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PARTISAN REVIEW
had a conception of our society which was integra ti ve and no t merely
additi ve. The P rogressive Alliance, and the res tl ess elements in the
Democra ti c Party and the criti cal secto r of our po litics, can draw upon
revivified ideas of local autonomy, upon nascent effo rts to redefine the
publi c interes t in a techno logical society, upon views o f th e o rgani za–
ti on o f work critical of current conventi on s of di sciplin e and hi erarch y.
We still lack a new view of society, and a good man y famili ar
Ameri can themes emerge in these no tion s: di strust of author ity,
localism, and the culti va tion of self-even , alas, o f the imperi a l self.
It
would be too easy to dismi ss thi s set of concerns as a new version of
wha t Leo Marx call s pastora lism. In their newer forms, they connect
with a seriou s critique of the current socia l uses of knowledge.
Douglas Fraser, president o f the United Auto Wo rkers, Willi am
Winpisinger of the Machini sts, and J erry Wurf o f the public service
union , think tha t they mu st reactiva te the larger po litical dimensions
of American uni oni sm. American co rpo rations in Wes tern Europe
h ave
to
accept wo rker representa tion on their boards, and canno t shut
factories a t will-devasta tin g entire localities and region s. Fraser,
whose unio n h as a lso campa igned strenuously for n ationa l health
insurance, sees no reason wh y American compani es sho uld no t be
made to beh ave in such civili zed fashio n a t home. Ad van ces of thi s so rt,
however, would have to come in the context o f a new genera l political
p rogram.
Is it imposs ibl e in th e nea r future tha t we may see a strong
American admini strati on seriou s about stringent contro ls on th e
corpora tion s, incl udin g systema ti c scrutin y of the mergers and take–
overs by whi ch they defend th emse lves aga in st the workin g of the
market? Imagine a legislati ve program tha t incl uded the introdu cti on
of compreh ensive na ti ona l hea lth insurance, and the intensifi ca ti on of
environmenta l and occupati onal hea lth cont ro ls. Con sider, too, the
possibility of transferring important aspects of en ergy po li cy to a publi c
sector and large scale urban ren ewal. Add to thi s a thoro ugh reform of
our ineffi cient and unjust tax structure. A p res idential candidate who
advanced these ideas wo uld certa inl y no t be hostage to the view th at
our politi cs must drift irremed iabl y to the ri ght.
If
such a cand ida te
could genera te a modi cum of enthusiasm , we mi ght even concl ude th at
the publi c was recepti ve to rath er serious modifi ca ti ons in ou r system.
A p rogram of this sort would enta il the development of a compre–
hen sive program for a new Ameri can g lo bal ro le, with less emph as is on
vendin g arms to the southern hemi sphere and mo re o n socia l in vest–
ment here. A consistent po li cy on human ri ghts could u se th e Helsinki
