� RADICAL

AMERICA
MARCH- APRIL, 1968 Volume II Number 2
I

SOt

The GUARDIAN:

from Old to New Left

\
,

THE EVOLUTION OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS

Radicals' Use of History'

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... IDI Jaw sa" .. A..

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..
" •• . ' -.r, " "� _
 Harch-April Vol. II, no. 2
;
CONTENTS
Richard Rothstein, EVOLUTION OF THE ,
ORGANIZERS: SOME NOTES ON ERAP • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1
Michael Munk, THE GUARDIAN FROM OLD
TO NEW LEFT . • . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . • • • • . • • . . . . 19
Charles Leinenweber, SOCIALIST OPPOSITION
,
TO WORLD WAR I • ' . • . . • • . • .
• • . • • • • . • . . . . . . • . • . • . . . . . 29
John Strawn,ON THE LESSONS OF THE PAST • • . . • • • . . • • 50
,
,
RADICAL AMERICA,,� bi-monthly journal of U.S.
radicalism. Editors: Paul Buhle, Henry Haslach,
Joseph'· '!ewshaw, Mark rjaison. Associates:
Tom Christoffel, Eark B. Lapping, Nick Norris,
John l"ledwid, James Prickett.,
Subscription Rate: $3/yr or $'2/y,r for SDS national
members in good standing (please note chapter)
Single copy 50¢ A'ddress:%Buhle, 1237 Spaight:. St.,
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�
for 5-100 copies. I

For various reasons, several articles' from the

scheduled "New Left" issue of Radicai America'
have be�n pos ·tponcd until next issue. The bulk of
the May-June issue will be devoted to new
perspectiv2� vn American Labor. In all probability
the Jury-August issue will be entirely about the
historical origins and developmeat (and future
perspectives) of Black Power in America; alld the
following issuer September,October, will
consider 'Radical Theater.

;
We welcom�into 'existence the new publications,
PAPER TIGER AND CAW. Another new publiqation
soon to appear is the Soch.l History Review,
primarily a product of Madison graduate students.

Finally, if you have had delays (or worse troub�e)

in receiving Radfcal America, please bear with us.
We hope shortly to pave -availaile an efficient
addressing system.

,
I
 ERAP: Evolution of the Organizers
Richard Rothstein

SDS set up it s Econcmic Rese arch and Act ion

Proj e ct ( ERAP ) two days afte r the 1953 March on
Wash ington f or J ob s and Freedom, w ith a c lear not ion
of how indigenous democ rat ic organ i z at i ons of the
poor and the unemployed would c ontribute to maj or
s o c i al change in Ame r i c a and the world .
SDS st i l l bel ieved in the pos s ib i l ity of change
w ithin the framevlOrk of the fo.cmally repre sent at ive
inst itut ions of Ame r ic an gove rnrr.ent . EPAP's goal
was to goose those in st itut i ons a b it, to set up
current s in Amer i c an pol i t i c al l ife vlhich would
reve rse the c orrupt ion of e st ab l i shed l ibe ral and
t rade un ion force s . The se force s , w ith pre s sure and
inspi rat ion from EBAP and othe r " new insurgenc i e s , "
w ould demand that r·e s ource s be transferre d f rom the
cold war arms race to the c re at ion of a de cent ra l i z e d ,
democ rat ic , inte rrac icll we lfare state at home .
Those of us who were involved in ERAP at that
t ime have c on;e a long way s ince . We no longe r focus
on the arms expenditure s of what we then regarde d as
an " e qual blame " c ol d w ar - - - V ietnam and the
Dominican Repub l i c unmasked for us an obvious
aggre s s i ve e c onom ic irllpe rial i sm . We are now e nerr,ies
of we lfare state c apitali sm, w ith l ittle faith or
de s ire that the lib e rai-labor force s which might
f ather such a system be strengthened v i s - a-vi s the i r
corporat ist and re act i onary allie s . We view those
force s - - and the system they might have e spoused - ­
a s be ing incompat ible w ith a non-inte rvent ionist world
pol i cy and as no more than a man ipulat ive fraud pe r­
pet rated upon the dignity and hUlL.ane aspirat ions of
the American pe ople .
Thi s last con clus ion we owe in large [Le aSUre t o
four years of ERAP experienc e . I n a healthy prag­
mat ic style we t e sted an opt imi s t i c hypothe s i s about
2

the limits of American p·Luralisr,:. But after 8RAP IS

first year and a half, when these conclusicns began to
becoiLe c" ..:ar, vie had no organizational structure for
icrrr,ul2.ting and inplerLenting subsequent hypotheses
about A merica ano. the building of a movement to
revolutionize it.

THE FIRST PHASE

The hypothesis of "new insur-.Sencies" on which

S?4P was originally based was set out in America and
�
th� New El'a, a docurr.ent adopted as po�icy by the 1)03
S0S national convention.
This docm.ent aSSUlLed Lany of the argUlEents of
t\?O other 1)53 state([,ents. One, The Triple Revolution,
was premu13ated that winter by a coalition of liberals
and radicals in::: uding some leaders of SDS. It aroued
that the cybernation revo1.ut ion,' resulting in pre­
vi0usly unimagined ':,rlehlployment and leisure time; the
"v!eaponry revolution," which threatened to obliterate
the world after wastin resources worth billions of
dollars; and the "human rights revolution," encompas­
sin.", both third-world liberation movercents and the
dcrr:eSl;lC �ivil rights mOVelTknt .Jere all inter-related.'
Only througtl 8. 2urtailment of the arms race could
funds becOfLe availab=-e f o r construction of equali­
tarian societies at home and abroadj only by
recocnition of new opportunities presented by automa­
tion could America rr:eet the demands of its civil
rights n:ovel.Y ent. Equal opflortunity was u,eaningless in
a shrinking jeb market, the racial p:coblen, :::ould not
be dealt with unless obsolete economic arran;err:ents
were replaced. ( ToddY IS " gual'anteed annual income"
movecent is the project of those who still accept the
essentials of the Triple Revolution argument. )
The second analysis was contained in the papers
of the Nyac� Conference, held only a fe,,, days after
the SDS' adoption of Arr.erica and the Ne� Era. Ray
Brown; an economist now teachin,; at Swarthmore, pre­
dicted that even if new job opportunities were
increased at hJice the 1) ')3 rate, by 1)70 une'lip.Loyn;ent
 3

would be about 13% - - and ast ronomic ally h iiShe r for

the young and non-whi te . "None of the pre sent or
p roposed ( Kennedy Administ ration ) prc�rams J" Brown
conc luded, "amounts to more than e c onomic token i sm . l
America and the New Era adde d to the se analyses
a condemnati on of the "corporat i st " make - up of the
Kennedy Admini stration and of the 2.nti - den:ocrat i c ,
manage r i al s olut ions 1;Jh i ch it proposed . SDS de ­
s c ribe d the "dilewma of labor and l ib e ral force s as 11

a tendency to identify with thi s manage rial i sm and

a consequent los s of the Ame r i c an populi st tradition:

Organi zed l iberal i sm, however , must t ake at

le ast part of the cre dit for Ame r i c a ' s pol it i c al
s talemate . A style of pol iti c s whi ch clT:pha ­
s i z e s cocktail parties and seminars rathe r than
prote st marche s , local reform movement s , and
independent bas e s of power, cannot achieve
leve rage 1;l ith re spe ct t o an e stab l i shment ­
oriented admini stration and a fundarr.entally
re act i onary Congre s s i onal ol i�archy .

SDS felt that w ithin these l iberal organiza­

tions ( be low the ' mi ddle levels of le ade rship ' ) there
were st iLe pe ople who w ould support mere !]; i l itant
act ion and more far -re achin s o lut i ons than those
proposed by the l iberal leade rship in bed w ith
Kennedy. In pa.'t j rank and f ile sent iment 'vJould
be galvanized by the obvious ly worsenin . econom i c
c r is i s :

But j ust as important, the popul i st it pulse in

labor and organ i z at ions of l ib e ralism can b e
re i nforced by the err.er�ence of new popular
moveLLent s . . , It . . . seems li:r,ely that popular
upsurge in many c ommunitie s . . . could provide
a st imulus which would move l ab o r to become an
important cent e r of pow e r and le adership . . . A
democrat i c insur",ency c ould also provide for
many middle c la s s people a rev ived and
inspiring v i s i on of a humane s oc iety order - - "
a v i s i on that might st ir then: out of p rivat i sm .
4

C onse quently, one cf the chief goals of ERAP was

to �alvapize the quie scent popul i sts in the ranks of
la"b,;r ar , libe rali.sm. The o:cgan i z ation of the poor
vias; i:....� �e2st i n part , Ii foli t i cal public relat ions
r;;aneU·,Tr 8.8signei to speak to the imagination of
stable America . The f ir st tvJO acti ons of JOIN ( Job s
or Inc ome I�ow ) ) the original ERA.P proj e ct in Chi c ago J
'del'e to sell apple s, a syu:bol of Depre s s ion unemploy­
ment. JOn: membe rs , re c ruited at an Unemployrr:ent
Compen sation cente r , sold apple s fi rst in Chicago f s
Loop, the center of white c ollar lower lEiddle c lass
employmentj and s e c ond , out s i de a Pete Seed;e r concert
yl'1ere ,JOIN c ould be expe cted to reach the memb ership
of most of the libe ral organizati ons we were tryinJ;
to :.o:alvanize .
Joe Chabot , the f irst ERAP organ i z e r in Ch i c ago ,
spent ',;uch of h i s t ime spe aking to trade uni oni sts
and othe r l iberals about JOIN ' s activity - - fund
ralsln; was of c our se a chief mot ive , but the poli­
tical purpose was not overlooke d . A JOIN advi s ory
corm:ittee , made up lar_ely of leftist trade uni on
staff, ,las put togethe r . The ch ief ach ievement , how ­
eve r, was the cOlLmi tment of the United Paci�inghouse
Horke r s uni on to set up a re c ruit in6 off ice next to
8 South Side unemployment c ompensation cente r while
Chabot �st.ab l i shed an off i ce next to a North S ide
Cente r .
Ri chard Flacks , writing the prospe ctus for the
Chicago ERAP proj e ct , expre s se d thi s purpose by pro ­
pos ing that

leafletting and s ale s of apple s at plant gate s

cn pay- day w ill be an effective ,lay of reminding
er;;ployed vlOrkers of thre ats to the ir own j ob
se curity; of arousinz inte rest in JOIN, and of
rais ing money . Thi s effort 'Will be cons ide rably
enhanced if local un i on le aders and shop stew ards
v i s ibly a s s i s t the JOIN workers .

Flacks \lent on to ar2,ue that the JOIN adv i sory

c ommittee
 c an be c ome a k i nd of repre sent at i ve body of
those force s and groups within the c it y wh i ch
c an be mob i l i ze d for effect ive pol it i c al act i on.
Thus the Yllemb e r s of t h i s group , although act ing
as indivi duals, be come ce nters of i n i t i at ive
w it h in the i r ovm organ i z at ions and inst itut i ons .
In t h i s w ay , a c ity-w i de p o l it i c al moverrent for
full employment and a better Chi c ago m ay
develop . ... JOIN by it s e lf c annot mob i l i z e
suf f i c i ent pm"e r t o ach ieve s o c i al change ; only
a n ew a l i gnrrent of force s in Chi c ago c an bring
t h i s about.

F l acks was ove rly opt im i st i c about the pavler of

JOIN's example to creat e suc c e s s f o r s o l it ary
left i st s who had been st ruggl ing f o r years t o f i re
the i r l abor un i ons ,J ith a new cOlLmitment t o popular
st ruggle. R an� and f i le a s s i st ance for p l ant - gate
apple sale s neve r mat e r i a l i zed; and the JOn:
adv i s o ry c Ol',mi ttee lJaS d i sbande d aft e r a ye ar - ­
p artly because of l ack of int e re st, but p art ly also
because t he new V i e t nam pe ace rno !eI,T ent was begin­
n ing to abs orb sorr: e of the adv i s ory corl.m it t e e
membe rs' e ne rg ies.
Nonethele S S, spe a� i ng t ruth to 1 i 1 e 1"a1s re -
[jlC ine d a key part of the ERAP organi z e rs' p rogram.
JOIN orga n ize rs neve r turned down spe aking engage ­
IlT ent s be fore liberal or church organ izat ions ( fund
ralslng w a s again a _ey, but not s o le, rat i or1ale ) ,
and );jade fre quent atterrr;'Jt s t o involve l ibe rals i n
JOIN's prc3ram - - colle cting c l oth i n� in t he
suburbs for a JOIN Christmas party i nv it ing the
Fellow sh ip of Reconciliation membership to do a
door - t o - door survey wH,h JOIN members J a c c e pt i ng the
mest ineff i c i ent p art t in:e vo lunteer arrangement s
from student s vlho did not yet have a campus move ­
ment w it h "'h i ch t hey could be come act ive.
In m any c as e s, the student s who did short term
t our s of duty on ERAP st af f s, returne d t o t he ir
c ampuse s to le ad un ive rs ity reform and V i e t nam pro ­
t e st moveme nt s. They were, as a re sult of the i r
c ont act w ith ERAP, 'reinforced in the ir populi st
6
impul se s . The derwcrat i c , " part i c ipatory" t one of
all 8::RAP proje cts has , in this re spect , contribute d
to the ,:::rli ergence o f a new popular moverr;ent ( SNCC
'leter8:1S returning to campus were , in the same
fashi on, much more irr,portant ) . But w ith re spect t o
the labor movement and libe ral membe rship o rgan i z a ­
t ions , n o such S uc c e s s c ould be claimed. Before t o o
long , the att itude o f most ERAP organ i z e r s toward the
ortanizations of labor and the liberal middle class
changed from one of hope to one of the deepe st
host i�ity and contempt . 2

RENT STRIKE IN UPTOWN. 1966 N�Hollander. Chicago Film Co-Op

 7

JOIN TO GROIN

I n addit ion to 8. mi s s i onary effort t o liberal ­

labor force s , an actual achievement of s o c i al change
was a second goal of e arly ERAP . Ame r i c a and the
New Era made a spe c ial poin� of th is :

by concentrat ing attent i on on domest i c prob­

lem s , and by demandin� the c oncentrat ion of
res ourc e s on the ir s olution, the poor and di s ­
pos se s sed of the United St at e s ( and every other
country ) c ould force a ce s s ation of the arms
race . The obj e ct ive me aning of the ir demands
for goods and s o c i al service s would be t o make
c ontinued support for rr,as s i ve military prograrr:s
untenable .

'The c reation of a series of short run s ocial refon;s'

was one of the priorit i e s to be used b y ERPP director
Rennie Davis in choosi n . localitie s for proj ect s)
accordin.; to 0. re solut ion of the De cember 1:�3 SDS
Nat i onal C oun c i l .
When it s oon bec8.lEe obv i ous that full eLploy­
ment c ould not becoLe such a short range re form
achieved by 2RA?, a Deil c onception of c'-''c�::,nizing
proj e cts began t o deve l op . At first, EqP.F organ izers
defensively de s c ribed thi s approach as GROIN - ­
"garbage rer, . oval or incorr:e now . " But by t he end of
1954, the GROIN approach was unanimous - - even the
Chicago proje ct change d it s name froK J,O.I . N . t o
"JOIN - - Community UnLxl' and move d i t s off ice frOlY,
next to the unemployment center to the poore st of
the Chicago north s i de ne i ghb orhoods.
The i s sue s shifte d from national full employ­
ment t o more local i s sue s - - welfare adrdnistration,
hous ing c ondit i on s , local c ity housekeeping issue s .
The original r at i onale was soon lost, however, as
ERAP found local polit i c al structure s to b e so rigid
t hat not even petty reforms , c ompletely unthreaten­
i ng to the nat ional e conom i c structure and dist r i ­
but ion o f re s ource s , c ould be won . A f i lm; The
Troub lemaker s , det ails the trag i c story of the
Newark ERAF proj e ct ' s i nab ility even t o w i n a
t raffic light a� a danzerous intersection. Although
ERAP proc2cts developed a facility for "Iinning speci­
fic v,"'c� are ( public aid ) grievance cases and for
forciL�, by reGt strike, an occasional landlord to
fix up, in all ten ERPJ' projests only two concessions
")ere gained from the "power structure". In Cleveland,
2. free lunch program 'lIas e;ranted to the children of
aid recipients who attended public school; and in
Newark, a locally elected war on poverty board was
able to appropriate some funds for a recreation
center.
3RAP organizers soon began to loo;� at local
i3�'.Ues 2S an opportunity for bitter education rather
than for substantive reforL' vlhich ",ould begin to
chip away at the defense budget and reinforce the
iBAP organization with a reputation for success.
Rennie Davis, in proposing a program for JOIN in
October, 19)4: statec'i that an essential ingredient
"las a demano. \Yh�,ch 'dould probebly be denied by local
offisiaJs 'hut ,\"hlch those officials clearly could
meet li' they so desired. Such a de n. an d "will. invol. ve
people in eXFerienees ",hich �evelop a new under­
st anding of the society whieh denies them opportuni­
ties and rights; and ,Jhieh viil� or:en possibilities
for �"o:re insurgent act i vi ty in the future."
.J OL, ;-�-ted the s"Js!estiol1. It tOOl;: an in­
formal survey of it s community and established that
a day ('are center 8l'}d a public spot-labor hiring
agency were the two most cited needs. JOIN proposed
these to the local war on poverty cffice and pic�eted
that office in their behalf. Irei ther has been
granted to this Qay.

BLACK AIm i.JI-i.ITE TCGETHER

The third area of ER.4P objectives concerned our

relationship to the civil rights movement in which
�e hed all worked. For it had become clear. as a
result of the experiences of some SDS leaders within
the Northerl1 Student Movement, that the role of white
radicals could no longer be as organizers in blac �
�cmr:eunitles and in b:i2ck organizations -- the fact
that most ;.;;r;AP projects were eventually placed in
 9

such communitie s was not originally i ntende d : the

s ite of the Newark proj ect , for exampl�, was believe d
to have been inhab ited much more b y working class
white s than was in f act the case .
In the long run, ERAP ' s purpose grew out of a
concern that the obj e ct ive3 of the civil r i ght s move ­
ment would be frust rated by w orr,;ing class white
re act ion . I n part , therefore , our goal was to form
organi z at ions in white commun it ie s ,·Jhi ch could coun ­
ter the backlash ( " civiliz ing commi ttee s , " i n the
recent words of the NCNP convent ion ) . But also in
part , SDS had concluded that the j ob of white
radicals was to provide the civil rights moveme nt
with white allie s who would pos itively re inforce the
power of Negro demands . And what better allie s are
there than those organi z e d around the ir own needs
and demands , a functional and not me rely charitable
alliance? The dream of a new int erracial Populism
was hard to re s i s t .
I n an influent i al paper writ te n in the spr ing of
1964 , An I nterracial Movement of the Poor? , Tom
Hayden-an�Carl Wittman surveyed the civil right s
movement's lack of sub st ant ive achievement and the
b acklash mood developing in the white community.
Hayden and Wittman categorize d f our types of then
current civil right s demands : demands to eliminate
segregat ion ( but " the lower class Negro prefers
improved schools over integrat e d s chool s , and
generally improved l iving c ondit i ons over integrated
living conditions" ) ; demands which symb olic ally
assert Negro d ignity but ne ithe r achieve change nor
alienate white s very much ; demands \-Jhich are speci ­
f ically racial, do not achieve very much , and
potent ially alienate large numbers of white s ( such as
a demand to replace white worke rs w ith black one s in
a s ituation of chronic unemployment ) ; and f inally ,
demands for politi c al and e c onomic change s of sub ­
stant i al benefit t o the Negro and white poor .
Hayden and Wittman clearly favored the fourth
type , and argued for the organ i z at ion of poor whit e s
as well as b lacks t o make such demands :
10

The alternative to an ioterracial movement is

mor? like ly to be fascism than f reedom . We are
nee convinced that violent conflict between
�egroes and lower - c lass white s will force the
American establishu;ent to even make significant
concession s , much less dissolve it se lf. The
e stablishment might merely i gnore the trouble
and leave it to the local police , or it might
use troops t o enforce orde r . I n either case ,
poor Negroe s and poor whit e s will continue to
struggle against each other instead of against
the powe r structure that properly de se rve s their
ms.:Lice.

The feared violence was not, of course , the then

unpredicted mass violence of the b lack community
against ghett o instiGutions , but rather the the n
corrmon violence of working class whites against
Negroes moving into De,v cOD;muni t ie s or attending pre­
viously 8.l1-white schools. Tile mass organization of
"Ihite s around is sues of their own oppre s sion , ERAP
hope d , vlOuld help blunt that violence.
And our hope s "Iere that this organizat ion of poor
whites would have a second effe ct i n the short run.
It ".'as hoped that the organization of poor whites
\iould J.l".:'�jpnce the program of the activist civil
rights mover,;ent (part icularly SNCC, NSM) and to some
extent CORE) .
It seen�e d clear t o SDS that the c ivil right s
movement 'Jas erring in not focussing on economic
issues . The Harch on Washingt on for Job s and FreeEiom
made the connection betWeen rac ial oppres sion and
national economic crisis expli cit. But the target s
of SJ'TCC, for example} st ill remained primar i ly sym­
bo,'.ic: the integration 'f lunch counters) n:ovie
theate rs) and s o on.
ERA.P would make it s radical econom i c analysis
of Ame r i can problems availab le to the c ivil right s
lTovencent in hlO forlDs: first , by foc ussing attention
on e conomic targe t s and by organizi ng the p oor
around ecooomic issue s: unemtJloyment , housing , Wel­
fare) poverty . But secondly , it was felt that the
organ izat ion of the white poor would, of itSe lf be a
step fonlard in the movement 1 s radical cons ciousne s s:
an int e rrac i a l movement of the poor , in l-'h ich whit e s
t o o were demanding de cent home s and i ncOlLes , could
not help but demonst r at e that c iv i l r i ght s act s wh ich
me re ly out l aw e d acc ommodat i ons segregat i on m i s se d the
e s sent ial p oint . Rent str iker s ' demands could not be
met by non-e conoIJ1 i c int e grat i cn i st c once s s i ons.
It seems c le ar in retrospe ct t hat ERAP played a
s ignif i c ant ( though not s ole , by any me ans ) role in
the subse quent re dire ct i on of the c ivil r i ghts move ­
ment s . In part i cular , ERAP ' s emphas i s on urban
organ i z at i on around i s s ue s of pove rty played a part
in inf luenc ing the program development of CORE and
SNCC s ince 1953. !vluch more import ant , of cour s e , was
the c iv i l r i ghts movement s' own dynami c wh ich, i n ­
s p i r e d b y it s f ailure s, cre at e d an e c onomica lly
o r i ented black power movement whi ch swept over and
pa st whatever marginal influence ERAP m ight have had .
But ERAP ' s role was :;ompleme nt ary and , in this re ­
spe ct , should be c onsidered a suc ce s s.
Not ne arly so suc c e s sful w a s ERAP ' s attempt t o
produce mass ive w h i t e allie s in t h e st ruggle against
white re act ion . We c le arly demonst r ated that rac ism
could be ove rc ome by poor whit e s genuinely in mot ion
around the i r ovm demands . J O I N in Ch i c ago worked
c l o s e ly w it h black commun ity groups elsewhere i n the
c it y , and the indigenous J O I N l e adersh ip , vlh ile
Southe rn, w as c l e arly c omm itted to the abo li t i on of
rac i sm as a polit i c al goal . JOIN rent strikes were
co ordinat ed I'lith rent st rike s in b l ack cOIYlmunit ie s;
coordinat e d demon strat i ons of black and white vle lf are
re c ip ient s oc curred more than once at pub l i c a i d
off i c e s .
But the de sperat e ly s l ow pace vlith vlh i ch JOIN
grew , the inab i l it y of ERAP ult imat e ly to c ommit it ­
self t o more than a few white c ommunit ies) and a
nat i onal w ar e c onomy whi ch temporar i ly re serve d
pove rty for the black mas se s , all adde d up t o an un­
re ality to the prom i s e s of wh ite allie s we had e ar l i e r
made .
By the w int e r of 19�5, ERAP organ i z e r s found
themselve s at a d i f f i cult j uncture . The three maj or
original purp o se s of ERAP -- the insp i r at i on of mass
prot e st from the r anks of labor and libe r a l i smj the
 12

ctchieve�ent of specific) thougb minor, concessions to

socia} re �orm; and the addition of sie;nificant numbers
:::f poc,' c,'hites to the ranks of the movement for Negro
freedo:;. - - had been abandoned by most ERAP organizers.
JOIN organizers: of course, retained the third.
hi'hether ERA? was justified in concluding after so
short a trial that the ranks of labor and liberalism
could not be galvanized by the power of our example and
that the 'power structure" was totally inflexible and
unresponsive to demands from belOlI is a question that
must reILain unanswered. Certainly these are conclu­
siens nov! shared by most of the 'new left."
The more significant question is: what new
hYlc�'0thcses replaced the old in the minds of ERAP
organizers) vJha-c effect did these nevI hypotheses
and
!i2.Ve on the structure of those ERP.P projects which
continued to exist?
The question is revealingly difficult) because the
shift frem old premises to new was barely conscious
2nd. herdly e ve r discussed. But by the winter of 1905,
if ;you as��ed most �EP.P organizers what they '..Jere
2bout, they vl O uld s imply have answered "to build a
II.oVE:rr:ent ...
There vlould have been little ideological disagree­
ment i?bout \.Jhat this movement \.]Quid do, once built.
SDS peop .. ,� ' C're rapidly comillg to the conclusion that
their movement must be such that could end racist
explOitation and imperialism, collectivize economic
decision making, and democratize and decentralize every
polit�_cal, econollJic, and socio.l institution in
America.
These goals, however, were long run -- and quite
:J.ppropriately not a probler� of concern to ERAP organ­
izers. The short run problems of beginning to build
:::: Y:Jove,,_ent which could __ :e day have the power and
skill to organize society in a humane, collective,
decentralist and democratic fashion were much more
difficult .

The short run problems were these: hml to develop

leadership in a genuine, non-manipulative fashion; how
to balance the moverr.ent's needs to create leadership,
B'Hal<:en the country's (or the community IS) sense of
crisis, polarize by conflict, or create institutions

F
 13

of local c ontrol vlh i ch give people a li ving VlSlon of

the democracy to be; and how to choose the issue s
around whi ch any of the se tasks c ould be a.tterrlpted .
Be c ause ERAP organ i zers had no idea of hovi to
make such de c i s i on s , the ERAP structure d i s s olve d in
the spring of 1955. The rationale for d i s s olution
was that of dec iding whether a given proj ect should
attempt to emphas i z e rent strike s or leade rship train­
ing clas ses , commun ity new spapers or democYQt i c day ­
care centers , community i s sues or the war i n V ietnam ,
depended too much on spec i f i c local inf ormation which
organ i zers from other projects c ould not hope to have.
In fact , however , nobody had any experience in making
such dec i s ions even w ithin a proj ect; and not s ince
rfarch, 1965, have any two ERAP organ i z ing staffs s at
down together to evaluate and di scuss their ,vork.

STRUGGLE AND EXPERIMENTATIONS

It was prob ably true that a n ati onal organ i z a ­

tion o f half a doz en l o c a l organ i z ing staf fs c ould not
be a f orum f or working out such d iff i cult prob lems of
move�ent building. Those local ERAP staf fs wh ich c on­
tinued to survive had t o look to the future for the
eventual c re ation of reg ional unions of organ ize r s
whi ch cou�d enable individual pro j e cts t o deal with
these dec i s ions. But in the three year s that lye have
thus f ar awaited such regi onal organ i z ations , organi ­
zing projects have floundered and achieve d, at best
unanti c ipated succes s .
One characteri stic of proj ects i n the last three
years has been a regular re-eva�uation and shifting of
direction . JOIN , f or example, engaged in a rent
str ike campaign which had the p otentj.al of developing
new inst itut i on s of local democ rati c c ontrol ( tenant
c ounc ils ) through te nant-landl ord collective bargain­
ing ggre ements won after the most dramati c c onfli ct .
But instead of seeing the implementation of these agre�­
ments through , and i nstead of nurtur ing the tenant
c ounc i l s into genuine democrat i c bodies , JOIN organ ­
izers adopted new organ i z ing prior ities soon after the
rent - s tri ke movement had begun . They began to empha­
s i ze i deolog i c al training for the handful of potential
le adE::Ts i"l ,�-\)l".F;, tile cr2(-1tioD (yi-' -:: ��e'>n3p8.."ger t-·c" i::l­
Lr�::sse cc:::rrn..':"Lll)C./" ,:;onSClC>JSncSS .-J,'!".... CGrJ.flict) (j(id
. . the
d2\re ..l_oL)���:! ..' of G.e-E.ocro.tic bJ.. c'c�� clubs. The Y�Dt) stl' i.e
1.;8i�1paid"r; '-''''::;'S 2b·!:-.�"Licncd"
P.rc�_l!ll� 3.tlV Si �lz-;n act i \.'1 t�{) thc:re C'�'l�.l�:: :3 J_'":c; �e
\In('.f� �-.tD.-i ct;y- �J.bG"Jt o:r;9Tli�ln� T)�irrOSes � \�!HS ;.Jt::.li"'ar�-.:
g1' _-;.. t:"'/5 ilC:2 set- i �/i t:{ :lr:clert =:f·�e tl ·t·) �unxi r:� i ze thA Y�1]..:"!·be!:"'
cl gri2v::.�_nc2s ,'1ctuaJ i.. y "(von T::::Y"" fi"::,"":.. ic sid I'� -_e'-l�::""
\!'l crder to eXy()se ( and) ic pert] cbli.;�s-,-tE�) thS'se
recip..l.ents t·J 8. r8dic(�1 � int2r--r':1_cial) ant i·-"�\·�Jr �;r<..·

-c;aoizat ion·' (ly \·!33 i�,3 sur�o2e tc (L2velo�) ':-i :�.. ,rc:' cf
r�::cipieEt l�:\derchip 1tl!licn W�."::: skiJ..�_�.J -�n t.�l�' :�clrrjin'�­
�..:)t·}�::.tjc� c:f' 5.. nerLccr3tic: gro"":..lp or Lr.: t:1E:: pro!�>��3sir:8
.:_.,f sri�:-::"(J2n'�eS for other re�jl-)i2nts'-; Since th"'-': ctr::"'lE;�OD­
U1Ent :-;f sttch Gn i_r:d t,�cnous lead�r;3}:l_i1) 3rou�) cOl�'�d cnl�T
pro(:e�d \/f:.;ry s��c'"'\'-'Y-J it 'N2S .1.:1 2onf=' ict -with the; fir3t
D�r?o:e which perreltted stgff orgonizers therrse:vc3 ��

�2ndle E:.. _i ar,se n1J.rr.ber (-.; :' gr�t::'1unces rdpid"!...��T d::.d

actual cc�flict �t welfare �ffi�es -- gettins in

p0blic fights with ��8ework�rb belittli�3 th� Gffi�cs'
2.1.-tthc'�ity � .'�pt. �;'lG 2nd scre2��ing in frcnt cf �ub Lic
�id bead�larterG. Such tactics) throuGh ncws98per
publicity cr ehe �Gpect it �.ode on rpcipicnts who �cre

prt-�'s�nt, lrlight pl�eiJ2.Te i'erti:c: C�""i..--'C"jl,l:�d ��cr f'J.tur(?

I_JrtS2[Jj�.�j.. �,:s :::-t::1d 2cjrlscic;J.s:less; ��,1_t it toe rnight sorr�c-­
ti�eS cr,n� .. _ . , ..J. . ',ith the effj_cicnt. �!.andl.Lng of grj.c­
vances or the quiet develap�cnt of indlgenc�s r€cioient
lc2d�rsi'lip' c

Because ERAP organizers were ��neralJ� unc�ear

r'.oout the [�.e3.ning cf these (j 1_tprnati,te;-;.� the�� ofteQ
21�iftccl t!12ir er-phaDis frcE; C·?lC� tc CHlc,tter, c: .. ;}() tLen.
1-.\ JJ:� y; D 0�l i�} .. 'I'1-:E.:-:' Y'(-; S "�11 +; II"J 3_S 2 -D .'-li 11.1re to �'_\� � C i 81'"'
.3n�/ �f tt>: �)C3 3 i b 1e T::()VerY�ent .. blJ.i.ld ii.s ��r.)rlJ'=: se s; -L �l eDt:

�QS �cccE�li2�cd, it �as nsually i�cdv�r�E��.

T_ _ 2C�'� of clarity abc ...... tocti23.1 3.J_terne:."t:.. .. rE?S �,.J8;J
,--.v",\
cn:; ccc ]· �cen �cr t he cocst�nt •___ l....l.

�.;l:e part of CG�:.. ��.r_:n�t)' crgcni:ir:g p:-cJects.. .l·�D�thE:;�

'12,3 frustn1ticn. If rent strir:e ClllC ter:ant council
oC'i�nniz:lw� ',iUS lii.if12u2t ane. frustratinz, it iJaS
!Jl1tT8�/S pcss:i.-b�_e T,C acvcJ_op 2 politic3,1 rationale for
c,-b::Cr:lcicnir'� it -- ic ":0.3 decided, for 2x2ILule, thc:li: the
icieoioglcS..L l...r(�lnlng of' putential leadership was :nore
 15

essential at this time to the building of a mOVel!lent

(which is what we were about) than was the development
of conflict-stimulated tenant councils.
A good political analysis could always be made
for such a shift - - complete with showing hov! the
shift remedied the historical errors of the movement
since the nineteenth century. But soon, frustration
with the new direction would give oirth to another
equally cogent political rationale -- and yet another
direction would be embarked upon.
If organizing staffs had been responsible to any
group of organizers larger than themselves, such
shifts would have been much more difficult. For
example, if the JOIN staff had been responsible to the
radical movement in Chicago (or earlier, to ERAP) for
the development of tenant councils in Uptown, a change
in that responsibility would have required a more de­
tached and delaying debate within the Chicago movement
(or ERAP). But in the absence of such an organizational
context for organizing, political programs could change
as quickly and as irresponsibly as the whims of the
organizers. And since the success of any program,
whether leadership training or rent strike development
or massive welfare grievance vict0ries, ta;;.es longer
than the development of an organizer's frustration,
often no program was given a chance to succeed.
Finally, a third reason for the constant shift in
organizing priorities was the fact that, in the
absence of a broader n;ovement structure from which
organizers could ta�e direction, each organizing pro­
ject had to bear the burden of history on its shoulders.
Even when the perceptj'Jn of new political imperatives
was not the product of frustration, such perception
had to result in new directions, leaving unfinished
business behind. A project could not decide that a
given task was irl.portant, without itself dropping every­
thing else to effect that task. Thus, if JOIN was
involved in the training of welfare recipient leader­
ship, and suddenly decided that it was politically
important to focus public attention on the arbitrari­
ness of caseworkers, it could not propose that a
different organizing project assume responsibility for
attention-getting welfare demonstrations while JOIN
continued in the quiet task of creating indigenous
 le5dership . In the ab seGce of any mult i -proje ct
st ructure, a divis i on of polit i c al l abor was incon­
ce ivable, Any proj ect had to sacrif i ce it s ongoing
'1ctivi":L�s to whateve r was the h i ghe st priority of
the morr;0nt . i-lith each proje ct re spon s ible only t o
itself , not to fccus on the h ighe st pri or ity for the
moverr,ent as '-ihole was to bet ray the h i storical task
of bui lding that movement .
A corollary of th is problem was the impo s s ib i lity
of experiment al work . How c ould a proje ct expe r iment
\-lith fact ory organiz ing , or consumer organi z ing , or
draft re s i stance organ i z ing in such a context?
Sxper iment s produce informati on f or organ i zers , not
r::e ce s s ar i ly mas s movement s . But in the ab sence- of a
b roade r structure , w ith the burden of movement build­
ing borne ent i rely by e ach proje ct , experiment s c ould
not be r i sked. Each organ i z e r judged h i s own \-iorth
and value by the extent to i-lh i ch he built a s e c t i on
of that movercent . If a proje ct expe rimented w it h
draft re sist ance failed , and was run out of a c ommu­
n ity, to whom could the organ i ze rs g ive the bene f it of
the ir expe rience? From whom c ould they he ar , "Y ou are
worthy in our eye s ; you have done us an invaluab le
service in providing us w ith Knowledge about the
pos s ibility of working - c las s draft re s i st ance . " In
the absence of a mandate from such a group , exper iment s
are much tGv ·'::'sky. 3

CONCLUSION

The ERAP st ructure was set up t o t e st part i cular

hypothe ses about Amer i c an soc iety . I-lhe n the se
hypothe s e s were abandone d , the structure suffe red a
s im ilar f ate . It probably could not have de alt w it h
the new prob lems that organ i ze rs committed t o building
a revolut i onary movement- �-aced . I f st ructure should
f ollow funct ion , the n the demise of ERAP was as it
should be .
But new prob lems demand new f orms; movement
organi zers in many k inds of work -- c orrmunity organ i ­
z ing , profe s s ionals organ i z ing , draft re s i st ance , shop
organ i z ing - - have f aced s imilar prob lems in the last
three ye ars . It w ould be surpris ing and trag i c i f new
mover r ent structure s ( probably on a regional b a s i s ) were
not soon deve loped to de al w ith these new prob lems.
 17

FOOTNOTES

1. The Nyack C onfe rence led dire ct ly t o tLe est ab­

li shment of an organi z ing project among
unemployed Haz ard ( Ky . ) c oal mine rs, a project
vlhich aff i l i ated w ith ERAP when it was c re at ed
s ome months l at e r . )
2. I n one re spe ct , ERAP proj e c t s and rhetoric had a
very deep impact on labor and libe ral organi z a­
t ions . It i s certainly true that the new liberal­
labor programs of c orrmun ity deve l oprrent and
"community act ion proje ct s " were inf luenced very
he avily by SDS and ERAP . The rhet oric of part i ­
c ipatory democracy ( in ERAP , "let the people
de c ide ) has transforrred the 1Nar cn Poverty , the
"

C it i zens Crus ade Against Poverty, the Peace Corp s ,

and the c urri cul a of son:e of the major a csdemic
soc ial work s chools . CHAP organ izers are st i ll
quoted a nd used by VISTA, for eX&:Lple, for highly
paid c on s ult an t wor�, wh i ch ERAP organizers
occasionally undert3�e both for the money and for
the opportunity to re ach VISTA volunteers who
EliEht) unlL:e tC2ir su:r:;eriors , ta:�e t he rcetoric
serio'cwly.
Thus, one of the last ing results of ERN) rright
have been to provide l i be ral i sG with � more
Eophistic3.ted r'he'toric of ccopt2tioD. ',Chis l�.ay
not be 9.n lL"ls:i8:JJ"iC:2nt achieve:cent"
or negative
Hi st oricsl}y .. onc� of the dangers for the F.n£r iC9.i'c
ruling c12ss invc:ved in the use of deL.ocr3.tic
rhetor i c is that the ruled s ometi�e s decidE t o
take that rhet or�c seri ously . The De claration of
Independence) the Ve rsaille s Peece C onfe r�nce ,
and the At lant i c Charter are but the three most
obvio'J.G example s .
Nonethe le s s , the prov i s i on t o libe ral i sm of a new
rhet oric of c oopt at ion was neve r a cons c i ous goal
of ERAP organi zers . The use of ERAP rhetoric by
the Un ited Aut o Workers elite in the C it ize ns
Crusade Against Poverty i s a far c ry from the
galvan i z at i on of the UAW rank and f i le to mass
protest .
3. One c ruc i al problem encounte re d by ERAP proj e ct s
w ith whi ch thi s p aper has not de alt i s t he problem
18

Footnote 3 cent.

of deed -; ,g vlith personality differences on organi­

zing �, uffs in a hum ane , firm, and political manner.
/.\. structure 'Nhicb the Twverrent will soon have to
develcp in add it i o n to the structures indicated by
thi::, �s.per is an appropri3te t e c h ni q ue of criticism
and self-criticism.

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i��'(Problems of organizing �b� Strategy for the movement
**Issues gnd problems of an adult new left **

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Phil Raup, "Decentralized Socie.lism: Program for
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 19

From Old to New Left

M ic hoe' Munk

"The Guardian sees socialism coming our

way, urges coexistence with it wherever it
now exists, and believes this implies sym­
pathetic understanding and study of its appli­
cation for our own country's welfare .
The socialism we are for, here in our
own country, is the socialism still to be
planned and proposed by and for the people of
the United States. We approve in principle
and defend the existence of the socialist
societies of the rest of the world. We cannot
and do not approve of every act of these
societies, but we believe, with Dr. DuBois
and Anna Louise Strong, that they are wielding
the instrument of socialism well for the good
of humanity. • .

But to label ourselves socialist implies

listing the ingredients on the label and the
formula for America is still to be compounded
"

GUARDIAN Editorial, Oct. 20, 1958

After almost twenty years of continuous weekly

publication, the National Guardian is dead. Like
Studies on the left, the immediate cause of death was
its staff's inability to agree on a response to the
demanding political conditions of the late 19S0's, but
the similarity ends there. A new Guardianl continues,
but with its issue of February 10 cuts almost its last
remaining link--its format--witb the past. With the
exception of a few foreign correspondents (notably
Wilfred Burchett in Southeast Asia and Anna Louise
Strong in Peking) and some non-editorial employees, a
wholly new editorial staff and outside contributors
search for a new constituency under the slogan: "The
duty of a radical newspaper is to build a radical
20

move'l;ent". Hhile r em a ining " independent j" the new

Guardien's young st af f hopes that constituency will
be th(� Ii. w left (org&nizationolly, SDS and SNCC).
'We 8Y. mcvcr:::ent people acting as journ alist s " ) they
say.
In one sense) the changes in the Guardian reflect
the passing of one g ene r ation from the center of
radical political a ct i vity and the comin3 of the new)
�ith all the differences in perspectiv es and style
t hi s i\:1"[lie8. But thiG phenomenon raises a 'dhole
series of critical issue,,;: why \l a 8 the gene ration
�ith its political roots in the 1930's and 1940's
unable to sustain o ne of its rr;ore important institu­
tions? Why was the old Guardian unable to adapt and
become as its editor desired, a "bridge b et"J een the
generations'? Wil2- the Nevi left want or be able to
support the new Guardian? Vlhat were the alternative
roles m:d f1.�:1ctions of 8. radical paper in the 19.:0' s
on ':'Ihich the CuardiB£' s const ituency was unable to
agree? The answ e rs to questions s uch as these ought
to clarify wh�tber 2cd linder whst conditions the
A�ericQn Lef� might coalese into a coherent radical
movement. Little effort, it se er;:s to �e) hEls been
made by ei the r the n e w Guardian or its former editor,
Jarr.es Aronson, to anS'vler ther:l'2 To try, I shal l look
at tt.e old Guardian's roots and constitency and i ts
respons� �� +he New left.
A group vI" professional ne'vispaperrr.en, ",hose main
politi c a l experience was in the organization of and
f actioo al struggles within the American h'ewspaper
Guild (CIe) in the 1930's, returned from �Jorld \-lar II,
3.S Aronson ""crites) "most reluctant to go back to jobs
on newspapers where freedom of expression was a �lo g an ,
not a fact '.. As "radicals their aim, he says, 1..]as to
cre at e what tcday might be called a c o unt e r institu­
tion v;ithin their prof€ ;ion,. an "antidote" to the
daily an d weekly press. The ir political perspecti ve s
generally agreed with t h ose of the ide ological center
of gravity on the American left of their time--the
Communist party. Thus) they saw Truman's anti-Soviet
p olicies as a "betrayal" of FDR and the New Deal, and
they founded the National Guardian3 as an independent
s uppo rter of the Henry Wallace Progressive party.
 21

RADICALISM?

In h i s n at i on art i cle , Aronson c a l l s the Guard i an ' s

founde rs " rad ic a l s " and inde e d , ref ers t o it con­
s i st e ntly as a " r ad i c al " new spape r . B ut s i gn if i ­
c ant ly ' unt i l he re s igned the pape r called i t s e l f
" progre s s i ve , " refe rred t o its r t' qde rs as
"progre s s i ve s , " and c ont ained exp l i c it p o l it i c a l pe r ­
spect ive s wh i ch were hardly radi c al . I n t he
Guard i an ' s f i r st i s sue i t s f ounde rs de f i ne d the se
pe rspe ct ive s as " a c ont inuat i o n and deve l opment of
the p rogre s s i ve t radit i on set in our t irre by FDR , and
overwhe lmingly support e d by the Ame r i c an pe ople in
the l ast four pre s ident i al e l e ct ions . " Thi s , of
cour s e , was also the out lo ok of the P rogre s s ive Part y ,
whi ch pre sent e d i t s e l f as a b road peop le ' s e lect oral
c o a l i t i on of un i on i st s , Negroe s and m i ddle c la s s
" progre s s i ve s " who w ant ed t o achieve peac e , fre e dom "

and abundance " by repl ac ing T ruman ' s polit i c al le ade r ­

s h i p o f the c ap i t a l i st system \-l ith that o f Hall a c e .
Rooseve lt ' s forrre r vice pre s i dent would return t he
nat i on t o New De a l pol i c i e s of friendship with the
Soviet Un ion , full empl oyme nt and c i v i l r i ght s .

SUBSCRIBE !
RAD I CA L AME R I C A n e e d s y o u r s u b s � r i o t i o n t o e n s u r
e

i mp ro v e d a n d e xp a n d e d p ro d u c t i o n a n d d i s t r i b u t i o n.

We a l s o r e q u e s t t h a t i f p o s s i b l e y o u p l a c e RA i n

y o u r c h ap t e r ,g ro u p o r b o o k s hop .
$3 f o r o n e y e a r ( $ 5 o u t s i d e t h e US a n d C a n a d a )
$ 2 f o r S D S n a t i o n a l memb e rs i n g o o d s t a n d i n g
$5 a n d up f o r suppo r t i n g subscri p t i o n s
B U LK : 30¢ p e r C O D y f o r 5 - 1 00 c o p i e s . B a c k i s s ue s :
Vo l . I nos. 1 -2 no t ava i l ab l e .
Ma k e c h e c k s to " Ra d i c a l Ame r i c a " .
1 237 Spa i gh t St. Ma d i s o n , � i sco n s i n 53703

BULK ]
N EW YORK STATE ELECTION

Independent:Socialists win
definite place on ballot
 23

But the Guardi an did not offer a rad i c al analys i s

of the se pol i c i e s - - l i ke the Progre s s ive Party , it
attempted to addre s s the "broad mas se s " beyond the
f ield of committed rad icals , and the reby pulled it s
punche s . Aronson writ e s that "The Guardi an regarded
the c ap it al i st system as th,; maj or source of the
world ' s prob leu2s , " but the old GU'3rdian did not
pub l i cly do s o , except by impl i c at ion , unt i l well
into the 1960 ' s . Indeed, in view of the fact that
it s e nt i re st aff and 99% of it s reade rship were
s o c i a l i st s , it i s rer.larkab le that the furthe st the
paper c ould go i deologi c al ly was a ple a t hat soc i al i sm
" be d i s cussed as a pos s ib le alternat ive and not as a
horrid word . " The key t o thi s seeming d ichot omy , and
to the failure of the old Guardian t o survive the
1960 ' s , l i e s in the paper ' s const ituency . The Korean
war (the Guardian ' s opposit ion to which, Aronson
write s , c ut its c irculat ion from 5 5 , 000 to 2 2 , 000 in
one ye ar ) drove out the last of the liberal reader ­
ship . Those who remained vlere predominat ely Jew i sh ,
middle - c las s radi c al s ) n o longer young and w ith
famil i e s to support and mort gage s to pay . They sa.l
the government murder a man and h i s w ife ( the
R osenberg s ) very much l ike then:selve s , and IEOSt had
e ither lost profe s s i onal j ob s in the witchhunt or knew
fr iends who had . And on t op of the lv:!acCarthyite
repre s s ion , the 2 0th Soviet Party C ongre s s and the
re volt s in Hungary and Poland rocke d the ir faith in
the soc ialist vlorld ( a faith that the Guardian had
done much to sust ain through art i cle s from the Soviet
Uni on and Eastern Europe ) .
In short , the Guardian con st ituency of the later
1950 ' s was just i f i ab ly s c ared , c onfuse d and pol it i ­
c ally d i s oriented, and mostly w ithdrawn f rom radi cal
polit ical act i vity . The Guardian re inforced the i r
re aders ' int rospe ct i on b y avoi ding i nc i s ive polit i c al
comme ntary , report i ng c iv i l l ib ert i e s deve lopment s
and attempt ing to "hold t ogether the Guardi an fam i ly "
almost on a s oc i al b as i s . It s posture , l i ke that of
the re st of the Ame r i c an Left in the 1950 ' s was almost
e nt ire ly defens ive .
It was in thi s c ontext and w ith thi s mood that
the Guardian was c onfront e d w ith the beginning of
rad i c al act ivit ie s of a new generat i on in the e arly
1 9 :)0 ' 8 . The s it - ins , t h e Free dom ride s and ant i -HUAC
demonst rat i o n s were ,,!arnlly ,,!Gl eome d , b oth as a s i gn
that tl: long ye ars of the " s i lent gene rat i on " were
ove r dd w it h the hope thnt young people would t urn
to the GU8.r d i an f o r ne'� s and gui dance . Hhile it w a s
neve r exp l i c itly st at e d ; I susfe ct that the p aper and
it s re ade rs saw a ne,,7 ve r s i on of the Progre s s ive Party
in the m a k :! n g : a n othe r att empt to b ui l d an e l e ctoral
c o a l i t i o n of the stre ngthe ned c i v i l right s movement ,
the s urviving left - w ing un i on s , and the old gra s s
root s o l d m i ddle - c l a s s progre s s ive s . But it s o on
be c arr:e evi de nt. that most of t he n ew rad i c al s s aw the
Guard i an - - s on:e t i rr;e s unf a i rlY- - 2 s a re l i c of the p ast
.

T o o of t e n , they f ound the Guardian b o r i n g . It c on ­

s i sted o f slew -moving art i c l e s p i e c ing t ogether c l ips
from the daily p re s s , phot o s and c apt i on s in the
s p i r t t of the 1 9 3 0 ' s , ' f a s h i on i n P e ople ' s Hung ary , "
health f ad i sm and announ c e n�eYlt s of the )(,eet ing of
defense group s � i k:e the Sobell C omm itt ee , the Arr:e r i c an
C cmmittee f o r t he P r ot e c t i o Yl of the F ore ign Bor n , the
Eme r3e 'lcy C i �J i l L ib e rt i e s Un i on .
Vlhen I J o ine d t he Gua.rdiarl :':it t he be ginning of
1 9 5 3 ) it s st 3.l'f "l a S derrlor a l i z e d and the atmo sphere
tense and op�re s s i ve . As Aron s on write s , the p afe r
h o d " almost nc t urno ve r in 12 ye a r s . I I .And t h i s may
b e onE. ::" ," 8 0n why i t had set.t led int o de ad rout i ne .
There w a s c c�rt ant petty s n ip i ng at the e ditor and
t he p aper and pe r s onal feuds ab ounde d ; e nt irely ab sent
w a s the sp i r i t of exci telLent aCld c omarade rie wh ich
charact e r i z E s many f i 2t i onal a c c ount s of r ad i c al
j ournal i sn; . A.ron s on s ay s that most of the orig inal
s t af f left for "mainly f in a n c i a l re a s on s ' b ut it
s e eme d to lfe that most of t h e m w e r e , l i Ke the
G ua rd i an reade r sh i p , ideolog i c al ly de pre s se d a nd
s CH e'dh2.t w e Qry of Hl e st r1Jggle .
The re \Vere effort ti 0"-' c ourse ; t o att ract
w r i t e r s from the I�ew Left group s and increase c ampus
read e r s h i p. Whe n the s e f a i l e d to incre ase c i rc ul a ­
t i on , t h e e d i t o r ' s op i n i on \Vas not , a s h e now w r ite s ,
that the er:.e rgence of a nurrb e r of small indepe nde nt
l c c a l pub l i c at i ons in un j ve r s ity c ommun it i e s ' , but
rather that "we ll , the se k ids don ' t read anyth i ng ' .
I n 1 9 5 3 and 1964 the p ape r began t o speak of itself
 25

as a "bridge behleen the generat i on s , " a meet ing

place "Ihe re old and new rad i cals c ould -c.;j He and work ,
in s ome undefined way , for some unde f ined c ause . The
Guardian c on st ituency b e l ieved that be c ause of the i r
refus al to b ac k maj or ity party c andidat e s , and the
e vident propens ity of the Neil Left t o endorse t h i s
view ; that there ',ms a pot e nt i s l. C :::JJmun i t y of
int e re st s , " here the young would act. on the i r e lders f
adv i c e and counse l .
There was a good deal of suspic ion of t he New
Left as well . Its deve lopment was w at ched by the old
hands ( as c areful ly as pos s ib le con s idering the ir
lack of dire ct c ont act w ith its l e ade r s ) for
" anarch i st " and " soc i al democrat i c " te ndenc ie s . SDS ,
at le ast unt i l it s b re ak w ith the LID , w a s c ited for
it s " ant i -Communi st" c laus e s in it s const itut ion . A
rr:aj or t e st was all-lays whether the new group s ,vould
agree to COlllfJlOn act i on Ilith the Old Left organi z a ­
t i ons s o long o strac ized i n " re spe ct able " c i rcle s .
And when it bec an:e c le ar that most young pe ople were
not red-b aite rs 'out con s i dered the Guardi an large ly
i rrelevant , the re act i on was s imilar t o an old
rad i c al ' s re sponse to his own chi ldren ' s f a ilure to
l i sten to him- -hurt and dismay .
It was f inally the Apr i l 1 5 , 1965 :';,� i -V ietnam
war March on IJashington , organ i ze d by SDS , that con ­
vinced the Guardian con st ituency that the New Left
was a going concern . I n i nt rod�c ing a three part
art i c le of mine of the New Left that f all , the
editor made the f i r st major pol i cy ch ange from the
Guardian ' s original ' FD'< -"Jew Deal " perspe ct ive . " If
the ide as of the New Deal were val id for Amer ica at
the t ime of the founding of the Guard i an " , he wrot e
( in a c ur i ous mixture o f o l d and new term inology ) ,
" they are inade quate for the world of 1955 . It i s
not enough t o c all for pe ace , freedom and abundance .
We hold w ith the move rs of the New Left in America
that the need of the hour i s the development of a
moveme nt , radi c al in c ontent and form, which must set
about to shake the foundat ions of the p ower structure".
Aronson v!rites that he left the pape r i n Apr i l ,
1957 be c ause of a profound d i s agreerrlent w ith n:embers
of the staff on the role and funct i on of a radical
newswe ekly . The st aff , he s ays , he ld that the paper
had not a�h ieved inf luence or st ature among the New
Left b e c ,.luse The Guardi an w a s not " re spon s ive " t o i t s
concerr.. s and asp irat i on s ( a c onc lus i on w ith w h i ch I
would general ly agree ) . He stat e s that he , on the
cont rary , wanted t o e n c ourage young rad i c al s b ut not ,
in effe ct , c at e r t o the m , e spe c i al ly s ince t he i r
act ivity d i d not make movement and the Ame r i c an left
st i l l i n c l uded a s i gnif i c ant numb e r of olde r rad i c al s
who w e r e far f rom re ady t o throw i n t h e sponge .
There i s , I be l ie ve , some t r uth in the propo s i ­
t i en that SHCC and SDS do not c omp ri se the Amer i c an
rud i c al c orr;mun ity and in the not i on that young people
do have s omething to le arn from more expe r i e n ced
rad i c al s . But there is anothe r area whol ly i gnored by
Aronson and by the old Guard i an c onst i t ue ncy : the Old
Left /New Left d iffe renc e s in pol it i c al s o c i a l i z at i on ,
l i fe style s , and under st anding of the t e rm " radi c al "
it self . It had always seemed t o me that the i s s ue s
,\,7hi ch ( i n addit ion t o demands for organ i z at i on al
pub l i c i ty ) drew most re sponse from the old Guardian
c on st itue n cy concerne d problems the Soviet /Chinese
split , the de s i re ab i l ity of w orkins; for a " le s ser
evi l " e le ct oral c andidat e , art i n the Soviet Un i on
and so forth that are gene rally i rre levant ( at le ast
on the It; ;:? 1 the Guard ian d i s c usse d them ) t o the c on ­
st ruct i on o f a rad i c al movement in Ame r i c a . S i m ilarly,
the older generat i on of rad i cals often had pe r sonal
c orr;mitn;e nt s whi c h prevent e d the i r part i c i p at i on in
full t ime rad i c al act ivit i e s , d i re ct act i on ,
c orr,mun ity organi z ing ) et c . The i r e lerr;ent was ,
e s se nt i al ly , m i ddle - c l a s s e le c t or al pol it i c s . In
short , they were rr;ot ivat e d i n the i r rad i c al i sm b y
the i r de s ire t o he lp l iberate other pe ople - -not
thems e lve s .
The old Guard i an avo i de d the hard ideolog i c a l
que st i on s in br idging t h e gene rat i onal g a p b y main­
t a i n i ng it was a " f orum" f o r all viewpo ints on the
Left . Thi s me ant a c onst ant struggle to p ub l i c i z e
the act ivi t i e s o f organ i z at ions rang ing f rom SANE t o
Spart i c i st s i n E. n " ob j e ct ive " style - - except o n such
c r i t i cal Old Left i s s ue s a s " ex c l us i on i sm" ( of the
Ccmmun i sG Party ) . To t h i s j ournal i st i c t e chn i que
 27

Aronson att ributes the paper ' s accumulated " re spect

and prestige" and its abil ity to survive while
sect arian pub lications f ailed . But it also had the
effect of pl acing t he Guardian outside t he movement
into a posit ion reflecting its component parts \vith ­
out regard t o their st rength, sUbst ance o r role .
�vas it written for radicals .,ho \vished to read about
each othe r ? O r did i t sti l l t ry t o reach the un­
commit ted ? It s coverage of event s outside the
Movement was no match for either Ramp art s' muckraking
or I. F . Stone ' s " unscramb ling the--rieWS':'"

OLD AND THE NEW

The alternate view within the st aff , gradually

growing younger because of the unw i l l ingne s s of
experienced wr iters to risk jo ining the paper ) .Ias a
much clearer commitrrent to radi c al act iv ists , a
rever s al of the t r ad itional " new spaper f i r st " image .
In the end the young staffers won out not because of
the sub stance or clarity of their argun:ent s but more
irGmediately because the largely generat ional spl it
created d i f f i cult i n ter - personal relation ships among
the staff. The old con stituency was ret i ring ;
energy and s p i r i t f avored the new. Ir. �he case of
the Guard i an , at least, the di fferences between the
Old and the Hew left '.Jere resolved on a level of
style rather than ide ology.
Now that t he b reak w ith the past has corre, the
new Guardian faces the same d i f f i cult challe::lge : to
develop a coherent ferspect i ve on it s role as a
radical paper. The sarGe chnllenge found the old
Guard ian i nadequate for its t ime. The s igns are that
t�e new staff f avor s " mucho Vietnar.Js " abroad and
" mucho Det roit s " at heme as tact ics for the IJ;overr:ent.
Its news stor ies seek reactions from SNCC and 8DS in
contrast to the ACPFB or the ECLC . Opin ion and
comrrentary dominate hard news in it s sixteen pages.
Will it be genuinely " independent " with a clear
per spective that con sis t ent ly informs its readers,
or will it serve , as the old Guardian did, as a
" forum " for its favorite constituenc ies ? An
imp ortant clue to the Guardian ' s future may lie in
the simple t ruism that the paper ' s greatest
28

re levance and v i 0.b i l ity for the polit i cal nece s s it ie s

of the t hee can:e during it s c l ose re l at ionship t o the
Progre s r: �'le Party, when it fouGht for the maintenance
of a r2.d i c 8.1 alte rnat ive to the E st ab l ishment de spite
the de c i s i on of the CP to retreat back into the
Democrat ic Party in the e arly 1950 ' s . In those years
the Guardi an spoke pas s i onat e ly and launched it s
gre at crusade s which , whateve r the i r re levance to the
pre sent day , c arried w ith them the impact of deep
c onvict ion and moral v i s ion .

FCCTNOTES

1. " Nat i onal ' has been chopped from it s nameplate .

2. "[v1emorie s and Convict ions " , The Nat i on
( Feb . 5 , 1958, p . 178- 178) .
3 . It s name was chosen as cons c ious ge sture t o
gras s - root s Ame ri can rad i c al i sm : i t w a s der ived
f rop.l O s c ar Ameringe r ' s Ame ric an Guard i an , founded
in 1914 as the Oklahoma Leade r and s uspende d only
s ix years earlier ( in 1942 ) on Amer inge r ' s
ret irement . The e arlier Nat i onal Guardian ' s
fre quent ly folksy style and sub stant ial rural
" old t imer ' reade rship reflected thi s strain .
What is Edgar Friedenberg-O·oing
Writing in a Student Magazine?
Writing on Los Angeles:
"The new music, films and newspapers
·
are not iust hippie curiosities. They may
be the only thing keeping American
Society from being taken in by its own
cant and drowning as if in a cess­
pool . " The finest thing about los An­
geles is ·that these hopeful leaves of
grass are growing among its many plas­
tic feah,' - ' and even perhaps approach­
ing full legitimacy in the culture that,
reluctantly, supports them."
Read on campuses across AmeTica,
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 29

Socialist Opposition to World War I

Charles lein enweber

In Apri l , 1917 , j ust one day afte r the United

State s de clared war on Germany , the Soc iali st party
n;et in emergency convent ion in St . Loui s . It was
the f i rst Soc ialist c onvent i on s ince 1912 . F ive
ye ars had pas sed, ye ars of de c l in ing member sh ip and
vot e , of di s illus ionment w ith the pos s ib ilit ies for
succe s s . In his keynote addre s s t o the St . Lou i s
c onvent ion, party leade r Morri s H illquit charge d
Soc i al i st s with a " grow ing laxity i n our own organ i ­
z at ion , " and said i t was a "fat al b lunde r " not t o
have held a c onvent ion i n so long ' l
But if Soc ialists had grown le thargic in the
pa st , now they had the opportun ity to recoup . The
vast maj ority of Ame r i cans , they bel ieved , were
opposed t o the de clarat ion of war . Yet the Scc i al i st s
remained the only organi zed force w i ll i'J,c:; and ab le
to carry on the st ruggle against t he war . Thus , they
faced two t a s k s : F ir st , to maint a i n the i r princ ipled
opposi ti on to the war , and se cond, to rally the ant i ­
"T ar e lement s o f the nat ion behind the Soc ialist
b anne r . With re spe ct to the f irst t ask , t he
Soc i al i st s we re eminent ly suc c e s sful . With respe ct
to the se cond, they ,.Jere also s uc c e s sful , at le ast on
the ir own t erms . As Jame s We inste in has shown, 1917
proved to be the ye ar of gre at e st Soci alist e le c t or al
suc c e s s - -whi ch inc lude d , for the f irst t ime , heavy
Soc ial i st vot ing in the maj or Eastern c it ie s ' 2
With renewed vigor, the Soc i al i s t s at the St .
Loui s c onvent ion adopte d an ant i -war manife st o that
remains the most e loquent monument t o Ame rican
so c iali sm . Drafted by Hillquit and A lgernon lee , of
the Cent e r , and Charle s Ruthenberg , of the Left , it
won by a large maj ority . Sent out on refere ndum t o
the party membe rship , i t won b y 2 1 , 000 to 3 5 0 vot e s
over a pro-war stateme nt ' 3 The man ife sto began ,
.3 0

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32

The Soc i al i st Party of the United Stat e s in the

pre sent grave cri s i s re aff i rms it s allegiance t o
the �rinc iple o f internat ional i sm and working
c ] �lSS solidarity the world ove r , and proclaims
it s unalterable oppc s it ion to the war j ust
de c lared by the governrr:ent of the United
St ate s. • •

It c ont i nued w ith st at ement s of oppos i t i on t o class

rule al'd " sham n at ional pat r i ot i srr: , " and urged workers
t o " re fuse t o support the i r government s" in war .
Afte r analyz ing c ause S of the war , the manifesto set
forth three formulas which more than any othe r sect i on
aroused the governrr:ent t o fury :

We brand the de c l arat ion of w ar by our government

a s a crirr:e against the people of the Un ited
St ate s and against the nat ions of the world .
In all modern hi st ory the re has been no vIal' more
un j ust i f i able than the war in whi ch we are about
t o engage .
No great e r di shono r has ever been forced upon a
pe ople than that whi ch the c ap it al i st cla ss i s
forc ing upon thi s n at i on against it s w i l l .

The me.;:: i fe st o c oncluded with a call for " an E ven more

vigorous prL .. . C'u.t icn of the c la s s struggle " dur ing war ­
t ime , and pledged Scc ial is � s t o a seven-point program
for act ion . Thi s program inc luded ccnt inuous oppos i ­
t :i.on t o the war throJgh all means w ithin the i r pO\�e r ,
unyie lding o ppos it ion t o cons c ript i on , and mas s act i on
t o end the w ar . 4
The St . Louis manife sto repre sented the Soc i al i st
party ide al . There did exist backsl iding here snd
the re during the war J fc": a number of re asons . For
example , Germany I s c ant hiued att acks on Rus s i a after
the revolut i on aroused doub t s among many Soc i al i st s .
But de spite doubt s and e quivo c at ion , the party as a
whole fought hard against the ,lar and against the mo st
seri ous repre s s ion they E ve r encount e red .
For the Left Wing , thi s was at least cons i stent
w ith it s i nte rnat ional i st perspe ct ive . Que st ions of
vJ ar were never promine nt in the party unt i l the out ­
b re ak in Europe . Howeve r , the party had given
conside rable attention to the questi on of free vs.
restricted immigration , and a prolonged debate on
internati onalism revolved about it. The Left wing
developed a strongly internationalist position, f or
free immigration. The Right wing, on the other hand,
took a nationalist position with very strong ove r ­
tones o f nativism. They favored he avy restrictions
on immigration , and this effectively becaffie the
public positi on of the Soc i alist p arty. The Center
f avored some restrictions, but its spokesmen were f or
the most part free f rom the nativistic attitudes of
of the R ight.
After the outbreak of war in Europe , the re ­
f ormists , Center and R ight , f or the most p art shed
the ir nationalist perspe ctives. There still re ­
mained vestiges , of c ourse, sometime s important. But
the question of immigration was pretty much aropped
- -no doubt partly be c ause it was a moot point during
the war years - - and this had a libe rating effect on
the mentality of the reformists. However incon­
sistent the ir ne>-1ly -developed internationalism was
with the ir past , it did not have to be inconsistent
with what they believed for the present.
The Left wing was suspi c i ous of the reformists '
entrance into the arena of inte rnationalt sm, and
considered them imposters. Most historians of
American soc ialism feel the same way , and since
reformists dominated the party , they ask : How is it
possible to account f or the strong anti -war posit ion
of the Socialist party ? It was a reformist party ,
with reformist le adership , yet did not betray
soc i alist principles like its European counterparts.

HISTCRIANS ' ERROR

The answers to this question vary. Perhaps the

most challenging is the ide a that it was re ally the
Left wing that , directly or indire ctly , charted the
course of the Soc ialist party during the ,J ar. One
of the best historians of American soc ialism,
Theodore Draper , suggests this.
To Draper , the Left wing might have stood alone
in its opposition to the war if "the governrtent had
not flung its legal dragnet so wide . . . " The

------- - �- --�
re formi st le ade rship adopt e d a rad i c al posture , he
b e l ieve s , b e c ause t hey were fr ightened by the p o s s i ­
b i l ity t at the left w i ng w ould othe rw i se w i n control
of tht· party . In orde r t o he ad- off left \v ing
influence , Hi l l quit and his a l l i e s spl it the left
w ing d€ le gat i on to St . Lou i s w ith a militant re s o lu­
t i on . Thus they "made it impos s ib l e f o r the left
Wing to en�e rge at the convent ion as a fully deve l oped ,
independ e nt p o l i t i c al force . " The fact that reform ­
i st S o c ia l i s t s were not t o be spared gove rnment
re p r e s s io n was an a c c i dent . Drape r w r it e s ,

1\ he ad - on c ol l i s i on with t he government was not

at all what the H i l lquit -Be rge r t e am had i n ­
t e nde d . The res olut i on d i d c al l f o r ant i -I-J ar
der,.onstrat io n s , " unyi e l d :l. n g opp o s it i on" t o c on ­
s c r i}:,t :.i. on , and ot he r mi l it ant mea sure s . But s m:::e
of ttC S E who vot e d f o r the re solut i on were a:or",
i nt e re st e d in i nn e r - p a rty ma nuve r i n g than i n
ob st ruct ing the I,J a r e ffort . . .

A s im i l ar po int of view i s he l d by Jul ius F aulk . 5

Several ob j e ct i ons c an be r a i se d t o t h i s k i nd of
analys i s . Most ob vi ous of al l , it is pat e nt ly unf a i r
t o t h e p a rty ' s reformi st s . T ake f o r e x amp le , V i ct o r
Be rge ""' , le ad ing R i ght w i n g mun i c ipal s o c i al i st , he ad
of the 1.;.1. ." ' :-· � � ee S o c i al Demc c r 2t i c Party , and ve ry
oft e n use d by h i st o r i an s a s the me d e l of opport un i sm .
It i s p r ob ab ly t rue that Be rge r J and s ome of h i s
fe 1 1 0'1'; refcrm:L st s ) w ould h 2ve p re f e r re d a mi lde r ant i ­
',J ar re s olut i on . But what i s f ar more import cmt i s how
1 !C: l l B e rge r st oed up a g a inst G ove r nme nt repre s s ion ,
how w e l l he de fe nde d t h e p a yt y ' s ant i - w ar posit i on by
h i s own aet i vi t ie s . F o r S C G:: e one "more i nt e r e s t e d in
inne r -p arty m an uve r i D g t h an in ob st ruct ing the w a r
e ff ort " h e p a i d h e a V l J.: . By the end of the H a r ,
Be rge r had b e e n c o n v i c t e d un der the E s p i onage Act of
ob structing the draft , and sentenced t o twenty years
i r::pr i s onment . He W 2 S f re e d pending appe al , on a o ne
m i l l i o n dol l ar be nd . The j udge who t r ied the c ase ,
K e ne s ml Mount ain land i s , s a i d aft e r t he t r i al ,

It was my g re at d i s p l e a sure t o g ive Berger tvJenty

years at F ort le ave mJOrth . I regret i t
 35

exceedingly because I believe that the laws of

this country should have enabled ffi€ to have
Berger lined up against a wall and shot . 6

Moreover , a multitude of other indictments had been

returned against him- -for which he still f aced con ­
viction --good for fifteen hundred ye ars imprison­
me nt . During the Harding administration, Oscar
Ameringer reports , Be rge r was offered a de al . If he
ran for Senator against LaFollette - -which he had done
once before--the Administration would, 1) see that
his twenty year sentence was thrown out by the
Supreme Court , 2 ) quash all pending indictffients, and
3 ) lift the million dollar bond. Moreover, they
would finance his campaign. They wanted to split
laFollette ' s vote , to enable the Republican candi ­
date to win . Berge r refused . 7
Cle arly , the anti-\var activity of men such as
Berger cannot be explained simply by their fear of
the Left wing. It isn't as if, as Draper says, the
gove rnment cast its net teo "Jidely and caught selLe
barely committed reformists by mistake. If that we re
the case , these reformists could have evaded the net
with e ase.
Another possible objection to Draper's analysis- ­
perhaps the most important- -is that it fails to
present an accurate picture of the Socialist left
wing . First of all, Draper focuse s almost exclu­
sively upon those elerrents that were soon to comprise
the American communist movement . It is important to
re alize that once well developed, they diffe red in
many important respects from the traditional left
wing. The traditional Left was a loose aggre gate of
syndicalistic industrial socialists , orthodox
Marxists , and revolutionary popUlists . Their most
representative publication was the International
Socialist Review , which had a circulation of some
40 , 000. The English language press of the Bolshevik
Left showed much less diversity , and was limited to
a very small circulation. Secondly , Draper in some
ways treats the embryonic Bolshevik left as if it
were fully developed. If this were the case, then
there would have been treffiendous differences on the
� ar b e t w e e n them and the ��fGr�i s t s - - and i n de ed , the
left � in g as 8. ,,,11 0 1 e . {" f t e :r t e e 30lshevik Revolut i on
t h e s e d :i f - 2 1" e n C '; 8 cUd c rr: e rgc: . But they '"ere not yet
;:L)l sbE '. , 2 J :o:.nd on the::: (� 1j 2 St i OeJ :)f the \;ar re m a i ne d
b a s i c b.. '.. 'i " . " l l s L ngui s h 21 ) J. 2 : � :m the t r E.d it i on al left ,
of w h i c h t te y were still a p art ) bnd e v e n the party ' s
r e f or � � s� 5 . Q�ite naturu:ly ) t h e y thought the i r p o si ­
t i on c)l,gnt t c be d i f f e re nt ) 2 C .:l s p a r e d nc oI. p ort un ity
t o c r it i c i 2 c t t e refcrm'.. s t <:' . H ow e ve r , tn:::: i r contri ­
b ut i o n t o tLe p a.rty ' s 8.n-c i --;nr p o s i t i on must b e
Ke asured i nd e p e n de nt ly of t h i s c r i t i c i sm , �n it s own
lDe ri t s . To do th i s , i t is ne ..' c:: :J s ary to t aY.2 8, c::'o ser
loa;\: at wh at the :Left \.J i ng 'd r c:' t e .

Wer in Eur o pe t e ak the Left w in g by surpr i s e .

But the y s can made up for it , devot i n g t h e Dulk of
s p a c e i n t h e i r maga z i ne s a:1d j ourn al s to n e-I'l s a:ld
ana ly s i s of tne ',.J ar . The Left w i n g ,v a s qui c l � to s e n s e
the b e t rayal of i nt e rn at i o n a l soci ali sYn b y the
European partie s - -much qui c ker than the ref o r w i st s )
who adopt e d a w ai t - and - s e e att it ude . Since the
reformi s t s w e re long i de nt i f i e d w it h a s p irit of
n at i ona l i sm - - i n part i c ul ar , i n t h e i r demands for re ­
s t r i c t � >If! i n:m i g r at i on , end a 1 ::; 0 in t he i r de al i ng s w i th
the I '1t e rnE_ l, �. _ ; l 3. l - -many left "l inge r s s a,-? the i r
equi voc at i o n a s evide il c e of c o n t i n u i n g n at i c n a l i s l;: .
At t ime s they f e lt certain the reformi sts ',V Quld follow
the G e rrc an examp l e , and s upport the U . S . if it
ent ered the w ar . G r adual ly , c e rt ai n Le ft w in g writers
- -mo st p r om i n e n t l y , loui s B cud i n and l o u i s F r a i n a - ­
b e gan to empha s i z e the ir i n t e r n at i on al i sm a s opposed
t o t h e ref ormi s t s ' n at i on a l i s C1 . C ert a i n }.y , th e re were
dif ferenc e s . T h e lef�, \1 i:1(; , f or examp l e , c ont i nue d t o
a s s ert that "The w o r k i n c:,:ll --' D has no n at i c n . " The re­
formi st s d i s agre ed s t r o ngly .
Despite thi s , however , Left wing at t i t ude s t oward
the war differed very little f rom the reformist s ' .
Their analys e s - -which appe are d i n left w in g pub l i c a ­
t ions s uch a s The New R eview , The Mas se s , and the
I nt ernational SoCiilis t Rev ie,l - - showed great variety
and uncert aint y . The war w a s seen vari ously as a
 37
traders ' w ar, a militarists ' w ar, a munit i ons manu­
facturers ' w ar , a w ar between feudalism and
c apitalism, between demo cracy and aut o cracy, and so
forth . There "Jere e ve n a few t he ories of w ar as an
inherent disposition of men (but not w emen) , and Vlar
a s the n ature of mankind . Alt ogether, t here were
surprisingly few well thought out analyses. Prominent
among those that were, "Ie re article s by European
re volutionaries Karl Liebne cht and the ultra-leftist ,
Ant on Pannekoek .
Among the major Left Vling Vlriters on the w ar w as
Louis Frain a . Fraina i-l aS destine d to b e c orr:e the
le ading Americ an Bolshe vik during the formative ye ars
of the c ommunist movement , but at this time he w as
sorr:ething of a syndic alist - - a bias shared by per­
haps the maj ority of Left wing Socialists . He was
the le ading f i gure on The Nei-l Review , without ques­
t i on the best revolut io n arY-Journal of the peri od.
Frain a ' s orthodox attitudes t o'vlard the ;'J ar, c elYlbined
w it h an un c omprerr.ising hostility t o"l Brd the ref crn; ­
ists who she.re d them, are indic ative of the confus i on
arr:eng Left winge rs.
Throughout the period that Fraina wrot e f or the
New Review --up to its demise, in June , 1916--he
ne ver belie ve d that the war w ould re sul t in 3
s o c ialist revolution . When It aly entere d the w ar he
pre di cted a " new and mightier Capit alism" for it s
eff orts. " Out ef the murk and murder an d t re ac hery
of the war will issue a new I t aly, --democratic , pro ­
gressi ve , pow erful . " For England, he pre dicted as
" one of the mon:e nt ous s ocial phe nor;.ena of the "l ar , - '
the t riumph o f " Lab orism. ' 1 H e f e lt , ' there is
nothing revolutionary ab out the worl<:: ers of Sngland. "
Fraina saw St ate Socialism as the IT: aj or out c orr:e of
the w ar; c olle ct iviz at i on for the "J ar eff ort was
progressive and irreversable . s St range as it m ay
seem , these were pre cisely the views held by most
re formist s , the very Socialists f or Vlhore Fraina had
nothing b ut dis dain .
Fraina ' s hositlity t ow ard reformists Vlent b ac k
a long way. As a youth i n 1909 , h e had joined t he
Socialist part y , but left it, The odore Draper s ays,
"be c ause it was not radical e nough f or him. "
9
i.fter returning and .j oin�ng t he New Review in 1914,
one of his f irst t asks was to write a eulogy to Daniel
Deleon . 1n H ) he e.ttacke d r·:orr i s Hillquit and V i ct or
Berge r . ,;r having " int rcduced into our movement all
t he v i -.: e G and none of the virtue s of the German Soc ial
Democracy . " In J anuary, 1915, several months after
t he outbreak of war , he denounced the " Nat i onal i st i c
Socialism" o f Hillquit and. the reformi sts, and warne d ,

M i l i t arism is one of it s dangers . Soc ialis� i s

against milit ar i sm . On this point the re can be
no e qui vo c at i on . Soc ialism i s internat ional or
it i s not .

Aga in) i n March , 1915, Fra ina stated in another att ack
on Hillquit ,

Clearly , emphat i c ally , Soc i alism must ad.opt the

criter ion : aga inst all wars bec ause in all wars
nat ional inte re st s are the de c i s ive f actors .
Thi s crit e r ion implie s ant i -nat ionali sm and
Sociali s t advoc acy of complete d i sarmament .

But by June , 1915, Fraina himself had succumbed to the

tempt at i ons of nat i on ali sm. Now fearful of "German
w oy"Ld domini on , " he wrot e ,

I n spite of C ap it alism I s use of militarism a s an

i nstrument , militarism is not an indispens able
and normal phase of C apit alism . Germany ' s
vict ory would impose a new and might ier militar i sm
upon the world , drain its e c onomi c and polit i c al
re source s and crush its libertarian aspirat ions . . .

The threat was more than ec oncr:iic , it ,v as cultural .

"Ge rman i sm" was a " syst .: of c ivili z at i on " t hat empha­
s i z ed the phys i c al , the mater ial and the militar i st .
As opposed t o thi s ,. the Allie s were the " unconsc ious
and imperfe ct " repre sent at ive s of the human, the
spiritual and the individualist . Therefore , Fraina
believed, "The neutral n at i ons cannot allow , must not
allow Germany t o win . Germany must be be aten if it
t ake s the whole world t o do it . . . " Else'l-l here he urged
that the Allie s organ i ze and " fully ut i l i z e t he
re s ourc e s of the world, I I t o bring "the de f'e at of the
Austro- German aggre s sors . . . in s ight . ' 10
Fraina was not alone in h i s fe ar of Ge rmany .
Seve ral prominent Left w ing spoke srr:e n s ided or:e nly
w ith the All ie s . rv;ax Eastrr:an , editor of The lv:a s se s ,
wrote in Oct obe r , 1914 ,

Not only is our he art w ith invaded France , but

our re ason also di ctat e s that the KaiGer and
h i s mil it ary machine must be whipped back int o
Prus s ia and sma she j . Let us have no premature
peace makers " ' l l

:;: ,l. s"':: r;'l[1 furth',. r C G.l l � 'i G e '( m-::: ny ' t h l' :nost s'b om i n c,b le
F l eyd Cell , 3130 c n the st d f f

tne '.J a r ·- - :J �� l _ i a l!� ;�n�: :i i [ �u �vT a l � l rlg 8 :1cl F r c n k Boh:-l �· ­

s 'upr:;crt c d � r�e ;, ll i ro s freE] the b e G i nn i ng and '-llt i ­
mate ly r avor e d U . S . i nvolve w e nt . Wa l l i ng was one of
the b e s t theoret i c i an s i n Arr:e r i c an SOC ialism, and
we l l worth re ading t oday . Frank Bchn was a synd i ­
calist , and an a s s oc i at e e d itor of the Internat i onal
Soc ialist R e v i ew .
It should be p o in t e d out that v i rt uaEy al l
Ame r i c an S o c i al i s t s were i n th e i r he art of he art s f e r
an Allied v i c t u ry - - i n c luding Eugene Deb s , �orri s
H i l lquit , and a l s c niH le ade r BLl Hayvlood . Few
st ated this pub l i c ly altho ugh o c c a s i o n al ly ) as \-l ith
Fraj na , the s e nt i me r/v Dec arr:e obvi ous . The maj or
dilemma was how t o be against both the Kaiser and
the Europe an dell.ccrac ies in e qual rr.e asure . At f i rst
the evil of the Kai s e r was t'he oret i c ally c ount e r ­
balanced b y that o f the T z ar . But thi s didn ' t work
well because Rus s ia seemed so weak militarily . The
di lemma could have been re s olve d , perhap s , had the
left w ing deve loped a cons i st ent the ory of the war as
imperial i st . Howeve r , if the i r analyse s were con­
s i stent at all , they tended t oward a theory of
nat ionalism as the c aus e . On this s c ore Germany came
out well ahead of the re st , and thus was seen as an
immense ly greater evil .
40

The re ,,7 a s :'urther ':: O'1fus i on among the Le ft w ing

c on c e rn ing the e l e ct ion o f Woodrow W i l s on in 1 9 16 .
T ,.; o 'r\0y 1 r i t e r s for 'Ih,::. IV:a s s e s - -Max � a stman and J ohn
Ree d - - 2 _lppor:, e d h im for F re s i de nt . With t orture d
l o g i c ; Sa strr.an c r it i c i z e d the party for nominat ing a
c andido.t e , Allan Bensen " e spe c i ally out - of -t ouch w ith
the prolet a r i at , the n vote d for hin, vlh i l e endors ing
W i l s on . Years l at e r h e admi t t e d , " I was c onceal ing
t he fact that I c oul d :l o t make up my :Tlina . "12 Eve n
the I nt e rnilt i onal Soc i 'll i s t Revi ev! ) s o un s\v e rv ingly
revolut i onary) vI a s t aken in by Vli l s on . I n August ,
1 9 1 6 ) the R eview print e d an uns igned e d i t o r i a l att ack­
in� t he Mi�waukee Leade r - -Victor Berger ' s reformist
new spape r - - f o r i t s c r it i c i s�s of W i l son . I n charac ­
t e r i st i c st raight - f rorr. -the - sh oulder prose , the
e d it o r i al charge d ,

To h m-il G us p i c i ons o f m i l itar i sm aga inst a

pre s ide nt vlho has �:e pt the working c l a s s of
Ame r i c a out of war during a h a i r -t ri gger pe r i od
i s a spe c ie s of t re ache ry to the \J ork ing class
that doe s no good . 1 3

F o l low i ng W i l s on ' S Vict ory, F rank Bohn i n The Mas se s

l a shed cut o.t Soc i a l i st s who st i l l had the�l d ­
f 8. S C i o n ed impos s ib le 8.t t it ude . . . o f hat in;s eve ry
rad i c al i.. ," : -" l s e ' he steals our thunde r ' . . . 14
In the i r concrete p ropo s a l s f o r pe a c e , the Left
"\l i n g S o c i al i sts had l ittle ::;os it ive to offe r . In
Septemb e r , 1915 , Fraina s ugge sted , " It is our t ask t o
prepare for peace , not t o bring peace , , . and denoun c e d
t h e current Soc i al i st party p r ograrr. as " apologet i c ,
i n c ompetent and pro-German . ' I S In f act , the Soc i a l i st
p e a c e program was v i rtually ident i c al t o that of the
Rus s i an Bol she v i k s . It c alled for no i ndemn it i e s ,
n at ional s e lf -determin,""� � on for count r i e s unde r fore ign
rule , no rLi l i t ary or naval appropr i at i ons , and no
export at ion of arms . C on c e rn ing the l a st p o int , Left
w i ng theoret i c i an Louis B oudin went so f ar as t o
opp ose any st oppage o f arms shifment s through govern ­
ment act i on or str il�e s in mun it ions factorie s , b e c ause
it would affect only the a l l i e s . 1 6
 41
LEFT VS . RIGHT ?

The maj or pos it ive sugge st ion of the Left w ing

for pe ace was not revolut ionary at all . Most , in­
cluding Boudin, Fraina and Eastman , f avored a Le ague
of Nat ions plan , as did the reformist s . Boudin was
e spe c i ally e nthus iast i c ab out a ,,1 orld democ rat i c
federat ion , as a n alternat ive t o nat i cnal i sm . Such
plans were b ased upon the i de a e ither that war was a
remnant of feudalism, or a product of nat ionali sill ,
b ased upon c ap italist de velopment only up t o a cer­
t ain st age . Thus , cap it alist nat ions could co-exist
pe acefully in a world federat i on , e spe c ially if
corrlpelled by the "lorking clas s .
On the problem of how t o oppose U . S . involvement
in the war , the Left w ing was for the rr;ost part
e lus ive and vague . Vlhen Wilson began his prepared­
ne s s campaign , unlike many of the reformi s t s they
refused t o give c redence to the ide a . Beyond thi s ,
howeve r , they had l ittle c onc rete t o s ay . Throughout
the Left wing '.l rit ings there runs the thre at of " mass
act ion; ; but this seelJ1ed mere rhet orical than real
unt il the Bol shevik Revolut ion gave it sub st ance .
Alexandra Koll.ant ay T.,Jrote of turning the w ar into a
civil w ar , b ut s.s 8. Rus s ian Bolshevik she vJ as refe r ­
ring t o European condit ions . The idea o f the
" gene ral strike " w a s only re.rely ment ioned .
Loui s Waldman tells of a Left w ing prograrr; for
act ion , int roduced at a Soc ialist meet ing in Hanhattan ,
just one month before the St . Louis err.ergency con­
ve nt ion . Leon Trot sky and Loui s Fraina appeared
there as leader s of the Left w ing, and introduced a
re solut ion c all ing upon Soc ialist s t o ,

re s i st all effort s at recruit ing b y rr:e ans of

mas s rr.eetings , street demonstrat i ons and
educ at ional propaganda , and by other rre ans , in
ac cordance with Socialist prin c iple s and t act ic s .

They also c alled for strike s against indust rial con ­

s cr ipt ion ' 1 7
By the t ime of the St . Louis convent ion, howeve r ,
Left w ing members had f orgotten what they learned from
 ..

42

T rot sky . There , they opposed the Hillqu1t -Lee ­

Ruthenberg majority resolut i oa- -which c ontained all the
essentia�.s of the Trot s ky-F ra i na program- -and intro­
duced their o�n . It was drafted by Boud i n who , a l ong
w ith Fraies, had al so met w ith Trotsky and othe rs to
develop a revolutionary perspe ct ive on the war . Yet ,
from thei r own perspect ive, the Left w ing resolution
was in every way inferior to the one adopted . In con­
trast to the majority re so l ut i on , it s prose was
unbelievably turgid, it was far milder in tone, and
actually devoid of a program for action. The Left
wing manifesto began ,

In this grave hour in the history of this coun­

try, we, the represent atives of the Socialist
Party of the United States, in spe c ial Convention
assembled, deem it our duty to place before the
membership of the Social i st Party and the working
class of Aree rica a succinct statereent of our
position on the questions involved, and to out­
line a program of action which we believe to be
in the interest of ""'orkers of this country t o
follow .

After going int o the causes of the vlar and warning of

a permanent military establishment "all to the great
detrimen L �.;:> the democratic inst itutions of this coun ­
t ry and the ty,oral and material interests of its
t o i l ing masses, " the manifesto concluded,

All of these reasons lead us to the conclusion

that we mu:::; t oppose this war with all the powers
of our c olIm and.
8
That was thei r program for act ion . 1
The convention re.:' _ .:: ted t he Boudin resolut ion
overvlhelmingly . Less than half the Left wing delegates
voted for it . It could only have been written to
distinguish the revolutionaries from the reformists,
but on the question of war, at this time, that was
imposs ible . So far, their differences were only
superf icial .
When the party adopted its St . Louis manifest o ,
most well -known Soc ialists defected . Few in absolute
numbers, the majority of defecters were s imply
-

re J O In Ing the Progre s s ive intelle ctual s ) who had

marched en mas se int o the war c amp . Tr � 1 2 were ,
hO'-Iever , several import ant Leit w ing defectors , \-Iho
generally get le s s attent i on from s oc i al ist
h i storians . Already n;e nt ioned were Hilliam English
Walling and Frank Bohn , two or the mo st pro l if i c
left w ing vlr i ters o n the war , both E: ditors o f t_'he
New Review . Joining them were Henry Slobodin and
Robert R ive s La Monte . Slobodin, along with Eugene
Deb s and Loui s Boudin , was a leade r of the c cmbina­
t ion indust r i al -polit i c al s oc ialism tendency of the
left wi ng , and an assoc iate editor of the
Intern at ional Social i st Review . La Mont e was an
editor of The New Review . The reformist party
leadership had been afraid t o send him as an
organizer to lawrence dur ing the famous strike ,
b e c ause he was too radic al . During t he crit ical
1 9 17 Hillquit -for-Mayor c arrJpaign in New York C ity- ­
which attracted the attent i on of the pre ss all
acro s s the c ountry- -the se men j o ined vl ith ? ight w ing
defe cters in oppo s ing Hillquit . They i s sued a
public stat eme nt to the pre s s , c alling Hillquit a
" champ ion of German Kultur " and ac cus ing him of
" giving needle s s aid and c omfort t o the enelr:ie s of
democ racy the world over . . . ' \ H it h re spp. ct to
Rus s ia and the revolut ion, they s�id the Rus sian
people " are not in favor of a Ge rman pe ace . Yet
H i llquit t a:"e s the pos it ion of the anarch i st ­
Soc i al i st Lenine , and opposes the genuine sociali slli
of Kerensky . " I n a letter t o the neVi Y ork T in;e s ,
F rank Bohn c alled Ht::'lquit supporters "weeping cow ­
ard s " and " c ommon t raitors t o c i v i l i z at ion . " 19
Of course , the se left w ing defe cters were ex­
cept i cn s - - j us'G as were the R ight . The vast
maj ority of Soc i al i st s shaped up as s oon as the U . S .
e ntered the war , threw the i r w e i ght behind the St .
louis manife st o , and prepared for the difficult
st ruggle ahe ad . It is impos s ible to t abulate all
the arre st s and convict ion s of Socialists for ob ­
struct ing the war effort ; it went on at all leve l s .
Morris Hillquit , who acted as att orney for many
radicals prose c uted by the fede ral gove rnment ,
write s ,
44
It is e st imate d that dur ing the war ab out two
thousand pe rson s vere conv ict ed unde r the
Esp-' onage Law aEd sentenced to term s of
ii;, ��.:: i sonIlJent aggre gat i ng twenty-five thous and
y,:: ars . In many if not most of the se conv i c ­
t ions the St . Loui s proclamat ion playe d a
large and fat al })art . 2 0

The que st ion remain s , if the left wing alone

ne ithe r direct ly nor indire ctly mot ivated the
Soc i a l i s t party t o t ake such a strong ant i -war pos i ­
t ion , how did i t c orLe about ?

Debs, the Socialist Party candidate for 1920, at the gate

of Atlanta Federal prison, greeting his vice-presidential run­
ning mate, Seymour V. Stedman.

WHY T:lAS THE SCC!.."d ST PARTY STRONG ?

Daniel Bel l , in h i s e s s ay , c la ims that the re i s

scn:e t ruth to the charge that a high proport ion of
German s ( for Germany ) and Jew s ( against Rus s i a ) in the
party accounted for much of the oppo s it i on . 21 B e l l ,
howeve r , get s h i s informat ion frcm Ch�rle s Edward
Rus sell , a R ight w ing defector and t he only Soc ial i st
to have pub l ic ly supported prepare dne s s . Russell i s
a highly unre l i able source . In f act , the party ' s
German language daily, the Volk s ze itung , was very
host i le toward the Ge rman SPD and supported Karl
Liebkne cht . The p arty ' s German l anguage federat ion
featured Kollant ay and Trot sky as speakers . As far
as the Jew s ' host i l ity t ow ard Rus s i a i s concerne d ,
by the t ime the St . Louis convent ion met the TZLr
had already been overthrown , and all Soc i ali st s
supported the new Rus s i a .
More convinc ing i s a po int of view shared by
most h i stor i an s of Ameri can soc i al i sm , inc luding
Be ll , David Shannon , N athan F i ne , and Julius
Faulk ' 2 2 They sugge st that had the party been more
close ly t ied to the trade union movement , it would
have been more int e re sted in s imply prote cting the
gain s and i nst itut ions of the workers for the dura­
t ion of the war . The party probably would have
compromi sed it s ant i -war pr in c iple s . Thi s did h ap ­
pen to the AFL , which had been mode rately ant i -war
unt i l short ly before Amer ic a ' s entrance , and then
pro -war . And of c ourse , it happened t o the European
soc ial i st part i e s , whi ch were b ased on the t rade
union s . To bolster thi s viel-Ipoi nt , several of the
h i storians c ite the f act that most import ant
Soc i al i st trade un ions left the party after the U . S .
de Clared war , and j oined "l ith Gompe rs i n support ing
it .
It may be true that many Soc i al i st trade
un ion i st s left , although prob ab ly as many staye d .
More import ant , howeve r , is the f act that in the
only two are as vlhere the party b ased it self on t rade
un ien s upport , w ith st rong t i e s deve loped over the
ye ars , it rema ined ant i -war . The S E are as were
Milw au::e e , Wi s c on s i n , home of V i ctor Berge r , and
Reading , Pennsylvan i a . The trade uni on s in the se
places were heav ily German , at least i n tradit i on .
But the leader of the Re ading Soc i a l i st s , Jame s
Maurer , was also pre s ident of the Pennsylvania
Federat i on of Labor . During the war , Maure r - -who
was f amous for h i s mil it ant ant i -war act ivit ie s - -was
re -elected pre s ide nt by a thre e - t o - one maj ority ,
de spite the f act that Gompe rs sent up a crew to make
sure he was defe ated ' 2 3
45
Anothe r re l ated po int s oc i al i st hi storians make
i. s that unl i ke the E;urcpean part ie s , the Amer i c an
Soc ial is+ party had few polit i cal strongholds , and
the!'efo'- .,; nothing to conserve . The f act that it had
not gd�ned suc c e s s and respons ib i l ity permitted it the
luxury of oppos ing the war w ithout suffering re ally
seri ous conse quence s . The prob lem w ith this analys i s
i s that i t views the American Soc i al i st party purely
from the st andpoint of the mas s European part ie s .
While it i s t rue the Soc ial i st party was small, it did
ha7e a lot t o conse rve . F irst of all , the party had
an extens ive pre s s w ith c irculat ion in the m i l l ion s ,
',;h i ch was almost t ot ally de stroyed by government re ­
pre s s i on . Se c ond , the party was an organi z at ion
attempt ing both to maint ain it self and to grow . It at
le ast shared the se characte r i st i c s w ith the Europe an
part ies , de spite it s re lat i ve ly small membe rship of
s ome 30 thousand . When the authorit i es began to raid
and plunder nat i onal and l ocal headquarters , Soc ialists
were out rage d be c ause the party , which they had built
ove r the yeari) n:eant a great de al t o them . !'iloreove r J
t hey 8 8" the i r party as a very import ant force against
the I-j ar - l i E.ely , the only organ i z at ion which would
stand and f ight in t he face of repre s s ion . They even
expe cted to make gains during the ,var . Thus , from
the : r own st andpoint , they had a lot t o prot e ct s.nd
conse rv( � - but they were unw i l l ing to do it by backing
down . Fina ,--,-y , they had the ir own l ive s to p rotect .
The dange rs they f ac ed- -as re lated by Max Eastman ,
Osc ar Ame r inge r , Jame s Maurer and othe r s - - c annot be
exagge rated .
Seve ral historians argue that the ge ographi cal
d i st ance of Ame r i c an Social i st s frcm the war in Europe
e nab led them to oppose it . Rathe r l i ke i s olat ion i st s ,
they we re not s o troubled b y an imme diate mil it ary
thre at to the ir nat i on r � were the European s o c i al i st s .
It need only be pointed out , f irst of all , that the
same argument c ould be use d for pre c i se ly the oppos ite
point - -that di stance enabled Ame r i can Soc i al i st s to
support the war s ince they we re untouched by it s
devast at ion . Se condly , this argument could not account
for the oppos it ion of the Rus s ian Bolsheviks , b oth
before and aft e r they t ook pow e r , or the var ious
minority s o c i al i st group s , or conve r s e ly , for the
support that Brit is h s o c ial i st s gave the war .
 O e vE : a l o t � e y p o i �t s are pe rhaf s �cre � e lp ful
i� ilnde r s t hcd i G g why �he S � c i 21 i s t p a r t y �as S�
st ro n g ly ant i - w a r .
F irst of all , cs s e ve r n l � i s t o r � an s have
s u�sg c st c d ) l��C :l"' j C Qn :-=;o c i r:.l i s t s ',.l � -::: e h e l p e d c cn ­
s i de r cb l�I by t l :E-: �::lt i -' '". l d r s �- r l� 5_n�ent in the n8t i on .
:By t he t i:�c t ho 1..,' , g , c � ; ::; e re d, tbe D r':'c cire of the ,v a Y'
in all it s gh0ui � s hnc s s had pretty w e ] l b e e n
r e ve a � e d " I n t ll � s s C :J s c i t \-l a s e a s i e r t o opp o s e
t h c;�l at t �u e -:=; e Z J. r.. 8 i rJ C -·,'}h e L , in the r�� i d s t of popular
f r e n = y clud 1" CrL3ct i c :" ,ls a s ; the ::: uroI�e u n part ie s L ad
t o de a l "l i t h i t .
:Jp c orc d : Ame r t c a n S o c i a l i st s ,.J e re 8b J,e t o drm'l
f r o m the e xpe r i e n c e o£' ;� a r l l l:::: b :-cn e c ht and t he
G e r�Bn � i n o r i t y , � i st re s s e d by the f a i l ure of so
many =ur ope an s o c i al i st s t o opp o s e t h e w a r ,
L i eb::!le cht app e cH' e d 8S a s h i n i. ng e x a:r.ple t o th e m .
The � nt i r0 S o c i al i st p re s s t re at e d h i m J i �e 3. he r e ,
2nd h i s ,,: r it i '1 Cs G ,J e r e ' ,' i de ly re 2.d . He i, a s tr'ke mode l
whe n t h e re o l t e s t f i n a l ly c ase . F urthe rlliore ,
An�e r i � a �l S o c i a l i s t s �vJ ,= r e l_lP � .1 ft e rt by t he re s urge n c e
of s.rlt i - \v 3 r s e nt i rr.e Gt o.rnong t11e i r 3 uropE: sn c aclracie s �

Thi r d , t he 3t . Louis man i f e st o i t s e l f 'd as

iraft e d il; rr.e d L:,t e l y :J.ft e r the D . :; . d e c lared ,: ar .
i\/�o rY i G H i l l qu l t s sy s tr. at w a r h ad. C Ol�le �� 0 s '_ldde n ly )
t he c C lr,; e nt i (!n �l'c, ;_ e '; ��t e c; " had n o t i r::e fur c 3,lm d e -·
l ib e :c 3.t i on . ' They " e r e h o r r i f i e d , and. the f re shne s s
of t he i r te r r c r is reve aled in the m an i f e st o . It
sho'u l d >:l I s e b e noted t h at at the t i ;,.e of the St .
L c;-ui G c onvc :1 'G i cn , S o c i 2, l i. st s \-J e r e a C C llct ome d tc
re ldt i �.rc: ly f:c-ee spe � 2 �� . �-::: Lt It w a s s e ve r f-J l Dlcnt h s
b 2 �· ·J�e t �lc 2:0V'2 I'nfLerrt b t. ,Ze.n �Lt s c SL�lj a i gn o f re p re s ­
L-; 2 :;:1 c !-i. fC-:'I",,� L i s t o r i &r1 s l-J.a,/e s ��l�ge s t e d t h at had t h e
S O '2 i 6.-=- i G � ;) ��-_j ,:;j :-l i..
/(l s.t ,,'J a s in store f e r tl1erl1 ) they·
, cu :' cl :",::rt h .::.: ','[; 'J c f':' n s o r:r:, l it ant l:/ :cn c i -,\,i a r . This is
2 >�t r c r:;2 :-:: ci'v..'J i c,i i3 c i :L e f irst o f ,-,-l l t !;e y : m t i c i p a t e d
�. �J �c �: ..... \... � � :':.'-'; ·c c. 3 ·� r i c:-!�� i Ct� 3 0 :1 c i 'v i l l itJ 2 rt i e .3 ; anu
3 s c c-:L::.l:;_ J ':: L ,:; e tJ-l.2Y- i'C c.U1Q Oi�t �v/l1at VJ(J. S in st ore
t h e y s t i l ='. rC ':" 1 ) s e d t, c gi �"e -:'n .
Ihi s � ist could be e xt e nde d , but I w ant t o e n d
b e re w it h G n e maj or p o int . None of the v a r i ou s re 8 -
s o n s t h �t h i s t o r i a n s s ugge s t f o r S o c i a l i st opp o s i t i o n
t o t he w ar , bre in any sense cau s e s . Lac k of t i e s
48

to t rade un iens : for examp le , did not " c ause "

Soc i al i st s t o oppose the war , any more than it c ause d
previ ous l;' ant i -war Progre s s ive s t o support it . He
are de al ' _lg here w ith re al soc ialist s , re al people - ­
not crc�ture s who are merely pushed and pulled around
by c ondit i ons and event s , b ut. play a large role in
�ak ing them . Pol i t i c s are only part ly a reflection
of [I,at e r i al condit i ons ; they E.re also a cre at i on of
inte lle ct . It i s th i s latter dimens ion of human
age ncy- -to paraphrase E . P . Thcmp son - -that must neve r
be forgotten . Whateve r the s i z e of the Socialist
p2rt y , vlhatever its polit i cal st rongholds and t i e s t o
the trade un ion s , whatever the conflicts between
various polit i c al tendenc ie s , the following conc lus ion
should be kept uppermost in our minds : The polit i c a l
posit i on o f Ameri can Soc i al i st s during the war , the i r
forth�ight oppos i t i on to it , w a s a product most of
all of a truly heroic effort of the w i l l , of self­
enlightenment against ove rwhe lming odds . It serve s as
a profound example of the elevat ion of c ons c i ousne s s
through human effort .

FCOTNOTES

1 . Ame rican Soc i� l i st , April 14 , 1917 .

2 . J ame s We inste i n , The De c l ine of Socialism in
Ame r i � q ( New York : Monthly Review Pre s s , 19(7 ) ,
Pl" 119- l f � , i s the be st and most comprehens ive
analys i s of Soc i al i st ant i -war act ivity . This
art i cle , vlri tten prior t o the appearance of
He instein ' s book , reache s many of the same c on­
clus ions b ut draw s from ent ire ly different source
material s .
3 . David Shannon i s mist aken when he says 8, 000 voted
for the pro -war re s olut ion , giving the ant i -war
manife sto a three -to - \.ne maj ority . The maj ority
was s ixty-t o - one . S�e Jame s Oneal and G . A .
Werner , Ameri c an C ommunism ( New York : E . P . Dutton
& C o . , 1947)� 3 5n for an account ing of the vote .
4 . American Soc i a l i st , Apri l 2 1 , 1917 .
5 . The odore Drap e r , The Roots of Ame r i c an Commun i sm
( New York : The Vik ing Pre s s-- , 1963 ed . ) , Pl" 92 -95 .
Jul ius Faulk , "The Origins of the Amer i c an C ommun i st
Movement , " Ne,� Inte rnat i onal, F al l , 195 5 , p p . 165 -
1 66 .
--

6. Lil ian Syme s and Trave rs C lement , Reb e l Ame r i c a

( New Y ork : Harper and Brothe rs , 19�p , 305 .
7. O s c ar Ameringe r, If You Don ' t Weake n ( New York :
Henry Holt and C o� 1940� . 297- 298 .
8. Louis Fraina , The New Review , June , 1915 , pp .
80-82 ; August , 191�pp . 1 5 3 - 1 54 .
9. Theodore Draper , Op e c it . , p . �2 ,
10 . Louis Fraina, The:New�view , July , 1914 , p . 392n ;
The New Review-- , January , 1915 , p . 1 7 ; March, 19 1 5 ,
�14I; June , 1915 , p . 54 .
11 . Max E astman , The Mas s e s , Oct ob e r , 191 4, p . 5 .
12 . Max Eastman , Enjoyment of Living ( New Y ork : Harper
& Brothe r s , 1948) , p . 25. ---
13 . Internat ional Soc ialist Revie"lv , 191 0 , p . 7l .
14 . Frank Bohn , The lvla s se s , J anuary , 191 7 , p . 16 .
15 . Loui s Fraina, The New Revie"lv , Septemb e r ) 191 5 ,
p . 233 ·
15 . Loui s Boud i n , The Hew Revie"i , May , 191 5 , p . 3 ;
July , 19 1 5 , p . 123 .
17 . Louis \>Jal dman , lab or Lawyer ( NevI Y ork : E . P .
Dutton and C o . , 19 44), pp . 67- 58 .
18 . Ameri can S o c i al i st , April 21 , 1 9 17 .
19 · The New Y ork T ime s , Octobe r 2 9 , 1917 , p . 4 ; Bohn
letter November � 1917, p . 14 .
20 . Morri s Hil1quit , Loose Le ave s from d Busy Life
( New Y orle The MacMillan� 1934)� �6�
21 . Daniel Bel l , Marxi an Soc i al i sm in the Un ited
St ate s , 1 \ in Donald Drew Egbert and St ow Persons ,
Soc ialism and American Life , Vol . I ( Princeton :
Princeton Unive r s ity Pre s s , 195 2 ) , pp . 3 1 3 - 3 14 .
22 . Daniel Bell , Op e c i� . , p . 314 ; David Shannon , The
Social i st Party of�mer i c a ( New Y ork : The MacMillan
Co . , 195 5 ) �98 ; Nathan Fine , Labor and Farmer
Part i e s i n the United St ate s , 18�2�New York :
Rand School of Soc i al Sc ience , 192� ) , pp . 307 - 309 ;
Julius Faulk , OP e c it . , pp . 165 -167 .
23 . Jame s Huds on Maure�It C an Be Done ( New York : The
R and School Pre s s , 1938 ) �p-- . 228-230 .
24 . Morri s Hil1quit , OP e c it . , pp . 157- 168 .
 50

On the Radicals ' Use of History

J oh n S t rawn

J ames Hein.stein , The Decline o f Socialism i n America

-
( New York, Monthly Review Press , 195 7 )
Pau� Buhle and James Heinstein, "The Meaning of
Debsian Socialism. " Radical America , Volume I I,
jlTumb e r 1 , Jan. -Feb . 196c). pp . 4 4 - 5 9

J �mes He instein ' s The Decline of Socialism in

America is , iL\ the opinion of Hil liam Appleman
'
v!i l '-iams, a provocative call to new thought and more
relevant act ion. . . , " presumably among American
rad i c als . It/einstein , wh i le r:lodest ly avoiding r:,aKing
;,lilliams ' c l air[, his own, nonetheless responded to
Paul Buhle ' s review of The Decline . . . on the grounds
of t hat cl aim, ",hich Buh le also accepts . Both assume
as a rule of thumb that there are lessons waiting for
d i s c overy in the socialist past , and that these les ­
sons can L _ .., proci t o " ne", thought and more relevant
action . Thei:- exchange , consequent ly, root ed in a
C OIY,mon understanding of hist orical meaning, bypasses
several important weaknesses of Heinstein ' s interpre ­
t at ion of socialist political hist ory , while raising
a serious que st ion about radical historiography .
These wealmesses, I thinK., deserve sorre attention.
The cOllillientary ,Ihich follows tries t o attend to them.
It is in no sen se a thorough �oing critique, but
rather a l imited judge!:,,-- _�t based in part on a reading
of Heinstein ' s book , and in part on Buhle and
Heinstein ' s public conversation. The cOllimentary shares
in the limitations of all crit icism , since it offers
no alternative interpretation . But if the critic isms
are valid , and the research they suggest actually
relevant, then another interpretation may be p ossible .

� -------
 I . ON WEINSTEIN ' S EXPLANATION OF THE PARTY SPLITS

The cent ral failing of The De c l ine . . . is it s re ­

liance on a chroni cle of internal party tens i ons as
an explanatory key t o the party split s . Except for
reference s to Gre at Event s - -the Russ ian Revolut ion,
the War , etc . - -We inst e in re st s h i s analys i s almost
exclusively upon written re cords of deb ate s w ithin the
party . The impre s s i on thereby give n i s that the
cri s i s in the Soc ial i st Party was self - generat ed - -that
it was } in fact , the cons c i ous creat ion of the Left
w ing . Thi s explanat ion require s c areful s c rut iny ,
b oth int r i n s i c ally and for what it reve als ab out
rad i c al h i story .
The Left w ing ( s o the argument goe s ) really
eme rged as a c lear challenge t o the moderat e leader ­
ship of the party only i n 1919 . "The movement for a
split in the Soc i al i st Party, I ! We inst e in w r it e s , " . . .
did not deve lop in the manne r , or for the reason s ,
that it did in Europe . It sprang forth suddenly , and
w ith l ittle or no internal impetus , in the spring of
1919 . " Th e split w a s g e n e r at e d by a Left l e s s
crit i c al of Ame r i can re alit ies than imitat ive of
Rus s ian event s , vlhich tried to impose a BolshevH:
polit ical style on the Soc ial i st Party . Using
Bol shevik rhetor i c t o crit i c i z e the old le ade rsh ip - ­
mainly Berge r and Hillquit - - , the Left in it i at ed a
mas s ive c ri se de con s c ience in the party , assuming
that the Revol ut ion - -me aning the left - -would be aided
by the purgat i ve spl it s vlhi ch would f ol low . When the
s pl it s in the party did occur , they '\v ere thus based
le s s on the l i ve opt ions f ac ing socialist s than upon
analyt i c al d i stort i ons irre spon s ibly imposed on
existent Ame r i c a by the Left . C onseque nt ly rende red
impotent by seve re di sun ity , Ame r i c an socialism
ente red a period of de c l ine from whi ch , regardle s s of
the shape it assume d , it c ould never eme rge .
Taken in vacuo , this explanat i on cont ains a
ne c e s s ary germ-ar-truth- -name ly , that the Left w ing ,
pe rhaps more consc ious of Bol shevik h i st ory than its
ovm predicament , ac cepted the val idity of a split in
the party . But t o make that ne ce s sary germ of t ruth
the suff i c ient condit ion for the d i s e ase ignores the
nat ure of the animal . As everywhere in history, truth
52

is not so one dime n s i onal and ac ce s s ible .

Three as sumpt i ons l ie behind the explanat ion of
the spl i .; s in the party summarized here : f irst , it
aS SU'i �- �: that the mature Sociali st Part y , left to it s
e stab:L ished r;,oae of existence , was c apab le of moving
ste ad i ly t oward a new soc iety in the United St ate s ;
se cond, it as sume s that the le adership of the Ame r ican
Socialist Party differed measurably in the c ontent of
.Lt s polit i c al thought and potent ial re levance from
' it s European c ounte rpart s " ; and, finally, it assume s
that the mode rate leadership of the party , unl iKe the
Left w ing , was c rit i c ally attuned to Amer i c an real i ­
t ie 3 . Ignoring for a moment the normat ive impl ica­
t i ons of e ach as sumpt ion , it i s ne c e s sary t o point out
that the the s is sup l ied by the se assumpt ions must
derwnst rate rathe r than as sume the ir t ruth ; e ach
assumpt i on , that i s , must be t e ste d . Otherw i se , the
explanat ion exist s at base "l-l ithout the support of
evidence . There are several parcels of evidence - ­
seve ral " que st ions - -directly relevant to the fai lure
of Ame r i can soc i al i sm which sugge st the dire ct ion sub ­
se quent examinat ions might t ake . And though they are
of themse lve s w ithout di sput at ive value - - L e . , they
"prove ' nothing- - , they do suggest that the history of
American s o c i al i sm has not been exhaust ively studie d .
It is crit i c ally important t o know , i n regard t o
the fir s t, �� -- sumpt ion , for example , the role of the
Soc ial i st Party ' s le adership in the wave of strike s
be ginning in 1919 . Here men l ike Vi ctor Berger as in­
tere sted in the str ike s as i n e le ctoral polit i c s ? I s
the re any evidence to say , a s Weinste in doe s , that
"the party might have been able to change it s per ­
spect ive on the l ong range prospect of e lectoral w ork ,
had it not been t orn apart by the splits of 19197 "
( Radic al Ame r i c a , p . 5 5 ) I f there i s n o evide nce t o
support the as sert ion t L J t "the party might have been
able t o change , " then the h i storian may only conclude
that the party e ither could or would not rethinl� it s
pos it ion on e le ctoral act ivity . Thi S , c orrelated w ith
a i:.nmvledge in depth of the c ompos it ion of the strike s,
the demands of the strike r s ( e . g . , were they " revolu­
t ionary " or, as We inste in sugge st s , purely bread and
butter? ) , i s clearly aligned to the que st ion of the
party spl it s . I f , again by example , the strikes had a
revolut i onary cont e nt , and the mode r ate l e ade r sh i p d i d
not r e sp ond t o the m , then that w ould c e rt c i nly c o n ­
t r ibute t o the c l imat e l e ad i ng t o the s p l it s . F i na l l y ,
s i nce it i s t rue that the party membe rship s h i ft e d i n
c ompos it ion f r om nat i ve t o f o re i gn born , it w ould
c e rt a i nly be import ant to know whe ther or not the c om­
p o s it i on of the s t r i k e s re f le ct e d the r at i o of t h at
s h i ft .
The t e st f or t h e s e c ond a s sumpt i on unde r lying
We in s t e i n ' s expl anat i on is c omparat ive : " I n Europe ,
whe re the un i o n s were c l o s e ly t i e d to t he Party , "
We i n st e i n write s ,

bure auc rat i c s e lf - i nte re st i n holding ont o the i r

organ i z at i o n s w a s st ronge r than the p r i n c ip l e s
of int e rn at i onal i sm . many
I n the Un i t e d St at e s
S o c i al i st s in chose t o re main
top un i on off i c e s
" effe ct i ve ' by st ay i ng w ith the i r un i on s . But
the un i o n s , a s the IHW le arne d , had t o s upp o r t
the War or be destr oye d . Such t rade un ion
Soc i al i st s droppe d out of the Party a nd b e c ame
p at r i ot s ) but the Party , b e c ause of i t s Etut o ­
nomy , was s aved -frcm-the- fateof-its European
c ouI;.t e rparts-:- --It wasable- t o -opp ose- Ule-,1 a r Etnd
agitate-among the-r2nk-and-f i le-de s � .i � e-the- l o s s
o{ Eigh-ranld�uni on=�ff i c i�I s . ( t,ly -�lT,Pi, a s i s J . S . 1

Th i s s t atemE nt contEtins ve ry l ittle ac curat e i n ­

format i on ; i f t h e " fat e " o f t h e Europe an s o c i a l i s t s
'..l as t he i r i n ab i l i t y t o " oppose the w a r and t o 2 g i t at e
among the rani\: and f i lE' . . . , " then t h e st at ement i s
f a l se . In Franc e , Ge rmany and Eng land , maj or ant i ­
w ar vo i c e s emerge d , rang ing f r om the ll.cde r at e
"Vli l s on i an s " t o the Z i mme nv a ld i ans . In Fran c e by
1 91 8 , the M i n o r i ty led by J e an Longuet g a in e d cont rol
o f t h e F rench S o c i a l i s t Party ( SF I O ) ; the i r Ge rman
c ounterp art s organ i z e d in the Ge rman I ndependent
Soc i a l Demo c r at i c Party ( USPD ) . I th ink that ) i n
terms of the i r ove rall p o l it i c a l persp e ct i ve , i t was
the s e m i n o r it y s o c i al i st s who w ere the European
c ount e rpart s of H i ll quit and Be rge r . C e r t a i n ly a l l
o f the s e s o c i al i st s agre e d that , w h i l e the B o l shevik
Revo l ut i on was of maj or import an ce , it d i dn ' t re qu i r e
t h e m t o rethink t h e p ol i t i c a l t act i c s t h e y had w o rke d
54

out prior t o "rtTI and the collap se of the Se cond

I nt e rn at ional . And l ike the Ame r i c an Soc i al i st s , the
c�urope a.n ::inority- -tht "Re construct or s " of t he Se c ond
l nt e rn &t . onal , the men of the Tw o and 1/2 I nt e rn at i onal
- -vJe re :1ar-ried by a voc ife rous left whose que st i on w as ,
e. s Raymond Lefebvre put it t o Jean Longue t : "You were
,d th us in the old st ruggle ( i . e . , against the w ar ) :
v;hy do you de sert us in the nevi one ? "
The " nev! st ruggle " Lefebvre pas s i on at e ly spoke of
vi as the vJorld Re volut i on ) the gre at driving b e l i e f of
the youthful Left ,,,h i c h appe are d everywhe re irr,minent
in 1919 . I nf orme d by a nevi and vi gorous i nt e rnat i on­
fcl i s!n , the Left hurled it se lf against t he old and
f Gl r:: e " i nternat i ona l i sm of the Se cond I nt e rn at i onal .
F or the post -war Left , inte rnat i onalism did not me an
o c c a s ional congre s s e s of nat i onal se ct i ons to d i s c u s s
s o c i al i st princ iple s ; i t d i d not me an c ont inue d a d ­
here n (::e to nati onal. parl iarr_ent ary " act ion � i t d i d
"

n ot E_e an rheto r i c al c O!'r,ffiitrrent t o revolut ion ' i n a

t housand ye ars . " 1,-Ihat it did mean , r athe r , vl aS a
r ::: d:i ::al b Ye ak w i t h tr adit i cnal soc i al i st t act i c s - -w ith
'p 3.r l i arr,e nt ary act ion , with a n Int e rn at ion al inc apable
of t rans c e n d i ng nat i onal l :)yalt i e s , w it h a me chan i c a l
orthodoxy o s s i f ie d in i t s c cn ceptual purity . I t was a
m i l i t ance f i lled w ith r e ge , an int e nse anger di re c t e d
agc:.inst b oth the c ap it a l i s t s vlho \� ere eve ry'\vhere he ld
re spons i c _ : for the F i rst World War , and the S o c i al i s t s
who had a c quie s ce d i n C apit al i sm t s out rage .

A CRIT ICAL D IFFERENCE

But the new I nt e rn at i onal t s challenge was ne ither

simple moral out rage nor a f l i ght of he ro i c f ant asy .
The c ondit ion for the Left t s exi stence was , in an
imme d i at e sense , the f ai lure of the Se cond I nt e r ­
nat i onal , de spite it s val i ant pre -war rhet or i c , to
prevent 'VJHI . But the c C :l-.:ept ions "Ih i c h informe d the
Le ft aft e r the w ar set them off f rom the " Ol d Guard "
s o c ialist s . Eve ryb ody c laimed t o be a "t rue inte r ­
nat i onal i st " during the war , f rom s o c i al p at r iot s l ike
Hall ing and Rus s e l l in Ame r i c a to c ourageous opponent s
of the w ar l ike Berger and H i l l quit . Yet the content
of that e spous e d internat i onal ism aft e r the w ar was
central ; it was no l onger the re lat ive ly s i mple que s ­
t i on of oppo s in g the war , regardl e s s of the diff iculty
 55

and courage inherent in that opposition , that certi­

fied the sincerity of socialists . It wa� now compe l ­
ling to assure - - at le ast a s a negative implication of
revolution - -that no more wars would be fought in the
future . The Left intended t o gain that assurance by
making the World R evol ution. And if that intention
was chimerical , if it was l ate r to voi d itse lf of
authe nticity, it was not because it was dishonest,
nor because nobody believed it .
Weinstein, by fai ling to investigate the content
of American s ocialist int e rnational ism, by making the
equation opposition to WWI equals internationalism
equals socialist purity, attribut es to the Old Guard
a character it never had. Part of the re ason for
this l ies in 1ile i nste in ' s previ ous discoveries j which
are val i d and immense ly important - - name ly, that
American socialism d i d not col lapse in 1912 , but
rather continued as a f o r c e i n Ame rican history unt i l
it Has dec imated b y t h E spl its o f 1919 . For i f the
party had gained i n stre n gth during the w a y ; l e d by
t h e �l l � i t 2nt l:y 3.nt i - �"lar Old G 0.c"rd , dC2 S it [.LC,t m21�e
s e n s e to a s s ume that the i r l e ade r sh ip w a s val i d and
at t un e d to the a s p i r at i o n s of the work ing c l a s s ?
Unf o rt '.m at e ly , it d o e s n o t . The c o mp o s it i o n o f the
p a rty , as pr e v i o u s l y i nd i c at e d , had s h i ft c e to the
f o r e i gn b o r n , Jt t e r ly d i se nf r a n c h i s e d w o rk e r s in t he
c it i e s . P e rhaps be c E u s e t h e y unde r s t ood , f r e m the i r
expe r i e n c e in �urope�D s o c i al i s t ant i - m i � i t a r i sm ; t h �t
the w a r '.: a s r o ot e d i n t h e c cm. f l i ct of c Or.lpe t ing
c ap i t a � i srns , or p e r h a p s fer ot he r r � 2 s o n s , th�y re ­
sfonde i tc the C l d GUcd'd ' s oppo s i t i o n t o the w a r . But ,
s i nce t h e on ly t o. ct i c c on c eptual l y a v a i l ab l e to t h e
Old Guard w a s e l e c t o r a l a c t i vi t y , the dise nf ranch i sed
immigrants had no veh i c l e f o r real expre s s i on o f t he i r
oppos ition to the war. At best , the pos i t i o n of t h e
Old Guard re i nforced the ir opposition to capitalism ;
yet at the same time it made no se rious attempt t o
t; i1b�b':" them in activity that could seri ously chal lenge
the economic bab is they assumed was responsible for
le ading America into war . The promise of that
activity appeared with the e me rgence of a Left wing
aware of the failures of the Second Inte rnational and
committed to immediate revolutionary changes in
Ame rican society . The Old Guard unde rstood that, and
in a move w orthy of
pre c i p it o1 l s 1y exp e l l e d t he
Part y .
the most Bolshevized of part ie s ,
Left from the Soc ialist
I
* * * * � * * * * * * * * *

II . ON RADICAL HI STORY

And f r om all of thi s , do ,'18 conclude ?

th e n , what
He l l . . . n ot h i ng , re ally , American S o c i al i st
ab out t he
P Sl rt y , b ut pe rhaps s omet h i n g about the way we kn ow
our h i st ory . Vle i n st e in has w r it t e n the h i st o ry of
AnJE:r i c an s o c i a l i sm the way it has always b e e n w r i t t e n
- - f r om t h e t op down . T h e r e i s ve ry little sense o f
the pas s i on s whi ch move d me n , o r of the r e al it y they
pe rce i v e d and st rugg le d against . The a s s umpt i on that
h i s t o ry c an - - and should - -b e w r it t e n t h i s way is the
r0e t hodo l o g !_ c al c ore of most c on t e mp o r ary h i st ory , and
He i n st e i n srlare s i t w i th �Le n who s e pol it ic al c orLm it ­
t:1e n t s d i ve rge f undame nt ally f r om h i s ow n . One must
ask, t he n , vihe t h e r or n -::: t The De c l ine ofR ad i c a l i s m
i n Ame r i c a i s h i s t ory . T he answe r , I think , i s
th at it is not . But in o rd e r t o e xp l a i n why i t is
no t ) one must s ay "'hat r ad i c a l h i st o ry i s . Ido n ot
c l a i rE t o �,-ncw J but I have s ome t hought son ",hat
ruli c 9 l h i st ory should be . D i re c t ly r e l e vant to my
tr. ought s Y' rad i c al h i s t ory is my unde r st and i ng of its
i n s p i r a t i on : wily , i n ot h e r ", ord s ) d o vle a s r ad i c a l s
n o", i n s i s t o n r a d i c al h i st or y ? An at t e m pt t o an s", e r
t h at Que s t i on i s t h e t h e me o f what f o l l ow s :
In an e s s ay in the r e c e nt ly pu"b li sb e d �he
D i s s e nt i ng Academy ent i t l e d H i st o r i c a l Past and
Sxistential Pre s e nt ) " St aught cn Lynd r e m a r k s that
" ( d ) e s p i t e the a l l e g e d ant i h i s t o r i c i sm of t h � New Left ,
t he n e e d f o r a c o ll e c t i ve p a st i s fe lt w it h p a rt i c u l a r
k e e nne s s t o day b y young .. C i) p l e . ' I Th i s "need f or a
c o l l e ct i ve -p a s t i! i s s ue s , app a r e nt ly > f rom the t o rment
of hat i ng the Behemot h . Y oung p e op l e ( and more c on ­
s c i ou s l y ) young r ad i c a l s ) are aw are of t h e t ot a l it y
of Ame r i c an r e p re s s i on , of t h e s at u r at i o n of Ame r i c a n
s o c i e t y w it h t h e e ne rgy of c or p o r at e c a p it al i s m . The
t ot a l it y of repre s s i on s t ret che s b eyond the exi sten ­
t i al pre s e nt t o s ub s ume t h e p a s t in it s all e n c omp a s ­
s i n g gr ip . As radical s vIe are therefore n ot only
--

c onfronted by the pivotal a s sumpt ion of the �resent - ­

that whatever i s w rong w ith Ame r i c a , g ive r t � at such
is admitted , w il l be re s olved by the benef icence of
an increas ingly altrui st i c and malle ab le c apit al ism- ­
but also by a masquerade of perpetual perfect ion d i s ­
guised as our h i st ory . And o�t c f a re j e c t i on o f the
forme r flow s an irre s i st ib le demand for a thorough
uproot ing of the l atter .
There are real ly two ideas fused i n the c on ­
s c i ousne s s demanding a radical h i st ory . One c an lead ,
perhap s , t o what it int e nds ; the othe r probably c an ­
not . It i s important t o distinguish them, for as
long as they remain t ogether the whole drive toward
rad i c al hist ory i s trapped by the concept i on s it want s
t o deny . One ide a i s expre ssed by Paul Buhle , in h i s
introductory remark about We inste in ' s The De c l ine of
Socialism in Ame r i c a :

A s Ame r i c an rad i c al s young and old grapple for

organ i z at ional forms and t act ic s to b e st combat
imper ialism and c ap it al i sm in this c ountry, they
often f orget that the battle for ideas h as b een
fought before , that at le ast seventy ye ars of
s uc ce s s and failure in the revolut i on ary move ­
ment have demonstrated le s sons that [jl�st be
learned. ( My emphas i s J . S . )

Buhle ' s c ontent ion that the re are le s sons in the

past severely de l imit s the parameters of r ad i cal
history , impli c itly making radicals it s sub j e ct
matter . The history of radicals i s import ant , if for
no other reason than that the ir ve ry ex i stence is an
emb arras sment t o the myth of Ameri c a ' s past . But they
are no more re levant to underst anding the format ion of
contemporary consc iousne s s than the c orporate elite ,
Black people , or the Vietname se . The not i on of le s ­
son s i n the past i s a di sgui sed se arch for heroe s who
have challenged t he t ot ality of Ame r i can s oc iety ; it
obj ect if ie s that f ut ile s e arch by making it ne ce s s ary
for the pre sent , by post ing it s eff i c acy . As ide from
demonstrat ing the existence of a rad i c al t radit ion in
Ame r ica- - spec if i c ally , an i nt e l le ct ual r ad i c al trad i ­
t i on - - it doe s nothing t o challenge fundamentally the
s upreme me thodol ogy of contemporary h i st o ry .

ELIT I ST H I STORICGRAPHY ?

St aught on Lynd propose s a l og i c al corol l ary t o

Buhle ' s n ot ion ( w ith Vv'h i cll , howeve r ) Buh l e has n o c on ­
nect ion) whe n he sugg e s t s that the real j ob o f h i st o r ­
ian s i s t o pro j e ct " a lt e rnat ive s ce n ar i o s f or the
fut ure . " H i s sugge st i o n de se rve s w i de at tent ion and )
hopef ul ly , sub se quent outrage . Lynd wonde rs whether
or n o t h i st or i ans mi gLt } as h i st o r i ans , involve them­
s e l ve s :i n the spe c if i c out c ome -of-theVi e tnam �lar :

vJh e re the h i st or i an c ould be he lpful ) in my

op i n i o n , i s not by deeper but st i l l incon c lus ive
re se arch i nt o the p ast , but by p r o j e ct i ng alte r­
n at ive s 2enar i o s for the f ut ure . C ons ide rab le
expe r i e n c e is ava i l ab le as t o the behavior of
revolut i onary n at i onal ist moveme nt s unde r varying
environme nt al pre s sure s . ( s i c ! ) Hit hout pre ­
sumi ng t o pre d i ct the f uture ) h i st or i ans m ight
help Ame r i c an pol i cy make r s b e more flexible and
imagi nat ive by , so to spe ak , prophe sying a variety
of out c ome s to the pre sent b l oodbat h . ( p . 104 ;
my emphas i s )

I have '.:- 1. [i O made the a s s unlpt i on that the h i st o r ­

i an's bus i ne s s ,,, ith the f ut ure i s n ot t o pre d i ct
b ut t o env i s i o n , t o s ay ( as Howard Z inn has put
it ) not ",hat ,v:i l l be b ut ",hat c an be . The past
is rans acke d ) not for its own s ake , but as a
s ource of alternat ive mode l s of what the f uture
mi ght b e c ome . ( p . 107)

Here the not ion of h i st o ry from the t op dc,m re ­

ce ive s i t s c l e a.re st eXl-re s s ion . And l U.e the idea of
rad i c al h i st ory , it stems from t he overwhelming im­
potence \-Ie all feel as radi cals . Aft e r all , why should
He rman Kahn have a l l the fun ? Lynd is w i l l i n g t o
s a c r i f i ce e ve n the hope f or rad i c al h i st ory o n the
chopping b l ock of re levan c e . But whose re levance ?
F or if what Lynd pre sc r ibe s f or h i st or i an s i s accept e d ,
 59

h i st ory is obsolete ; Lynd , in f act , ac cept s as much

when he ins i st s that only contemporary hj story can
be s e n s ibly written .
The d i lemma Lynd pe rceive s and tent at ive ly
de als w ith i s central t o a rad i c al h i st ory . Lynd i s
grappl ing w ith Marx , who , " l ike Hege l and Ranke , "
Lynd writ e s ,

believed that ethi cal goals nee d not b e imposed

on h i st ory s ince they were immine nt in it . He
t o o , de spite a youthful emphasi s on man as
h i st or i c al creat o r , believed that "freedom i s
the re c ognit ion o f nece s s ity . "

Ac cordingly , for s omeone l ike mys e lf ( Lynd

c ont i nue s ) who was more and more committed t o
the the s i s that th e profe s sor of history should
also be a historical prot agoni st , a c omplex
c onfront at i on \� ith Marxi st e c onomic det er ­
mi ni sm Has inevitab le . ( p . 98)

From his " inevitable confrontat ion " H ith Marx , Lynd
der ived the b e l ie f that man make s h i s OHn h i story
in the pe rson of the revolut ionary . "The revolu­
t ionary t ransforms not only an oppre s s ive soc iety
but the law s of deve lopment of that oppre s s ive
soc iety . " Leni n , F ide l , Mao - -the se are the makers
of h i st ory : " • •any revolut i on . . . requi re s a de c i s ion
•

by individual human be ings to begin t o determine

the i r own de st inies at whateve r c ost . " The Height
of that de c i s i on , accordingly , give s sub st ances t o
the movement o f event s . But now we have c ome full
cycle , from the l e s sons of the past to the de c i s ions
of the pre sent , which are ide nt i c al ; b oth de r ive
f rom the anguish of our predicament .
Is , the n , rad i c al h i story p os s ib le ? Probab ly ,
b ut not as therapy , and cert ainly not a s a chroni ­
cle of the mechan i sm of de c i s i on , e ither as input
or output . One can agree w ith Lynd that men make
de c i s i ons , that they act c on s c i ously, and that they
do so H ithin a s o c i al environment . The h i st orian ,
howeve r , doe s not t e st de c is i on s , nor i s h e act ing
via the ab stract i on s of h i s craft when he make s
50

them himself . The central task for radical h i story

is to det ' rmine the relationship between c onsc ious
activj.ty and actual event , between the conjunc tures
of soci al forces and the c onsciousness of the men
they affect .
It is thus the second informing idea of rad i c al
h i s tory that holds its promise. The hi story we now
know is l argely false , not because it has no perman­
ence , but because it serves as a wedge between us as
act ive men and our own humanity . I t either wraps us
in the suffocating cloak of individual ity cut off
from purpose or past , or h ides from us the c oncrete
in a shroud of abstract ion s.
Thi s is not , obviously , a c atal ogue of inten­
tions , nor an index of the tasks of rad i c al h istory .
It assumes only that , as radicals , we do not accede
t o the workings of contemporary Ameri c a. Whether or
not we will succeed in being radicals in Amer i c a , as
historians or anything el se, remains the plane on
which we stand , and on which we decide .

STUD I ES ON T H E L EFT
B a ck i s su e s o f t h i s out s t a nd ing a cademic s o c ia l i s t
j o urna l , a de f in i t ive cont r ib u t o r t o t he deve lopment
of New L� £ t thought and ana ly s i s , a r e now ava i l a b l e
at d ra s t i ca l ly reduced pr i ce s . Or i g ina l ly p r i ce d
at $ l . j O p e r b a c k copy , t hey a r e now only THIRTY ­
F IVE CENTS for mo s t i s sue s '.' (Vo l . 2, nos . 1 &3 ;
Vo l . 3, nos . 2&4 ; Vo l . 4 , no . 3 ; Vo l . 6 no . 3 a r e
7 0 ¢ e a ch . ) A s e t o f 2 2 i s su e s (vo l . 2 no . 1 to
the la s t i s sue except Vo l 2 no 2 ) i s on ly $ 9 . 00 !

- - Vo l . 6 n o 2 S o c ia l i sm and t he New L e f t , b y Mar t in

S k l a r and Jame s We in s t e i � . 35¢
-- Vo l . 2 , n o 1 L e t t e r t o the New L e f t , b y C . Wr ight
Mi L l s , 7 0¢ . 'I
:
t'

Add i t iona l inf orma t ion on content s or sp e c i f i c

i s s ue s ava i la b le on r e �ue st . Order from GLOBE
DIST I�UTORS , Box 3 1 2 Cana l S t . Sta . , N .Y . C . 10013

j
RICHARD ::':'::�:::' le8der of SDS
He 11 nOlol intare.ted
'"

Pr....
... graduPt� $tudont 1n
sociology at Berkeley. Hi, i�ort8nt article,
"1110 SQchl1at hrty and the 'Nc... ' r.-a18untl",
appear. in the late.t SClENCE A�� SOCIETY .
JOHN Sl'RlIWN 15 ... history graduat� stud\lnt �t
M8dilon Ind i. 0 Kent Fello�.

CONNeCTlONS \
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