Notebook: A Report from “Students for a Democratic Society”

As the call for Consensus continues to roll from the lips of Lyndon B. Johnson, the American Left must begin to search for the sources and qualities of dissidence that could break progressive forces loose from Johnson’s grip. But the forces of breakdown, we suspect, are not inherent in the apparent contradictions among the coalition’s inhabitants. Although the labor “movement” cannot but squirm about its eroding position, there is little indication that it will cease following its usual ways. And although big business must shy at its ties with the Democrats, it is hard to see disappointments on the horizon that would lead it to desert the President for a free-for-all fight to recapture a Republican party probably doomed to permanent minority status. Moderate civil rights and peace groups will vie for their shares of the Great Pie; and proponents of liberal concerns running from Medicare to conservation will be sympathetically heard (within acceptable limits) ...