The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Fifty Years Of the LID During the year 1955, the League for Industrial Democracy celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. The fact that a man or an institution or an...
...Then, according to Miss Weisenberg's account, came two stunning blows...
...But the LID has had an interesting history and is worth looking into...
...At the present moment, indeed, it is publishing 40 pamphlets covering the whole gamut of our social life...
...And the organization has distinguished itself by the number and high quality of the foreign scholars, reformers and men of affairs whom it has called to this country...
...The first was the realization that European Socialists would not stand out against the war...
...Their faith in their cause was so strong that they needed not to resort, even in imagination, to deceit or force...
...Some likewise sincerely expected Socialists in the various countries to put international labor above all considerations of nationalism...
...He has combined the vigor of the missionary with the conscience and caution of the scholar...
...Just a half century ago, Jack London in his woolen shirt and sweater got up before the student body of Yale University and began his lecture with the sentence: "The other day, I received a letter which was signed, 'Yours for the revolution.'" The theme of this talented and dashing novelist's preachment was that a revolution was on the way and the men of Yale had better get ready for it...
...The change of name indicated a broadening of purpose and membership...
...Some of the oldest organizations and men are among the most stupid...
...But I must confess that even the most open-minded Socialists of 1910or 1915 stoutly believed that any alert youngster who gave socialism a fair chance would line up with the comrades...
...In fact, the transformation which has taken place in the whole group of people clustered about the LID is the most interesting point about this anniversary celebration...
...the Intercollegiate Socialist Society surrendered the word "Socialist" and, under the name League for Industrial Democracy, became a sort of American Fabian Society...
...The failure of the Socialist party and the success of the LID tell a lot about America...
...The author of the anniversary history, Mina Weisenberg, is sharply conscious of the great change which has come over the collegiate Socialists...
...Our people are suspicious of ready-made doctrines and blueprints, but they are ready to think about particular things...
...In the meantime, the St.Louis resolution had severed the Socialist party and driven a substantial part of it out into the liberal and reforming groups which finally united about the New Deal...
...The fact that a man or an institution or an organization is old interests me not at all...
...In the official history which marks the LID anniversary, the author takes pains to explain that the object of the organization, even in the early days when it was called the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, was not to turn the young collegians into followers of Karl Marx...
...The second was the obvious fact that nationalizetion of industry, as exemplified in Russia, would not usher in any millennium...
...The man, of course, is shy, modest, realistic, scholarly, tireless Dr...
...No one has represented more completely the idealism which burst over this country 50 years ago...
...It is true that, when one compares them with the Young Communist student groups which came later, these ISS chapters seem highly civilized and broad-minded...
...A fair look at their doctrine-so it was thought-would be enough to induce conviction...
...The LID has every prospect of continued success...
...It was rather, we are told, to alert them to what was going on in the world...
...I think it was Norman Thomas who said that "if ever an organization was the lengthened shadow of one man, that organization is the LID...
...He still calls himself a Socialist, but his socialism is a far different thing from what it was a half-century ago...
...The most varied groups of Socialists, liberals and forward-looking people of all sorts were welcomed...
...With conferences, meetings and all kinds of publications they carried on a ceaseless campaign...
...Here is how she puts it: "From the vantage point of the 1950s, it is difficult for us to appreciate the simple faith of some of the early Socialists who held the naive belief that once the major industries were nationalized, and the wealth more equitably distributed, most of the serious social and economic problems would be solved...
...Harry Laidler...
...He has sought honors for many others, has toiled endlessly for the common good, and has sought nothing for himself...
...A list of the men and women who have taken part in LID activities reads like an honor roll of American intellectuals...
...It is significant that while the Socialist party has gone downward, the LID has exerted an increasing influence...
...Above all, he has been willing and able to learn as he has gone along...
...Anarchists used to belong to them, or youngsters who merely had a liking for good discussion...
...It has served as a center for progressive politicians, college professors, labor leaders, farm experts, clergymen and others...
...In 1920...
Vol. 39 • January 1956 • No. 2
