https://www.sds-1960s.org/books/newleft.pdf
National Black Antiwar Antidraft Union (NBAWADU)
New York, N.Y.
Formed in 1968 to organize antidraft and antiwar resistance in the black communities.
* National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE)
New York, N.Y.
The largest peace organization at the beginning of the 1960s, with emphasis on the fight
against the bomb. Its youth wing, Student SANE, broke off from the parent organization in
1960 because it refused to practice ideological discrimination among its own members.
* National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam (NCCEWV)
Madison, Wis.
Committee organized to coordinate the various antiwar projects, it played a leading role in
the 1967 and 1968 demonstrations.
National Service Board for Religious Objectors (NSBRO)
Washington, D.C.
Provides draft counseling assistance, recommends lawyers, and gives advice on alternative
service.
Peacemakers
Cincinnati, Ohio
Libertarian and pacifist group.
Quaker Action Group
Philadelphia, Pa.
Quaker pacifist organization.
* Resistance
Berkeley, Calif.; Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.
Groups of draft resisters, formed in spring 1967; emphasizes noncooperation, open
confrontation with military authorities, and mutual solidarity among draft resisters.
* Student Peace Union (SPU)
New York, N.Y.
The largest student political organization from 1959-1962, took a "third camp" position, and
worked in the area of peace. It declined during 1963 and subsequently dissolved, except for
a small office in New York.
Veterans for Peace in Vietnam
New York, N.Y.
Group of veterans opposed to the war.
Veterans and Reservists to End the War in Vietnam New York, N.Y.
A direct action group.
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* Vietnam Day Committee (VDC)
Berkeley, Calif.
Temporary committee active at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1965.
* War Resistor's League (WRL)
New York, N.Y.
Affiliated with War Resisters International (WRI), it represents a nonreligious pacifist point
of view.
C. Community Organization
Arkansas Southern Student Organizing Committee
Malvern, Arkansas
Buckman Project Portland, Oregon
Council of the Southern Mountains Volunteers Oak Ridge, Tenn.
" Economic Research Action Project (ERAP)
Chicago, Ill.
National office for coordination of the different community organizing projects, formed by
SDS in 1963 and dissolved in 1965. The projects affiliated with ERAP were operating in
Cleveland, Ohio; New Haven, Conn.; Appalachia; Baltimore, Md.; Oakland, Calif.; Boston,
Mass.; Cairo, Ill.; Hazard, Ky.; Newark, N.J. (Newark Community Union Project, N-CUP);
and Chicago, Ill. (Jobs or Income Now—JOIN).
Federation of Southern Cooperatives
Atlanta, Ga.
Minneapolis Community Union Project
Minneapolis, Minn.
National Community Union (NCU)
Organization which coordinates various local projects.
Poverty/Rights Action Center (P/RAC)
Washington, D.C.
South Side Improvement Organization
Syracuse, N.Y.
Southern Cooperative Development Program
Lafayette, La.
United Farm Workers' Organizing Committee
At the time of this writing, the UFWOC is in its fourth year of a strike and boycott against
California grape growers.
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D. Civil Liberties
* American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
See section 2.
Emergency Civil Liberties Committee (ECLC)
See section 2.
* Free Speech Movement (FSM)
Berkeley, Calif.
Formed at the University of California, Berkeley, in autumn 1964 to demand freedom for
political activity on campus. It was composed of representatives from all Berkeley political
groups and students not affiliated with specific clubs.
National Committee to Abolish HUAC
Los Angeles, Calif.
Formed in response to HUAC's investigating activities at the beginning of the 1960s.
* National Lawyer's Guild (NLG)
See section 2.
E. Black Power
* Black Panther Party (BPP)
Oakland, Calif.
The BPP was formed in October 1966 in Oakland, California, through the efforts of
revolutionary black nationalists inspired by the teaching of Malcolm X. In 1968 the BPP
fielded candidates in the California state elections and national elections in coalition with the
Peace and Freedom party, the first alliance between a "Black Power" group and a group of
white radicals. Eldridge Cleaver of the BPP was the coalitions presidential candidate. (See
Introduction.)
" Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Formed in April 1960 as a coordinating committee for the groups involved in direct action
for integration in the South, it adopted the principle and method of nonviolence. The SNCC
activists were at the center of most of the projects and actions for civil rights over the five-
year period from 1960 to 1965; in 1961 they participated in the freedom rides of integrated
buses, in 1962 organized poor black communities in Mississippi and other states of the Deep
South, in 1963 went on to mass voter registration, organizing the Freedom Ballot to choose
a black governor of Mississippi, in 1964 occupied the center of the huge summer
mobilization which led to the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party, and in
1965 took part, along with other organizations, in the Selma-Montgomery march in
Alabama. With the election of Stokely Carmichael as president in spring 1966, SNCC
abandoned the principle of nonviolence and during 1966 and 1967 became the center for
black militants espousing Black Power. By 1968, SNCC had lost much of its organizational
power, although it still remains a point of reference for black revolutionary politics. (See
introduction)
450
" Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO)
Lowndes County, Ala.
Formed in 1965 through the initiative of SNCC activists, it was the first party composed
solely of blacks. It competed in elections, and also was the first organization attempting to
implement Malcolm X's teachings on the need for an autonomous organization of black
people.
F. Nonwhite Minorities
Alianza Federal de Pueblos Libres
New Mexico
Organization of Mexican-Americans.
American Indian Youth Congress
G. Anti-Imperialism
* Avoid Vietnam in Latin America (AVILA)
Washington, D.C.
Anti-imperialist group composed mainly of clergymen or Catholic ex-clergymen involved in
supporting revolutions in Latin America.
Fair Play for Cuba Committee
San Francisco, Calif.
Temporary committee working from 1960 to 1962 to promote a policy of friendship with
Castro's Cuba.
* May Second Movement (M-2-M)
New York, N.Y.
An anti-imperialist group in solidarity with revolutions in the Third World, influenced by the
Progressive Labor party. It was the first organized group to focus on the imperialist nature
of the war in Vietnam, denounce the connections between the university and the military
apparatus, and demand immediate withdrawal of troops from Vietnam. It dissolved at the
end of 1965.
* North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA)
New York, N.Y.
Informal organization for research and education against the Vietnam war and imperialism,
and in favor of the liberation movements in Latin America.
H. New Morality
American League to Abolish Capital Punishment
Massachusetts
Organization opposing capital punishment.
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Association for the Study of Abortion
New York, N.Y.
In favor of liberalizing abortion laws.
Legalize Abortion
Los Angeles, Calif.
In favor of liberalizing abortion laws.
* Sexual Freedom League (SFL)
Berkeley, Calif.
Active in the realms of politics, education and law, it encourages individual sexual
expression and promotes the revision of existing laws regarding sexual activity, abortion,
censorship, divorce, etc.
Society for Individual Rights
San Francisco, Calif.
Association for the defense of rights of homosexuals.
* W omen's Liberation Movement
New York, N.Y.
Promotes political and educational activity against the exploitation and inferior status of
women in American society, with emphasis on the New Left itself.
I. Professionals,
Center for Emergency Support
Washington, D.C.
Community of Legal Defense Fund
Chicago, Ill.
Conference of Socialist Scholars
Annual conference of scholars dedicated to problems of socialism.
Demopax
Washington, D.C.
Group which organizes radicals in the scientific community and distributes educational
material concerning the responsibility of technicians and professionals in their professions.
Medical Committee for Human Rights
New York, N.Y.
Association of doctors promoting the professional practice of medicine in accordance with
the principles of human rights.
New University Conference (NUC)
Chicago, Ill.
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Formed in March 1968 as a coordinating body for radically oriented professors and students
in the universities.
* Radical Education Project (REP)
Ann Arbor, Mich.
Program for independent education, research and publication, initiated by SDS and
dedicated to the cause of democratic radicalism as well as to the creation of a New Left in
America.
Southern Rural Research Project
Selma, Ala.
The Teachers Incorporated
New York, N.Y.
United Farmworkers Association
Delano, Calif.
Union of migratory agricultural workers and a successful community organizing project
focused around the Delano and other grape strikes in California and Texas.
Urban Planning Aid
Cambridge, Mass.
J. Parallel Structures
American Documentary Films
San Francisco, Calif.
Films for the Movement.
The American Playground
Washington, D.C.
Movement theater group.
Bread and Puppet Theater
New York, N.Y.
Movement theater group
Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM)
Mississippi
Independent program in the children/poverty area, promoted by people close to SNCC in
1965.
The Children's Community
Ann Arbor, Mich.
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* El Teatro Campesino
California
Movement theater group organized by and for Spanish-speaking Mexican-Americans.
* Free Universities .
Alternative free universities contrasting with the academic programs and bureaucratic
organization of official universities, both public and private. Among the most important free
universities are those of Berkeley, Calif., New York, N.Y., and Stanford, Calif.
Gut Theater
New York, N.Y.
Movement theater group.
Meta Information Applications
New York, N.Y.
Technology in a radical context.
* Newsreel
New York, N.Y.
Group of film-makers which was formed in 1968 to produce political, educational, and
journalistic documentary material at the service of the Movement.
Pageant Players
New York, N.Y.
Movement theater group.
Radio Free People
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Produces and distributes tape-recorded programs, researching carrier current stimulating
independent production, and inaugurating "community listening groups."
* San Francisco Mime Troupe
San Francisco, Calif.
Movement theater group.
4. Organizations for a New Politics
American Independent Movement
New Haven, Conn.
Committee for independent Political Action (CIPA)
New York, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.
Freedom and Peace Party (FPP)
New York, N.Y.
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Formed in 1968, with its base in New York City.
* Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP)
Mississippi
Organized in 1964, mainly through the work of SNCC activists, as an alternative to the
racist-dominated Democratic party of Mississippi. At the 1964 Democratic Convention it was
not accredited, and the MFDP challenge of the Democrats elected to Congress in 1965 also
failed to succeed.
* National Conference for New Politics (NCNP)
A national convention of heterogeneous groups of radicals and liberals, whites and blacks,
which met in Chicago in September 1967. It did not come to any decisions on the problem
of the campaign for a "new politics" in 1968.
National Democratic Party of Alabama
Birmingham, Ala.
Political organization for poor whites.
New Party
Formed in 1968, with its base in Michigan. Left-liberal orientation.
* Peace and Freedom Party (PFP)
Organized in autumn 1967, in California, through the initiative of activists of the
Independent Socialist Club, members of "new politics" groups and other independent
radicals. It was placed on the ballot for the California state and national elections and,
subsequently, for the presidential elections in about ten other states. In coalition with the
Black Panther party, it nominated Eldridge Cleaver as presidential candidate in the 1968
elections.
5. Traditional Left
Communist Party-USA (CP-USA)
Formed in 1919, it passed through its major crisis during the period 1945-1956, when it
almost totally dissolved. It now numbers about 10,000 members, mainly in New York and
Los Angeles.
Dubois Clubs of America
San Francisco, Calif.
Marxist youth group formed in 1964.
Independent Socialist Clubs of America (ISCA)
The ISCA occupies a "third camp" revolutionary socialist position. Formed in 1962, it has
about ten local clubs and several hundred members. Many of its members, especially in
Berkeley, also belong to New Left organizations such as the Peace and Freedom party.
League for Industrial Democracy (LID)
New York, N.Y.
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Founded in 1905, the LID serves as an educational center for the "Democratic left," fulfilling
the functions of a sort of Fabian Society. Social-democratic orientation.
Socialist Party (SP)
Founded in 1901, it is the heir of a long tradition. Its most important leaders have been
Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas; today it is almost totally inactive.
Progressive Labor Party (PLP)
A Marxist-Leninist organization with a pro-Peking orientation. Founded in 1962, the PLP has
less than 1,000 members. Many of its young members also belong to local , chapters of
SDS.
Progressive Youth Organizing Committee (PYOC)
Youth front-organization, precursor of the DuBois Club.
Socialist Workers Party (SWP)
Trotskyist-oriented socialist party founded in 1938. Has several hundred members.
Spartacist
Revolutionary Marxist group which developed out of a split among the Trotskyists.
Young People's Socialist League (YPSL)
Youth organization of the Socialist party with a few hundred members.
Young Socialist Alliance (YSA)
Youth organization of the socialist Workers party with a few hundred members. Its members
are also active in other committees, anti-imperialist and antiwar movements.
Youth Against War and Fascism (YAWF)
Marxist-oriented group of about 300 members, with its base in New York