No.5 IN A SERIES OF OCCASIONAL PAPERS

ON THE NATURE OF .· COMMUNISM AND RELATIONS WITH COMMUNISTS

IRVING HOWE

112 EAST 19th STREET • NEW YORK, N. Y. 10003 ~t:. L)l,) ON THE NA URE OF COMMUNISM AND RE . ONS WITH COMMUNISTS By IRVING HOWE

The following article was written for a special purpose. It wa.r comMis.ri.IYC •y tJu League for Industrial Democracy aJ part of a group of writings to be submitted t• a .r~cial c01tj1rence of Stu­ dents for a .Democratic Society held dur_ing Christmas week 1965. The ~~r i.J .,. eff•rt to explain to younger student radicals the attitude toward Communism held by persons like myself on the democratic left. When the LID proposed to rel.Jrint this paper for wider circulation, I . thought at first of rewriting it, so that there would be no evidence of the special occa.rion for which it was produced. But on second thought, I have left the paper as it was written, so that it will retail its character and, perhaps, interest as a contribution to the discussion between generations. - I. H.

I shall attempt something here that may be country has been demagogically exploited for re­ in1modest and impractical-to suggest, in com­ actionary ends. pressed form, the views held by persons like my­ In any case, we would favor various steps to­ self, those who call themselves democratic social­ ward the demilitarization of central Europe; to­ ists, on a topic of enormous complexity. For the wards arrangements with China in behalf of stab­ immediate purpos·es of provoking a discussion, ility in the Far East; and towards all sorts of these notes may, however, be of some use. While trade and cultural arrangements. That such steps my friends and colleag~es are likely to agree with would eradicate the struggle between th~ major the general drift of these remarks, the detailed power blocs-a struggle that seems virtually in­ formulations are my responsibility alone. herent in the nature of the competing systems­ I. International Relations, the UN, etc. seems unlikely. Nevertheles, anything which les­ This, of all the problems attached to Commun­ sens the dangers of war and allows liberal tend­ ism, is programmatically the simplest. We believe encies in both camps to flourish, is to be wel­ it is foolish to try to keep Red China out of the comed. A "breathing spell'~ in the Cold War, even UN and equally foolish to refuse to recognize the a moderation of its ferocity, can only help the political reality of Communist domination of main­ more creative elements within both worlds, and land China. Consequently, for all the familiar rea­ make it mQre difficult for both Communist and sons, we favor the admission of Red China to the capitalist powers to use the Cold War ideology UN and recognition of Red China by the U.S. as a rationale for repressive measures at home. Similarly, we favor various steps toward a les­ II. Notes Toward an Analysis of Communism. sening of Cold War tensions. We reject the idea 1. There no longer exists a monolithic Com­ that the Cold War is due to some sort of misun­ munist bloc. That major conflicts of strategy and derstanding, a "breakdown in communications," interest have arisen among the Communist pow­ or that it is the offspring of a machiavellian plot ers, just as they previously arose among the by the CIA and similar agencies which deliber­ capitalist powers, indicates that the Communist ately create "phantoms" to obsess people with countries have succeeded in solving the problems "anti-Communism." We believe that Communism of national interest and nationalism no better is an urgent problem in the world today; that no than their rivals. But if there is no longer a mono­ one pretending to political clarity or involvement lithic political structure operating on a world can fail to take an unambiguous attitude toward scale, tQ which all the national branches of the it; and that it presents one with fundamental Communist movement are subservient in the moral chokes-though we also believe that the sense that they were from about the late 1920's kind of anti-Communist climate dominating this until about the middle 1950's, it is both possible

2 League for Industrial Democracy and useful to specify certain characteristics of the traditional bourgeois or democratic revolu­ Communist socjety-characteristics all the Com­ tion do not exist. munist countries share, from the relatively "lib­ What determines whether a society can be eral" Yugoslav regime to even the far more re­ looked upon as socialist is, in our view, not the pressive Chinese regime. question of formal property ownership, that is, What are these characteristics'? not whether property is owned by individuals, First, the existence of a total party-state, that corporations or the state. A certain amount of is to say, a society in which a single ruling party collective ownership (though this need not and tends to merge with and control the state ap­ probably should not be entirely equated with paratus, while preventing any opposition parties state ownership) may be a necessary condition from functioning. A virtual identity of interests for a socialist society. But it is not-and this seems crucial-a sufficient condition. For the is asserted between the "vanguard" party and question must always arise: the state may in­ society as a whole. (Consensus politics, with a deed own the property, but who, sot!» speak, owns vengeance.) the state? And there is no evidence whatever In China there is supposed to be a.n almost that in any of the countries ruled by a one-party complete harmony of opinion and interest be­ Communist dictatorship the workers have any tween rulers and ruled. (Wherever a government genuine possibility of controlling the state, that insists upon asserting such an extreme "har­ is to say, that they have any genuine possibility Inony,'' it can be assumed that in reality there of overriding, checking, resisting, or anulling the 2re very deep conflicts of interest it wishes to decisions of the Communist party leadership, let paper over.) In Yugoslavia the party is ready to alone choosing another leadership. Consequently allow a certain autonomy to various social insti­ we reject, not merely as a matter of sociological tutions, ranging from an amorphous "socialist definition, but as a matter of principle-a prin­ front" to the workers' councils, but only on con­ ciple fundamental to the whole socialist outlook dition that the party, or leadership of the party, -the notion that there is anything about the retain ultimate authority and that no compet­ mere existence of nationalized property which ing political institutions be allowed to appear. warrants that it be described as socialist. It is this assumption of identity between a This point becomes especially important in ruling, self-perpetuating "vanguard" and society view of the fact that there now have appeared as a whole which marks an essential character­ throughout the world societies in which large istic of the totalitarian outlook. This outlook is sections of the economy are state-owned and realized, with a ruthless logic, in the further as­ operated, but which cannot by any stretch of the sumption that all rival parties-be they of the imagination be described as free or progres-sive past, present or future-must be outlawed on or socialist. The aim of democratic socialism is the ground that they represent interests hostile not a mere transformation in the forms of prop­ to "socialism." erty, that is, from private to collective modes Second, the regimes established under the vari­ of ownership. In the classical Marxist literature ous forms of Communist dictatorship are hos­ -that is, the literature of the early Marxists­ tile both to private property in its traditional there is a considerable coolness toward the idea capitalist forms and to genuine socialist values of mere nationalization or state ownership. (Cf, and relationships. Wherever the Communist Engels' writings on Britain.) What you will find, movement has achieved power, it has destroyed instead, is an insistence upon certain social norms private property in industry, and in most coun­ and values _as the essential determining char­ tries, agriculture. At the same time, it has no­ acteristic of socialism. For it becomes more and where permitted a true development of authen­ more clear that there is... in all modern industrial­ tic-or, if you wish, "participatory"--democracy ized economy a tendency toward statification, among the people below. In a society where the centralized economic control, and even a degree basic means of production are nationalized-that of national economic planning. Where the crucial is, are owned and/or controlled by the state­ issue then arises is in the question of who will the only way in which it is possible for clashing control this process and what social-mora! values social groups freely to express themselves is it will embody. through the mechanisms of political democracy. A third characteristic of Communism as a dis­ In the society we designate as Communist, how­ tinctive form of society is that it finds its ideo­ ever, the elementary rights won in and through logical and moral justification, as well as its

Irving Howe 3 image (authentic and/or distorted) of the future, Communist society, though not of course to them in a body of doctrine it loosely designates as alone. Leninism. There may be, and now are, severe 2. During the past two decades most Western divergences among the Communist countries and liberals and socialists have tried to grapple with parties as to the proper interpretation of texts, the problem of Russian society by constructirtg yet there remains a common historical source a conceptual model of a unique phenomenon called lnd a common proclaimed purpose among the totalitarianism. Naturally, the best political an­ rarious Communist tendencies. alysts focused on what seemed unprecedented in It would not be difficult, of course, to show Russian and German totalitarianism: the role of that certain non-Communist countries share in terror as an integral element of this new so­ one of these characteristics of Communism-ior ciety ; the power of ideology as both the mental example, that single-party dictatorships and even equivalent of terror and a means for dominating totalitarian socities have existed which we sure­ the total life of man; the extreme atomization ly do not designate as Communist. But it is not of social life, so that classes tend to become pul­ any single one of the three charact.eristics I have verized into a passive and anonymous mass; the listed which is decisive, or even all three of them ·~onsolidation of a ruling elite which appropriates in sequence; it is the three of them in a complex to itself not merely a variety of goods or a mono­ unity, the exact nature of which differs from poly of power but the very possession of the state country to country. For example: Nazism and and of its citizens. Stalinism had many similarities in political Now, if we take as typical of this approach m·ethod ; they shared many aspects of totalita­ Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism and rian terrorism ; but in respect to the second and Orwell's 1984, we see that both books, whatever third characteristics I have listed above-prop­ their faults and "exaggerations," did us an im­ erty forms and ideology-they were sharply dif­ mense moral and intellectual service by insisting ferent. Both were totalitarian societies; but if that totalitarianism was not merely an exten­ one wanted to refine one's description somewhat sion of monopoly capitalism, Russian expansion­ further, it would be neces·sary to say what kind ism, Leninist dictatorship, man's inherent sin­ of totalitarian societies they w.ere. Another ex­ fulness, or anything else. To one or another ex­ ample: Mussolini's Italy and post-Stalin Russia tent, such elements were present in the totali­ can usefully be· described as single-party dicta­ tarian regimes ; but what made them so power­ torships dominating large areas of social life yet ful and frightening was ·their break with old not, as a rule, employing openly terroristic meth­ traditions, be they· good or bad traditions: pre­ ods to enforce their domination. But in respect cisely, that is, the extent to which they embo­ to property forms and ideology, the two societies died whatever is distinctively new in the totali­ are significantly different. tarian ethos. That no actual society behaved For our present purpose, however, the essen­ quite like the one Arendt described or Orwell tial point is this: When a modern state exerts imagmed is hardly a cogent criticism of their total control over the economy, political power books, for the value of a model depends partly tends to become indistinguishable from social on its not pretending to take into account fluc­ and economic power. If, as in Russia or Ohina, tuations of local events. the party has a monopoly of political power, it If I now suggest that a possible conclusion also tends to have a monopoly of social and eco­ from the recent Russian changes is that this nomic power. Democracy then becomes not "a model of totalitarianism-let us agree to call it luxury" which may be gradually parcelled out the political model-is no longer sufficient, I do decades after the totalitarian party has seized not mean to suggest that it has lost its useful­ power. It is a sine qua non for any socialist or ness. The implicit assumption of Arendt, Orwell, ''progressive" development, and its absence signi­ and other such writers is that totalitarianism is fies that the people have been rendered helpless. a society which has achieved a kind of stasis, Hegel wrote that "the lower classes have been even · if one of systematized chaos; a society that left more or less unorganized. And yet it is of has established an equilibrium between the flow the utmost importance that they should be or­ of terror that is essential to its existence and ganized, for only in this way can they become the energies that make possible the ·permanence powerful. Without organization they are nothing of this terror. In this respect, however, Orwell but a heap, an aggregate of atoms." This bril­ may have been shrewder than Arendt, since he lia~nt observation applies exactly to all forms of anticipated a gradual slackening of- both ideo-

League for Industrial Democracy logical and social hysteria in the totalitarian un­ sian society and has helped us maintain a moral future, a diminution of that ferocious intensity response; but now we should recognize that there which has until now characterized all of totali­ have been factors at work in molding Russian so­ tarian society and which Arendt so dramatically ciety which cannot be accounted for in terms of seized upon as a dominant factor of its existence. this model and which are not peculiar to totalita­ But while Orwell anticipated a ·gradual decline rianism. Most notably, of course, there has been from fanaticism into torpor, he did not suppose the rapid process of industrialization which does that the decline might affect the continued em­ not ins·ure any progress or Uberalization, as cer­ ployment of active terror. He did not consider tain new apologists for Communism claim, but that the energies making for terror might grad­ which does make possible new social and political ually run down and that, partly because of the forms within totalitarianism. consequences of forced industrialization, the prac­ 3. The essential paradigm for the social pheno­ tice of terror ·might be replaced by a policy of Inenon that we call Communism was set up in terror-in-reserve. Russia during the 1920's when there occurred a By this last phrase I mean the following: A counter-revolution that for purposes of conven­ citizen of a Communist country, even when he no ience we would call Stalinism. longer need fear mass arbitrary arrests such as During the Leninist period-roughly from 1919 occurred under Stalin, knows that if he goes be­ to 1923-the Communist movement attracted not yond a certain point of disaffection or expresses only the more radical wing of the European work­ public hostility to the regime, he faces the pros­ ing class but also some of the most brilliant in­ pect of imprisonment or pu-nitive action and that tellectuals in Europe, a number of them figures of there are then no sanctioned agencies for legal heroic cast and character. It was during this brief defense or popular protest in his behalf. Injus­ historical movement that Communism tQOk on a tices also occur, of course, in democratic coun­ genuinely tragic tone: these were the years when tries, but _in these co\lllltries there are built into Eugene Levine, leader of the defeated soviet re- · the structure of the society various possibilities public of Munich, could say to his judges, "I have· for defense and protest, as well as limiti-ng checks known for a long time that we Communists are upon the power of the state. In totalitarian or dead men on leave," and Raymond Lefevre, leader authoritarian countries, these enormously val­ of the French radical left, could chastise Renau­ uable institutions and rights are not present. del, spokesman for the moderate Socialists, "You Similarly, the political model advanced by such are too .healthy, Renaudel, to understand France writers did not adequately prepare us for the pos­ in her sickness." sibility of the rise, not of a new bourgeoisie (for Many of the leaders and most of the followers if the term is used w-ith any exactness, there is in the young Communist parties were devoted and no bourgeosie in Russia), but of habits of life selfless socialists. Whatever their mistakes or that we generally associate with the bourgeoisie. later corruptions, many of these men were in­ Terror, since it cannot safely be confined to a fused with a profound idealism; in Kyo, the hero chosen sector of the population, must frighten of Malraux's Man's Fate, and Pietro Spina, the the rulers too, and more, it must weary them. In hero of Silone's Bread and Wine, the early Com­ Khrushchev and his successors we see representa­ munist militant was later to achieve a kind of tives of those members of the ruling stratum tragic apotheosis. These were men who cut them­ who, just because they are the products and sur­ selves off from the world in the hope they could vivors of Stalinism, want to relax and savor their thereby save it, who had abandoned personal de­ privileges: they express a political equivalent to sire and personal life fo what they believed was the psychology of the nouveau· riehe. The big the collective anticipation of the future of hu­ question is whether a touch of relaxation will manity. That such a surrender necessarily in­ stimulate an appetite for a great deal more of volved a dangerous and self-defeating fanaticism freedom, and whether the immediate social im­ is, in retrospect, hardly debatable; but for a time pulses of the Russ-ian rulers toward their own they iived as selfless men who felt that it was brand of "moderation" will not come into a major their fate to confront the most decisive moment clash with their basic uolitical interests, which 1n human history, a moment that demanded and require above all else the continued domination of deserVed the fullest commitment. the party. Merely to compare such men with the mediocre The "political" model of totalitarianism gave time-servers who have since occupied the key •1s an extremely acute sense of the quality of Rus- posts of the Communist parties is to see how vast

Irving Howe the historical ch:..nge has been. It is neither easy ism-the task of industrialization and moderniza­ nor rewarding to fix a precise date at which the tion. This it has done by imposing a dictatorship Russian revolutionary dictatorship--Lenin him­ which makes possible the exploitation of peasants self, disturbed by its malformations, called if "a and workers in a way that cannot be achieved in degenerated workers state"-was transformed a democratic society. into the totalitarianism of Stalin. This process of It had been Trotsky's notion that in those un­ gradual counter-revolution began during or short­ derdeveloped countries where the bourgeoisie, ly after the Russian Revolution itself, in the in­ such as it was, could not complete the process of ner life and structure of the Leninist regime; the bourgeois revolution (that is, industrializa­ came to its decisive moment in the mid-twenties; tion and modernization), that task would fall to and reached final expression in the mid-thirties, the working class. But as it turned out historic­ with the mass deportation of the peasants, the a11y-and this is especially true for China-the Moscow trials, and the blood purges. It was a working class in these countries, for a whole va­ counter-revolution that established a new kind of riety of reasons, some of which have to do with ruling class, one that neither owned nor could own the previous failure of socialist movements in property but instead controlled the state in whose Western Europe, was not able to undertake this legal custody property resided. Having consoli­ task. Consequently, just as in Western Europe dated its power~ this new ruling class proceeded Stalinism was the movement which came after­ to exploit the opportunities for centralized eco­ wards-that is, the movement which is the con­ nomic planning that are peculiar to a nationalized sequence of defeat and disorientation in the Eu­ economy; it undertook a "primitive accumulation" ropean working class during the 1920's and 30's of capital so cruel and bloody as to make the ear­ -so in the underdeveloped countries Commun­ lier accumulation of bourgeois society seem, by ism is the movement which arises at the point comparison, a model of humaneness. The 111ew so­ were both traditional and democratic forces, weak ciety that crept into existence in Russia during bourgeoisie and nascent working class, prove or the late twenties and early thirties was neither seem to be historically impotent. The Commun­ capitalist nor socialist, but an enemy of both. ist movement then comes as a force which will Resting upon the special interests of the technical ruthlessly prod history forward-but the paradox intelligentsia, the political bureaucrats, the fac­ is that in prodding history forward, that is, in tory managers, the military officials, and above providing industrialization, it also, because of its all, the party functionaries--elite categories easier methods and norms, drives history backwards. to distinguish in analysis than to sort out in ac­ It imposes a bureaucratic totalitarian machine tuality-Stalinism developed an ethos, a system which destroys whatever fragment or limited of rule, and a style of life uniquely its own. possibility there is of true democratic participa­ The only .place in which this kind of society has tion in such countries. thus far triumlfhed indigenously has been iJn one or In a good many of the under-developed coun­ two countries of the backward parts of the world, tries, it now appears, there will not be any mass those that are economically underdeveloped. In indigenous Communist movement; but nationalist Eastern ' Europe Communism was imposed by tendencies, employing a confused mixture of so­ force (with the possible exception of Yugoslavia). cial rebelliousness and social demagogy, will take It was imposed by force in traditional imperial­ on some of the external characteristics and vo­ istic fashion, and one may speculate with con­ cabulary of the Communist movement (Indone­ siderable justice that if this force were removed sia). There will also be a certain amount of bid­ most of the Communist regimes in Eastern Eu­ ding for Communist strength and support, since rope would collapse-though there is no reason to these nascent nationalist movements often lack believe that they would be replaced by traditional any clear ideology of their own and can pick it old-line capitalist societies. up ready-made, if by now somewhat shopworn, In the underdeveloped countries Communism from the Communist movements. The whole idea has fulfilled a unique historical function: it has of a cadre party, dedicated, ruthless, authorita­ replaced both the bourgeoisie and the working rian, and in its internal life inclined to violence class as "an agent" or "motor force" of history. and sometimes terrorism, has a certain appeal in It has now undertaken the task for which, in these under-developed countries; for it seems to these econo!lJ.ically under-developed countries, the give their intelligentsia, which lacks any great bourgeoisie is too weak or too cowardly or too social experience and often has no particular way dependent upon its ties with Western imperial- of rooting itself in the primitive economy, a way

6 League for Industrial Demoen.ey to assert its claims. In such countries the appeal snornent that simply shouting in behalf of democ­ of Communism is strongest among the disposses­ racy is enough ; all we want to insist upon is sed intelligentsia, often the half-educated intel­ that the kinds of bland or even gleeful dismissal ligentsia. Insofar as it seems to validate apoca­ of democracy in regard to the under-developed lyptic moods of desperation, the appeal of Mao­ countries which one hears from segments of the ism n1ay be strongest within nationalist move­ "new" (and "old") left is wrong. ments of such countries; but these nationalist A few points. hopelessly compressed: movements, once in power, find that Maoism has A. Certain underdeveloped countries, like In­ very little to offer them. either as a model for dia, have a rich traditional culture; others, as in their internal development or in terms of eco­ Africa, ·l1ave local indigenous institutions that pre­ nomic and political aid. serve democratic norms; still others are nations 4. When one considers the severity of the in name only, geographic entities created by im­ problems faced by the under-developed countries, perialism. To assume that there must occur in all what seems most remarkable is not that some such radically different countries a "revolution" have become totalitarian but that more have not. leading to a one-party authoritarian dictatorship, At least as remarkable is the fact that while sec­ let alone a Communist-style expropriation of the tions of the intelligentsia have been drawn to land, is to deny these countries the possibility of Com1nunist slogans, a good many have resisted variant development, the democratic right to go them. The indigenous nationalist movements in their own ways, even if paintfully and blunder­ these countries have found it advantageous to ingly. A totalitarian dictatorship, as in China. paper over their socio-economic dilemmas with a may scrape away feudal sloth and rubbish; but socialistic program or vocabulary. Yet the notion it can also uproot a culture, destroy local autono­ that there is some inherent necessity or political mies and values, and lead to terrible economic virtue in such countries accepting totalitarian­ waste and distortion (e.g., the "communes"), ism-a notion eagerly spread by some people in against which, in the absence of democratic chan­ the "new left" and uncritically accepted by per­ nels for criticism. there is no check from below. sons of all political persuasions-is belied by the Yet it is at least possible that in countries like actual course of events. India there are elements in traditional culture We call into question, first of all, the sim­ which are harmonious with the aspiration toward plistic view that there is One Under-developed a socialistic modernization of economy; and this C~ountry in \v.hich there is occurring One Great potential harmony can be realized only through Revolution. Nothing of the sort seems true. No democratic means, the healthy corrections, the single or universal pattern characterizes the pres­ checks and balances, of democracy. ent and future of the under-developed countries; B. Authoritarian minds, which can be found what happens in Indonesia is sharply different on the right, on the left and center, all proclaim from what happens in India, and what happens that in countries where millions of people are in Chile is different from what happens in Gua­ near starvation, there is not much meaning or temala. Nor is there any ineluctable reason for value in democracy. (They neglect to notice that concluding that the impetus for the kinds of in some of these countries millions of men may thoroughgoing social revolution required in such feel rather differently.) But the problem of mod­ countries can come only from Communist or Cas­ ernizing under-developed countries cannot be solv­ troite sources; true radical democrats will place ed simply by building up an industrial plant­ their hopes on movements led by men like Bosch which in some of these new nations becomes 'it, in the Dominican Re_public, Mehta in India, Lee mere political display, unable to compete on the Kuan Yew in Singapore, Figueros in Latin Amer­ world market, and a drain upon desperately needed ica, Mboya and Senghor in Africa. resources which could be put to other uses, so­ Admittedly the problem is very complex, and cially and economically more desirable. Modern­ no simple notion can begin to comprehend it. It ization is also a matter of inculcating certain way be true, for example, that there is a "rev­ values and disciplines, habits of voluntary co­ olution of rising expectations" in all the under­ operation, a sense of common purpose. Toward developed countries, yet a political analysis that these ends, at least a measure of democracy may would consist of more than mere "radical" ex­ well turn out to be, even in strictly utilitarian hortation would have to take into account the terms, more valuable than the "dramatic" com­ specific forms and institutions through which pulsions of the party-state. this occurs. Nor would we wish to suggest for a Radicals who keep stressing that for the U.S.

Irving Howe poor to break out of their poverty it is necessary F. What will greatly determine the future of not merely that they get better jobs but also dis­ the under-developed countries is the kind and (.:over for themselves the possibilities of self- quantity of help given them by the advanced na­ 3Ctivating struggle and democratic participation. tions ; the extent to which they are allowed to de­ ought to consider that the same idea holds for velop outside the asphyxiating confinements of the poor of other nations, indeed, for the poor the Cold War ; the terms of trade granted by the nations themselves. 'Dhe political and social free­ . \\'estern powers; the readiness .of technicians from doms available in India, which include the right Europe and the U.S. to devote themselves to help­ of trade unions to strike and allow for the estab­ ing build new economies, etc. This comes down to lishment of local and autonomous organizat-ions ~. political question, and it is here that we in the among the people, are at least as necessary for U.S. can be of some use: we can press for the kind the task of modernization as sheer economic uf foreign policy that facilitates both economic growth. development and political freedom in the new What is more, young radicals who recognize nations. that there are Americans for wh<>m security is G. Where the crimes and stupidities of im­ no reason to refuse a st~ug:gle for liberty, ought perialism accumulate, and no indigenous move­ to respond with warm feelings toward the idea rnent of democratic reform can find root, there that there are people in the under-developed coun­ the choices for an under-developed country can be tries who feel exactly the same way. For is it not ver~' grim. The options of political life are not an inverted form of imperialist chauvinism to be­ without limit; the weight of the past can be lieve that what "we" hold precious is for "them'' erushing; an accumulation of errors can lead to a a mere luxury? cui de sac. In Vietnam, French imperialism kept C. Between the suppression of democratic pe1·secuting and exiling those leaders of a nascent l'ights in certain under-developed countries and nationalism who were inclined toward democratic the justification for such suppression in the name values; the result was that by the end of the of economic need or cultural backwardness, there Second World War Indochinese nationalism had is often a very large distance, sometimes a com­ passed under Communist control-in a way and plete lack of connection. Such justifications tend to an extent that has not been true for any other to be post. hoc, convenient rationalizations fol' country in the world. During the immediate post­ petty dictators or inept bureaucracies, and more war years dissident leaders of Indochinese radi­ frequently a result of their wish to be rid of poli­ calism and nationalism were destroyed by the tical opponents or to entrench deeply into priv­ Communists with a brutality at least as severe as ilege and power than of a serious concern with that of the French. socio-economic development. During the mid-1950's it might still have been D. Suppose, for the sake of argument, we ac­ possible in South Vietnam to create a viable demo­ eept a version of the theory that for a full or cratic society, one that would grant land to the Htable democratic society to be established in un­ peasants and reforms in the cities. That this did der-developed countries there thas first to be a not happen is due, among other reasons, to the certain level of economic development, a quantity t·eactionary policies pursued by the U.S. through of infrastructure, a coherent national culture. The the Dien1 period and after. And these failures, in crucial questions then become: Can at least some turn, enabled the Vietcong to dig in, to win the measure of democratic rights be won? Will trade loyalty of a large section of the population, and unions have the right to strike, even if it annoys to destroy the possi~ility of a "moderate" solu­ national economic planners, and will dissidents, at tion. By now, the alternatives for South Viet­ least within the ruling party, be able to express nam are a prolonged war in which the cities and their views? coastal areas would be under U.S. occupation or E. Suppose, for the sake of argument, we go a probable victory, in the short or long run, for further and grant that in some underdeveloped the Vietcong. One may conclude that it is too late eountries an authoritarian regime may be neces­ for a politi~al solution in South Vietnam that sary for a time. Yet, even if this were true, that might allow it a measure of liberty; one may con­ would be no reason to praise such regimes or to dude that the cost of trying to keep the Viet­ find one's political models in the charismatic dic­ cong out of power is much too high, in terms of tators who head them. To declare a social phe­ human life and political consequences; one may nomenon unavoidable is not to declare it desirable conclude that the U.S. has no right to intervene or even progressive. militarily in Vietnam. But none. of these possible

8 League for Industrial Demoeraey concluswu:s need, or should, lead democratic radi­ new elements in the upper strata, particularly cals to give political support to, or create romantic those concerned with industrial production ·and fantasies about the Vietcong. In power, the Viet­ indifferent to ideology, find indirect ways to ex­ cong would almost certainly create the kind of press their yea1·ning for stability within the privil­ dictatorship that exists in North Vietnam. edgcd classes; the top leadership gives the signal To realize that, in some circumstances, a his­ for a limited relaxation---but at what point can this torical development is unavoidable is no reason process be stopped? Does not a bit of relaxation in itself to lend it support. And at least as im­ stin1ulate an appetite for a great deal more of portant, it becomes all the more necessary to freedom? Is it a.ot clear that the Communist struggle for policies in the "under-developed" rule1.' are caught in a dilemma: either risk allow­ areas that will widen the political and social ing the present trend to get out of hand, which choices, rather than narrowing them to the dis­ means to endanger their own power, or start tight­ astrous ones now facing Vietnam. ening up once mdl·e, which may mean a reversion 5. In all the Communist states there are pres­ to pel-sonal dictatorship?. Every time the circle ent socio-political and socio-economic contradic­ of those who participate in making decisions is tions (in a country where property is nationalized, \videned, the regime runs the danger that this one cannot even make much of a distinction be­ process will take on a momentum of its own, or tween these kinds of contradictions). They are that Ininority factions within the leadership will contradictions which take various forms: a steady . try, in their own interests, to involve still larger inability to solve the agricultural problem, so that ~trata of the population in the life of politics. an advanced country like Russia still must import There are ways of handling this problem in the wheat; severe difficulty in coping with the prob­ :;.;hort run; but not, I think, in the long run. lenl of political succession and authenticity; a 6. In Western society the Communist parties constant uncertainty as to how far it is possible, have a very uncertain future. There are only two e,·eu if only in behalf of the comfort of the ruling advanced Western countries where the Commu­ bureaucracy, to loosen the bonds of political dom­ nist parties retain a mass following, France and ination while retaining the primacy of the party; Italy. In both countries this is due to special local and perhaps most important of all, a difficulty circumstances-France because of a traditional in transn1itting to the young the dominant ideo-­ elitist social strl1cture which has, so to speak, kept logy, about which they are as skeptical, and right­ the working class outside of society and has en­ ly skeptical, as sections of the young in western abled Communi-sm to serve as an agency for the re­ society are about the dominant ideologies in their lease of social resentment, and in Italy because of countries. In a totalitarian society every social the special character and skill of the Communist layer, because it cannot express itself freely, pres­ Party. But it becomes clear that in such countries ses in a thousand hidden ways against the layers the Communist movement faces an increasingly immediately beneath and above it; and these pres­ difficult and perhaps insuperable problem. In no sures find their climax at the point where a po­ sense is it any longer a revolutionary party. There litical crisis creates a sudden disequilibrium in is hardly any prospect that in the immediate fu­ ~ocial life. What is most important in the recent ture th.e Communists in France or Italy will try Russian changes is that concessions or relaxation to .seize power through extra-legal means. Yet, at on top open at least the possibility of embold­ the same time neither of these parties is truly ened demands and resistance below. If those who integrated into the social structure and the politi­ have so cruelly exploited the Russian masses cal life of both countries. In part this is due to the t·ealize that terror cannot be extended indefinitely, successful efforts of conservative and moderate if they realize that stabilization and "legitima­ political forces to exclude Communists from this tion" require a turn from terrorist methods-all process, but in part it "is also due to the fact that this matters most of all because it provides a the Communist parties have not been willing chink through which the long-repressed energies, unambiguously to assimilate themselves into this hopes and resentments of the masses may break process. As a result, though both Communist par­ through. ties are very large, they tend to survive as rela­ For it is here, one may suggest, that the regime tively static forces, that is, they are able to gain has come up against the problem that besets all a large section of the working class vote in na­ -dictatorships and, in the long run, seems beyond tional elections, they constitute a significant min­ solution. Terror and repression create demorali­ ority in the political life of each country, but there zation and weariness, even among those who rule; is no visible possibility that they can win a rna-

Irving Howe 9 .JOrity of the people or can even continue to stir you can say that there no longer are totalitarian their supporters toward militant action on the aocieties in the Communist world, with the pos­ streets. They gain support as a parliamentary .:: ~ble exception of China. But .if that is what you force, yet cannot really function through parlia­ say-which means that you would want to use a mentary n1eans. This signifies a social and poli­ new label such as "authoritarian" for Commu­ ( tical imraobilization of major energies, especially nist society-then you must also, looking back at those which might come from the working class the last decades, come to some rather dubious con­ wward a democratic renovation . of society. clusions: You must conclude that fascist Italy 7. As a consequence of the Khrushchev revela­ under Mussolini was not a totalitarian country :.ions and the Hungarian revolution there has oc­ .since very little terror was practised there on a curred a major crisis of faith in the Communist sustained basis, and you must even conclude that world. All visitors to and travelers from Eastern ior periods ·of time Hitler's Germany was not a Europe report that the official ideology is serious­ totalitarian country, since in certain of its phases ly accepted only by oldtime political hacks and a it had almost no need for sustained terror. The small minority of the population. In countries only country in which terror was sustained for where there is no political freedom, apathy and a long period of time against major sections of a turning away from politics can be a form of the population ( e.'g., the intellectuals in the cities political expression, even of political resistance. and the Kulaks in the countryside) is Stalin's And in such countries it becomes clear that many Russia. So that the trouble with this kind of ap­ of the tendencies loosely called "revisionist" ac­ proach is that, by an excessively "strict" defini­ tually are nothing more than an effort to smug­ tion, it renders the term totalitarianism so nar­ gle in the ideas of democratic socialism through row as to make it virtually unusable. By contrast, the language of Communism. In effect, then, at I would say that a totalitarian society is one in least some of the "revisionists" in Eastern Europe wthich the party-state rules social, economic and and perhaps in Russia are the equivalent of the political life, aspiring toward its complete domina­ lVIarranoes, those Spanish Jews who were forced tion, whether through open terrorism or through to profess Christianity under the Inquisition but inEtitutionalized repression of freedom; where the practiced the Jewish faith secretly. This is an party-state does not allow free opposition and de­ enormously favorable development, and we feel mocratic processes; and where the individual has a very strong bond of kinship with these people no recourse, either through law or secondary in­ in the Communist world. They are our comrades. stitutions, by which to oppose the power of the In reply to those who sometimes suggest that we state. democratic socialists have not paid sufficient at­ The important thing is not whether one labels tention to the changes in the Communist world, Cornmunist society "totalitarian'' or "authorita­ or continue to think of it as a mere monolith, we rian;" it is that one should keep absolutely clear wo·uld say that in the last ten or twelve years we that, no matter what one calls them, these are not have steadily concerned ourselves with those ~ocialist or de1nocratic societies. I suppose, to be forces in the Communist world which are seek­ candid about the matter, that one reason some of ing a way out of the impasse of bureaucratic dic­ us are a little uneasy about theoretical efforts to tatorship and which in effect wish to establish describe Communist societies as no longer totali­ a socialist democracy that would combine collec­ tarian is that in some instances, we suspect, this tive ownership of property with democratic nonns. effort is inspired by a half-articulate or tacit 8. Do the Communist states remain totalita­ wish to achieve a moral-political accommodation rian societies now that extreme physical terror with Communism. There is nothing inherent, to has, for the time at least, been removed from be sure, in such a theoretical enterprise which most of them? In part this is a semantic problem, 1nakes such an accommodation at all necessary; but mostly an analytical one with moral implica­ b~t those who would like the accommodation find tions-for the way in which one handles language the enterprise remarkably attractive. If, by con­ reflects one's deepest assumptions. trast, political theorists point out that Franco's If you accept the notion advoanced by writers Spain is less repressive than Hitler's Germany, or like Hannah Arendt that the essence of totalita­ even Mussolini's Italy, or that Franco's Spain rianis·m consists in a fusion of ideology and terror, allows about as much leeway to unorganized op­ with the ideology always justifying the continued positionists as does Gomulka's Poland, then this presence of terror and the terror being applied is a view that can be examined dispassionately, as a way to advance the ideology, then, of course for there is almost never any reason to suppose

10 League for Industrial Democracy that those advancing it want in any way to relax munist Party. The author of these notes con­ their opposition to Franco's tyrannical regime. ducted numerous polemics with Sidney Hook over But the same kind of assurance cannot always be Lhe question of whether acaden1ically qualifierl felt in relation to those who advance similar an­ Communists should be allowed to teach in Amer­ alysis in respect to the tyrannical Communist ican universities: I saying yes and Hook saying regimes. no. Similarly, people of our persuasion '"'·ere op­ The major experience of socialists in the last posed to the expulsion of Com1nunist-led labor several decades, as well as non-socialists, testi­ unions from the CIO, since we believed that the fies to the absolute indispensability of democratic proper course for anti-Communist democrats in sb·ucture, democratic values, dem~ratic norms. the unions was to try to depose Communist lead­ for anything resembling a healthy society. It is ers from office through the usual democratic pro­ for this reason that we remain principled oppon­ cedures and by rallying the support of the mem­ ents of Communism, and that we believe that the bership. We believed then, and do now, that trade spl"ead of Communist power is not a desirable or unionists sl1ould have the right to elect Commu­ progressive trend in world society. nist leaders if they so chose. And we also believed. This principled attitude must r, sharply dis­ as we do now, that no one should be expelled tinguished fron1 Cold War ideology and from re­ from a trade union because of his political be­ actionary and . mindless version of anti-Commu­ lief, since the trade union is by its nature an or­ nism. It happens often to be in the interests of ganization which claims to take in all workers the apologists for Communism to insist upon a in a given industry and in regard to which mem­ eonfusion among the varieties of anti-Commu­ bership is often a prerequisite for earning a living. nism; but there is no reason why people of in­ f could go on in much greater detail on this matter telligence and sophistication should not keep in but it is something that can be checked by a read­ mind the distinction between the brand of anti­ ing of the socialist press during this period. Communism which is motivated by a reactionary 9. One thing is clear. The Communist move­ adherence to private property and wealth, and the ment has lost, forever, its ideological self-confid­ brand of anti-Communism which feels that a ence and self assurance. We do not believe that total society violates the socialist ideal. in any of its manifestations there can ever again Now it is true that in the United States during be the kind of monolithic and blind fanaticism the past two decades anti-Communism has be­ which prevailed in the Communist movement un­ come part of the official ideology, and often a til the mid-fifties. Further schisms are inevitable, rationale for unjust acts. In this respect anti­ .some of them taking forn1s we cannot foresee. C.!>mmunism has had a career quite parallel to, The1·e is no question but that the tendencies to­ and indeed to some extent deriving from, the ward "liberalization" in Eastern Europe will. t~areer of Communism itself. In the name of anti­ with son1e setbacks here and there, continue. Yet Communism, just as in the name of Communism, the essential problem is not so much an ideological civil liberties have been violated, free speech de­ one, since it is clear that the ideological hold of nied, and repressive legislation enacted. It ought the Cmnmunist movement over the people in East­ to be clear that while we of the democratic left ern Europe and perhaps in Russia as well, has have been principled anti-Communists, and indeed been severely shaken. The problem is one of were opponents of the police state in Russia at a power. For if it is necessary to stress changer;:. time when a good many intellectuals and "left­ and discontinuity and radical shifts in the de­ ists" were a;pologizing for Stalin's terror, the Mos­ velopment of Communist society, it is equally cow trials, etc.-it ought to be clear that during necessary to stress the basic continuity which is the years of the McCarthyite repression we stead­ also present-namely, that the rule of the one­ fastly and without any ambiguity opposed all of party dictat.!>rship remains and that none of the the repressive measures directed against the feeble rationalizations offered for this rule (such Communists. We did this as a matter of prin­ as the need for industrialization, or the threat of dple, since we believe in civil liberties for all "capitalist encirclement") can explain the per­ points of view. \i\1e also did this because we un­ sistence of the party domination. Whether this derstood that the drive against Communists could party domination constitutes the rule of a new easily be transfonned, as it sometimes was, into social class, as some of us believe, or whether it is a drive against authentic radicals, democrats, and a transitory historical phenomenon is not, at this liberals. For example, we were opposed to the leg­ point. crucial. What is crucial is the fact that the islation hampering the legal activities of the Com- party leadership in the Communist states, no

Irving Howe 11 matter what concessions it makes toward a re-­ Such a dialogue, in our view, should be under­ laxation of social and ~olitical life, insists upon taken - undertaken with tact, patience, decenc.v retaining the monopoly of state power. It is even - in order to help these people resolve their pro­ conceivable_ that in certain countries like Yugosla-­ blems in the direction of a democratic commit­ via, there may in the next decade be allowed to ap­ ment (by which I do not at all mean that the.v pear a mock or semi-opposition. Even this might need end up agreeing with all that people like not change, in our view, the fundamental natur~ myself believe). Even in the United States, where of the society. The necessary basic changes must the Communist movement is insignificant, one come through the destruction of the monopoly can understand the feeling of a young democratic of power held by the Communist Party, which .i.s radical who, · functioning on a university campus, to say through the institution of democratic form~ may decide that it is useful to maintain intellec­ and processes. Until that occurs one cannot speak tual relations with a Communist, even if these of these societies as having anything fundamen­ involve a recognition that no agreement is pos­ tally in common with the ideal of socialism or the sible. But to maintain intellectual relations is value of democracy. not to slur the deep-going nature of those dif­ 111.-Relations with Communists, ferences, nor t.o pretend that they have become Fellow-Travelers, etc. obsolete. 1. From the preceding sections it should be­ And there are probably even occasions, as in eome-clear that-and why-we do not, as demo­ Italy, where it may be necessary for socialists and cratic socialists, believe ourselves to belong to the other democratic radicals to engage with the same moral-political community as the Commun­ powerful Communist parties in various limited ists. They,are neither to the "left" nor the "right" ways, both electorally and tactically - partly of us. They are part of a different political world. to enable the functioning of the democratic pro­ Though we defend their right to democratic ex­ cess, partly to ease the passage of Communist­ pression, we do not look upon them as comrades influenced workers back into the camp of demo­ with whom we have more or less disagreements. cracy. We need not here set down strategic or Wherever they have power, they create an her­ tactical guide-lines for every situation, so long metic and suffocating world, one without free., as the incompatibility between the values of de­ don1 or dissent, individual expression or demo­ mocratic socialism and those of totalitarian Com­ cratic participation. munism is grasped. There are, to be sure, people within the Com­ 11. Let me co·me back for a moment to the munist world who really do share with us a com­ question of "anti-Communism," which creates munity of outlook. Locked as they are in unfree strong and sometimes unexamined passions societies, these people have to function through among elen1ents of the "new left." There are whatever political outlets are available to them: some people who feel that all forms and varie­ which means, outlets dominated by Communist ties of anti-Communism are equally suspect and, organization and pervaded with Communist vo­ indeed, eventuate in McCarthyism. To insist upon cabulary. With the problems and strainings of this notion is to make serious . political discourse such people, we have great sympathy, intense impossible. If Communists or pro--Communists solidarity. And there are ·no doubt also people in propound it, whether sincerely or as a tactical the Communist movements throughout the West-­ device, that is at least understandable: clearly, ern world who in one or another degree find it is to their interest to lump all opponents into themselves experiencing an intellectual crisis. the sack of "McCarthyism." For other people to They question the monolitic structure of Com­ engage in this kind of crudity is, however, les~ munist ideology or the workings of Communist plausible, since it disables them from those dis­ powers; they are groping, sometimes, toward criminations of intent, nature and result which more liberal and humane values while being un­ are the essence of thought. able or unwilling to ·abandon their controlling as­ Now I am entirely ready to say - as, in fact, sumptions or party loyalties. With such people I have been saying for some twenty years, over it is not only proper but desirable to enter into and over and over again - that "anti-Commun­ sustained intellectual dialogue - especially in ism" provides a convenient mask for reactionary countries like France and Italy where the Com­ and deceitful _politics. (So, by the way, does munist movement remains powerful and not the "anti-capitalism" in many parts of the world.) trivial sect to which it has been reduced in most This, in fact, has been one of the ways in which other Western countries. the rise of totalitarian Communism has so sev-

12 League for Industrial Democracy erely damaged the cause of freedom throughout How, in any case, is it possible for anyone who the world: - it has given the reactionaries becornes actively involved in politics, anyone who powerful ammunition which they, too, like to tries to think about politics in general term~ spray indiscriminately. But we must insist that and not merely a.s it may refer to a local rent between the anti-Communism of someone like ~trike or congressional campaign - how is it Norman Thomas and the anti-Communism of a possible for such a person not to take a stand Richard Nixon there is a world of difference. vis a vis Communism? That stand may be right What makes someone like Thomas oppose Com­ or wrong, good or bad, subtle or crude. But it munism is the same commitment to human free­ cannot be avoided. dom and dignity that makes him oppose Mc­ Indeed, one of the things that seems hard to Carthyism. understand about the attitude of certain people It can further - indeed it should - be said on the "new left" is that they are so insistent that "anti-Communism" has sometimes led even upon the need to express a fundamental socio­ people of humane politics into rigidity and a fail­ rolitical and moral attitude toward American ure to rlistinguish among new historical develop­ society and yet find themselves curiously reticent ments. Of course; but that is a possible risk in about expressing a fundamental socio-political all sections of humanity; but it seems least like­ anct moral attitude toward the Communist coun­ ly to flourish among those who are in principle tries. (Is a reason for this the range of differ­ into fixed opinions is apparently pervasive among ences among the Communist countries? But all sections of humanity; but it seems least like­ there is at least as great a range of differences ly to flourish among those who are in principle de­ among the capitalist countries.) voted to the ethic of democratic controversy and Now I am myself convinced that in most in­ the liberal tradition of humane skepticism, rather stances where it occu1·s among SDS members the than the fanatical obsessions of a total ideology. reason for this attitude does not lie in any covert "Anti-Communism," as one finds it in ordinary syn1pathy with the Communist world, but is due American life, is not a simple phenomenon; it is to an understandable revulsion against the ex­ complex. At the extreme ends of the political cesses and crudities of "official" anti-Commun­ spectrum, it takes on a "pure" character, either isnl. Very well, then; I would only add that it is pure reaction or pure socialism. But in the vast not at all to "official" anti-Communism that we middle, it is likely to contain a mixture of super­ wish to persuade anyone. It is to the kind which ~tition and comprehension, phobia and intel­ true democrats, both socialists and non-social­ ligence. Take the ordinary worker's distrust of ists, maintain. the Communists. Is it likely to contain elements 2 .. In the United States, precisely because of of reactionary thought? Very possibly: it may the weakness of the Communist movement, there lead to vicarious muscle-flexing and bomb-drop­ are additional complications. One of these, espe­ ping. But does it not also contain elements of cially on the campus, is the appearance of groups correct perception·? We think so. When a loyal which, either sincerely or from a wish for camou­ and militant trade-unionist dislikes Commuism flage, do not describe themselves as Commun·­ because it means an en~ to the right to strike, ist but largely support one or another of the he is expressing in his own way the utterly cor­ wings of present-day Communism. The May 2nd t·ect perception that a society without democratic Movement seems to have been of this kind. We freedoms reduces men to the status of robots: think that in most circumstances it is an error sometimes well-fed, sometimes intensely heroi~. for a -democratic-radical organization to enter .vet robotR nevertheless. into formal relationships or a political alliance Finally, we see no merit in the position of those with such a movement. First, because it com­ who, like Staughton Lynd and Tom Hayden, de­ promises "our side" in the eyes of the public at elaTe that they "refuse to be anti-Communist.'' large (and we think it intolerably glib and mis­ ( cf, their article in Studies on the Left, Summer taken to assume that the anti-Communist sen­ 1965, p. 134) (Do they, by the way, also "refuse timents of all segments of this public can be dis­ to be pro-liommunist ?") For if someone thinks missed as reactionary in nature.) Second, because that, on the whole, the kind of societies created such an alliance would be morally and politic­ in the Communist world are desirable, then a ally compromising to ourselves. "refusal to be anti-Communist" is an evasive In the present situation in the U.SH a student formula. But if one believes the opposite about radical organization wishing to break out of its these societies, then the same conclusion holds. isolation - and let us be honest enough to re-

Irving Howe 13 cognize that all radical groups in the U.S. are doing this. For another, it could lead to con­ isolated and weak - must, we think, turn prim­ sequences more undesirable than those ·which arily to the large numbers of liberal students who might follow from the participation of individual may not be as vocal or organizationally involveo Communists in such a demonstration. But at as the tiny dispiclined sects on the pro-Commun­ the same time it seems to -me that a Vietnam ist .Jefit, but who by any serious political reckon­ (or any other kind of) protest movement which ing are far more important than those sects. To genuinely wishes to strike roots in American cooperate with the May 2~d Movement or its life and to affect American foreign policy must successors may yield momentary gratifications make it clear that its program and character - a group of that kind can always bring its peo­ have to do with a protest against those who on ple out into the streets for demonstrations - both sides prolong a disastrous war, but that but in the long run that is a course leading to this does not involve political support for the alienation from the large mass of American stu­ Vietcong. This distinction seems to us a matter dents, just as it would lead to a similar aliena­ of moral urgency and tactical necessity. tion in the adult world. One of the issues that has severely agitated 3. There are, to be sure, situations on the cam­ relations among us has been the now-famous pus, as elsewhere, .in which it becomes desirable anti-totalitarian clause in the SDS constitution. to cooperate with people of almost any political Here it seems to us that there is no need what­ persuasion. If, for example, you are running a ever for uncertainty or ambiguity. Every organi­ picket line against a segregated barber shop, ization has the right to define its nature and its you wil1 not seek to check the "credentials" of limits; indeed, limits are a way of indicating anyone who wishes to join that picket line. If a wh.at one is. For a political organization to say Communist joins it under slogans favoring an that it does not wish to admit certain people, extension of democratic rights and does not com­ such as fascists or Communists, is in no way promise the action by raising contrary slogans undemocratic, as long as it grants these people of his own, he should be allowed to. If a Gold­ the right to form their own organizations. When waterite joins it under the same conditions, he the SDS dropped the anti-totalitarian clause, too should be allowed. Similarly, in the recent clearly most of its members were not thereby Berkeley free speech demonstrations I think it wishing to endorse- totalitarianism or even to was entirely proper for all student political ten­ welcome Communists into their midst. Their mo­ dencies to join together in behalf of that sp~cific, tive would seem to have been a desire to br.eak delimited end, especially since that end (student away from what they regard as. the McCarthyite rights, etc.) did not in any way compromise the heritage in American life. But I think in doing democratic commitment of most of the students. this that they were confusing two different mat­ The same thing would hold true in regard to a ters. One is the right of the Communists to have workers'· strike: one would want all the workers their own house, and the other is their right in a given industry to act together regardless to exist in my house. As long as one recognizes of their political views. the right to a multiplicity of ·political houses, But something very different is involved when then we see no reason whatever why a student it is a question of organizations cooperating on movement dedicated to democratic radicalism a programmatic or political basis, that is, for ex~ should feel that a membership restriction upon ample~ when SDS cooperated with the May 2nd totalitarians in any way compromises its demo­ Movement or the Du Bois clubs, which are pro­ cratic outlook. Quite the contrary. Vietcong and support the extension of Commun­ ist power in various parts of the world. Then Additional Copies of This Artiele May Be Or- you are not forming a "united front" in behalf dered From The LID At The Following Prices : of a particular goal; you are eng-:~.ging in a po­ Single copy ------25c litical alliance with a movement that support:~ 100 or more ------20c per copy totalitarianism; and this seems to u~ mistaken 500 or more ------17c per copy and insupportable. Another example: it would be 1000 or more ------15c per copy objectionable and absurd, in the course of a de­ NATHANAEL M. MINKOFF monstra_tion criticizing the Johnson administra­ President tion for its conduct of the Vietnam war, to comb MICHAEL HARRINGTON TOM KAHN through the demonstrators and try to exclude Chairman of the Board Exeeutive Director Communists. For one thing, there is no way of ... 14 League for Industrial Democracy FREE ••• With a $10 membership in the League f

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