Remembering Irving Howe
Booth, Paul
Conventional obituaries of Irving Howe list the New Left as one of the misguided groups he attacked, and from which he differentiated his brand of socialism. Communism and the other failed...
...some of which I could see then, some of which I can see better now...
...That's a lost virtue today...
...I can do fine without them...
...In the early days of Students for a Democratic Society, I used to be singled out in Irving's polemics...
...Communism and the other failed visions on the list are of only historical interest, unlike the New Left, whose alumni are active and influential today...
...These disputes were "learning experiences...
...We who devote our energies to social change are most comfortable with accentuating areas of agreement, not differences...
...Irving and his generation saw the virtue in bringing out points of political difference...
...But I'm not sure how well I can do without Irving Howe, because he focused so sharply on what was important...
...Thank you...
...The differences we had, the really important ones, we debated sharply and publicly: for example, should the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party accept or reject the compromise that would have unseated the regular delegation to the 1964 Democratic National Convention and seated two honorary MFDP delegates...
...Goodbye, Irving...
...Should there be negotiations with the NLF or simply withdrawal from Vietnam...
...Myself included...
...Let us credit Irving Howe for engaging in them with us and recognize that these were fraternal disputes...
...This is not a piece of nostalgia for lost polemics...
Vol. 40 • September 1993 • No. 4
