Students for a Democratic Society

The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a radical student activist movement in the United states founded in 1959. As part of the New Left movement in the United States, the organization developed rapidly in the mid-1960's, before dissolving in 1969.

From 1965 to 1969

At first, SDS focused on community organizing to promote the civil rights movement and improve the conditions of the inner-city ghettos. However, it came to be known for the leading role that it played in student opposition to the Vietnam War. While SDS remained non-violent, it became increasingly militant, and certain SDS factions had a reputation for violent confrontation, including the Progressive Labor Party's Worker Student Alliance, the (Revolutionary Youth Movement I, and the Revolutionary Youth Movement II).

Related Topics:
Community organizing - Ghetto - Vietnam War - Factions - Progressive Labor Party - Worker Student Alliance - Revolutionary Youth Movement I - Revolutionary Youth Movement II

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SDS formed the core of a movement in the 1960s known collectively as the New Left, or simply "The Movement." This was loosely associated with other prominent student activist organizations such as the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, a coalition of student groups at the University of California, Berkeley that was formed in response to a prohibition on political activities on the Berkeley campus.

Related Topics:
1960s - New Left - Berkeley Free Speech Movement - University of California, Berkeley

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SDS split up in 1969 amidst internal discord, with its more radical remnants continuing as the PLP/WSA, Weather Underground Organization, and the Revolutionary Union. A few former SDS leaders went on to successful political careers, including Tom Hayden, who later served in the California State Assembly (1982-1992) and State Senate (1992-2000). A few thousand former SDS members established the New American Movement which merged with the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee to create the Democratic Socialists of America in 1983.

Related Topics:
PLP - WSA - Weather Underground Organization - Revolutionary Union - Tom Hayden - New American Movement - Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee - Democratic Socialists of America

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The SDS was the organizational high point for student radicalism in the United States, and thus has been an important influence on student organizing in the decades since its collapse. Participatory democracy, direct action, radicalism, student power, shoestring budgets, and its organizational structure are all present in varying degrees in current national student activist groups. Though various organizations have been formed in the years since, as proposed national networks for left-wing student organizing, none has ever approached the scale of SDS, and most have lasted a few years at best. Several attempts have been made at reviving the name, including a circa-2003 organization with a few chapters at colleges in the Midwest and Northeast.

Related Topics:
Participatory democracy - Direct action - 2003

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~