Vietnam and the Left:
Symposium, A
COMMENTS AND OPINIONS Vietnam and the Left: a symposium The discussion we propose here is confined to those who are critical of current U.S. policy in Vietnam. Apart from urgent expressions of...
...Or does a resort to civil disobedience signify a tacit assumption that it is now impossible to affect large sections of the population on the subject of Vietnam...
...policy directed toward enabling negotiations in Vietnam...
...of its military forces from Vietnam...
...If, as seems likely, such action would alienate the Vietnam protest movement from the mass of the population, how can it be combined with an effort to convince large numbers of Americans that our Vietnam Policy is wrong...
...3) Let us now assume that the proposals advanced under question 2 were to be accepted and acted upon by the U.S...
...action in Vietnam raises some complex issues concerning democratic politics which, so far as we know, not many of those actively engaged in protest have seriously considered...
...What is your view concerning efforts to persuade young people not to serve in the army...
...If so, might that not mean agreement with the current policy of military build-up as a way of making such a holding-action possible...
...Specifically: in the present circumstances do you favor civil disobedience as a means of protest...
...If so, why not favor it now...
...What course of action would you then favor...
...The majority of the people seem to favor a bad policy, and this raises a conflict between the democratic idea as the will of the majority and the democratic idea as the embodiment of certain values...
...A holding action of some sort in Vietnam until negotiations were possible...
...Since it seems most unlikely that such a policy will in fact be adopted by the U.S...
...Let us further assume that Hanoi, Peking and the Vietcong, one or all, refused to negotiate with the U.S...
...In what specific ways would your proposals be differentiated from those of the Johnson Administration, which claims also to be in favor of negotiations...
...government, do you believe that this should nevertheless be the central focus of public protest...
...government...
...We have therefore worked up some questions, as specific as we could make them, which we hope may guide, though they should not constrict, your comments...
...Apart from urgent expressions of anxiety as to the dangers of an escalated war and equally urgent condemnations of terror bombings and destruction of entire villages in Vietnam—matters upon which we surely all agree—there follows the question: what course of action should the American left now advocate in regard to Vietnam...
...Assuming, however, that such a course were accepted by the U.S., what do you see as the likely consequence in regard to Vietnam itself, Southeast Asia and international politics...
...4) The Protest against U.S...
...2) If you do not favor immediate withdrawal, what proposals would you advance for a U.S...
...1) Do you favor immediate withdrawal by the U.S...
...COMMENTS AND OPINIONS Vietnam and the Left: a symposium The discussion we propose here is confined to those who are critical of current U.S...
...Withdrawal...
Vol. 12 • September 1965 • No. 4
