The question is simple - what will happen if the radical youth movements remain in the mainstream of the "Old Left"? How will the lack of "new left" influence modern political parties. Under what conditions are possible their absence.
Ok - understood irony. But we are talking about the struggle for socialism and the rights of the working class. The desire to create a counterculture enraged conservatives, but the ability to distance young people from reality.Imagine blue-collar moms and dads seeing this down at their union local.
Well ... I had a couple of thoughts on how to raise the image of pro-Soviet Communist parties.Somewhat contrary to Mass Line, I think if by "the Old Left" we mean people like the mainstream unions and Norman Thomas(who I once saw credited in a World Book article on socialism), the hippies can probably get by unscathed with any association with radical Communism. But if it's groups like the CPUSA, that's gonna be a problem.
The Maoists and supporters of Moscow were actively on strikeI don't see how it's possible for the yippies to team up with the unions of the Old Left, unless the latter turned against the Vietnam War early, which might have its own implications.
Hippies are not capable of destroying America - they are too apolitical, and this movement is all about escapism.Lots more backlash, if you thought the "Hippies are communists trying to destroy America" was bad IRL, imagine if they were more closely associated with the leftists (in America, namely socialist workers and unions) from the previous decades.
Hippies are not capable of destroying America - they are too apolitical, and this movement is all about escapism.
So we have two options - either to make the Communists a real force, or to promote the development of non-communist left.Communists were never capable of taking over America, since they lacked the numbers to be a real force on their own. Didn't stop two Red Scares from happening, the second largely over imaginary communists.
Damn it.Established Old Left parties did try to organize youth in the US in the 1960's. The CPUSA had the DuBois Clubs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.E.B._Du_Bois_Clubs_of_America (this was not a mere "youth affiliate" the way the Young Communist League had been but a would-be "mass organization" not formally controlled by the Party) , the (Trotskyist) Socialist Workers Party had the Young Socialist Alliance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Socialist_Alliance
Neither was very successful, and the reasons were obvious. The CPUSA had been shattered both by repression and by internal dissension (eventually leading to mass resignations) sparked by the Soviet 20th Party Congress, the Hungarian Revolution, etc. Moreover, its program of the 1960's--to work within the Democratic Party and the AFL-CIO and liberal organizations in general--seemed old-fashioned and unexciting to rebellious young people of that era. As for the Trotskyists, their "incurable sectarianism" and addiction to splits were notorious, and the Stalinist-vs.-Trotskyist debates of the 1930's seemed dated and irrelevant to most students in the 1960's.
I thought, and if in 1948 or 1957 there is a crisis equal to the strength of the Great Depression, then what is the probability of the spread of pacifism and social movements? Until the 60s, pacifism had no influence because the risk of starving to death was much higher. Death in the slaughterhouse seemed to be a relief. And in the 60's? The son wants to play rock instead of studying - well, let him try - after all, it does not depend on it, whether you die in poverty. Daughter wants to go to the commune instead of being profitable to get married. Well, it's still possible to endure, because it does not mean that you will have to give up the idea of worthy old age. Someone smokes a "jamb" - let it, because society has reached what can provide it with a minimum amount of benefits, and the "smoker" will not have to steal to get money for life. The woman gave birth unknown from whom the child - it's okay, because she can make a living for herself, and he, and she does not face death under the fence, but to him - the horror of the "orphanage".Established Old Left parties did try to organize youth in the US in the 1960's. The CPUSA had the DuBois Clubs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.E.B._Du_Bois_Clubs_of_America (this was not a mere "youth affiliate" the way the Young Communist League had been but a would-be "mass organization" not formally controlled by the Party), while the (Trotskyist) Socialist Workers Party had the Young Socialist Alliance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Socialist_Alliance
Neither was very successful, and the reasons were obvious. The CPUSA had been shattered both by repression and by internal dissension (eventually leading to mass resignations) sparked by the Soviet 20th Party Congress, the Hungarian Revolution, etc. Moreover, its program of the 1960's--to work within the Democratic Party and the AFL-CIO and liberal organizations in general--seemed old-fashioned and unexciting to rebellious young people of that era. As for the Trotskyists, their "incurable sectarianism" and addiction to splits were notorious, and the Stalinist-vs.-Trotskyist debates of the 1930's seemed dated and irrelevant to most students in the 1960's.