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Taking Sides
This compilation of political essays written over the past three decades reveals the author's astute political awareness and consistent socialist standpoint on the newsmaking issues of America's recent past
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
20 people want to read
About the author
Michael Harrington
109 books75 followersEdward Michael Harrington was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, and radio commentator.
Early life
Harrington was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended St. Louis University High School, College of the Holy Cross, University of Chicago (MA in English Literature), and Yale Law School. As a young man, he was interested in both leftwing politics and Catholicism. Fittingly, he joined Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker movement, a pacifist group that advocated a radical interpretation of the Gospel. Above all else, Harrington was an intellectual. He loved arguing about culture and politics, preferably over beer, and his Jesuit education made him a fine debater and rhetorician. Harrington was an editor of The Catholic Worker from 1951 to 1953. However, Harrington became disillusioned with religion and, although he would always retain a certain affection for Catholic culture, he ultimately became an atheist.
Becoming a socialist
This estrangement from religion was accompanied by a growing interest in Marxism and a drift toward secular socialism. After leaving The Catholic Worker Harrington became a member of the Independent Socialist League, a small organization associated with the former Trotskyist leader Max Shachtman. Harrington and Shachtman believed that socialism, the promise of a just and fully democratic society, could not be realized under authoritarian Communism and they were both fiercely critical of the "bureaucratic collectivist" states in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
Harrington became a member of Norman Thomas's Socialist Party when the SP agreed to absorb Shachtman's organization. Harrington backed the Shachtmanite realignment strategy of working within the Democratic Party rather than running candidates on a Socialist ticket.
Socialist leader
During this period Harrington wrote The Other America: Poverty in the United States, a book that had an impact on the Kennedy administration, and on Lyndon B. Johnson's subsequent War on Poverty. Harrington became a widely read intellectual and political writer. He would frequently debate noted conservatives but would also clash with the younger radicals in the New Left movements. He was present at the 1962 SDS conference that led to the creation of the Port Huron Statement, where he argued that the final draft was insufficiently anti-Communist. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. referred to Harrington as the "only responsible radical" in America, a somewhat dubious distinction among those on the political left. His high profile landed him on the master list of Nixon political opponents.
By early 1970s Shachtman's anti-Communism had become a hawkish Cold War liberalism. Shachtman and the governing faction of the Socialist Party effectively supported the Vietnam War and changed the organization's name to Social Democrats, USA. In protest Harrington led a number of Norman Thomas-era Socialists, younger activists and ex-Shachtmanites into the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. A smaller faction associated with peace activist David McReynolds formed the Socialist Party USA.
In the early 1980s The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee merged with the New American Movement, an organization of New Left veterans, forming Democratic Socialists of America. This organization remains the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, which includes socialist parties as diverse as the Swedish and German Social Democrats, Nicaragua's FSLN, and the British Labour Party.
Academician and public intellectual
Harrington was appointed a professor of political science at Queens College in 1972 and was designated a distinguished professor in 1988. During the 1980s he contributed commentaries to National Public Radio. Harrington died in 1989 of cancer. He was the most well-known socialist in the United States during his lifetime.
Early life
Harrington was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended St. Louis University High School, College of the Holy Cross, University of Chicago (MA in English Literature), and Yale Law School. As a young man, he was interested in both leftwing politics and Catholicism. Fittingly, he joined Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker movement, a pacifist group that advocated a radical interpretation of the Gospel. Above all else, Harrington was an intellectual. He loved arguing about culture and politics, preferably over beer, and his Jesuit education made him a fine debater and rhetorician. Harrington was an editor of The Catholic Worker from 1951 to 1953. However, Harrington became disillusioned with religion and, although he would always retain a certain affection for Catholic culture, he ultimately became an atheist.
Becoming a socialist
This estrangement from religion was accompanied by a growing interest in Marxism and a drift toward secular socialism. After leaving The Catholic Worker Harrington became a member of the Independent Socialist League, a small organization associated with the former Trotskyist leader Max Shachtman. Harrington and Shachtman believed that socialism, the promise of a just and fully democratic society, could not be realized under authoritarian Communism and they were both fiercely critical of the "bureaucratic collectivist" states in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
Harrington became a member of Norman Thomas's Socialist Party when the SP agreed to absorb Shachtman's organization. Harrington backed the Shachtmanite realignment strategy of working within the Democratic Party rather than running candidates on a Socialist ticket.
Socialist leader
During this period Harrington wrote The Other America: Poverty in the United States, a book that had an impact on the Kennedy administration, and on Lyndon B. Johnson's subsequent War on Poverty. Harrington became a widely read intellectual and political writer. He would frequently debate noted conservatives but would also clash with the younger radicals in the New Left movements. He was present at the 1962 SDS conference that led to the creation of the Port Huron Statement, where he argued that the final draft was insufficiently anti-Communist. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. referred to Harrington as the "only responsible radical" in America, a somewhat dubious distinction among those on the political left. His high profile landed him on the master list of Nixon political opponents.
By early 1970s Shachtman's anti-Communism had become a hawkish Cold War liberalism. Shachtman and the governing faction of the Socialist Party effectively supported the Vietnam War and changed the organization's name to Social Democrats, USA. In protest Harrington led a number of Norman Thomas-era Socialists, younger activists and ex-Shachtmanites into the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. A smaller faction associated with peace activist David McReynolds formed the Socialist Party USA.
In the early 1980s The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee merged with the New American Movement, an organization of New Left veterans, forming Democratic Socialists of America. This organization remains the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, which includes socialist parties as diverse as the Swedish and German Social Democrats, Nicaragua's FSLN, and the British Labour Party.
Academician and public intellectual
Harrington was appointed a professor of political science at Queens College in 1972 and was designated a distinguished professor in 1988. During the 1980s he contributed commentaries to National Public Radio. Harrington died in 1989 of cancer. He was the most well-known socialist in the United States during his lifetime.
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December 9, 2010
In 1985: forty-seven artists record “We Are the World”; Academy Award for Best Picture is Out of Africa; Hurricane Gloria makes landfall in North Carolina, Long Island and Connecticut; Kansas City Royals win the baseball World Series; Ronald Reagan begins second term; OPEC oil is $28/barrel; Taking Sides by Michael Harrington is published
Michael Harrington (1928 – 1989) was in the forefront of the movement for democratic socialism in the U.S. To the extent that he tried to work within the existing political system, especially the Democratic Party, he was a liberal. To the extent that he championed socialism and worked for systemic changes in capitalism, he was a radical.
Harrington struggled within the Democratic Party for his entire political life. I watched Harrington from a distance during my activist years wondering why he clung so tenaciously to the Democrats. Politically, I have always been a supporter of third parties, including my participation in the Human Rights Party in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the 1970s. In 1970 Zolton Ferency left the Democratic Party, having served Michigan party chairperson from 1963 to 1968, and became one of the founders of the HRP.
The problem with reading a 1985 book that says “Capitalism is dying” is that it is now 25 years later and you could say the same thing. So, die already! Someone once told me that the most efficient way to read a newspaper is to pick up a discarded paper several days after its publication. By then you would know something about the outcome of some of the stories and could decide if you needed to read more. In this way you could focus on reading the material in the paper that is most relevant. And, of course, you would not have to pay for the paper!
Taking Sides is a collection of essays previously published in Dissent, The New International, New Republic, Commonweal, The Nation, The Village Voice, Commentary and Harper’s between the years 1955 and 1983. Each section of essays is prefaced by an introduction written by Harrington in 1985 when the book was published. The relevance of this material in 2010 would be for a compilation of political history and mid 20th century socialist thought or to study the life and times of the writer, Michael Harrington. I am looking forward to reading a biography of Harrington, The Other American, that was published in 2000 and that examines his entire life and work. Harrington also wrote The Long-Distance Runner: An Autobiography published in 1988, the year before his death.
We have heard “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Michael Harrington left a legacy of over 20 books that detail his thoughts and experiences in working for democratic socialism. Today being labeled a socialist in the U.S. can be the death knell of a political career. Labeling President Obama a socialist who supports income redistribution is one of the most recent examples. “From those according to their ability, to those according to their need” is another phrase whose time seems not to have yet come back.
Michael Harrington (1928 – 1989) was in the forefront of the movement for democratic socialism in the U.S. To the extent that he tried to work within the existing political system, especially the Democratic Party, he was a liberal. To the extent that he championed socialism and worked for systemic changes in capitalism, he was a radical.
Harrington struggled within the Democratic Party for his entire political life. I watched Harrington from a distance during my activist years wondering why he clung so tenaciously to the Democrats. Politically, I have always been a supporter of third parties, including my participation in the Human Rights Party in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the 1970s. In 1970 Zolton Ferency left the Democratic Party, having served Michigan party chairperson from 1963 to 1968, and became one of the founders of the HRP.
During Michael Harrington's four decades as America's leading socialist thinker, writer and speaker, he contributed to every progressive movement. One of the first of his twenty books, The Other America, is credited with spurring the Great Society anti-poverty programs. From his organizing with the student and civil rights movements in the 50's and 60's, to his leadership of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in the 70's and 80's, he consistently urged socialists to reach beyond isolation and build coalitions with labor and progressive groups in day-to-day struggles. Source: http://dsausa.org/about/DTH.html
The problem with reading a 1985 book that says “Capitalism is dying” is that it is now 25 years later and you could say the same thing. So, die already! Someone once told me that the most efficient way to read a newspaper is to pick up a discarded paper several days after its publication. By then you would know something about the outcome of some of the stories and could decide if you needed to read more. In this way you could focus on reading the material in the paper that is most relevant. And, of course, you would not have to pay for the paper!
Taking Sides is a collection of essays previously published in Dissent, The New International, New Republic, Commonweal, The Nation, The Village Voice, Commentary and Harper’s between the years 1955 and 1983. Each section of essays is prefaced by an introduction written by Harrington in 1985 when the book was published. The relevance of this material in 2010 would be for a compilation of political history and mid 20th century socialist thought or to study the life and times of the writer, Michael Harrington. I am looking forward to reading a biography of Harrington, The Other American, that was published in 2000 and that examines his entire life and work. Harrington also wrote The Long-Distance Runner: An Autobiography published in 1988, the year before his death.
We have heard “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Michael Harrington left a legacy of over 20 books that detail his thoughts and experiences in working for democratic socialism. Today being labeled a socialist in the U.S. can be the death knell of a political career. Labeling President Obama a socialist who supports income redistribution is one of the most recent examples. “From those according to their ability, to those according to their need” is another phrase whose time seems not to have yet come back.
Displaying 1 of 1 review