On “Commentary” and the American Jews Editors: I find much to disagree with in Bernard Avishai’s lengthy diatribe against Commentary Magazine. However, I write not to present a detailed rebuttal but to refute a statement attributed to me by Mr. …
On “The Legacy of Herbert Marcuse” Editors: Jean L. Cohen writes of “The Legacy of Herbert Marcuse” (Dissent, Winter 1981), expostulating his “penetrating analyses” and “spirit.” In the spirit of Dissent, I dissent. Marcuse was a sad figure and his …
Mistaken Identity Editors: Permit me to point out an error in fact in Jean Bloch-Michel’s article “Anti-Semitism and the French Right” (Summer 1980). Lucien Goldmann was neither a “former anarchist” nor was he killed by the neofascist Police Honor. He …
In June 1980 the National Advisory Council on Economic Opportunity, under the chairmanship of Arthur I. Blaustein, submitted its Twelfth Report, Critical Choices for the Eighties, to President Carter (available from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, …
Editors: I am replying to the fundraising letter that I received today. Dissent is probably one of only a few causes that I support without reservation but I lack the means with which to back up my ideological support. I …
Thank You Editors: I am replying to the fund-raising letter that I received today. Dissent is probably one of only a few causes that I support without reservation but I lack the means with which to back up my ideological …
Community Organizing Editors: Michael Walzer’s “Pastoral Retreat of the New Left” is sympathetic [Dissent, Fall 1979]; but some facts are wrong. The only organizations he mentions specifically in his critique of the trends in community organizing are the Midwest Academy, …
A Correction Editors: In my article, “What is Political Equality” (Dissent, Summer 1979), I referred to an allegedly “crude formulation” of Nelson Polsby’s, “that if, say, poor people fail to vote in large numbers, it must be because they think …
Editors: Was the article “Africa: War and Revolution” in the spring issue of Dissent submitted to any member of the editorial board with some knowledge of Africa? If so, I find it hard to understand how such obvious anomalies as …
DAVID T. BAZELON, who teaches English at the State University of New York at Buffalo, is the author of The Paper Economy (1963), Power in America (1967), and Nothing but a Fine Tooth Comb (1970).
Thoughts on Skokie Editors: The gravamen of the ACLU position in the Skokie case is contained in David Goldberger’s assertion that”. . . the nazis are not the real issue. The Skokie laws are the real issue.” As Mr. Goldberger’s letter points out, …
Liberalism Editors: In the Summer 1978 issue Harry Boyte (“Beyond Liberalism: Toward a Living Democracy”) wrote of the “antidemocratic assumptions” and “authoritarian traits” of liberalism. Would he document those statements from the writings of authentic liberals like John Stuart Mill, …
It’s almost like completing a circle. Dissent marks its 25th Anniversary with an issue featuring articles on the swing to the right in American politics and intellectual life. When we started in 1954, we were polemicizing against a similar trend. …
On Socialist Thought Editors: Dissent is to be commended for publishing Robert Heilbroner’s essay and the critical responses to it. The essay and the various responses go to the heart of some of the most troubling aspects of the socialist tradition. It seems to …
Editors: A few observations on the discussion of pornography in your Spring 1978 issue (“The Problem of Pornography,” by Murray Hausknecht, with comments by Lionel Abel, George P. Elliott, Cynthia Fuchs Epstein, Irving Howe, and David Spitz). With regard to …
