http://www.revolutionintheair.com/reviews/dynamic.html This review appears in the Fall 2002 issue of Dynamic Magazine, published quarterly by the Young Communist League U.S.A. Learning from Movements of the Past
By Miles Rodriguez
"A 1968 opinion poll revealed that more college students identified with Che Guevara (20%) than with any of the 1968 presidential candidates" and in 1970, "the New York Times reported that four out of ten college students - nearly three million people" - thought a revolution was necessary in the US."
These quotes are taken from Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals turn to Lenin, Mao and Che, a new book by Max Elbaum, published by Verso Books, capturing the revolutionary mood of the 1968 generation of youth and students. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
According to this article in New York magazine http://www.revolutionintheair.com/reviews/dynamic.html on Howard Dean and the "netroots" which begins by relating the phenomenal success of the direct mail appeals for McGovern in the early which were sent to subscribers to Ramparts, my sense of the appeal of McGovern, contra Carrol Cox, wasn't so much to the radical left which he and Gary Hart cleverly demobilized (like the "Clean for Gene, " kids for Eugene McCarthy in '68 mobilized by Allard Lowenstein) was far more among upper class left-liberals and the "good government/student council" liberals in the anti-war movement like Sam Brown, who Carter later appointed to run VISTA, IIRC.
Having just looked at issues of Ramparts on microfilm from the 70's, there was great skepticism among the writers, editors and readers about McGovernism...and letters from such as Stew Alpert supporting the Symbionese Liberation Army.
That article in New York notes the insularity of the left-liberals who supported McGovern (I always giggle when remembering Paulene Kael after the landslide vs. McGovern, "How could this have happened?! Everyone I know voted for McGovern!") One could very easily say the same about the contemporary "anti-war movement". That over a hundred Democrats in the House of Representatives are in the, "Out of Iraq Caucus, " isn't due to "The Movement, " but, old fashioned American "isolationism" And this time, there isn't, and won't be, whatever YF fantisizes, a unified NLF of Iraq to project ones illusions onto as a revolutionary alternative to the Occupation.
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No class consciousness, no left. Liberalism dissolves into into narrow, individualistic isolation, often with a cynical twist; also nativism and nationalism, sometimes even, the Horrorwitz syndrome, a complete turn to the right, once the ideological blinkers have been removed from the eyes. Of course, new ideological blinkers go up at that point. The idealism of shallow leftism can do that to one. All of my class conscious pals from the 60s still know what their class interests are and act accordingly. IMHO, revolutionaries should stop trying to lead the sheeple and start treating workers as being capable of grasping their class interests for themselves--say what YOU actually think should be, not what you think will move the "masses" towards some tactical goal you have in your grand plan.
Regards,
Mike B)
Read "Penguins in Bondage": http://happystiletto.blogspot.com/
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