ideals that have always had a place in the civil-rights movement. For students thinking of going South for the summer, the answers pose a challenge: to decide whether they are motivated by the romantic appeal of working in Mississippi or by a real desire to change the Southern political structure. For Southern Negroes, the answers given in Atlanta offer the best hope of meaningful and permanent power.