Leadership Elite' Speaks For Political Clubs

Judging by the clutter of posters on entry bulletin boards or by the gauntlet of fast-taking young politicos that Freshman must run after registration, one might conclude that participation in political clubs at Harvard is widespread and vigorous. In fact, however, dues-paying membership of all groups totals less than 18 per cent of the College, and even this figure ignores double-membership and the flock of joiners whose last "activity" may be plunking down $1.50 for the privilege of belonging. In the Liberal Union, for example, only 15 of 50 members "regularly attend business meetings," and such is the general pattern. Furthermore, a number of clubs appear "rather relaxed," as one president wryly said, and even "active" members do little.

At mid-term the Dean of Students recognized 13 political clubs and of these, three dominate the scene: the Young Democrats with 224 members, the Young Republicants with 160, and the UN Council with 150. Further down the scale, the Liberal Union has its 50, and the other clubs form a cluster with from 15 to 30 members each.

Motives for signing a membership list range from the hope of launching a lifetime political career to "having an activity" for grad school applications. Many students like the comfortable feeling of belonging, of registering approval for a political philosophy--no matter how vague--and some freshmen would rather pay $1.50 than contend with a persuasive recruiter. The desire to learn more about "the issues" and about practical politics lures many, and the prospect of meeting important government leaders attracts others. Visions of doorbell-ringing, debates and speeches, coffee-hours and committee meetings--all these dance in their heads.

On the other hand, there are powerful pressures not to join. Campus politics is thought a "dirty game," and in some cases the belief is as justified as it is widespread. Spectacles such as the "coup" to overthrow the Council to Study Disarmament, and the vitriolic election battles within the HYRC can only arouse disgust, or perhaps amusement.

Secondly, studies are gobbling up more and more of the week's 168 hours. Amid rueful jokes about "creeping Lamontism," students are finding less and less time for extra-curricular activities of any sort, and many hesitate to devote long hours to dull meetings. Others are content to mutter scornfully, "Boys must have their little games."

One club president after another complains that "student apathy--incredible indifference--is our biggest problem," but none mentioned that this apathy itself is a curious compound. One part is Harvard's way of frowning on enthusiasm; another is the helpless feeling one gets when confronting today's complex issues; and a third is the convenient rationalization that there are no great issues left.

The largest club of them all, the HYDC claims 224 members, of whom roughly a quarter are "pledged to put in two or three hours a week." Partly because of its size, partly because of the energy of its leaders, the club has developed a myth and vocabulary of its own. The president's "machine" is regulary referred to, and "organizational dynamics," the theory of "democratic centralism," "first and second echelons of leadership elite," and "bureaucratic hierarchy" are all considered phrases quite necessary to the club's operation.

In a memorandum to his Public Relations Committee, president Derek T. Winans '60 outlined the club's goal: "Since the 1956 debacle, we literally lifted ourselves by our bootstraps and simultaneously scored impressive gains in organization and membership. In short, we have been laying the foundations for that drive toward national prominence and widespread influence which will bring to the HYDC in the years to come its due recognition." One of Winans' specific objectives is to "acquire sufficient prestige and influence within Massachusetts so as to use our endorsement as a major weapon in the fight for more honest government in the Commonwealth." It is a praiseworthy, but unrealistic hope.

Another phrase tossed around in both the first and second echeons of the leadership elite is "balanced program." Indeed, the HYDC has enjoyed enviable success in providing not only national and local speakers, but also coffee-hours, receptions, debates, and campaigning opportunities.

Of course, such a busy group needs a means of "internal communication," and the mimeographed Democratic Review informs members in witty fashion of the goings-on. Of the annual Christmas party, it said in the lead article: "Tradition shall mix with the liberal spirit, carols with caucuses, and good fellowship preside over all." In addition, the club helps publish the Democrat, "an intelligence service for the people."

Since relations with other groups are important, the HYDC has a Second Vice-President in charge of external affairs, a sort of counterpart to its First Vice-President in charge of internal organization. "Club growth beyond a certain size is almost self-destructive," remarked one officer, "because the social contact of smaller groups is lost, and the resulting bureaucracy may drive out amateurs."

Once called the "West Point of the Republican Party," the HYRC lists 160 members, 20 of whom "would come in and do anything for us." Though the club is most famous for what its president calls "our annual circus," elections are calming down, and candidates are no longer allowed to import a hoard of friends just before balloting time.

Opportunity for Conservatives

Dedicated to "training young people capable of becoming leaders of Republican thought," the HYRC's activities--those that there are--range from "political workshops" to occasional speeches. "There's a crying need for a more balanced program," said president Chris Bayley '60, "and we must encourage more participation on an intellectual level."

Bayley realizes that students "don't like mudslinging at elections," and hopes, by "creating a new public image," to increase membership to at least 200. Perhaps if the members and officers worried a little less about who became club president, and more about who was elected to Congress and what they were doing, more students would show interest.

The United Nations Council, "Harvard's International Relations Club," has around 150 members, of whom at least 20 are "hard core." Based on an "interest in foreign affairs and a belief that the UN is a good organization," the Council is nonpartisan. In '56, both Stevenson pins and Ike buttons appeared in exec board meetings, and president Eldon Eisenach '60 said that "impartiality is the secret of our success."

Claiming a "balanced program," the Council sponsors not only big-name speakers--such as Owen Lattimore and Ambassador Menshikov--but also political laboratories ("polilabs"), model UN Councils in local high schools, and even occasional television programs on WHDH. The group has an impressive list of faculty sponsors, ranging from Dean Bundy to Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

According to one enthusiastic member, the Liberal Union is the "oldest, cleanest, most active political organization on campus, without an election scandal yet." Its purpose is to "study an issue, take a stand, and then do something about it," and the HLU has strong ties to the Campus Americans for Democratic Action, which advocates such policies as extension of TVA principles to other river valleys, national health insurance, and establishment of a "comprehensive" federal scholarship program.

Last fall the HLU sponsored--among other things--a speech by Linus Pauling, raised $300 for Clinton's bombed-out high school, and helped edit the Overseas Review, a digest of excerpts from the liberal press, designed especially for African and Asian students. "Our big topics this year are disarmament, segregation, underdeveloped countries, and the draft," explained president James Bardeen '60. The group has published a 25 page booklet on nuclear policy, and plans a similar work on the U.S. draft laws.

Eggheads' for Ike

With a membership of 16, the Conservative League preserves the tradition of its departed bretheren, the New Conservative League and the Conservative Club. "Though still searching for an ideology," commented president Hastings Wyman '61, "our group would in general support right-to-work laws, and express serious reservations about the UN." Regarding Eisenhower as "too liberal," the League has dined with an associate of Gen. MacArthur, and hopes Bill Buckley of the National Review will speak to them this Spring.

Though the group has met only twice this term, its purpose is to provide "an opportunity for conservatives--who are not too numerous around here--to get together and discuss their views." Asked about the "coup" in the CSD, Wyman claimed that "the majority of the present executive board had nothing to do with it."

The subject of many headlines last Fall, the Committee to Study Disarmament sprang up just a year ago. Though most members were sincerely concerned with the disarmament problem, a few joined with rather curious motives. When interest lagged, these clever fellows stepped into the "power vacum," played some unconstitutional tricks, brought in a flock of cronies, and elected one of their number as president. The name was promptly changed to the Committee Against Appeasement. During a student Council inquiry, however, the trickster resigned, and the group was left free to puruse its original purpose.

"We consider our function not action, but education," said Andrew Biemiller '62, president. The group, whose speakers have included Henry Kissinger, has 30 dues-paying members, of whom 12 usually attend meetings.

Partly to remedy this numerical weakness, there is talk of a merger with the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy. Its program includes "both study and political action," and SANE hopes "through petitions, communication with Senators and Representatives, and participation in Congressional hearings to direct and make articulate an informal public opinion."

At present, the committee can boast only 15 members, five or six of whom are "consistently energetic," and the dreams of national influence are fading fast. "Students feel that the policies involved are too complicated to be tackled by private citizens," said President David Hamilton '62, "and the initial wave of interest in getting negotiations started has subsided, leaving us to cross our fingers and hope a compromise will be worked out."

A splinter off the HYRC-controlled "Students for Eisenhower" in 1956, the Eisenhower Club today claims 35 members, only eight of whom are "activists." Though the HEC has "bitterness of its own," according to president Eliot Bernat '60 it provides "a Republican alternative to the factionalism which dominates all the state-chartered political groups" at the College. Because of its limited membership, the HEC is not "frightfully active," and finds itself "unable to draw a decent audience" for its speakers.

Dedicated to "presenting both sides of controversial issues," the club remains what Bernat calls a "rebound" club for dissatisfied "regulars" of the HYRC and for self-styled "eggheads" who are "hammering out a new ideology for the party." If they are hammering, it is quietly done.

Hastily formed in the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution, the Freedom Council collected almost $1000 to help bring a Freedom Fighter to Harvard. Since then, it has sponsored a commemoration program. With a "lasting interest in Eastern Europe," the Council "feels it is waiting on something," and at present its organization is "rather relaxed." Some members are working for the Vienna Youth Festival Information Service "to give us something to do," said Prescott Evarts '60, president. Perhaps if another revolution occurs in the satellites the council can recapture its former moment of glory.

Sympathizing with the NAACP, the Society for Minority Rights is mainly concerned with the integration problem, though "itching to do some work on the McCarran-Walter Act, Puerto Ricans in New York City, orientals on the West Coast, and Mexicans in the Southwest." Its membership is around 25, of whom eight are active.

The Society has heard a Nieman fellow, a Southern radio broadcaster, the Graduate Secretary of PBH, and folksinger Pete Seeger in the past year. But, according to president Michael Lurie '60 "students are rather apathetic about civil rights, and it's almost impossible to get a drive going."

The Fellowship of Reconciliation, which has 15 members "at least in communication with each other," exists for pacifists "in the broad sense." Fellowship members "refuse to participate in any war or to sanction military preparation," "seek to avoid bitterness and contention, and to maintain the spirit of self-giving love."

The Lunatic Fringe

"We know we're on the lunatic fringe," president Jan Suter '59 observed, "and we like to have fellowship with those who agree with us." He claimed that the group offers "a pragmatic cure to the problem of war."

Recently formed, the Socialist Club lists 30 to 40 members--including a dozen grad students--of whom 20 are "hard core." Its purpose is to study socialism as a body of thought which can be applied to many problems," said Jerry Shapiro '61 president. So far, attractions have included speeches by an "independent socialist" economist, and the editor of a Socialist newspaper.

"Many political arguments are conducted at such a trivial level, merely about which law should be passed and which shouldn't," Shapiro observed. "It would be better to discuss topics such as 'Existentialism and Marxism as an Answer to Man's Alienation in the Modern World'." But, he added sadly, "since most people around here are of capitalistic backgrounds, we can never expect a very large following."

The World Federalists hope to strengthen the UN and prohibit "by law the use of force or threat of force by nations in international affairs," and provide "an agreed schedule for universal and complete disarmament." The Federalists "are not entirely singleminded," president Jay Kadane '62 commented, "and we try to find speakers with rational arguments against our position.

Though a Deans' ruling says that "recognized organizations must maintain their local autonomy," making "all policy decisions without obligation to any parent organization," the Federalists are a chapter of the United World Federalists. Each year the Club "solemnly votes on whether to accept the national policy statement knowing that if we reject it, we would cease to be a chapter."

These 13 groups represent more diversity than activity. In the large, partisan groups, the grasp for personal power and prestige often exceeds the grasp of real political issues. Concern for intra-organizational structure can be carried to extremes, and it is unfortunate that self-conscious phrases like "bureaucratic hierarchy" and "public image" are so indispensible to these clubs.

On the other hand, while it is always fun to dream, goals such as "influence within the body politic" seem extravagant for a college group. It might be better to present more information about the body politic.

Secondly, there is the Crisis Principle. When the disarmament question seemed ripe, a group sprang up, only to begin withering soon after. And of course, our Presidential elections provide a period crisis for campus politicos. When there is a red-white-and-blue button to wear, a sticker to put in the windows, a speech to hear, a leaflet to hand out, then students flock to the clubs. Often, new groups are formed. Dean Watson fully expects a Students for Nixon, for Kennedy, and for whoever else strikes the student fancy, to appear in the next year.