Youth Culture in the 1960s
The Americans in the 1960s were marred with the radicalization of many youths organized in various groups. One of the most powerful and well-established groups is the Student for a Democratic Society (SDC). This group was part of the New Left movement and was founded in 1960 and provided much of the energy and force for the New Left (Hoover, 1969). It was predominantly made of American university and college students from all over the country. This essay will review the objectives of the SDC and some of the events and activities it was involved in during its existence.
The SDC had many objectives based on the student’s demands at that time. The group generally addressed social issues such as poverty, racism, and other social injustices. The group proclaimed a need for political parties to attain greater democracy and advocated for more power for the people through citizen’s lobbies against the iron triangle’s corruption. Due to the social injustices and inequality in society, the students were inspired to fight for the public and be the force of change in America.
The SDC staged peaceful demonstrations across the country through the organization of the many colleges and universities in America. As time progressed, the group grew significantly too large and commanded substantial support from both the public and some politicians. However, some members of the group felt that peaceful demonstrations were not serving their purpose correctly and opted to use armed groups and violence. As SDC grew larger, it split into several factions, each focusing on a specific issue. One of the most notorious factions was the Weatherman, who employed terrorists’ tactics in their activities (Hoover, 1969). Other factions turned their focus on Third World countries and other issues.
Until 1965, the SDC chapters were mainly involved in the civil rights movement with the idea of bringing justice and equality in American society (Stryker, 1993). They also focused on black power and tried to incorporate other groups that advocated for social issues such as the Black Panther Party. This concern for a society shaped the student union’s initial ideas and gave them a foundation for future activities. However, the events of the American involvement in Vietnam in 1965 started changing the course of the student union. In April 1965, SDC organized a national march on Washington, and from that day, the union grew increasingly militant, especially relating to issues to do with the war (Stryker, 1993).
The issue of the Vietnam War grew personal day by day as the United States government started recruiting students into the military. Some of these students died in the war, making the student union furious. They demonstrated the recruitments and the evils of the war and organized strikes across the country (Stryker, 1993). They were backed up by many politicians who were against the war. The public became their major supporter, too, since they were against the military involvement in Vietnam and the untimely deaths of the servicemen. The war also did not have the least implication of ending, and the Americans were losing more people, resources, and the war itself.
By 1969, SDC had more than forty factions, with each citing a different agenda. The increased factionalism within its ranks and the winding up of the Vietnam War were some of the reasons for the dissolution of the SDC in the early 1970s (Stryker, 1993). By 1975, the organization had become defunct, marking the end to the Americans’ most powerful student’s union in history.
In my opinion, SDC was a good force that fought for the civil rights of the Americans. However, since 1965, the union was mostly politicized and veered off its primary aim. This act made the union have no clear goals in their existence as they were controlled mainly by the political wave of that time. They should have focused on social injustices and avoid the Vietnam War since their opinions did not matter. For example, their efforts in the Third World played a significant role in Congo’s crisis of decolonization (Lemisch, 2001). Their efforts to denounce the unfinished decolonization of higher education and the unfulfilled promises of national independence were crucial for the country. However, their involvement in political issues masked off their achievements, which received little attention from the media. Therefore, it will be correct to conclude that the SDC did not serve its purpose.
References
Hoover, J. E. (1969). A Study in Marxist Revolutionary Violence: Students for a Democratic Society, 1962-1969. Fordham L. Rev., 38, 289.
Lemisch, J. (2001). Students for a Democratic Society, Heroically Portrayed, before the Inexplicable Fall: Consensus History in a Left Film. Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies, 31(1), 54-57.
Stryker, S. D. (1993). Knowledge and Power in the Students for a Democratic Society, 1960-1970. Berkeley journal of sociology, 38, 89-138.