In SDS we believe that the only solution to the problems of imperialism is a socialist revolution. Liberal reforms which do not change the basic structure of society will not end the exploitation of working people by the rich. If we are to be free, the imperialist monster which totally controls our economic and social lives must be totally destroyed and replaced with socialism.
By a socialist revolution we mean the complete reorganization of America.Workers will control the goods and wealth they produce. Schools, transportation, housing, and all the other institutions of social welfare will be controlled by the people and not by the few rich men who now run America.Black and brown people will seize control of their communities and take back the culture which centuries of imperialist oppression has robbed from them.Women will break from the secondary roles they fill in capitalist America, and along with men will develop non-exploitative human relationships.
In the past, SDS has been an organization primarily made up of students, and at one time we even fought for reforms in universities that only increased the privileges enjoyed by students. But SDS is getting bigger, because to make a revolution in America we must build a youth movement that includes not only students but also the masses of young people who have been excluded from school. We are building a working class youth movement that understands imperialism and its ruling class as the main enemy and Socialism as its main goal.
—THE FIRE NEXT TIME (New Left Notes), August 1970