The Young Radicals: A Symposium

Since the Second World War the American radical has had the unenviable task of having to advocate socialism in the midst of capitalist plenty. So unrewarding have been his efforts that nowadays he hardly talks about socialism at all, but instead applies his efforts to separate issues, such as civil rights or capital punishment, which seem to contribute to the general progress.

We know that today most of the world’s people are groping toward one form of socialism or the other. They take it for granted that a planned society is healthier and more viable than capitalist chaos and drift. The question that confounds them is how to move rapidly toward socialism without sacrificing humanitarian ideals.

The fact that in the U. S. today a socialist is a rare bird not only testifies to the decline of the American Left, but is further evidence of the growing insularity and almost incredible backwardness of this modern industrial nation. It is as if material wealth had dulled the sensibilities of an entire population. Consider, for example, how few of our fellow citizens manifest any concern that human civilization may be pulverized in a nuclear war at any hour. I do not mean to minimize the activities of any of the p...