I thought the great contribution of the SWP to the anti-war movement of the '60s was the demand that each demonstration had to have 20 slogans none of which related to each other and few of which related to the war in Vietnam.
Of course I was running the mimeograph machine for the other big faction of the left at the time.
Hey, how many united fronters from the 60's can finish this unfortunate doggerel I saw on the wall of the CP-tainted offices at the big DC demos in 71?
A chicken in every pot an ice ---- -- ----- ----
Anyway, we can't be too hard on the SWP in the 60's because such a large percentage of its membership were actually FBI informers.
Isn't nostalgia fun? I am looking forward to a Gitlin/Horowitz ticket as a third party entry next election. They can run against the Nader/Buchanan ticket.
-cb
----- Original Message ----- From: "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu> To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2001 7:44 PM Subject: Re: Gitlin on the student peace movement
>
>
> Jeffrey David Hyslop wrote:
> >
> > Students rally against war
> > Some collegians urge peaceful action amid America's
> > fervor for retaliation
> > By Jill Lawrence
> > USA TODAY
> > September 20, 2001
> >
> > [...]
> >
> > Todd Gitlin, a sociologist at New York University, says students have a
right
> > to be skeptical, but they also have a responsibility to suggest realistic
> > alternatives.
>
> Gitlin must (at least at one time) known better than this. The demand to
> offer a "realistic alternative" is simply fatal to a protest moveement.
> This recognition was the great contribution of the SWP to the anti-war
> movement of the '60s. It will take a while for most newly activated
> people, students or otherwise, to learn this. The movement must simply
> say no to everything the state tries to do.
>
> Carrol