Re: what the masses do

Alan and all:

Alan, you may be right -- I was too young (I didn't turn 18 until the end 
of 1974, though I did sweat the restart of the lottery for a time, and was
assigned a number which would have put me first in line) and thus have no
first-hand evidence.

But my sense, based on analysis of plenty of secondary sources, is that in
the post-68 period, peaking with the May 1970 nationwide student strike in
response to the invasion of Cambodia, the earlier core of politically
conscious activists was swamped by a massive influx of much less overtly
leftist "activists," who were more countercultural in their overall
inclinations.  The Yippies and Weathermen certainly acted on this perception.

George Katsiaficas (who was a participant) is quite good on this in his
"The Imagination of the New Left," which was published by South End Press
in 1987, and personally I think some of the music of the Jefferson
Airplane and Quicksilver (especially "What About Me?") captures the
militant counterculture mood.

RH