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JANUARY 16,=20 2004	\| current issue \| back issues = \| subscribe=20 \|

A Half-Century of Dissent

An Influential Political Journal Celebrates Its Golden = Anniversary=20
By GERALD SORIN
When the democratic socialist magazine Dissent, edited by the late = Irving=20 Howe, published its first issue in January 1954, civil liberties had = been=20 threatened for several years by irresponsible politicians and = overzealous=20 government officials. Senator Joseph McCarthy and Congressman Richard = Nixon,=20 for example, were on an anti-radical crusade, and FBI Director J. = Edgar Hoover=20 and Attorneys General J. Howard McGrath and Herbert Brownell Jr., = among=20 others, were passionately pursuing suspected leftists. Criticism of = repression=20 and of harassment, and questioning of U.S. foreign policy were widely = defined=20 as disloyalty and even treason. At the same time, much of what = remained of the=20 American left, after fearful defections or shortsighted acquiescence = in the=20 post-World War II "American celebration," had been hijacked by = Stalinists and=20 other ideological groups who eschewed patriotism in any form and = blamed the=20 United States for every conceivable ill in the world.

One might conclude, sadly, that some things have not changed much = since the=20 1950s. Although the left is much freer these days to make its views = known,=20 Attorney General John Ashcroft and his ilk continue to ride roughshod = over=20 precious constitutional protections, and these violations are met, too = often=20 even in the so-called liberal media, by silence =97 or worse yet, = assent. And=20 especially in the aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center = and the=20 Bush administration's responses in Afghanistan and Iraq, many on the = far left,=20 like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, insist that the stars and stripes = stand=20 only for jingoism, vengeance and war.

But none of this discourages Michael Walzer and Mitchell Cohen, the = current=20 editors of Dissent =97 at least not completely, or for too long. = Walzer and=20 Cohen and many others on the editorial board, including Todd Gitlin, = Michael=20 Kazin and George Packer, unlike their cohorts on the left, believe it = is=20 possible for American power to be harnessed for good. They worry much, = of=20 course, about the direction of American policy, domestic and foreign, = and they=20 fret too about whether there can ever again be a "decent left" to = confront and=20 reorient those policies. But, like the Dissent writers preceding them = over the=20 past five decades, they continue to be committed to fostering just = such a=20 left-wing movement, one that is not only of this world, but in it: a = movement=20 not so one-dimensionally anti-American and so radically alienated from = its own=20 society and culture that it cannot communicate with its fellow = citizens.

Walzer, a professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced = Study=20 in Princeton, N.J., who was a student of Howe's at Brandeis University = in the=20 late 1950s, believes that the democratic American left has had an = honorable=20 history in the last half-century and has "certainly gotten many things = right =97=20 above all, our opposition to domestic and global inequalities." But he = does=20 admit, as the founders of Dissent did in 1954, that the left "is up = for grabs"=20 and "needs to begin again." If there is to be a viable and effective=20 progressive movement, said Cohen, a Baruch College professor of = political=20 theory, it must, as it did 50 years ago, dismantle rigid ideologies, = and=20 refurbish and reinvigorate the idea of radical social justice. It = needs to=20 battle not only the forces of repression on its right, but also the = myopic,=20 absolutist "blame-America-first-and-only club" on its left. With a = quarterly=20 circulation of 8,500, Dissent is a smaller voice than its rivals = further to=20 the left: The Nation, a weekly with 140,000 subscribers and The = Progressive, a=20 monthly with 50,000. But several things make it a better vehicle to=20 resuscitate a democratic radicalism with broad support: its long = history of=20 taking on the forces of reaction in defense of civil liberties; its = battle=20 against ideological absolutists; its continued ability to attract = impressive=20 and influential writers and thinkers (including Walzer, George Packer, = Paul=20 Berman and others); and most important, the magazine's conscious = distance from=20 the anti-Americanism that infects much of the rest of the left.

No other serious magazine can claim these bona fides, nor could any = in the=20 postwar period before Dissent was established: Dwight Macdonald's = Politics,=20 although always provocative, was little more than a vehicle for the=20 editor-owner's personal and ever-changing outlook, and in any case it = folded=20 in the fall of 1949; Commentary, founded in 1945, remained liberal and = reformist in perspective until its turn to neoconservatism in the = 1970s;=20 Partisan Review's socialism, without the prospect of an activated=20 revolutionary working class, had dissipated early in the 1940s; and = Paul=20 Sweezy's Monthly Review, which Howe characterized as a journal for = "left=20 authoritarians" advocating "the radicalism of the blackjack," was = still mired=20 in the mud of 1930s Stalinist fellow-traveling. Howe and others =97 = including=20 Lewis Coser, Harold Rosenberg and Paul Goodman =97 thought a new = magazine was=20 necessary, one that could stake out a "dissenters'" position of = independent=20 radicalism between the Stalinists and the increasingly affirming = liberals at=20 Commentary.

In a statement of intentions published in the first issue of = Dissent, the=20 editors committed themselves to combating conformism, and promised to = "defend=20 democratic, humanist and radical values," and to confront and expose = the evils=20 of totalitarianism "whether fascist or Stalinist." As important, they=20 expressed a desire to initiate "a frank and friendly dialogue with = liberal=20 opinion," as well as to reassess "socialist doctrines," especially in = light of=20 American political and cultural life. "The great need," Howe said, "is = not for=20 agreement but for intellectual roominess and openness; things must not = be=20 allowed to be frozen into petty orthodoxies."

Dissent's budget was tiny and depended in large part on the = willingness of=20 editors to tax themselves. Howe, as early as 1954, was already = complaining=20 that Dissent "is the most expensive magazine in the world on which to = be an=20 editor." And he was not above encouraging writers and readers, = especially=20 college teachers, to get their librarians to subscribe; nor did he shy = away=20 from saying to new recruits, "if you can chip in a few bucks that = would be=20 nice." Howe told one writer not to visit the Dissent office because = "it isn't=20 an office, just a mailing address. Who can afford an office?" This = despite=20 subsidies from Joseph Buttinger, a former leader of the young = socialists in=20 Austria after they were forced underground following the fascist coup = in 1934,=20 as well as from Muriel Gardiner, Buttinger's wife, a wealthy heiress = and an=20 eminent psychologist in her own right, who had risked her life in the = 1930s to=20 rescue endangered Austrian radicals. Even with incessant fund-raising = by Howe=20 (a task he detested), money was always in short supply. Circulation = climbed=20 from about 4,000 to nearly 10,000 by the late 1960s, but still there = was no=20 Dissent office, nor would there ever be. Subscription lists were kept = in a=20 spare bedroom closet of one of the editors, and editorial meetings = were held=20 in the apartments of various board members.

Despite its shaky infrastructure, over the years Dissent attracted=20 top-notch writers, including Richard Wright, Norman Mailer, Edmund = Wilson, Nat=20 Hentoff and Richard Rorty =97 all of whom wrote, in one way or = another, about=20 the intersection of culture and politics. Only a year or two after = their first=20 issue, the Dissenters' belief that ordinary people could reach "new = heights of=20 sensibility" in culture and politics was reinforced by events. They = took hope,=20 for example, in the emerging civil rights movement in the mid- to = late-1950s=20 and thought that the black crusade might even infuse labor with some = of its=20 militant spirit. In the spring of 1956, Dissent carried a piece on the = movement in Montgomery, Ala., and in the same issue Howe and Coser = predicted,=20 correctly, that "in a few decades" the bus boycott would be "looked = upon as a=20 political and social innovation of a magnitude approaching the first = sit-down=20 strikes in the 1930s."

With the civil rights movement growing and with Democratic = congressional=20 successes in the late 1950s, Dissent came to believe that there was a=20 significant change in the country's political mood, a new unrest, "a = shift=20 toward liberalism." The left, Howe thought, could begin to feel a = little less=20 beleaguered as hostility to radicalism, so pervasive in the postwar = period,=20 began to dissipate. And the Dissenters encouraged radicals, even while = they=20 continued to offer a "long-range socialist perspective," to take = advantage of=20 the new opportunity. They urged cooperation with liberals in = developing=20 progressive programs and in taking progressive action whenever = possible. In=20 fact, Dissent ceased to reprint its initial editorial statement = eschewing=20 political organizations and it began to sound like a magazine that had = found=20 at least a new "mood," if not yet a viable movement, to which it could = relate.

This mood was reinforced by the anti-segregationist sit-in movement = that=20 began in North Carolina in the early part of 1960. And throughout the = decade,=20 Howe and the other editors continued to see the civil rights movement = as an=20 authentic and effective weapon in the battle for racial justice, as = well as a=20 symbol of a new sensibility, and a guiding example for a revived = American=20 left. Howe asked Walzer, on the very first day of the sit-ins by = Southern=20 black students, to go to North Carolina to report on the movement for = Dissent,=20 and the young writer sent back a series of sensitive, hopeful pieces. = The=20 magazine had never before sent a writer to cover so distant a story. = For the=20 first time Dissent's radical analysis was accompanied by radical = news.

Dissent also sensed the potential for yet more radical news with = the=20 arrival of the New Left in the early 1960s. Many of the writers and = editors=20 thought a movement had finally begun to emerge that could take the = best that=20 the old anti-Stalinist left had to offer and, perhaps, build on it in = the more=20 promising social and political atmosphere of the 1960s. Indeed, to = some of the=20 Dissenters, including Howe and Walzer, it looked as if the 1962 "Port = Huron=20 Statement," the manifesto of the Students for a Democratic Society = (SDS), with=20 its emphasis on participatory democracy (although more amorphous than = anything=20 in Dissent), could have been written largely out of the journal's = pages. For=20 in the late 1950s and early 1960s, article after article had stressed = the=20 fundamental significance of democracy, civil liberties, = decentralization and=20 citizen activism in a politics of opposition. Some even called for a = radical=20 movement based on personal autonomy.

But as early as 1960, the same Dissent pieces also expressed = reservations=20 about the young radicals themselves. The students, it was charged, = were not=20 receptive to "programs," for example, or to the "resolutions" and=20 "machinations" necessary for coalition politics. There was = apprehension, too,=20 about the New Left's lack of commitment to anti-communism, its lack of = concern=20 with analytical criticism, and its romance with Third World = revolutionaries.=20 And by 1965, Howe and other Dissent editors were deeply embroiled with = the New=20 Left over tactics, strategies and goals of social change. Some, but = not all,=20 of the disputes stemmed from the re-intensification of the Cold War, = the=20 escalating hot war in Vietnam, and arguments about how and at what = cost to end=20 American involvement in the Southeast Asian conflict. As always, = Dissent=20 itself was marked by important differences of opinion. Howe, for = example,=20 until 1968 was for an immediate cease-fire and a negotiated withdrawal = of U.S.=20 troops from Vietnam, while Walzer was an early advocate of unilateral = American=20 departure.

Differences of opinion concerning Israel and the Middle East were = manifest=20 as well. Sentiment toward the Jewish state on the largely Jewish = editorial=20 board of Dissent in the 1950s and early 1960s ranged from general = indifference=20 (there were virtually no articles in Dissent on Israel before 1967) to = Henry=20 Pachter's distinctly anti-Zionist attitudes on the one side, and = Walzer's=20 Labor-Zionist sympathies on the other. And although Howe, mostly under = the=20 influence of Marie Syrkin, his friend and Brandeis colleague, had = moved from=20 support of a bi-national workers' state in Palestine to a two-state = solution,=20 he insisted that he was not a Zionist or even a Jewish nationalist. =

This was true in that Howe (along with several other Dissenters) = remained a=20 critic of particular policies pursued by various Israeli governments = over the=20 years, especially the continued occupation of the West Bank and Gaza = Strip and=20 the building of Jewish settlements in those captured territories. But = he=20 consistently defended Israel's right to exist. His attitude, he said = often and=20 aptly, was very much like that of many Israelis, "who see in a = vigorous but=20 responsible criticism [a] token of their commitment to democratic = Israel."=20

In 1966, in the hope of keeping up with the tumultuousness of the = 1960s at=20 home and abroad, and perhaps even of influencing the course of events, = Dissent, despite chronic financial crises, went for a few years from a = quarterly to a bi-monthly publication. This kept Howe busier than ever = soliciting funds, articles and writers, as well as doing the = additional=20 day-to-day editorial work required by the magazine's expansion. He = expressed=20 "a certain sense of being burdened" and told his co-editor Coser that = Dissent=20 had steadily become for him "an uphill project." Howe's famous = postcards got=20 even briefer, his phone calls more truncated, but the flood of each = continued.=20 And throughout he remained devoted to the journal and to the issues of = social=20 justice it emphasized, especially the crusade for civil rights. = Between 1965=20 and 1969, Howe wrote nearly a dozen pieces focusing on racial = equality, and=20 another dozen that included substantive discussion of the "Negro = movement" and=20 its "unquestionable rightness of purpose."

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Dissent continued to reassess its=20 principles and goals. But it stayed generally loyal to democratic = socialism,=20 even when the idea of dropping the very word socialism was temporarily = entertained. In the late 1980s, the anti-Stalinist Dissenters were = buoyed=20 greatly by the beginnings of the fall of Communism and believed that = the 1990s=20 could be a time of reform led by anti-Communist democratic socialists = in=20 Eastern Europe, and "by ricochet," in Western Europe, too. But events = in=20 Eastern Europe, instead of validating the democratic socialists and = removing=20 the burden of (mis)identification with Communism, elicited a = widespread, loud=20 cacophony from people proclaiming the "failure of socialism" and = embracing the=20 "free market."

Despite popular uprisings against Communist dictators in East = Germany,=20 Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and other places in Eastern Europe, = Dissenters could=20 hardly deny that socialism was "in a state of crisis" all over the = world.=20 Indeed, just as in 1954 when Dissent was started, they said in the = early 1990s=20 that as an idea and as a movement, socialism needed reconsideration = and even=20 "reinvention." For some time it "will probably exist primarily in the = sphere=20 of thought and vision." But "even in that limited form," Howe argued,=20 socialism can be a "valuable guide to human action." And he hoped that = in the=20 coming years social democratic movements would "contribute = significantly to=20 determining in Eastern Europe, though not there alone, the social = content of a=20 resurgent liberal society."

And here Dissent still stands more than a decade later, despite = chronic=20 episodes of global and domestic repression and retrogression. = Intellectual=20 anti-orthodoxy is the refreshing saving grace of Dissent as it reaches = 50. It=20 has modified a number of its own prevailing attitudes and ideologies = and has=20 adopted some new truths, even as it holds onto its initial democratic=20 radicalism. The journal continues to highlight the need for "immediate = reform"=20 =97 worker retraining, universal health care, negative income taxes = and=20 environmental protections, as well as ethnic, racial and gender = equality. At=20 the same time it envisions and works for a much more egalitarian = society in=20 the long term.

The magazine continues to be "roomy" =97 for example, hosting = debates, as it=20 did earlier on Vietnam and American foreign policy generally, among = its=20 writers and editors on both the first and second Iraq wars. In 2003, = for=20 example, Cohen was firmly for ousting, by military force, a = "dictatorial,"=20 "genocidal" Saddam Hussein, while Walzer, though equally outraged with = Saddam,=20 thought that an American attack should come only in response to a = clearly=20 imminent threat. Sensitive to a variety of viewpoints on the = liberal-left,=20 Dissent also continues to be a "critical supporter" of Israel, stoutly = backing=20 the Jewish state's right to exist, but opposing particular policies of = the=20 government. This is a position rare on the left, where anti-Zionism = and even=20 antisemitism have become "politically correct."

The writers and editors also continue to demonstrate what Howe = called "a=20 margin of hope," a hope that smart, sensitive "steady work" may yet = bring a=20 more democratic, more humane future. But they are not especially = optimistic.=20 In the place of the civil rights movement and the promise of liberal=20 Democratic administrations that energized the editors in the 1950s and = 1960s,=20 the current stewards are now faced with a motley, anarchic crew of=20 anti-globalist radicals, sporadic "flash mobs" organized through the = wizardry=20 of computer technology for pseudo-events full of shock value but = little=20 political content, and a regime in power seemingly representative only = of the=20 "truly greedy."

The last two issues of Dissent were full of uncertainty about the = future of=20 the democratic left in the United States. But, in the face of = contemporary=20 American politics, anything less would be naive.

Gerald Sorin is director of Jewish studies at the State = University of=20 New York at New Paltz and the author of "Irving Howe: A Life of = Passionate=20 Dissent" (New York University Press, 2003), which won the 2003 = National Jewish=20 Book Award in History.

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