In a manifesto, the Weathermen declared a goal: “the destruction of U.S. imperialism and the achievement of a classless world: world communism.” The Weathermen claimed kinship with the civil-rights movement and the anti-war movement. They were more interested in communism than in civil rights, of course. And it is not quite true that they were anti-war. They supported a side in Vietnam: that of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong—in other words, their fellow communists.
In 1972, James Merrill wrote a poem called “18 West 11th Street.” That is an address in Greenwich Village, New York City. At the beginning of his poem, Merrill refers to “the Aquarians in the basement.” Later, he speaks of the house at large as “dear premises,” which have been “vainly exploded” and are “vainly dwelt upon.” Let’s dwell upon them.
Merrill was born in that house—a townhouse—in 1926. His father, Charles, was the founder of Merrill Lynch, the investment bank. The family moved from the house when the future poet was five. The house passed through several hands, including those of James P. Wilkerson, an advertising executive.
In the early months of 1970, Wilkerson was on vacation in the Caribbean. His daughter Cathy, age 25 and a political radical, asked whether she could use the house in his absence. She needed a place to convalesce from the flu, she said. Her father agreed. The house at 18 West 11th Street became a base for the Weather Underground Organization.
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