The Port Huron Declaration was a broad critique of the U.S. political and social system for its failure to achieve international peace and economic justice. In foreign policy, the statement questioned the US administration`s handling of the Cold War, both the existential threat of nuclear war and the actual arms race. In domestic affairs, she criticized racial discrimination, economic inequality, big business, trade unions and political parties. In addition to its critique and analysis of the American system, the declaration also proposed a series of reforms: it proclaimed the need to transform themselves into two true political parties in order to achieve more democracy, for greater individual power through citizen lobbies, for greater employee participation in corporate governance, and for an expanded public sector with increased state welfare. including a “Poverty Programme”. The paper provided ideas on what to work on and improve, and also advocated non-violent civil disobedience as a means by which young students could engender the concept of “participatory democracy” that the economy itself is of such social importance that its main resources and means of production should be open to democratic participation and subject to democratic social regulation. The statement also presented the SDS`s break with the dominant liberal policies of the post-war years. It was written to reflect their view that all problems in all areas are interconnected. The authors hoped that the movement would not be distracted in single-problem struggles, but at the same time would focus on broader struggles on all fronts.
The statement expressed the willingness of the SDS to work with groups, regardless of their political leanings. In doing so, they sought the rejection of the anti-communism that existed at the time. In the simultaneous context of the Cold War, such a declaration of inclusion in the hitherto “evil” communist ideology, and thus also for socialist concepts, was certainly seen as a radical new vision that contrasted with the position of much of the traditional American left. The latter had developed a largely anti-communist orthodoxy following the HUAC and Army-McCarthy hearings. Without being Marxist or pro-communist, the Port Huron Conference denounced anti-communism as a social problem and an obstacle to democracy. They also criticized the United States for its exaggerated paranoia and exclusive condemnation of the Soviet Union, accusing it of failing to achieve disarmament and peace. The Port Huron declaration argued that because “the civil rights, peace and student movements are too poor and socially vilified, and the labour movement is too calm,” it should rally support and strengthen itself by looking at universities that enjoy their “permanent position of social influence” and are “the only traditional institution open to the participation of individuals from almost all points of view.” However, he noted that this will include “national efforts to reform the university through an alliance of students and professors” that will “wrest control of the educational process from the administrative bureaucracy,” ally with groups outside the university, “integrate important public issues into the curriculum,” “lead debates and controversies.” In short, “they must consciously build a base for their attack on places of power.” [7] The Port Huron Declaration[1] is a political manifesto of the 1962 American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). It was written by members of the SDS and completed on June 15, 1962 at a United Auto Workers (UAW) retreat outside of Port Huron, Michigan (now part of Lakeport State Park), for the group`s first national convention. [2] Under the leadership of Walter Reuther, the UAW assumed a number of expenses for the 1962 convention, including the use of the UAW`s summer residence in Port Huron. [3] It has been described as “a revolutionary moment in the development of the New Left”[2] and as a “classic statement of [its] principles”, but it also revealed the tension of the 1960s between communitarianism and individualism.
[6] In particular, the Declaration considered race (“symbolized by the South`s struggle against racial fanaticism”) and alienation caused by the Cold War (“symbolized by the presence of the bomb”) as the two main problems of modern society. [7] “An imperative task for these publicly disinherited groups is therefore to demand a Democratic Party accountable for their interests.