Harrington Advises American Liberals Should Aid Carter

Michael Harrington, author of "The Other America," and the national chairman of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, told an audience in Emerson Hall last night that the American left should support "without illusions" President-elect Jimmy Carter's effort to achieve full employment and implement the policies of the Democratic platform.

Labeling himself a "reborn Marxist," Harrington said the Democratic platform would be "the most gigantic step to the left since Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

However, Carter will have trouble fulfilling his promise of full employment, unless he makes major changes in an economic system which is "profoundly resistant to full employment" without inflation, Harrington said.

Zap Go the Rich

Harrington suggested more spending for social programs, such as a national health plan, and a redistributive income policy that would "zap the corporate rich."

The Internal Revenue Service allowed $13 billion in capital gains deductions for the year 1977 but alloted only $8 billion to aid families with dependent children, Harrington said. He added that capital gains which were supposed to be used to stimulate employment were mostly locked up in the New York Stock Exchange "crap game" and were not used to increase the number of jobs.