534
BAYARD RUSTIN
First, there is the recognition that, in U Thant's words, "the
fundamental revolutionary change" is that the developed countries
"can have--in anything but the shortest run-the kind and scale of
resources they decide to have... ." Very good., although why Hentoff
has to refer to U Thant for an idea Mike Harrington has long been
expounding (and which his new book treats at length) leaves me
puzzled. Then there is Ben Seligman's point about structural unem–
ployment, taken from that "tired radical" magazine
Dissent
(edited
by that "tired radical" Irving Howe). Then there is the observation
by Wilhelm and Powell about the Negro being the weather vane of
the future, a notion I seem to recall having expatiated on occasion
and about which Hentoff kindly quoted me at length
in
his
The New
Equality
(written a year or so before I too became an ex-radical).
Then there is Robert Theobald's proposal for a guaranteed
annual income, but with the warning that given "the values permeat–
ing this society, the Theobald idea might well produce a future similar
in its bland essentials to that described by Ellul" [viz., a dehumanized,
entirely paternalistic welfare society]. Thus we need a change
in
societal values. A first step
is
a "revision of the way we educate
teachers," along the lines of Goodman, Bruner and Friedenberg.
(Are
they part of the new radicalism; to what extent have their writings
been studied or rendered programmatic by the new radicalism?)
But the new education requires a redefinition of work, and for
the redefinition Hentoff again turns to Tom Hayden for a paragraph
which Hayden would never claim to be original with him. Every idea
in it comes from Frank Riessman (even before his
New Careers
fOT
the Poor)
and
his
colleagues. Never mind; Hayden favors a society
which "subsidize[s] community-level art and journalism, health clinics,
recreational facilities, libraries and museums...." Lest we be
trans–
ported by enthusiasm, however, Hentoff reminds us that just as the
present system of values would corrupt Theobald's idea, so would it
"violate Hayden's 'humanist' goals of spontaneity and self-growth
through social and individual action. The experiences of Mobilization
for Youth and HARYOU-At:T, among other shattered illustrations,
testify to the absurdity of expecting this government to make the
radicals' social revolution for them."
"'
The last observation is well put and absolutely correct. But, then,
who
will
make the radicals' social revolution? This is the central
