Received: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 11:19:48 -0400 From: Ethan Young <ethanyoung at earthlink.net> To: marxist at egroups.com CC: Subject: RE: [marxist] Fwd:Re: A Note on PL & SDS, MIME Ver: 1.0
Re: the 1969 SDS convention--I was there, in the audience--not at the podium or in closed caucus sessions trying to figure out how to purge everything that was vital and independent of PL from the largest radical group to appear since WW2. When the RYM-ers responded to a speaker praising the NLF of So. Vietnam by chanting "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh," the WSAers--really just PL cadres and sympathizers, not a "mass" group, however large--lifted their red books high in the air and chanted "Mao, Mao, Mao Tse-Tung." Everyone understood what this meant--supporting the NLF was opposing Mao, in PL's bizarre depiction of world revolution circa 1969. I don't recall the comments Jared Israel says he made about Klonsky's purported letter from Strong, but I distinctly remember a PLer (Israel?) responding to it, that they, PL, had letters from Mao himself but they weren't about to use them to gain factional advantage.
Memory can be selective. But any perusal of PL materials before 1970 will show that they were the original "more Mao than thou" crowd. Yes, shame on Klonsky, and shame on Dohrn. And shame on Israel and Jeff Gordon. They were all complicit in the destruction of SDS. But the question today's student left must ponder is: would we have a stronger left today if PL hadn't successfully raided SDS in the late 60s? Ethan Young