Whatever became of the SDS?

The press release announcing their first national convention in over 37 years read, “When SDS [Students for a Democratic Society ] splintered at its national convention in Chicago in 1969 it was the most influential and powerful organization of student activists in the U.S.,” the organization said. “Thirty-seven years later, once again in Chicago, a new generation of SDS, with new ideas and a fresh sense of urgency and moral outrage, is poised to facilitate the growth of the re-emergent student movement.”

The SDS was the spawning ground of some professors who have long since been tenured. Before it went into hibernation, it regularly made the then-existent U.S. Attorney General’s list of subversive organizations.

“The new SDS is multi-generational and members of the new generation of SDS will share the convention with members of the Movement for a Democratic Society, an affiliated organization for non-students, including former SDS members, under the SDS banner,” according to the group’s website.

What kind of conferences and discussions were on the agenda for the group? On the convention’s website, some of the conference/discussion titles include “Creating and Sustaining a Continuing Anarchist Revolution,” “White Privilege,” and “Understanding the Corporate Takeover of Higher Education.” They also had caucuses that included, “Marxian Caucus,” the “Queer/Trans Caucus,” and of course the “Anarchist Caucus.”

At the bottom of the convention’s homepage is a cartoon drawing of what looks to be SDS members facing security guards in a school hallway. Underneath the drawing are the words “Dare to struggle, dare to win!”

The group also boasts its popularity amongst a new era of students around the world in their press release, saying “The timeliness of the rebirth of SDS is demonstrated by its phenomenal growth. In its first six months of existence SDS already claims over 1000 members registered nationally and countless more involved at the local level. It has also already expanded into an international organization, with chapters in Mexico, Germany, Nigeria, and New Zealand; a testament to SDS’ commitment to solidarity across, and in spite of, borders.”

Matthew Murphy is an intern at Accuracy in Academia.