Chris Hedges and Mark Rudd Discuss Self Destructive Forces on the Left
NB: This argument is an American counterpart of my understanding about the delusions of revolutionary extremism. These delusions are to be found amongst extremist nationalists too, who also see themselves as revolutionaries. These ideological pipe-dreams are fueled by visions of forcing human character into new a mould (determined by the Headquarters of Truth), an addiction to totalitarian doctrines, and above all by a fascination with violence. More about the Nazi variant may be read here. What follows is a conversation between two sensitive intellectual critics on the American situation. DS
Self Destructive Forces on the Left
The Weather Underground, a clandestine revolutionary organization that carried out a wave of bombings in the 1970s, was seen by Hedges’ father and other clergy members who were involved in Vietnam anti-war protests as one of the most self-destructive forces on the left. These members of the clergy, many of whom, including Hedges’ father, were World War II veterans, had often became ministers because of their experiences in the war. They understood the poison of violence.
One of the most prominent leaders of Clergy
and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam (CALCAV), to which Hedges’ father belonged,
was the Catholic priest Philip Berrigan, who was a highly decorated Army second
lieutenant who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. The young radicals of the
Vietnam era, including Mark Rudd - who in 1968 as a leader of Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS) led the occupation of five buildings at Columbia
University and later helped form the Weather Underground—did not turn to those
on the religious left whose personal experiences with violence might have saved
SDS, the Weather Underground and the student anti-war movement from
self-immolation.
Blinded by hubris, intoxicated by the lust
for violence and hypermasculinity and infected with the disease of moral
purity, the leaders of the Weather Underground destroyed the largest anti-war
movement in the country. It was, perhaps, the single most important blow to the
left since the witch hunts led by Senator Joe McCarthy. The leaders of the
Weather Underground dismissed the nonviolent left as useless cowards, claiming
they were the only true revolutionaries. They embarked, as have many of those
in today’s black bloc and antifa, on a campaign that proved to be
counterproductive to the social and economic goals they said they advocated.
Rudd, 50 years later, plays the role once
played by the priests Phil and Daniel Berrigan, Martin Luther King and Rabbi
Abraham Heschel. His book “Underground: My Life with SDS and the Weathermen” is
a brutally honest deconstruction of the dangerous myths that captivated him as
a young man.
Hedges says he suspects that many of those in the black bloc and antifa will no more listen to his wisdom than did the young radicals five decades ago who dismissed the warnings from those on the religious left for whom violence was also not an abstraction. Rudd sees his old self in the masked faces of the black bloc and antifa, who advocate violence and property destruction in the name of anti-fascism. These faces, he said, ignite his deep embers of “shame and guilt.”
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