[Marxism] What was 'special' about the 60s?

[Alan Bradley]

From: Philip Ferguson
> I came after the sixties 

I was born in the 60s. My parents spent the 60s
raising a child, paying off a mortgage and despising
hippies. They were in their twenties at the time. 

> Although I missed the 60s, because I came
> immediately after they still had a huge impact
> on me and shaped my early political development.  

This was still the case for me, although the "we're
all Yuppies now" propaganda had started by the time I
finished school. I was annoyed by this, but alienated
by the student Left at university. Because I grew up
in a conservative provincial city and attended a State
school, I had little in common with the culture of the
Left.

I eventually adapted by just "being there" and being
my geeky self. If you do that for long enough, you
become part of the furniture, rather than an outsider.

> On top of all this was Vietnam, the centrepiece
> of the 60s.  

I tend to rate the Civil Rights movement in the US as
the most important struggle of the 60s (and 50s).

Without it, the Vietnam movement wouldn't have
happened in the US, on anything like the same scale.
Furthermore, it inspired a lot of other struggles in a
whole bunch of countries. In some cases, it was a key
inspiration for anti-colonial/independence struggles.

It's not a coincidence that some of the earliest
manifestations of the independence struggle in Papua
New Guinea involved anti-segregation struggles
modelled directly on the US model.

> I know in the US it was different but here in NZ
> *most* of the 'new social movements' collapsed
> with the end of the boom.  

They lasted a bit longer in Australia. I think that
was one of the factors which helped the DSP survive
the US SWP's descent into madness. We were still
engaged on the ground.

Alan B


       
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