IDEOLOGY, INTEREST GROUP FORMATION, AND PROTEST: THE CASE OF THE ANTI-NUCLEAR POWER MOVEMENT, THE CLAMSHELL ALLIANCE, AND THE NEW LEFT

The thesis analyzes the development of the Clamshell Alliance, the first and most successful anti-nuclear power protest group. The key question the dissertation asks is how did this organization stage such popular and well-attended protests during a period when leftist political activity seemed to have died out, and little mass protest was taking place. The thesis also explores why the Clamshell Alliance disintegrated at the same time as the anti-nuclear power movement's cause was gaining public acceptance in the wake of the Three Mile Island power plant accident. The thesis finds that the principal resources the Clamshell drew upon to solve the problems of organizational formation were the activists, organizations, and ideology of the surviving New Left.; The dissertation studies the struggles of the Clamshell Alliance as an example of the recurrent problems of leftist political activism in the U.S. The study examines the Clamshell in three ways: as an organization within the historical context of the development of the New Left from the mid-sixties on, by a detailed analysis of the organizational and tactical evolution of the Clamshell, and through a survey of the demographic and attitudinal characteristics of Clamshell members and non-Clamshell anti-nuclear activists. The data for the thesis were gathered through interviewing past and present Clamshell members, a year of participant observation, and a sample survey of Clamshell members and other anti-nuclear activists.; In founding the organization, Clamshell activists drew heavily on the Quaker traditions of civil disobedience and consensus decision-making, as well as leftist beliefs and tactics from their own background. The Clamshell also framed the anti-nuclear issue so that it appealed to many former sixties activists as well as other leftist activists by way of their distrust of government and their environmental concern. As a consequence of the resulting presence of a large number of New Left ideologues in the organization, the Clamshell inherited the New Left split between political anarchists and activists more concerned with keeping the process of social change non-violent and expressive of their idealistic social values. The anarchists wished to stop construction of the plant by almost any form of mass protest while the others felt an ideological need to maintain broad popular support for their protests. Ultimately, consensus decision-making prevented the organization from agreeing to an alternative strategy to that of non-violent mass occupation when the occupation strategy had proved futile. Each faction then tried to stop the plant by using its own organization and applying its own tactics. The eventual failure of both strategies of protest led to a general disillusionment of both groups and a consequent decline in both groups' abilities to attract anti-nuclear sympathizers to large protests.; The thesis concludes that only under special conditions can protest outside of regular political channels be both popular and effective. The thesis also proves that a larger organizational and ideological legacy of the sixties remains than is generally recognized. Leftist beliefs continued to have adherents even after the protests stopped. Further, many individuals who came to political maturity after the sixties also were found to hold leftist beliefs. However, the political potential of this group can only be realized when an organization temporarily overcomes the barriers to mass leftist political action by developing an issue and a set of tactics that can appeal to leftists and nonleftists alike. Between such special acts of innovation the Left remains a political undercurrent outside of mainstream politics and without a means of effective influence because of its unwillingness to engage in conventional politics.