A New Dawn for the New Left : Liberation News Service, Montague Farm, and the Long Sixties

This book examines the underground Liberation News Service and the commune Montague Farm to trace the evolution of the New Left after 1968. In the process, it extends the chronological breadth of the long Sixties, rethinks the relationship between political and cultural radicalism, and explores the relationships between diverse social movements. All over America, activists looked at the upheavals of 1968 as ushering in a new dawn for the New Left. Over the next decade, activists on both sides of the Liberation News Service split not only battled for social justice but personal liberation. The entwined histories of Liberation News Service and Montague Farm-including a daylight heist and a midnight raid, an attack on Castroite homophobia and a tower-toppling act of civil disobedience, a Con-Ed blackout and a Madison Square Garden concert series-illuminate how New Left institutions founded on the utopian ideals of the 1960s adapted their politics to survive in the 1970s Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction....Pages 1-9 Front Matter....Pages 11-11 Magic! Uniting the Underground Press....Pages 13-30 “Hello, Goodbye”: The LNS Split....Pages 31-43 Front Matter....Pages 45-45 Down on the Farm: Privacy and Community....Pages 47-57 Liberation Limited: Sexuality and Tragedy....Pages 59-69 Karass: Family....Pages 71-82 Front Matter....Pages 83-83 Good Politics: The SDS Split and Third World Marxism....Pages 85-98 The Ratio: Women’s Liberation....Pages 99-110 The Collective Will: Gay Liberation and Cubaphilia....Pages 111-124 Front Matter....Pages 125-125 Lovejoy’s Nuclear War....Pages 127-135 Montague’s Nuclear War....Pages 137-146 New England’s Nuclear War....Pages 147-158 Springsteen’s Nuclear War....Pages 159-166 Front Matter....Pages 167-167 Hard Times....Pages 169-175 A Mirror for the Movement....Pages 177-186 Left Behind....Pages 187-198 Conclusion....Pages 199-205 Back Matter....Pages 207-267