Re: [Marxism] SDS

[Jim Farmelant <farmelantj@xxxxxxxx>]

I sort of have the same qualms about this as
rrubinelli has. Is this a nostalgia trip or what?
Looking at their website, there seems to
be a lot of info there concerning the original
SDS and there is no doubt lots of lessons
to be learned by contemporary activists, both
positive and negative, from the experiences
of the 1960s SDS. On the other hand,
we are living in a very different time
from the 1960s. The original SDS came
into being at a time of unprecedented prosperity
and of great optimism and its growth was
fueled by both factors. Out time is one where
the US economy has been making a very
unspectacular recovery at a time of diminished
expectations.  That seems to me that the
tasks confronting a new SDS would
be rather different from the ones that
confronted its predecessor more than
forty years ago.

It is interesting to know that the original
SDS was a rebranding of the old
SLID (Student League for Industrial
Democracy), which had been around
since at least the 1930s. The organization
was rebranded when its original leaders
like Haber, Hayden et al. realized that
they had to pursue a more radical program
than the one that was embraced by their
parent organization, the social democratic
(and fiercely anticommunist) League for
Industrial Democracy. By 1966, SDS found
it necessary to break with its parent organization.
Perhaps the new SDS may find that it will
eventually have to rebrand itself too.


On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 09:57:40 -0500 Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> **** Please FORWARD WIDELY ****
>
> Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
> Post Office Box 7213
> Ann Arbor, MI 48107
> info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Contacts:
>   Pat Korte 860.912.3524
>   Thomas Good 347.524.5631
>   Paul Buhle 401.863.3994
>
> January 16, 2006      For Immediate Release
>
> PRESS RELEASE
>
>
> STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY CHAPTERS FORM NATIONAL
> ORGANIZATION
>
> New York, NY. Several chapters of Students for a Democratic Society
> (SDS)  announced today, Monday, January 16, 2006, their intent to
> form a
> national organization and hold the first SDS national convention
> since
> 1969. "It seemed appropriate to make this announcement today, on the
>
> observed Martin Luther King day", said SDS regional organizer Thomas
> Good.
> "We have an anti-war movement that is addressing the issue of
> stopping the
> bloodletting in Iraq but the civil rights issue remains
> unaddressed", he
> added. The national convention is scheduled for Summer 2006 and will
> be
> preceded by a series of regional conferences occurring on the
> Memorial Day
> weekend.
>
> The newly formed SDS national organization was the idea of a student
>
> anti-war activist who contacted other student and veteran
> organizers. Good
> joined the new SDS when Stonington High School (Connecticut) senior
> Pat
> Korte contacted him with the idea of linking nascent SDS chapters
> into a
> national structure.
>
> "Although I have been an active participant in the anti-war and
> student
> activist movement, I have become frustrated with the groups
> collective
> inability to unify enough people under a common goal/vision to
> address  the
> overall problems with our society. Historically, SDS was able to
> address
> many of the issues pertinent at the time through Tom Hayden's  Port
> Huron
> Statement. This document has stood the test of time, thus several
> fellow
> activists from across the country and myself decided to  form a
> national
> SDS movement, only to discover that chapters already  exist! Because
> of
> this we decided to hold a national conference", said Korte.
>
> At his request, members of Korte's informal network of student
> activists  from across the country began contacting Good and very
> quickly
> the informal  network was replaced by a national structure that now
> includes a website, discussion forum and mailing list, all of which
> are now
> based at  studentsforademocraticsociety.org.
>
> Korte, realizing that the original SDS suffered from not having alot
>
> of  veteran activists, WHO UNDERSTOOD THE IDEA OF STUDENT POWER,
> reached
> out to  some older activists, including several members of the 1960s
> era
> student organization, to help ground the project and provide
> logistical
> support.
>
> The first original SDSer to come on board was Alan Haber, president
> of SDS
> 1960-62. Today, Haber speaks of "re-membering SDS" rather than
> eulogizing
> it. Never giving up on the Dream, Haber is looking forward to the
> "the
> next  meeting of SDS". And the next meeting will be a national event
>
> linking any and all SDS chapters interested in taking part.
>
> Today chapters exist at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode
> Island,
> at the New School in New York City, at the University of Michigan
> and at
> Eastern Michigan University. In the western part of the US chapters
> that
> sprang up independently in Santa Ana, California and at Reigs
> University in
> Denver, Colorado have signed on to the national organization.
> Connecting
> these chapters and their organizers proved less difficult than
> Korte and
> Good initially thought. Technology was the key.
>
> "We should reconnect our networks. We should reassert the continuity
>
> of  the radical movements in American politics. The new technologies
>
> of  communication and independent media make this more possible than
> ever",
> said SDS founder Alan Haber. Korte and Good took this advice and ran
> with it.
>
> As the project coalesced, Good, a member of the Industrial Workers
> of the
> World (IWW) contacted labor historian Paul Buhle, co-editor of a
> graphic  history of the IWW ("Wobblies") and former SDSer from the
> Madison,
> Wisconsin, chapter. The timing was right on. Buhle, who teaches at
> Brown in
> Rhode Island, is working on a new project: a graphic (i.e. comic
> book)
> history of SDS from the perspective of the individual chapters.
> Working
> with artist Gary Dumm, Buhle looks to avoid the usual history of the
> SDS
> national office by focusing on the street activists and their local
> branches. Buhle is asking that members of the original SDS with
> stories to
> tell contact him via e-mail at
> pbuhle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> In addition to the book, Buhle has a personal interest in SDS.
> Describing
> himself for a recent article in Next Left Notes
> (www.nextleftnotes.net)
> he  noted: "Founder and publisher of RADICAL AMERICA, Paul Buhle was
> active
> in  Champaign-Urbana, Storrs and Madison SDS chapters, 1965-1969. He
>
> hasn't  been all that happy since, but he teaches at Brown." In the
> piece
> on NLN Buhle talks about the historical parallels between the 1960s
> and
> the  present noting that the US empire is over-extended, liberal
> Democrats
> are not the answer to vexing problems and the Port Huron Statement
> remains
> as vital today as it was in 1962 when Tom Hayden presented it to the
> third
> SDS national convention.
>
> "Today, students of all backgrounds can be shown the need to
> mobilize,
> to  help prevent the ongoing devastation of our world, to help
> empower the
> lowly  as students learn to empower themselves, and to set out a
> vision of
> a really  democratic society. There's the key. The Industrial
> Workers of
> the World had  it long before. Decentralized democracy, democratic
> decision-making at all  levels is the most radical idea ever hatched
> in
> North America and the only  one with real lasting appeal", said
> Buhle who
> has joined the new SDS.
>
> The new SDS plans to continue the independent radical tradition in
> America:
> political education and demonstrating, advocating and organizing for
>
> democracy  and justice, unions, civil liberties, peace and freedom.
> According to Korte the meetings this spring and summer will focus on
>
> building an infrastructure that facilitates these goals as the new
> SDS,
> like the old, is an organization of activists. Friends of peace and
> justice, those students who want a voice, a say in their own
> destiny,
> should visit www.studentsforademocraticsociety.org where regular
> updates
> will be posted and contact information is now available.
>
> SDS is an education and social action organization dedicated to
> increasing  democracy in all phases of our common life. It seeks to
> promote
> the active  participation of young people in the formation of a
> movement to
> build a society free from poverty, ignorance, war, exploitation,
> racism and
> sexism.
>
> -30-
>
>
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