Port Huron Statement
The Port Huron Statement[1] is a 1962 political manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).[2] It was written by SDS members, and completed on June 15, 1962, at a United Auto Workers (UAW) retreat outside of Port Huron, Michigan (now part of Lakeport State Park), for the group's first national convention.[3] Under Walter Reuther's leadership, the UAW paid for a range of expenses for the 1962 convention, including use of the UAW summer retreat in Port Huron.[4]
Argument[edit]
The 25,700-word statement issued a non-ideological call for participatory democracy, based on non-violent civil disobedience and the idea that individual citizens could help make the social decisions which determined their quality of life.[7] Also known as the "Agenda for a Generation", it popularized the term participatory democracy.[8]
It has been described as "a seminal moment in the development of the New Left"[3] and a "classic statement of [its] principles", but it also revealed the 1960s' tension between communitarianism and individualism.[9] In particular, the statement viewed race ("symbolized by the Southern struggle against racial bigotry") and Cold War–induced alienation ("symbolized by the presence of the Bomb") as the two main problems of modern society.[10]
Issues and recommendations[edit]
Reform of the Democratic Party[edit]
"An imperative task for these publicly disinherited groups, then, is to demand a Democratic Party responsible to their interests. They must support Southern voter registration and Negro political candidates and demand that Democratic Party liberals do the same (in the last Congress, Dixiecrats split with Northern Democrats on 119 of 300 roll-calls, mostly on civil rights, area redevelopment and foreign aid bills; and the breach was much larger than in the previous several sessions). Labor should begin a major drive in the South. In the North, reform clubs (either independent or Democratic) should be formed to run against big city regimes on such issues as peace, civil rights, and urban needs. Demonstrations should be held at every Congressional or convention seating of Dixiecrats. A massive research and publicity campaign should be initiated, showing to every housewife, doctor, professor, and worker the damage done to their interests every day a racist occupies a place in the Democratic Party. Where possible, the peace movement should challenge the "peace credentials" of the otherwise-liberals by threatening or actually running candidates against them."[10]
University reform[edit]
The Port Huron Statement argued that because "the civil rights and peace and student movements are too poor and socially slighted, and the labor movement too quiescent", it should rally support and strengthen itself by looking to universities, which benefit from their "permanent position of social influence" and being "the only mainstream institution that is open to participation by individuals of nearly any viewpoint". However, it stated that this "will involve national efforts at university reform by an alliance of students and faculty" who "must wrest control of the educational process from the administrative bureaucracy", ally with groups outside the university, integrate "major public issues into the curriculum", "make debate and controversy". In short, "They must consciously build a base for their assault upon the loci of power."[10]
Cultural references[edit]
In the movie The Big Lebowski, the main character Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski says, "I was one of the authors of the Port Huron Statement. The original Port Huron Statement. Not the compromised second draft."