HARRINGTON

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Mike Harrington's majority in the 6th District was not as "strange" as Thomas Geoghegan would have it. Rather, it was a very logical majority that represents the only practical hopes for a shift to the Left in American polities.

The solid base of Harrington's support came from traditionally Democratic working class areas in Lynn, Sale, and elsewhere. What brought him over the top was a new infusion of Democratic votes from the middle class "new politics" constituency. Together these two voting blocs can achieve a democratic Left majority. It is crucial for us to remember that neither group can do it alone.

In this respect, Mr. Geoghegan's somewhat patronizing comment that Mr. Harrington gained the support of labor unions by promising "to campaign for stricter import quotas on foreign manufactures" is very unfortunate. The largest union in this district, the Electrical Workers, is not in the slightest interested in this question. Mike Harrington got substantial union support because he was a liberal Democrat, and the labor movement wants to see more liberal Democrats in the Congress. The issues of full employment, rebuilding the cities, and eliminating poverty which the labor movement is concerned with are hardly "old politics."