Word: socialist
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...solemn pronouncements of these cloistered radical groups seem pretty ridiculous. But it appears that Harrington, in his anxiety to avoid ever appearing absurd again, has fallen prey to another pitfall. For the socialist there is always the danger of allowing one's political identity to be blurred, forgetting exactly what it is that makes a socialist's world-view different from that of people with a stake in capitalist institutions...
...know," he says, "every time the SWP [Socialist Workers' Party] holds a convention to nominate a candidate, the Times and maybe a couple of other papers will run a profile of the guy, then maybe he gets on the ballot in six states." Harrington laughs. "Like a goddamn dancing bear." Then, still smiling, but with an undertone of seriousness, "I don't want to be a dancing bear...
Harrington says he believes that liberal reformism is "socialist in content" and that socialism is the "logical outgrowth of liberal consciousness." He has a great deal of faith in the capacity of a centralized bureacracy to deal with problems of distribution of wealth. If only we could re-order our priorities, he argues, and invest our energies and money in people rather than guns, we could move towards a just society...
McGovern's proposals were badly thought out and perhaps poorly presented. But for a socialist to say, "you see, this is the way things are, this is the state of the working class consciousness, and to suggest a radical program of income redistribution is sectarian and self-defeating," pushes socialist thought back about a century--when many radicals sat back and waited for the inexorable march of history to effect change in society...
...delegate conventions, all those years as the object of scorn of mainstream American politicians, have gotten to him--now he wants to go to New York City and have Messrs. Udall, Jackson, Harris and Bayn petition for support next year. Maybe he believes that that is what an effective socialist movement is all about...