During the summer of 1969, the SDS held their final national convention at the Chicago Coliseum, with almost 2,000 members attending. Despite fewer than 100 activists attending their first convention meeting at Port Huron, Michigan in 1962, by 1968 the controversial SDS could muster over 50,000 active members . Omissions? In 1960 Hayden, along with other activists such as Michael Harrington and Robert Alan Haber, founded SDS, an offshoot of the League for Industrial Democracy and the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. Students for a Democratic Society was the largest – and arguably most successful – student activist organization in U.S. history. Records of the Penn State chapter of Students fo… Initially peaceful, the demonstration devolved into a sit-in that was violently dispersed by local police, resulting in many injuries and arrests. Others worked the streets and the parks, believing something more revolutionary had to take place to end the War in Vietnam. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. One of the preeminent activists of the 1960s, Hayden helped found Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and was arrested as one of the Chicago Seven indicted for conspiracy to incite the riots that accompanied the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. 2) Sit-ins and ransacking of college administration and military recruiting centers to disrupt draft recruitment. But they were still in charge and decided what and how the students would learn. The fall of 1967 marked the New Left’s escalation from protesting the war to more direct action. Each child had a share in the work. Related Terms: RED DIAPER BABIES--The children of people who had been active members of progressive, sometimes even radical, social movements during the 1930s (Webster's Dictionary, 9th ed.) Why? Some young Democrats tried to work within the system, trying to get anti-war candidate Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-MN) nominated. To get on my free stock trading update list scroll on down and put your email into the subscribe box. 2) Advocated more power for individuals through citizen’s lobbies against iron triangle corruptions. The SDS was a student organization in the 1960s the comprised what we call the New Left. What impact do you think the name "Students for a Democratic Society" had on people? But the group’s members are saying this is the university attempting to suppress their voices. The students learned to accept responsibility, lead, help others, and think. He also served as a Freedom Rider in the South, struggling for the civil rights of African Americans. © Copyright 2020 Timingwallstreet, Inc. Disclaimer. Whether respected or derided, SDS was soon a household name in the United States.Membership in SDS chapters around the United States increased dramatically and reached its highest point during the 1968-69 academic year. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was the main organizational groups of the campus-based radical movement known as the New Left in the 1960s. He promoted legislation to deal with equity in the public university system, environmental measures such as the banning of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in drinking water and the drafting of the largest environmental restoration bond in California history, and the training of immigrant parents of public-school children. D) President Johnson announced that he would not run for another term as President. did they routinely engage in, to "change" American society? Local police responded by arresting hundreds of students, but the name “SDS” slipped into popular culture for the first time. The first attempt at codifying the organization’s aims produced the famous Port Huron Statement, which would guide the SDS’s actions until the Vietnam War heated up. Even the conservative Harvard University endured major protests and sit-ins when US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara visited that year. …the Youth International Party (Yippies); Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. By the summer of 1967, the SDS’s anti-war call had spread so wide among university students that the National Office could organize protests at campuses without a local chapter. SDS called for the creation of a “New Left,” that is, a new kind of liberalism. Updates? Read about the student protests against the Cold War in the 1960s. Of all the student activist organizations that flourished in the United States during the mid-to-late 1960s, none had such a lasting impact on pop culture and contemporary politics as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). This early standoff, or “sit-in,” drew major media attention and blockaded the police car for 32 hours. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. Their attention was focused on the civil rights-oriented shutdown of Columbia University in New York, led by an inter-racial alliance of Columbia SDS chapter activists and Student Afro Society members. Holdings Disclosure. Do you agree with their methods of promoting change? Many university students joined the Civil Rights movement, while others took lessons from its successes and formed their own groups. Describe the conservative backlash during the social upheaval of the 1960s. A)not allowed to fight overseas. The Students for a Democratic Society was a leftist student movement that came out of the early 60s in the midst of the New Left, and had chapters and wide participation throughout America in the 60s, most notably the anti-war and free speech movement. In some ways, it was surprising that these privileged students (mostly upper- to middle-class white students), attending some of the most prestigious universities in the country, began shaking the establishment. Late in the spring of 1962, five dozen college students gathered at a lakeside camp near Port Huron, Michigan, to discuss politics. From its launch in 1960 it grew rapidly in the course of the tumultuous decade with over 300 campus chapters and 30,000 supporters recorded n… The League for Industrial Democracy, SDS’s sponsoring organization, was disappointed with this change and the two organizations severed all ties by mutual agreement on October 4, 1965. Specifically, the SDS advocated nonviolent civil disobedience as the primary tool by which student youth could bring forth a “participatory democracy.”. C) often granted deferments to attend college The goal of MDS is the creation of a more egalitarian society in both the political and economic spheres. As the American presence in Vietnam escalated, Hayden began organizing civil disobedience protests against the Vietnam War. It was at this convention, popularly known as the “Flint War Council,” that the SDS-RYM was formally disbanded. The Port Huron Statement denounced the political system of the United States for failing to achieve international peace and critiqued Cold War foreign policy and national security bureaucracy. Which only enhanced the group’s reputation with many young students. Last week the Nation magazine published an open letter, signed by 60 former leaders of the Students for a Democratic Society, which calls on Bernie Sanders supporters to vote for Joe Biden. In 1962 his work The Port Huron Statement became the political manifesto for SDS, calling on students to use nonviolent means to develop a participatory democracy in the United States, especially for African American voters in the South. At the time, many schools were using students’ class rankings to determine draft eligibility. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), American student organization that flourished in the mid-to-late 1960s and was known for its activism against the Vietnam War. This statement, criticizing the U.S. government's failure to pursue international peace or address domestic inequality, became the organiza The history of SDS as you've never seen it before. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. (S.Sgt. Albert R. Simpson, Department of Defense / via Wikimedia) Step-by-step answer. Assess its positive and negative effects.5. While there were no shortage of anti-war groups protesting the war, SDS gained fame and notoriety by their calls for direct and specific action against the “military-industrial complex.” Some of their most effective tactics included: 1) Mass student strikes that significantly increased participation from non-members and the larger non-politically active student body. At the time, the University of California at Berkeley was the epicenter of the “free speech movement.” When a young activist was arrested for setting up an informational card table about the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)—a violation of the university’s ban on political solicitation—the SDS worked closely with a similar organization called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to take immediate action. A last ditch attempt by the old guard to hold a “rethinking conference” and form some coherent new direction for the SDS failed. SDS was able to redefine how the student voice … For four days and nights, the members of an obscure student group, known as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), talked passionately about such topics as civil rights, foreign policy, and the quality of American life. 4. Still, the convention did manage to firm up their anti-war goals. Privacy Policy. The PL soon began to organize a Worker Student Alliance, which by 1968 would revolutionize the SDS, by forming a well-groomed and disciplined faction which adhered to the Progressive Labor Party line. Many of its members are veterans of the New Left in the 60's and 70's. By the summer of 1965, the SDS boasted more than 50 chapters in universities all over the country. A Stop the Draft Week rally in Oakland, California resulted in rock-throwing street skirmishes with the police that injured dozens on both sides. Men from low-income families often could not defer the draft. Campus chapters around the country began independently organizing local demonstrations against the war, which culminated in a major peace march in Washington DC on April 17th. After conventional civil rights tactics of peaceful pickets and civil disobedience were met by the riot police, violence began to pick up. The SDS-WSA survived until 1974, but with the Vietnam War winding down after the Tet Offensive, they mostly abandoned the anti-war efforts and focused their activism on civil and labor rights. Movement for a Democratic Societyis a multi-issue activist organization affiliated with the newly revived Students for a Democratic Society(SDS). Another prominent example came when SDS members from Austin, Texas participated in a mass demonstration in San Antonio, Texas in April 1969 at the “Kings River Parade.” The demonstration to protest the killing of Bobby Joe Phillips by San Antonio Police Officers attracted major media coverage. Most dramatically, the convention also removed the anti-communist exclusion clauses from the SDS constitution. In response, a local SDS chapter at the University of Chicago took over the main administration building in a three-day sit-in during May of 1965. Foundation and Early Activism. He served as president of SDS from 1962 to 1963. Chapters around the nation entered a new era of unprecedented dissent and activism, but Berkeley again became a focal point of protesting that drew the attention of the mass media. This educational vision did not last, however, as the SLID members took Until early 1965, the SDS was deeply involved in advocated for the civil rights movement and these various socio-economic causes in the middle of the Cold War era. Hayden attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he served as editor of The Michigan Daily. The massive influx of new members and chapters, combined with ousting the previous “old guard” leadership, created a crisis which dogged SDS until its final breakup in 1969: a consensus was never reached how the organization should achieve its anti-war goals. Domestically, it listed strong grievances against racial discrimination, economic inequality, big businesses, trade unions political parties, and the power elite. This demands a broad-based, deep-rooted, and revolutionary transformation of our society, which, with your help, we are prepared to do! For more about me hit the about us page in the top navbar. The Weathermen held one final national convention in Flint, Michigan in December, 1969. In 1962, at a United Auto Workers' camp in Michigan, Students for a Democratic Society held its historic convention and prepared the famous Port Huron Statement, drafted by Tom Hayden. The SDS continued to expand their influence outside of the peace movement and forged strong ties with many civil rights groups. It was written by SDS members, and completed on June 15, 1962, at a United Auto Workers retreat outside of Port Huron, Michigan, for the group's first national convention. An organizational meeting was… a youth arm was needed to access the growing number of college students, so they created the Student League for Industrial Democracy (SLID). That all changed on October 1, 1962. Vandalism and arson against draft offices soon grew widespread. The 1967 convention eliminated the presidential and vice-presidential offices and replaced them with a national secretary, an education secretary, and an inter-organizational secretary. The San Francisco chapter, led by the Worker-Student Alliance and rival Joe Hill caucuses, played a significant role in the Third World Student Strike at San Francisco State College. SLID's function would be to educate students about socialism by handing out literature and organizing lectures given by their elders. Students for a Democratic Society They were a radical anti-war movement organization during the Vietnam War made up of usually college students, … Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) fundamentally changed the United States’ political landscape throughout the 1960s. About a million students walked out of classes that day, which is still the largest student strike in US history. Who were Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)? For a brief period, they were particularly effective at channeling the energy of the local chapters into the anti-war movement. The 1966 summer convention moved even farther west to Clear Lake, Iowa. 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