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Living the Movement: Liberation News Service, Montague Farm, and the New Left, 1967-1981

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Living the Movement: Liberation News Service, Montague Farm, and the New Left, 1967-1981 LIVING THE MOVEMENT: LIBERATION NEWS SERVICE, MONTAGUE FARM, AND THE NEW LEFT, 1967-1981 Blake Slonecker A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2009 Approved by Advisor: Peter G. Filene Reader: Robert Cantwell Reader: William H. Chafe Reader: Jacquelyn Dowd Hall Reader: Jerma A. Jackson © 2009 Blake Slonecker ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii Abstract BLAKE SLONECKER: Living the Movement: Liberation News Service, Montague Farm, and the New Left, 1967-1981 (Under the direction of Professor Peter G. Filene) This dissertation uses the Liberation News Service (LNS)—the Associated Press of New Left underground media—and Montague Farm—a commune created by former LNS staffers—as a lens through which to trace the evolution of the American New Left after 1968. The establishments of underground newspapers—often organized as work collectives—and communes were two of the most ubiquitous and emblematic gestures of the late 1960s and early 1970s. For this reason, LNS and Montague Farm serve as ideal subjects to reveal how institutions founded on the ideals of late-1960s activism adapted their politics to survive in the adverse political culture of the 1970s. By tracking these two groups, this dissertation grounds the events of the 1970s in the legacies of the 1960s. Along the way it explores the divergent aspirations of the communal counterculture, the evolution and demise of the New Left, and the quotidian challenges of living the Movement. Both groups drew from their political worldviews in order to shape their daily lives, creating new divisions of labor, new social arrangements, and new personal politics. With these trends in mind, this dissertation extends the chronological breadth of “the Sixties,” rethinks the relationship between political and cultural radicalism, and explores the relationship between diverse social movements. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that living the movement—through emphases on personal liberation and iii egalitarianism—became a central institutional survival strategy amid the demise of the New Left and the emergence of an adversarial national political culture. LNS accomplished this goal by continually revising its collective work structure; Montague Farm did so through communal living, antinuclear activism, and alternative energy organizing. This entwined institutional history suggests that the New Left’s endgame was significantly more drawn out and complicated than defeatist New Leftists and triumphalist conservatives would have us believe. Indeed, both LNS and Montague Farm maintained a broad vision of Movement activism through the dusk of the 1970s. iv To Andrea, for your love, support, and weekends. To Miriam, for listening to every word. v Acknowledgements Researching and writing this dissertation has been an invigorating two-year project and Peter Filene has coached me every step of the way. To begin, he introduced me to Famous Long Ago—my gateway to Liberation News Service and Montague Farm. To end, he read and re-read heaps of material over the final months, providing careful feedback even on short notice. In between, Peter held me to self-imposed deadlines, entrusted me with the care of his dog Annie, helped craft my often stuffy writing, and taught me how to teach. Working with and being advised by Peter has been an honor and pleasure from my first days in Chapel Hill. The History Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provided a collegial home and made many accommodations to help me finish this project. John Kasson took me on board as a research assistant and gave me many choice assignments—including a project on sailor suits—that provided welcome distractions from my own work. Fitz Brundage eased my way through department protocol and made repeated accommodations that helped me complete requirements in a timely fashion. The department also facilitated my completion of this project with a generous Mowry Dissertation Completion Fellowship for the 2008-2009 academic year. In sum, the faculty and graduate students of the History Department have supported me in every possible way, enabling me to work at a pace that suited my needs. I am forever grateful. vi My committee provided encouraging and helpful feedback at the defense, refraining from the inquisitorial challenges of some defenses in favor of thoughtful critiques and ideas for future revision. Bob Cantwell was always enthusiastic about my project—particularly the Montague Farm component—and provided a distinctive cultural studies reading of the dissertation. Jerma Jackson has fundamentally shaped my approach to American history in graduate seminars, comprehensive exam preparation, and multiple defenses. William Chafe influenced my interpretation of post-WWII social movements in his dynamic seminar on the topic, while providing a model of scholarship. Jacquelyn Hall deserves special appreciation for her careful readings of my prospectus during her dissertation design course. That the contours of the finished dissertation so closely resemble the proposed project is due in no small part to her recommendations. Michael Hunt likewise spurred my early work on the dissertation by providing incisive and encouraging readings of Chapter 1 during his PhD research course. My writing groups in both dissertation preparation courses—especially Catherine Connor, Hilary Green, Julia Osman, and Brian Turner—read my work much more often than I would normally recommend. But I am grateful for their time and marginalia. Don Reid commented on a paper I presented at our Department Research Colloquium and provided some key ideas and phraseology that shaped the dissertation’s conceptual framework. My writing group—affectionately dubbed the Fantastic Four—provided everything for which a dissertator could dream: faux deadlines, hope of completion, friendship, and—of course—critical readings of everything. Greg Kaliss brought the crew together and then finished his dissertation long before I wrote my own (the nerve!). Bethany Keenan provided three-hour blocks free from childcare duties, without which I vii can’t imagine ever finishing. Patrick O’Neil always caught the smattering of jokes that pepper these pages. He even laughed at them. My research on the farms would not have been possible without the generous—this word is not chosen lightly—assistance of Tom Fels. Within weeks of beginning my project, Tom forwarded me his bibliography of the farms, which saved me from hundreds of hours of research. Within minutes of first setting foot in Amherst, Tom met me and gave me a guided tour of the region. I had no idea exactly how far Tom had driven that morning, but when he later invited me to his home in Vermont I discovered that he had braved a tricky two-hour drive. Not only did Tom open his voluminous library and personal papers to me that day, but he bought me lunch. Many others also opened their homes and hearts to me as I drove around New England to conduct oral histories. Many others were understanding of the limits of travel and shared their memories with me by phone. I thank all of you for your time and hospitality. I hope that you will recognize yourselves in these pages. Beth Millwood of the Southern Oral History Program provided me with a huge boost of confidence and practical knowledge about how to conduct oral histories. Archivists and librarians at every turn have been helpful and friendly. The microfilm department at Davis Library in Chapel Hill generously loaned me a lovely olive green microfilm machine so that I could read the entire run of LNS packets in the comfort of my home. Thomas Whitehead at Temple University went to great lengths to facilitate my research: he pulled all of the LNS records at short notice; he gave me total access to the papers for both of my visits to Philadelphia; and he searched for specific materials in between visits. The entire staff at the Amherst College Archives and Special viii Collections provided friendly service. Peter Nelson, in particular, helped me track down documents and citation information both during and in between my visits. Rob Cox’s enthusiasm for my research at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, improved my psyche—to say nothing of my work—with each visit. Karen Kukil at Smith College’s Sophia Smith Collection and Roland Goodbody at the University of New Hampshire helped me streamline short, but productive research trips. * * * Andrea, you trusted me by moving across the country with me and I hope that these pages serve as a small token of my thanks. Every morning that you drove to work reaffirmed your commitment to me and to this project. Your faith often kept me believing that I could finish. It always motivated to actually finish. I hope that the occasional napkin-notes that you found in your lunchbox served likewise. Thank you for taking vacations to archives, for letting me sneak away to work on weekends and holidays, and for cooking more than your share of the meals. Te quiero. Miriam you have been within fifty feet of me for all of the research, writing, and revising of this dissertation. I can’t tell you how much more joyful you have made my work and my life. One week after your birth, we somehow got a draft of Chapter 1 to my writing group. And since then you have grown up right alongside these pages. You spent many hours in the Ergo carrier, while I read monographs and microfilm. You spent many hours on my lap while I typed. You took glorious two-and-a-half-hour naps, without which I never would have finished. And you never complained (though you tugged on my pant leg often enough). I hope that you will read this someday and have fond ix memories of all the love and support that you provided to help me finish.
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