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The Michigan Review, September 1989, p. 13
Arts: Book Review
The Dark Side of the 1960s Destructive Generation Peter Collier and David Horowitz Hardcover, $19.95 Summit Books 352 pp.
by Bryan case The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 was accompanied by a resurgence of conservative political thought. This neoconservativism was met by a similarly resurgent left. Like neoconservatism, this new leftist movement has constructed an agenda based mostly on the tenets of the original left wing, but it has updated its agenda to suit the 19805. One belief now held by the new leftis a romanticized view of the 19605. The new left made it fashionable to consider radical students innocent idealists who devoted themselves to noble causes, only to be tragically defeated by a cynical and mundane world. This view has been supported by recent books, such as 1968: A Student Generation in Revolt, and films, like 1969, that deal with the 19605. In Destructive Generation, subtitled Second Thoughts About the '60s, Peter Collier and David Horowitz set out to present a different viewpoint. While the authors try to depict "the dark side" of the 1%Os, by no means is their report one-sided. The book begins with a disclaimer: "Some of the accomplishments (of the 1960s radicals) were undeniably positive. There was an expansion of consciousness, of social space, of tolerance, of prospects for individual fulfillment." Although they do not disapprove of
from the reform projects in fear of her life. Stender was years later badly wounded by an ex-con sent to revenge a perceived political wrong. ''The Movement" that she had lavished so much of her life and energy upon had turned against her. The story of Kay Stender is followed by a harrowing history of Weatherman. The most extreme and militant of the competing factions within the liberal-to-radical Students for a Democratic Society (50S), the Weathermen are seen today by many as misguided idealists who chose terrorist violence as a response to desperate times (i.e. the Vietnam War). Collier and Horowitz describe the Weatherman faction as being ri'fe with Stalinist political maneuvering and dictatorial discipline. When Weatherman failed to spark a revolution by the masses, its members turned toward an •increasingly bizarre mixture of drugs, sex, and debates about communist theory. Purged by members of their
'''Racism' functioned as an omnibus charge for radicals the way 'Communism' had for McCarthy." own organization, driven underground to flee from the FBI, the Weathermen each dropped out of sight and into an abyss of failure. In the middle of the book, Collier and Horowitz critically assess the left as it passed from the 1960s to the late19805. The authors denounce vicious
One belief now held by the new left is a romanticized view of the 1960s. every aspect of the 1%Os, the authors choose to illuminate the less savory sides of the era. Collier and Horowitz begin by describing the life of Kay Stender, a famous radical lawyer. Stender was a proponent of California prison reforms, as well as an advocate for such causes as housing for the poor and efforts to eliminate racism. Although she entered "the Movement" with the noblest of leftist ideals, she eventually became enmeshed in power struggles with other radicals and was driven
schools to deteriorate, crime to soar, ~ and social programs to fail. 'e Today, according to Destructive Generation, these radicals are weakening the fabric of American society and ~ hampering its foreign policy. The 8 authors liken the generation of Vietnam War protesters and their descendants to "fifth columnists" seeking to hasten global communist revolution and the collapse of the United States. The most vilified ofleftists is the famed linguist Noam Chomsky, whom the authors accuse of "calumny" and making obscene arguments. Collier and Horowitz end their book with autobiographies, revealing their past involvement in the leftist movement. Both were editors of one of the foremost radical journals, Ramparts. Each worked for a variety of writing skills of Collier and Horowitz. causes, ranging from protesting the The first half of the closing autobioVietnam War to campaigning against graphical section is a fine firsthand racism to leftist theorizing. Yet each historical document of the 19605. recounts at length his disillusionment Yet the authors wound their crediwith the left. The book ends with a bility when they express their political views. The more space Collier and Horowitz use to explain why the Soviet Union is evil or why the world is in peril of a growing and cancerous communist threat, the less believable their documentation of the 19605 becomes. The space they use airing their opinions on Pol Pot, for example, could have been better used describing scathing survey of the Sandinista rethe history of the 50s. gime in Nicaragua and its American Nevertheless, Destructive Generasupporters. tion is still a very good book, largely Destructive Generation is most suc- because of its unique approach. Uncessful when its authors remain jourlike most other works about that nalistically objective. The opening decade, Destructive Generation reveals three chapters of the book, which deal the disillusionment that many leftwith Kay Stender, Weatherman, and wing veterans of the 19605 experithe parallel lives of two Vietnam veterenced. ans, succeed admirably in what the authors set out to accomplish. The Bryan Case is a senior in English and stories are solidly wedded to the bedhonors history and a staff writer for rock of 1960s activism, and their the Review. darker sides are made credible by the
labeling and other tactics sometimes used by leftists. "'Racism' functioned as an omnibus charge for radicals the way 'Communism' had for McCarthy," they write. Leftist theorists, who were weaned on America-bashing tactics of the Vietnam War protest movement, now blame the United States for most of the problems in the Third World. As an example of the failures of applied leftist ideology, Collier and Horowitz point. ito Berkeley, where the leftists who ran the city government caused the
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