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| Radical America | |
|---|---|
| Title | Radical America |
| Discipline | New Left studies; political theory; social movements |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | New Left collective |
| Country | United States |
| History | 1967–1999 |
| Frequency | Quarterly |
Radical America was a prominent leftist journal and collective that emerged from the New Left milieu in the United States during the late 1960s. It served as a forum for activist-intellectual exchange among participants in the antiwar movement, student activism, labor struggles, and feminist and environmental organizing. The journal connected debates across campuses, unions, and community movements, shaping discussions that intersected with figures, organizations, and events in the broader transatlantic New Left.
Founded in 1967 by members with roots in Students for a Democratic Society and campus-based SDS chapters, the journal grew out of networks that included activists from Berkeley Free Speech Movement, Columbia 1968, and antiwar coalitions such as the March on the Pentagon organizers. Early editorial contributors included participants with ties to New Left Review circles and critics of the New Deal order who engaged with debates sparked by the Tet Offensive and the escalation of the Vietnam War. The collective relocated editorial operations at times among university towns, reflecting close connections to University of Wisconsin–Madison activism, the Boston area protest scene around Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and organizing linked to the United Auto Workers and other union locals.
Through the 1970s the journal chronicled the fragmentation of SDS into formations such as the Weather Underground and the reorganizing efforts that produced groups like Progressive Labor Party and community-based projects associated with the Black Panther Party. In the 1980s its contributors engaged with debates over the Reagan Revolution, the rise of the New Right, and policy shifts such as the deregulation and privatization trends affecting municipal politics. By the 1990s, the collective adapted to the changing landscape shaped by the end of the Cold War, the ascendancy of neoliberalism under leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms, and the resurgence of social movements around issues such as environmentalism and globalization protests culminating toward the end of the decade.
The collective articulated a synthesis of anti-imperialist, socialist, and libertarian socialist currents, engaging critics from Antonio Gramsci to the writings emerging from Frankfurt School scholars such as Herbert Marcuse. Editors debated the legacy of Karl Marx and adaptations of Marxist analysis to postindustrial societies influenced by thinkers like C. Wright Mills and proponents of participatory democracy associated with theorists in Port Huron Statement circles. The journal fostered alliances between student activists, radical scholars, and trade-union reformers, often referencing strategies trialed by actors in the Civil Rights Movement such as Martin Luther King Jr. as well as abolitionist legacies traced through communities shaped by events like the 1963 March on Washington.
Radical America interrogated state power in the context of anti-colonial struggles, drawing on analyses advanced by figures like Frantz Fanon and linking those critiques to U.S. foreign policy exemplified by interventions in Chile and support for regimes during the Cold War. Debates within the pages addressed tensions between vanguardist and rank-and-file organizing models, weighing lessons from the Paris Commune tradition and contemporary unions such as Teamsters reform drives. The collective emphasized grassroots pluralism, cultural critique, and solidarity politics while remaining critical of authoritarian socialist experiments evident in discussions of the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China.
Operated as a collective, editorial decisions were made through rotating meetings that mirrored participatory structures advocated by contributors influenced by cooperative experiments and community councils. The organization maintained ties to campus-based reading groups, teach-ins modeled after those at University of Michigan and University of California, Berkeley, and coalition-building with community organizations such as tenant unions and neighborhood-based groups active in cities like Chicago and New York City. Collective members participated in national conferences including panels at Woodstock 1970-era gatherings and later symposiums that convened scholars from institutions including Cornell University and University of California, Los Angeles.
Radical America's activists engaged in direct action campaigns, produced educational leaflets for mobilizations like the Vietnam Moratorium, and collaborated with labor activists in campaigns against corporate practices tied to conglomerates headquartered in Detroit and Los Angeles. The collective also hosted workshops that brought together union organizers from United Steelworkers locals, feminist organizers connected to National Organization for Women, and environmentalists who later intersected with movements around Earth Day activism.
The journal published essays, investigative reporting, theoretical interventions, and creative writing, often commissioning pieces from academics at Harvard University, Yale University, University of Chicago, and activists associated with SNCC and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Regular features critiqued mainstream media coverage by outlets such as The New York Times and Time and responded to contemporary works from intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. Special issues addressed themes including anti-imperialism, student power, labor strategy, feminism, and environmental justice, with contributors ranging from emerging scholars to seasoned organizers.
Apart from the print journal, the collective produced pamphlets, organized public forums in partnership with cultural institutions like The Public Theater and independent bookstores, and maintained correspondence networks with international publications such as New Left Review and regional presses in Europe, Latin America, and Asia to exchange translations and solidarity statements.
The journal influenced generations of activists and scholars by shaping curricula in departments and programs that later institutionalized New Left scholarship at universities including University of Massachusetts Amherst and Rutgers University. Its archival runs have been cited in studies about the trajectory of postwar dissent, student movements, and the remaking of labor politics by historians researching episodes like the May 1968 events in France and comparative studies of social movements. Former contributors went on to careers in academia, labor leadership, and public intellectual life, intersecting with projects at think tanks and community organizations in cities such as Seattle and Philadelphia.
While the collective wound down as publishing economics and shifting activist milieus changed in the 1990s, its debates on participatory democracy, anti-imperialism, and cultural politics continued to inform later movements including anti-globalization protests connected to the Battle of Seattle and renewed union reform campaigns. Archives of its issues remain resources for researchers tracing links among the Students for a Democratic Society legacy, labor insurgency, and the transnational New Left.
Category:Political magazines published in the United States Category:New Left