Aliens in Their Own Land  

THE ALIENATED VOTER, by Murray B. Levin. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Political poll-takers have asked the American people many questions in their years of investigation, but seldom have they tried to find out what the American people think about politics …



Notes on the U. S. Political Economy  

The 1960-61 recession has displayed two contradictory characteristics: it has been the mildest postwar recession when measured in terms of the cutbacks in output, capital investments and inventories, but the worst in terms of unemployment and business failures. The paradox …



Trouble in Auto  

The auto workers are facing serious trouble these days The trouble was dramatized by an incident reported in the Detroit News (Feb. 16): The UAW’s 24-year tenure as spokesman for 550,000 Detroit-area auto workers was challenged today. Ouster of the …







France: A Nation in Agony  

The French Left has finally returned to political action. On October 27, 1960, summoned by the National Union of French Students and joined by the independent unions—Force Ouvriere, the French Confederation of Christian Workers and the autonomous teachers unions 20,000 …



Ideology And The Beau Gesten  

I agree with much of what Dennis Wrong says in his “Reflections on the End of Ideology,” in the Summer 1960 issue of DISSENT. Mr. Wrong writes that the “end of ideology” is a fear of the “destructive mass emotions …





An Exemplary Life  

At about 7:80 on the evening of June 27, 1960, in a tiny book-crammed lodging of a workers’ suburb of Paris, Pierre Monatte died. He was seventy-nine years old. Monatte entered the union movement in 1902, having been attracted to …





Thwarting The Young  

GROWING Ur ABSURD, by Paul Goodman. Random House. In the notices it has received thus far, Paul Goodman’s remarkable book, Growing Up Absurd, has not been done the decency of a summary. My main intention in this review is to …



A Compassionate View  

THE BEAT OF LIFE, by Barbara Probst Solomon. Lippincott & Co. With sympathy and honesty, Barbara Probst Solomon has written a book about her own generation. In The Beat of Life the “beat” and the “silent” young are not being …





California’s Death Penalty  

THE RECENT FAILURE to abolish the death penalty in California by initiative petition reveals something about liberal politics today. In February 1960, there seemed to be an excellent chance of repealing the state’s capital punishment law. Governor Edmund Brown had …