Fifth Estate Collective

Don’t Forget the Motor City

1969

By working in secretarial jobs, at Ys, day care centers, and in other experimental ways, SDS hopes to do practical work in organizing women.

Besides these organizing collectives, the project will engage in intensive political study and research into Detroit. By the end of the summer the project will have trained a large number of people who can become sophisticated political cadre for -the organizing of a youth movement throughout Michigan as well as Detroit.

The concept of a youth movement is the general strategic direction SDS has adopted. While seeing the need for a socialist revolution to overthrow the capitalist ruling-class, SDS sees most youth as a sector of the working class:

Because of the special oppression of youth in the schools, the army and in the job market, this sector of the white working class has the greatest potential for developing radical consciousness.

The role a youth movement would play would be as a militant fighting force against racism and aggressive imperialist wars like Vietnam.

The summer proposal states “we recognize the urgency of building the material strength of the white movement, to be a conscious, organized, fighting force capable of giving real support to the black liberation struggle and other struggles of oppressed nations for their self-determination.”


Fifth Estate #81, June 12–25, 1969