Letters

Editor:

Irving Howe’s “New Styles in ‘Leftism'” DISSENT, Summer 1965] calls for critical comment. For two decades this sort of defensive anti-communism has undermined the American left, which should not be encumbered by such comparative side-issues. Now, bypassed by new radicals who understandably want none of this merchandise, Mr. Howe dons the proprietary mantle of statesman of the left, to warn against seduction by the far left. “Thereby they would cut off the resurgent American radicalism from what it is, or should be. . .” (p. 316). Rather ironic, is this not? Does Mr. Howe believe that his group has had anything to do with the fact that radicalism is resurgent?

The attack of this article reminds me of the campaign waged by the right-wing against “Keynesian” economics—diffuse, uncoordinated, embellished by every diverse scrap that can be unearthed. The key to this, I think, is Mr. Howe’s apparent incapacity f...