DOCSLIB.ORG

LIBERATION June 1969 75 Cents

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
LIBERATION June 1969 75 Cents LIBERATION June 1969 75 cents Taking A Step Into America On "Anti-Communism": Staughton Lynd Facing Up T? The Repression: Rennie Davis An Exchange: Carl Davidson and Greg Calvert Farewell to Reform-Revisited: Charles Forcey The Movement at Work: Springfield, Mass.: Tom Bell An American Socialist Community?: William Appleman Williams A Guide To The Grand Jury: Cathy Boudin and Brian Glick Paul Booth on Labor/ Vernon Grizzard on Sex and Leadership Sid Lens on Nixon/ Paul Goodman (poetry)/ Dave Dellinger Editorial: Nison's Peace Plan .l!sident Nixon's " peace plan," presented with Madison I t is not only the rhetoric of Mr. Nixon, unfortunately, Avenue hoopla on May 14 as a " rea l breakthrough," was that remi nds us of Lyndon Johnson, but the plan itself. not only couched in the Lyndon Johnson rhetoric but Headlines the following morning left the impression that contained the usual gimmicks which have stamped all Nixon was offering to withdraw all American troops within American peace plans as hoaxes. If North Vietnam or the twe lve months. In fact. he did no such thing. He said that National Liberation Front were to accept it, it would mean if an agreement can be reached he would send home the not a complete settlement. but their liquidation and defeat. "majo r portions" of American forces during that time, Nixon, the premature J ohnsonite who wanted to se nd while the "remaining" troops would stop fighting and be an American army to Vietnam in 1954, not 1965, still regrouped in enclaves in South Vietnam These "remaining" bleats that we cannot "abandon" the millions of South soldiers would stay on until a second agreement could be Vietnamese who "placed their trust in us." If we did so it reached fo r a second mutual withdrawal. would "risk a massacre that would shock and di smay It takes no crystal ball to figure out the true obj ectives everyone in the world who values human li fe." Hitler could of Me ssrs. Nixon and Henry Kissinger. They would ship have made the sa me statement about Norway's Quisling home, sa y, 350,000 U.S. soldiers, leaving the " remaining" . and the thousands of other quislings throughout Europe. If 200,000 in their present military bases to act as political there is one decent person in South Vietnam who pl aced leve rage . exactly as Brezhnev has done in Czechoslovakia. his trust in the United States no one has yet uncovered Twelve months after a "settlement," with the scale of him. Should Americans, then, continue to die for crooks, fighting reduced, American casualties cut to a minimum, profiteers, and Hitler-l overs like General Ky , whom Nixon and the America n public lulled into apathy, Nixon would cannot "abandon"? find a hundred excuses for refusing to withdraw the Moreover what do we have in Vietnam now if not a remaini.ng military contingent. " massacre" that shocks and dismays the whole world? The He would, for instance , charge North Vietnam with Pentagon is bombing hundreds of thousands of people in failing to live up to its side of the bargain , or argue that "free fire " zones, where the order is to kill anything that the liberation troops are actually North Vietnamese in moves. It is burning down scores of villages, uprooting two disguise who should also be repatriated above the 17th to four million people and putting them into concentration parallel, or insist that the Laos civil war must be ended camps, burning people to death with napalm, spraying simultaneously, or something of that sort. Meanwhile the countless acres of land with defoliants, and putting it s chances of a free election or a true coalition government blessing on the arrest and torture of at leas t 20,000 would be on a par with the chances of Czech liberals to Vietnamese whose only crime is their desire for peace and function today with 75,000 Soviet troops on their soil. The neutralism. A report by a religious team on General Thieu's American troops would act as a back-up for a monumental tortures will soon be made public that will really shock the wave of repression by General Thieu, particularly in the world, assuming it can still be shocked by the war crimes so-called "contested" villages. of Washington and Saigon. This would not be the total military victory that 2 Liberation 10hnson and McNamara envisioned in 1965, but it would NLF that was doing more than 95 percent of the fighting. give Nixon the alternate victory of a Korean-type stale­ A t Manila, in October 1966, 10hnson had the liberals mate. A pro-American government, whether under Thieu or gaping again. This time he said the U.S . would withdraw its someone else, would be in power in Saigon, the United troops withjn six months. The joker was that it was six States would retain its military bases, and Southeast Asia months after North Vietnam withdrew its regiments, along would remain secure for American imperialism. The only with its "subversive forces," i.e. the "Viet Cong." In other obstacle would be the "Viet Cong" guerrillas, whom Nixon words six months after the "other side," including the hopes can be decimated to manageable proportions or who NLF, gave up the fight and repatriated themselves into would simply " disappear" as the guerrillas did in Malaya. I t is North Vietnam, the United States would begin to take out no accident that Cabot Lodge, the author of this disappear­ its forces. ance theory, is the American negotiator in Paris. Neither he On February 2, 1967 10hnson wrote a private letter to nor Nixon have changed their goal~ by as much as a Ho Chi Minh with still another offer, that he would end scintilla. Like Johnso n they are yielding to public pressures the bombing of the North if North Vietnam would stop its at home by providing candied phrases, but the essence of " infiltration." That's like exchanging Cadillacs for shoe their offer is still victory for the United States, defeat for laces. The United States would continue to keep 400,000 the "other side." or 500,000 men in South Vietnam and continue to supply It is well to recall that this was exactly the 10hnson its "ally," while North Vietnam would have to sever its ties technique. From December 1963 to April 1965 LBJ re­ with the NLF. Under such circumstances Lyndon was fused to consider negotiations of any kind because he wa s confident he could either win a military victory or reduce not harried by public outcry. He failed to respond to an the N LF to minor consequence. offer made through U Thant in December 1963. after the Nixon's May 14th " peace offer" is in the 10hnsonian fall of Diem, to end hostilities if the United States would tradition, and must be denounced for the same reasons. It recognize a "coalition neutralist government in Saigon." In is aimed not at achieving peace in Vietnam but peace in September 1964 he turned down U Thant's proposa l for the United States. Its purpose is to allay American hostility private meetings in Rangoon, Burma, on the excuse that an to the war by cutting down the scale of fighting and election campaign was in progress in the United States. casualties, while keeping the war going on a more favorable After the elections he turned down the idea aga in - through basis in Vietnam. poor Adlai Stevenson- and many months later we were told It won' t work, alas, anymore than LBJ's trickery work­ that the reason was Dean Rusk's "antennae" which told ed, if only because the " other side" too can read, and him that North Vietnam was not "serious." because a new generation of white and black youth in In April 1965, with all the academic clamor and the America will not be duped. The storm in the United States demonstrations of young people, 10hnson finally made h.i s will not blow over, because it is precisely against such 10hns Hopkins speech offering "unconditional discussions." hypocrisy and duplicity that it has been raging in the last The liberals, overawed as usual, cried "ah, at last," until few years. someone read the fine print which said that LBJ was S. Lens willing to discuss only with "governments" not wi th the On "Anti-Co••• munis••• " ];ose of us who are sharply critical of present tenden­ indisc riminate tolerance of all styles of participation in the cies in national SDS- that is, of both PLP and the " nation­ decision-making process. al collective"- are sometimes charged with anti-communism Some styles of politicking are objectionable in the move­ when we put these criticisms into words. This is a response men t, not because they are communist but because they to that charge. are undemocratic. Caucusing, for instance, tends to destroy No one, I think, wants to question the movement's trust and openness. It is hard to talk with someone in a historical commitment to non-exclusionism. Like so many he artfelt manner if you know he made up his mind in a elements of the movement in the early 1960's this concept caucus before the conversation began, or worse, if you only was defined in the contex t of work, rather than in the find this out when the conversation is over. I believe context of rhetorical correctness. As understood in SNCC, caucuses are inevitable and necessary in a large organiza­ non-exclusionism meant that if you did the work, no tion.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dave Dellinger's Political Legacy to Occupy Wall Street
    Dave Dellinger’s Political Legacy to Occupy Wall Street cristina scatamacchia Recently historians have shown a growing interest in a small group of Christian radical pacifists, who became conscientious objectors during World War II, op- posed the Cold War and participated in the civil rights movement as well as in the movement against the war in Vietnam (Tracy; Bennett; Mollin). These longtime nonviolent activists were a small but significant minority, because they kept po- litical dissent alive in the forties and fifties when liberal consensus prevailed, bridging the gap between the Old Left and the New Left. Dave Dellinger was one of these activists and, as a leader of the antiwar movement, he played a crucial role in its evolution. He continued to be politically active throughout the eighties and nineties when dissent was virtually non-existent in American society, until his death in 2004 at the age of eighty-eight. His lifelong commitment eased the transition to Occupy Wall Street and provided ongoing continuity among radical movements. This paper outlines and evaluates the influence that Dellinger exerted upon subsequent generations of protestors, from the New Left to Occupy Wall Street. In the latter case, it was an indirect influence because Dellinger died before the beginning of the movement in 2011 and many young activists did not know who he was, even though they pursued the same political goals and strategies. In fact Dellinger was an influential champion of twentieth-century radicalism and is still revered by older activists, who have created a website, as well as an Essay 139 Contest and an annual “David Dellinger Lecture on Nonviolence” to honor his memory and keep it alive (Official Dave Dellinger Website; “Announcing”).
    [Show full text]
  • Living Inside Our Hope Also by Staughton Lynd
    Living Inside Our Hope Also by Staughton Lynd Anti-Federalism in Dutchess County, New York: A Study of Democracy and Class Conflict in the Revolutionary Era The Other Side (with Tom Hayden) Class Conflict, Slavery, and the United States Constitution The Resistance (with Michael Ferber) Strategy and Program: Two Essays Toward a New American Socialism (with Gar Alperovitz) Intelkctual Origins of American Radicalism The Fight Against Shutdowns: Youngstown s Steel Mill Closings Solidarity Unionism: Rebuilding the Labor Movement from Below Labor Law for the Rank and Fikr; or, Building Solidarity Whik Staying Ckar of the loaw Edited by Staughton Lynd American Labor Radicalism: Testimonies and Interpretations Rank and Fik: Personal Histories f7y Working-Class Organizers (with Alice Lynd) Homeland: Oral Histories of Pakstine and Palestinians (with Alice Lynd and Sam Bahour) Nonvioknce in America: A Documentary History (with Alice Lynd) "We Are All Leaders": The Alternative Unionism of the Early 1930s Living Inside Our Hope A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement Staughton Lynd ILR PRESS An imprint of Cornell University Press Ithaca and London Copyright© 1997 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not he reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 1997 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 1997 Li&rary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publiration Data Lynd, Staughton. Living inside our hope : a steadfast radical's thoughts on rebuilding the movement I Staughton Lynd.
    [Show full text]
  • The Labor Law Vision of Archibald Cox*
    Government Without Rights: The Labor Law Vision of Archibald Cox* Staughton Lyndt The Wagner Act' may have brought American workers out of the industrial state of nature,2 but it did so by imposing a most ambiguous social contract. The right to strike is expressly conferred on workers by statute3 but it is routinely surrendered in collective bargaining negotia- tions.4 Management is required to bargain with unions in good faith5 yet somehow it remains free to shut down a plant and thus discharge its entire workforce without giving advance notice, without consulting ei- ther its own workers or the public, and without being obliged to pro- vide just cause for its action.6 The ambiguous consequences of the Wagner Act reflect the dual * This paper was prepared for delivery at the Tenth Annual Meeting of the American Society for Legal History, Philadelphia, October 25, 1980. t Staughton Lynd received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1951, his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1960 and 1962, and his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1976. He is currently employed by Northeast Ohio Legal Services, where he served as lead attorney in efforts to reopen the shutdown steel mills of Youngstown, Ohio. His publications include RANK AND FILE: PERSONAL HISTORIES BY WORKING-CLASS OR- GANIZERS, edited with Alice Lynd (2d rev. ed. 1981) and LABOR LAW FOR THE RANK AND FILER (2d rev. ed. 1981). 1. 29 U.S.C. §§ 151-169 (1976). 2. The generally accepted proposition that the Wagner Act itself was responsible for labor's success in the 1930's is subject to question.
    [Show full text]
  • Labor Law for the Rank&Filer: Building Solidarity While Staying Clear of the Law
    Labor Law for the Rank&Filer: Building Solidarity While Staying Clear of the laW By staughton lynd&daniel gross PM PRESS Labor Law for the Rank Filer: Building Solidarity While Staying Clear of& the laW By Staughton Lynd & Daniel Gross Copyright © 2008 Staughton Lynd & Daniel Gross This edition copyright © 2008 PM Press All Rights Reserved Designed by Courtney Utt Special thanks to Alice Lynd Published by: PM Press, PO Box 23912, Oakland, CA 94623 www.pmpress.org ISBN: 978-1-60486-033-7 Library Of Congress Control Number: 2008931841 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the USA on recycled paper. TABLE of CONTENTS Acknowledgments ................................................... 005 chapter 1 ................................................................007 On Being Your Own Lawyer chapter 2 ...............................................................015 Where Do Workers’ Rights Come From? chapter 3................................................................023 The Basic Labor Laws chapter 4 ...............................................................035 A Rank and Filer’s Bill of Rights The Right to Act Together The Right to Speak and Leaflet The Right to Grieve and Briefly to Stop Work The Right Not to Cross a Picket Line The Right to Refuse Unsafe Work The Right to Strike The Right to Be Represented The Right to Fair Representation The Right to Equal Treatment The Right Not to Be Sexually Harassed The Right to Be Free from Threats, Interrogation, Promises and Spying, and Not to Be Retaliated Against The Right to Be Radical chapter
    [Show full text]
  • Finding Aid to the Historymakers ® Video Oral History with Vincent Harding
    Finding Aid to The HistoryMakers ® Video Oral History with Vincent Harding Overview of the Collection Repository: The HistoryMakers®1900 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60616 [email protected] www.thehistorymakers.com Creator: Harding, Vincent Title: The HistoryMakers® Video Oral History Interview with Vincent Harding, Dates: April 21, 2006 Bulk Dates: 2006 Physical 5 Betacame SP videocasettes (2:20:58). Description: Abstract: Civil rights activist and theologian Vincent Harding (1931 - 2014 ) was Professor of Religion and Social Transformation at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. A close associate and speechwriter for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Harding was the first director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and was co-founder and chair of the Veterans of Hope Project. Harding was interviewed by The HistoryMakers® on April 21, 2006, in Denver, Colorado. This collection is comprised of the original video footage of the interview. Identification: A2006_082 Language: The interview and records are in English. Biographical Note by The HistoryMakers® Theologian, author, and civil rights activist Vincent Gordon Harding was born on July 25, 1931, in New York City. Harding’s mother grew up in Barbados before coming to New York City. As a child, Harding developed a strong relationship with the church as a member of the Victory Tabernacle Seventh Day Christian Church in Harlem. As a student, Harding was interested in journalism. In 1948, he received his diploma from Morris High School in the Bronx and entered the City College of New York, where he became the first African American editor of the college’s newspaper.
    [Show full text]
  • A. J. Muste and Ways to Peace 95
    a. j. muste and ways to peace jo ann robinson Time magazine, with its penchant for fastening indeli­ ble labels upon historical When the typical reformer or revolutionist phenomena, made its contri­ proclaims the new order, he goes on to urge bution to the peace move­ men to organize, agitate, get out the vote, fight. Jesus also proclaimed The Kingdom of ment in 1939 when it laid God [i.e., the revolution] is at hand; but im­ upon A. J. Muste the mantle mediately added in true prophetic fashion, of "the Number One U.S. Repent. That is to say, if we are to have a Pacifist."1 Among many non­ new world, we must have new men; if you violent activists of today want a revolution, you must be revolution­ ized. A world of peace will not be achieved Muste's right to that title is by men who in their own souls are torn with still accepted. Whatever mod­ strife and eagerness to assert themselves. In ifications the designation may the degree that the anti-war or pacifist move­ undergo when placed in his­ ment is composed of individuals who have torical perspective, Muste's not themselves, to use Aldous Huxley's phrase, achieved detachment, who have not role as a leading organizer of undergone an inner revolution, it too will pacifist efforts, from the late experience the same failure to achieve self- Thirties to his death in 1967, discipline, integrity, true fellowship among is hard to ignore. Key organi­ its own members which has afflicted other zations—the Fellowship of movements for social change.
    [Show full text]
  • John L. Lewis and His Critics: Some Forgotten Labor History That Still Matters Today
    Class, Race and Corporate Power Volume 5 Issue 2 U.S. Labor and Social Justice Article 3 2017 John L. Lewis and His Critics: Some Forgotten Labor History That Still Matters Today Staughton Lynd [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower Part of the Labor History Commons Recommended Citation Lynd, Staughton (2017) "John L. Lewis and His Critics: Some Forgotten Labor History That Still Matters Today," Class, Race and Corporate Power: Vol. 5 : Iss. 2 , Article 3. DOI: 10.25148/CRCP.5.2.006507 Available at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower/vol5/iss2/3 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts, Sciences & Education at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Class, Race and Corporate Power by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. John L. Lewis and His Critics: Some Forgotten Labor History That Still Matters Today Abstract The purpose of this essay is to propose a new answer to the question of "what happened to the Congress of Industrial Organizations?" Lynd argues the CIO became what its creator, United Mine Workers (UMW) president John L. Lewis, intended it to be. This approach is juxtaposed with the approach taken by A.J. Muste, who helped to lead the cotton textile strike of 1919 to victory, then founded the Brookwood Labor School—probably the most radical and effective school for workers in American history. Keywords Social Justice, Social Justice Unionism, CIO Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
    [Show full text]
  • Radical Pacifism and the Black Freedom Movement
    Radical Pacifism and the Black Freedom Movement: An Analysis of Liberation Magazine, 1956 - 1965 by Tamara Fleming A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Joint Master’s Program in History University of Winnipeg / University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba Copyright © 2010 by Tamara Fleming Abstract This study explores radical pacifists’ intellectual engagement with the black freedom movement by examining the New York-based magazine Liberation between 1956 and 1965. It argues that two priorities shaped Liberation’s responses to the movement: the concern to promote the philosophy and practice of nonviolent direct action, and the concern to advocate radical social change in the United States. Until 1965 Liberation promoted the civil rights movement as a potential catalyst for the nonviolent reconstruction of U.S. democracy. Liberation became a forum for exploring the common ground as well as the tensions between radical pacifist priorities and those of various black freedom activists. The tensions are particularly apparent in Liberation’s reflections on the challenges of linking peace activism with the freedom struggle in the early 1960s, and in its 1964-65 debate over civil rights leaders’ strategy of coalition with the Democratic Party in the context of the escalating war in Vietnam. ii Acknowledgments I have been very fortunate to receive significant support from a variety of sources throughout the process of completing this project. I would like to thank the Government of Manitoba for the Manitoba Graduate Scholarship that provided me with the time and means to undertake graduate studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Swarthmore College Peace Collection Project
    Recordings at Risk Sample Proposal (Second Call) Applicant: Swarthmore College Peace Collection Project: Debating the Vietnam War: Film and Audio Recordings from the 1960s and 1970s Portions of this successful proposal have been provided for the benefit of future Recordings at Risk applicants. Members of CLIR’s independent review panel were particularly impressed by these aspects of the proposal: ● The application has a very thorough technical approach and digital preservation plan which cover storage of multiple copies, data integrity (fixity) checks, format migration, and metadata creation. ● The applicant has put a lot of effort into providing wide access to the digital files (Internet Archive, DPLA, MARC records in College’s publicly available catalog). Note: Sections of sample proposals have been redacted if sensitive information has been identified (e.g., staff salaries). Please direct any questions to program staff at [email protected]. ​ ​ SwarthmoreCollegePeaceCollection 1/13 User: Section 1. Project Summary Institution/Organization Swarthmore College Peace Collection Project Title Debating the Vietnam War: Film and Audio Recordings from the 1960s and 1970s Project summary This project will digitize 144 open reel-to-reel, magnet tapes and 52 motion picture films from speeches, conferences, films and other programs which included public figures who spoke out to end the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. The metadata records in the Peace Collection, for these recordings will be extended to meet current standards. These recordings, which are unique, will be made available to the general public, via the Internet Archives and the Peace Collection web site. The voices and images of Vietnam Veterans, anti-war activists, business leaders, religious leaders, civil rights leaders, women peace activists, entertainers, U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • RANK and FILE Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers
    Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers RANK AND FILE Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers Edited by Alice and Staughton Lynd Beacon Press Boston Copyright© 1973 by Alice and Staughton Lynd How I Became Part of the Labor Movement by John W. Anderson Copyright © 1973 by John W. Anderson Beacon Press books are published under the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Association Published simultaneously in Canada by Saunders of Toronto, Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Lynd, Alice. Rank and file. I. Labor and laboring classes-United States- 1914- -Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Trade- unions-United States-Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Lynd, Staughton, joint author. II. Title. HD8072.L883 331.88'092'2 [BJ 73-6247 ISBN 0-8070-0508-8 The editors gratefully acknowledge permission to quote passages from The Company and the Union, by William Serrin,© 1970, 1971, 1972 by William Serrin, by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Table of Contents Introduction CHRISTINE ELLIS, People Who Cannot Be Bought 9 JOHN w. ANDERSON. How I Became Part of the Labor Movement 35 STELLA NOWICKI, Back of the Yards 67 GEORGE PATTERSON, JESSE REESE AND JOHN SARGENT, Your Dog Don't Bark No More 89 SYLVIA wooDs. You Have to Fight for Freedom 111 MARIO MANZARDO. Liberi Cuori [Liberated Hearts] 131 BURR MCCLOSKEY, I Appeal the Ruling of the Chair 149 NICK MIGAS. How the International Took Over 163 STAN WEIR. The Informal Work Group 177 GEORGE SULLIVAN, Working for Survival 201 KEN TUCKER.
    [Show full text]
  • Liberal Mccartyism and the Origins of Critical Race Theory Critical Race Theory Speaker Series - CRT 20: Honoring Our Past, Charting Our Future
    Alabama Law Scholarly Commons Articles Faculty Scholarship 2008 Liberal McCartyism and the Origins of Critical Race Theory Critical Race Theory Speaker Series - CRT 20: Honoring Our Past, Charting Our Future Richard Delgado University of Alabama - School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/fac_articles Recommended Citation Richard Delgado, Liberal McCartyism and the Origins of Critical Race Theory Critical Race Theory Speaker Series - CRT 20: Honoring Our Past, Charting Our Future, 94 Iowa L. Rev. 1505 (2008). Available at: https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/fac_articles/373 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Alabama Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles by an authorized administrator of Alabama Law Scholarly Commons. Liberal McCarthyism and the Origins of Critical Race Theory Richard Delgado* I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1506 II. CRITICAL RACE THEORY: THREE STORIES OF ORIGIN .......................... 1510 A. THE H ARVARD STORY ...................................................................1511 B. THE BERKELEY STORY ...................................................................1513 C. THE LOS ANGELESS RY ..............................................................1513 D. WHO FOUNDEDCRITICAL RACE THEoRY? ....................................... 1514 III. LIBERAL MCCARTHYISM AND THE FATES OF FOUR PROFESSORS ........... 1515
    [Show full text]
  • A Clear and Present Concern: the Radical “New History” of Howard Zinn
    A Clear and Present Concern: The Radical “New History” of Howard Zinn by Ron Hughes B.A., University of the Fraser Valley, 2008 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of History Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Ron Hughes 2014 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2014 Approval Name: Ron Hughes Degree: Master of Arts Title: A Clear and Present Concern: The Radical “New History” of Howard Zinn Examining Committee: Chair: Roxanne Panchasi Associate Professor, History Mark Leier Senior Supervisor Professor Allen Seager Supervisor Associate Professor Stephen Collis External Examiner Professor Department of English Simon Fraser University Date Defended/Approved: December 1, 2014 ii Partial Copyright Licence iii Abstract Howard Zinn, an academic, popular, and radical historian, political commentator, and author of the bestselling A People’s History of the United States, has been heavily criticized by those who claim that his history is distorted by his political agenda and thus lacks “objectivity” and “balance.” This study reveals that there is considerable justification for such claims, but also that the same criticisms can be applied with equal justice to the work of some of Zinn’s harshest critics. Zinn argued that genuine historical objectivity is neither possible nor desirable, and wrote history with an unabashedly partisan and “present-minded” approach. On the “objectivity question,” which has long been debated among academic historians, Zinn emulated the “new historians” of the early twentieth century. As a radical historian, he owed much to Karl Marx, but his thought is “Marxian” rather than “Marxist.” As a popular historian, he used literary sources and unapologetic moral and emotional appeals to further his radical agenda.
    [Show full text]