Liberalism on the Campus
ABRAMS, ELLIOTT
'ACTION IS THE KEY' Liberalism on the Campus By Elliott Abrams Several months ago I nearly broke up a Harvard political meeting by calling myself a "liberal," a term simply not used by...
...Both arc well within the realm of possibility...
...The coalition concept, however, is clear, coherent, workable and, to put it crassly, merchandisable...
...For liberals, as distinct from radicals, are opposed to less of what exists and thus have less to demonstrate against...
...In the case of the campus itself, there is often a blatant need for constructive criticism of academic programs, rotc courses, and personal conduct rules...
...In the end, only a pragmatic approach can overcome the New Left's appeal to the student-as-adolescent...
...In addition, many of McCarthy's young supporters are decidedly elitist, as their views on the average voter or the labor movement readily demonstrate...
...It may be more challenging intellectually to retain one's leeway for individual decision and reject a "party line," but it's hardly any fun at all...
...I am inclined to believe that contact between students and trade unions would bring many young intellectuals back down to earth and add a bit of realism to their Utopian speculations...
...A carefully reasoned analysis of a department's offerings or the content of a course is likely to receive a friendly greeting on many campuses, particularly when it is contrasted to sds's recent tactics...
...Liberalism lacks this kind of emotional pull...
...Transmitting economic issues has proven to be quite another matter...
...Exactly what, after all, is meant today by the use of such terms as welfare state or Left-wing capitalism...
...Since unions have become a focus for the New Left's attacks, they would probably welcome some support from students as well...
...We have gone through very little together, and we have not held any political opinions long enough for them to become deep intellectual (as distinct from psychological) bonds...
...they must appeal to feelings of responsibility toward the mass of citizens...
...Still, there are things to be done...
...At the same time, the concrete nature of this opposition may overcome some of the vagueness of liberal political and social theory...
...Interestingly, the Young People's Socialist League chapter here at Harvard has had considerable success communicating the coalition principle to students...
...The prognosis, if not good, is at least mixed...
...Nixon's Right-wing proclivities could unite the Left...
...I do not recall hearing that too many whites are righting for racial justice, or too many of the rich for the elimination of poverty...
...Another area in which there could be much greater involvement is the labor movement...
...One hates to do to Bayard Rustin what the Maoists have done to their Chairman...
...lems...
...Liberalism is in trouble on the campus, for no sizable national student political organization is devoted to the principles of democracy and social reform...
...In the area of physical action?demonstrating, heckling and so on?we liberals are unquestionably at an ideological disadvantage...
...Curriculum reform is especially amenable to liberal activism...
...And the best approach, I think, would be straight coalition politics...
...The New Left is antidemocratic, in practice if not in theory, and seems to find confrontations a convenient substitute for tangible programs...
...Only New Leftists dare utter it, and to them it is a code word for fascist...
...If I was a liberal, I was told, I was perforce a corporate liberal, and thus a fascist...
...For most students, a commitment to political activity requires either adherence to a specific, coherent ideology, or personal satisfaction derived from the involvement...
...Students may recognize the importance of opposing such policies and trade in the psychological games of the New Left for concrete political action...
...Both the United Fruit Workers' grape boycott and the United Federation of Teachers' present difficulties in New York seem to me examples of struggles where the help of college students would be quite valuable...
...Furthermore, a belief in free speech, free assembly and other bourgeois civil liberties tends to limit action...
...Others in this largely upper middle-class group see all political activity as a lark and have no deep concern about solving critical domestic probElliott Abrams a previous contributor to these pages, is now completing his senior year at Harvard...
...And the feeling is reinforced by the astounding degree of anti-Semitism among Jewish New Leftists...
...And a student who cannot immerse himself either in an ideology or in action is likely to turn away from liberalism, for the time being anyway...
...Yet liberalism provides neither a sharply defined ideology, nor enough "confrontations" to make many young people happy...
...Unless, of course, student liberal groups can provide a sharper political perspective and meaningful programs requiring direct involvement...
...unlike politicians or labor leaders, they do not deal with real live American citizens but solely with abstractions...
...Obviously, young people have few shared experiences...
...The problems on the student level are further illuminated by an examination of the adult liberal movement...
...If he follows a Dulleslike foreign policy and allows greater unemployment at home, if he escalates the arms race and refuses to promote desegregation, Nixon just might accomplish what truckloads of theorists could not...
...The basic ties in a group like ada, for example, are shared past experiences, not merely intellectual concern...
...The ideology will never be as easy to mouth as that of the New Left, but students may well recognize that it is more sensible...
...Long participation in the labor movement or the Democratic party necessarily generates a deep political commitment...
...The future also promises to provide occasions where the need for practical action by liberals will be both clear and pressing...
...If new Leftists are not born, they are raised, while liberal activists must be persuaded...
...At least that is the strong impression one gets when time after time sds members respond to questions about their views on the sickness of society with, "Well, take my father for example...
...The attractions of ideology seem better explained by psychology than politics...
...ACTION IS THE KEY' Liberalism on the Campus By Elliott Abrams Several months ago I nearly broke up a Harvard political meeting by calling myself a "liberal," a term simply not used by self-respecting campus politicos these days...
...New Leftism, I think, cannot be explained without recourse to Freud...
...In the Nixon era, campus liberalism has a fighting chance...
...If liberalism is to have any chance on campus, action is the key: Student liberals must promote activities as practical and constructive as they are progressive...
...The McCarthy people who remain active share with their leaders a disdain for the hard work of coalition politics...
...Those who have lived through the '30s, World War II, Joe McCarthyism, and the Stevenson campaigns have had their opinions formed and steadily reinforced by a common history...
...Radicalism is an intellectual position...
...Coalition politics may be sensible, but dreaming about the Revolution is more fun...
...The pursuit of certain policies by the Johnson Administration divided and weakened the liberal movement...
...Indeed, Richard Nixon may be liberalism's salvation...
...Still, there is no denying the realities...
...And the benefits would flow in both directions...
...The McCarthy movement may have appeared to be a student liberal effort, but much of its passion was provided by the war...
...The reasons for liberalism's difficulties on the campus are not hard to find...
...Nor is it necessary to publish From Protest to Coalition Politics as a small red paperback with Rustin's picture as frontispiece...
...It is not as enjoyable to write a course critique as it is to march down Broadway chanting "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh...
...Perhaps the real explanation of some of the current follies of Left-wing intellectuals is that they have no mass social base...
...As the chairman of Massachusetts ada explained it to me (and it should be noted an adult was explaining it to a student), these people have been through the wars together and mean to stick together now...
...My supporting Humphrey for President, moreover, proved this...
Vol. 52 • January 1969 • No. 1
