◆ SpookStack

L APPENDIX STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY A source has advised that the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), as presently regarded, came into being at a founding convention held June, 1962, at Port Huron, Michigan. From an initial posture of "participatory democracy" the line of the national leadership has revealed a growing Marxist-Leninist adherence which currently calls for the building of a revolutionary youth movement. Concurrently, the program of SDS has evolved from civil rights struggles to an anti-Vietnam stance to an advocacy of a militant anti- imperialist position. China, Vietnam and Cuba are regarded as the leaders of worldwide Struggles against the United States imperialism whereas the Soviet Union is held to be revisionist and also imperialist. At the June, 1969 SDS National Convention, Pro- gressive Labor Party (PLP) forces in the organization were expelled. As a result, the National Office (NO) group main- tained its National Headquarters at 1608 West Madison Street, Chicago, andthe PLP faction set up headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This headquarters subsequently moved to Boston, Rach group elected its own national officers, which included three national secretaries and a National Interim Committee of eight. Both the NO forces and the PLP forces claim to be the true SDS. Both groups also print their versions of “New Left Notes", which sets forth the line and the program of the part- icular faction. The NO version of "New Left Notes" was re- cently printed under the title "The Fire Next Time" to achieve a broader mass appeal, Iwo major factions have developed internally within the NO group, namely, the Weatherman or Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM) I faction, and the RYM II faction. Weatherman is action-oriented upholding Castro's position that the duty of revolutionaries is to make revolution. Weatherman is regarded by RYM II as an adventuristic, elitist faction which denies the historical role of the working class as the base of revolution. RYM II maintains that revolution, although desired, is nots possible under present conditions, hence, emphasizes organizing and raising the political consciousness of the working class upon whom they feel successful revolution depends. Although disclaiming control and domination by the Communist Party, USA, leaders in these two factions have in the past proclaimed themselves to be communists and to follow the precepts of a Marxist-Leninist philosophy, along pro-Chinese communist lines. A second source has advised that the PLP faction which is more commonly known as the Worker Student Alliance Saul ietien alent ~6-"