S Antiwar Movement And Its Disintegration

The sixties in the United States was a talque chaPer in the American historymarkd by a series of anti-tradition and ani-auhoritarian movements such as theCivil klghs Movement, the Aniwar Movemellt, the Anti-cultUre Movemeni and theWomen's Movement. These movements aimed to rectify the social evils in theAinerican society such as racism, discrirninaion against women, stultifyingconformity and aggressive and intervention-oriented foreign policy. At the same time,a new po1itical force composed of young stUdents activists emerged on the politicalstage and played an imPortant role in these movements. The new political force wascalled the New Left, Which espoused "participatOry democracy," namely, ademocracy fOr individual prtcipation as the subStifore for the existing politicalsystem. Its most influeniial movemeni was the Aniwar Movement, since the NewLeft not only initiated the movement but also assumed the leadership for quite a longperiod. The StUdents fOr a Democratic Society (SDS) came into publicity at thebeginning of the movement and remained the major organization of the New Left inthe Aniwar Movement throughout the decade. However, as the movement unfolded,the inherent weaknesses of SDS were fully exPosed, and the outside suPpression ofSDS was intensified. In the end, SDS proved unable to survive the intemal andextemal tensions and collaPsed in l959, bringing the New Left movement to an end.The thesis attemPts to analyze the re1atonship betWeen SDS's AniwarMovemellt and its disintegration, thus providing an insight into the natUIe of theAmerican New Left and the reaction of other segments in the American society.The paPer is divided into three chaPters. The first chaPter presents a briefilltroduction to SDS, examining the background of its emergence, its developmeni,and its intelleCtual sources. The second chaPter makes a detalled accoun of SDS'sAniwar Movement, with an emPhasis on the major events that served as the tringpoints in the movement and the consequences brought about by them. The third~'schaPter analyzes the causes of SDS's collaPse iat twO parallel levels: the intemalcauses and the extCmal causes. At the intCmal level, the organization's anarchicideology, ambigUity in its strategy and its inabi1ity:to extend its middle class bases al1contribthed to its collapse. At the extemal leve1, govemmellt suPPression andostracism by the mainstream society all took its;toll on the dissolution of SDS. Inconclusion, the intemal as well as extemal factors caused the collaPse of SDS.