CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE & "RESISTANCE" -A Symposium: In Defense Of Resistance
Putnam, Hilary
IF ANYTHING TROUBLES ME in Michael Walzer's thoughtful discussion of civil disobedience, it is the suggestion that those who use civil disobedience may "have to give way," because they may be...
...THE STRATEGY, in short, of which "civil disobedience" or "resistance" is only a small part is this: to recognize that we may not be able to end the Vietnam War, terrible as it is to admit that, and to commit ourselves to building a Movement which will eventually change the minds and the values of 17 CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE & "RESISTANCE" so many Americans that it will be possible to go after the entire system of institutions and assumptions that are victimizing America and the world, and not just to opt for a "lesser evil" candidate once every four years...
...If even they do...
...1. IT IS CLEAR that resistance, whether it takes the form of burning one's draft card or of sitting-in at the Pentagon, does provoke a certain amount of "backlash...
...The military will argue that our "position" in Vietnam must not be bargained away...
...but the American Empire is already finding that things do not go its way, and I believe that as the coffins come home and the taxes go up, more and more people who may not seem radicalizable right now will be prepared to listen to such a Movement...
...Electoral politics will almost certainly lead to the election of some other President than Johnson in 1968...
...If we succeed beyond our wildest dreams, we shall get a major party to run a "peace candidate...
...Electoral politics looks only to the 1968 elections and to ending the Vietnam War...
...I don't believe that civil disobedience, that militant resistance, to this criminal war does hurt the struggle against the war...
...3. TODAY SOME PEOPLE are in positions in which their consciences will not permit them not to resist...
...If you fail— or if you 'succeed' and are once again betrayed— then you may get a chance to vote for Bobby Kennedy in 1972...
...He is intelligent enough to perceive that if it is true, then "third party" politics is also out—nothing is more futile than a "peace" candidate who garners a tiny percentage of the vote—and that only Presidential elections have much effect on foreign policy...
...This is not meant as discouragement...
...But will a different President—a Romney, a Rockefeller, a Bobby Kennedy, or whoever it might be,—withdraw Amerian troops from Thailand, and renounce our pretensions of "containing" China and controlling South1 6 CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE & "RESISTANCE" east Asia...
...but surely the right to criticize belongs mainly to those who have acted, and who have shown a spirit of solidarity with others who act...
...So has the erosion in support for the war...
...Will he stop defining our "national interest" in terms of the interests of the great corporations and in terms of the interests of the military establishment...
...Right now the sledding is tough...
...The erosion in Johnson's popularity has been absolutely steady...
...others will argue that various other "American interests" must not be jeopardized...
...Is it any wonder that this is unacceptable advice...
...partly because that is the tradition of the Movement, and partly because nothing less seems really to be an appropriate response to a criminal war...
...And some—e.g., direct refusal to obey criminal orders—may be morally obligatory even if their "political" consequences are positively harmful...
...Would you think better or worse of our young people if they found it enough...
...Young men are refusing induction, are burning their draft cards, are severing their connection with the Selective Service System, not as a tactic at all, but as a moral duty...
...But to negotiate what and with whom...
...Consider the position of a young person today who is told that electoral politics is the only "realistic" way to accomplish anything...
...But we must recognize that chances are small, and that even this effort provokes "backlash" and polarization which may be unfavorable to us...
...I think that even a small chance is better than none, and that we should try to defeat Johnson in the primaries...
...Very likely the next President will make an effort to negotiate...
...On the contrary, I think that there are a range of alternatives, and that they all connect in one way or another with community organizing—not just with organizing poor communities, but with organizing all communities, including vocational ones...
...And at this time much radicalizing activity inevitably takes the form of resistance and civil disobedience...
...Worse yet, opposition to resistance may become support, however reluctant, of the status quo, as emotion of frustration and bitterness which ought properly to be directed against the status quo get directed instead against the "irresponsible" radicals, who, by failing to appreciate the possibilities of "the democratic process," cost us the victory we might otherwise have had...
...But is there one shred of evidence that anyone who has doubts about the war has been driven back to support of it by protest demonstrations...
...Will he stop providing the para-military training, the intelligence, and the multitude of gadgets that are propping up dictatorships from Bolivia to God knows where...
...But it could be very hurtful if electoral politics and resistance come to be seen as alternatives, and even as antitheses, rather than as tactics to be used in an appropriate combination...
...The tactic of resistance makes sense in this context, not only because resistance is a tremendously radicalizing experience for those who participate in it, but because it simultaneously fits in with the long-run objective of building a Movement and with the short-run objective of increasing the costs of the war so that the policy-makers will have one more reason for ending it...
...How can a young man who sees this war as criminal in itself and involving untold war crimes accept induction into the armed forces of the United States...
...To the extent that those who engage in electoral politics come to see the resisters as enemies rather than as colleagues in a struggle, the lot of the resisters may be made harder...
...If my students are facing five years in prison and a heavy fine, have I not a moral obligation to support them...
...The distinction to be kept in mind is that between "backlash" which takes the form of hostility to demonstrators and their acts, and "backlash" which takes the form of support for the war...
...I do not mean to suggest that the whole or only alternative to electoral politics is civil disobedience...
...and any President other than Johnson—even Reagan —may decide that the Vietnam War is too costly and that some kind of disguised withdrawal (disguised, say, as a "coalition government," with NLF participation) is preferable...
...Doubtless, those who support the war are made more vigorous (and should be) by all forms of protest against it...
...IF ANYTHING TROUBLES ME in Michael Walzer's thoughtful discussion of civil disobedience, it is the suggestion that those who use civil disobedience may "have to give way," because they may be hurting the antiwar movement...
...2) that those chances—the chances of ending the war through the elections— are, in any case, not good enough to justify an exclusive reliance on the electoral process...
...And, to move to a much lesser matter, if my friends organize a demonstration—say, against an induction center—have I not some obligation to join, unless I think their tactic is positively unreasonable or harmful, both to make their demonstration more visible (and thereby more effective), and to give them the protection which added numbers provide to those who engage in civil disobedience...
...Not a chance...
...Will he stop the American planes which are already dropping napalm on guerrillas in Guatemala and Peru...
...The one place at which the peace sentiment may have a dramatic effect is in the Democratic primaries...
...If we fail to "dump Johnson," we shall be confronted by an election in which the Republicans run someone who is at best ambiguous on the war and the Democrats run Johnson...
...if Johnson should lose three or four primaries, the effect—at least in publicity—would be striking...
...How serious is this...
...So what, Johnson was a "peace candidate" in 1964...
...That in itself would be bad enough, at a time when solidarity is all-important...
...2. ONE MUST DISTINGUISH the questions: might electoral politics end the war in Vietnam— and might electoral politics end the foreign policy of which that war is but one expression...
...Is a small chance of effecting a change in foreign policy once every four years enough...
...If that fails, there will be 1976, etc...
...And even lesser forms of resistance involve moral obligations...
...3) that some forms of resistance are morally obligatory, at least as long as their efficacy is not known to be positively harmful...
...I SHALL TRY TO ORGANIZE my remarks on resistance around three themes: (1) that resistance does not hurt the chances of electoral politics, as far as ending the war is concerned...
...So he translates the realistic advice somewhat as follows: "Vote for the lesser evil in 1968—if there is a lesser evil...
...An unsuccessful attempt to end the war on what the next Administration will regard as "acceptable" terms may well be followed by invasion of North Vietnam, or worse...
...WHAT ARE THE CHANCES Of even stopping the Vietnam War through the electoral process...
...On the contrary: while demonstrations are undoubtedly unpopular, so is Johnson—and increasingly so...
...But even so, Johnson would most likely be the Democratic candidate...
...To be sure, some forms of resistance are mistaken, just as some forms of electoral politics are mistaken, and some forms of community organizing are mistaken...
...the tactic of resistance both looks to ending the Vietnam War (or ,more modestly, to contributing one among many influences to ending it), and to building the Movement...
...But the alternatives to electoral politics have this in common• they are or should be radicalizing activities...
...movementbuilding looks primarily to the long-term future, and to social transformation...
...GIVEN THESE GLOOMY FACTS, it seems clear to me that the Left must have some alternative to electoral politics...
...In any case, the hard facts are that whoever gets elected will be under tremendous pressure not to end the war...
Vol. 15 • January 1968 • No. 1
