You write that hardly anyone was able to predict the explosion of student activism of
the '60s. I did not predict it, but I believe I recognized its signifiance earlier than
anyone else, as far as I can determine. You will find the documentation in the chapter,
"Honorable Beaters of Children..." in my autobiography, Saying No To Power,
particularly pp. 373-374. Almost immediately after the San Francisco HUAC hearing in
1960, I wrote Bill Sennett, a veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade: "It is important
for your group to know that a new movement is under way that, I am absolutely
convinced, will have a major impact on American life in the years just ahead....This is
not a movement led by any traditional Left party, although these students obviously
have very advanced ideas in the major areas of social life."
Quoting my book: "A month later a pamphlet called Campus Rebels appeared, written
by Al Richmond, editor of the Communist People's World. He had interviewed me and
quoted me anonymously, thus:
"'An older radical, who is acquainted with student leaders, said this movement
might well spearhead a progressive democratic revival in American life, filling a
vacuum that he believes has been created by the abdication of labor leadership and the
ineffectiveness of existing radical groups.'"
William Mandel
John Campbell McMillian wrote:
> Hey All,
>
> I don't have time for a really long or cogent reply here, but I *do*
> think we're seeing a genuine resurgance in campus activism, especially
> around issues of corporate responsibility. Indeed, it's probably not
> too optimisic to label this latest upsurge a "movement." Here at
> Columbia, for example, students have launched campaigns against the
> sweathshop conditions under which university apparel is made, held
> globalization and world-bank teach-ins, protested the university's own
> labor policies toward clerical workers, launched a campaing for socially-
> responsible investing, and who knows what else. Graduate students are
> also beginnign to mobolize against corporate influence in higher
> education, and we may see a pitched drive for a grad student union
> before much longer. And just last week (on a Friday night, no less!)
> Ralph Nader spoke to an overflow crowd here, and hundreds couldn't even
> get into the auditorium! As you know, Nader's not always
> the world's liveliest speaker, and throughout much of his talk he sounded
> like a tired law professor. But students responded overwhelmingly to his
> anticorporate message, stomping, clapping, cheering, and giving him a
> standing ovation! Anticorporate protests have also taken place at the
> University of Michigan, the University Wisconsin, Johns Hopkins, Purdue,
> Wesleyan, the University of Iowa, the University of Kentucky, SUNY-Albany,
> Duke, Syracuse, Penn, Georgetown, and probably lots of other places I
> don't know about.
>
> One other, marginal point: Ted Morgan writes below that one of the
> obstacles to student activism these days is "the spread of consumerism."
> I'd argue that it's just the opposite - among many undergraduates,
> mindless consumerism has come under the sharpest of critiques. More and
> more, students are reacting against symbols of corporate or consumer
> culture, and taking an identifiably jaundiced attitude toward
> chain-stores that litter the city (most notably, Starbuck's, the Gap,
> and Barnes & Noble).
>
> All this is of interest to me because I've just been reading about the
> origins of the New Left. It seems that hardly anyone was able to predict
> the explosiong of student activism that took hold in the 1960's, but
> now looking back on this retrospectively, historians have capably found
> all kinds of things that presaged Sixties activism - the beats, Mad
> magazine, existentialism, critical sociology, protests against in loco
> parentis and HUAC, demographic shifts in the university, and so on. I
> know that our moderator would like to keep this list Sixties-based, but
> I'd love to hear what others on this list think about the current
> possibilities for an even broader-based movement.
>
> Best,
>
> John McMillian
>
> On Tue, 10 Oct 2000,
> Ted Morgan wrote:
>
> > Paula asked (a LONG time ago, message-wise):
> >
> > > In spite of the--very, very hopeful--activities the past year re WTO and re
> > > various ecological issues, in fact other than an occasional expressions of "Oh
> > > those dot.coms!" or "Hey, cool," very LITTLE political expression has come out
> > > of campuses, at least
> > > from what I've heard, recently. But I'm not in the academic world. What is
> > > the sense of you on this list who are, on student political consciousness or
> > > activity now?
> >
> > Overall, based on local campuses (about 6 in the Lehigh Valley, including my own
> > conservative Lehigh University), there's the usual smattering of activist folks
> > trying like hell to raise a little consciousness with relatively little impact on
> > the campuses. The difference from the prior two decades (with a few exceptions
> > --e.g. Gulf War), it seems, is that there are, in fact, some visible issues &
> > mobilizations OUT THERE going on which local student organizing can link with in
> > their audience's minds. It's just that there is a huge, and I do mean huge, set
> > of institutionalized, long-socialized attitudes & perceptions that undermine
> > this. Things like: (a) economic anxiety, fed for about 25 years; (b) the spread
> > of consumerism which has socialized people into an increasingly self-focused
> > perspective -i.e. liberation means I'll dress how I please; (c) the spread of a
> > market/sprawl society which has over 55 years reduced more and more the "places"
> > where people can bump into each other, talk about politics &local concerns as a
> > matter of conversation, etc. --i.e., the sense of place and community that can
> > give rise to imagining collective empowerment of the sort that existed in the
> > civil rights, black power, student, antiwar, womens' & ecology movements (etc.);
> > and (d) the particular media-culture 'mythologies' about the 60s --namely that
> > they were about a generation's experiences & attitudes and, by the way, they
> > failed.
> >
> > Good question, and a tough nut to crack.
> > Ted Morgan
> >
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