Formation and organizing through 1962
Alan Haber helped build Students for a Democratic Society , or SDS, by bringing students into a group where they could keep working for change. He argued that they needed allies in labor and research to guide their work. This account follows his early efforts through 1962, when SDS adopted the Port Huron Statement [1].[2][3][1]
Early life and intellectual formation
Formation and organizing through 1962
Haber developed his politics in Ann Arbor. He later traced his interest in sharing power to his schools and to philosopher Arnold Kaufman at the University of Michigan. Kaufman advised the Political Issues Club and taught about communism, socialism and democracy. Haber recalled that taking part in decisions could do more than give people a say. It could teach them to work together and understand each other.[2]
The club also brought him into an older group. Fellow organizer Robert J. S. Ross recalled that Haber joined the Student League for Industrial Democracy through the Michigan club. He then took on national work. Ross described how Haber drew in new students in 1960. In patient talks, he argued that democracy could give them a common aim despite old splits on the left.[2]
These accounts show how school and organizing shaped Haber’s politics. They do not establish a single moment when his views formed. His early proposals show that he wanted students to combine learning with work beyond the university.[2][3]
Ideas and political aims
Formation and organizing through 1962
Haber thought people needed to learn democracy through practice. He and Harry Fleischman signed a foreword to Tom Hayden's Revolution in Mississippi. Fleischman chaired the executive committee of the League for Industrial Democracy. They linked the civil-rights struggle to a wider question: who had a say in work, housing, schools and life in a town? They presented SDS as a place to study such questions and act on them. Students could work with others seeking change beyond the campus.[4]
In Students and Labor, dated September 1962, Haber proposed an alliance between student radicals and unions. Students and teachers could do research and bring other skills. Unions knew how to organize and could reach more people. His program began locally. Groups drawn from both sides could study jobs, public services and the effects of military spending in their towns. He urged students to seek out union reformers where established leaders would not cooperate.[3]
Career and activities
Formation and organizing through 1962
Haber helped organize the April 1960 Conference on Human Rights in the North at Michigan. Ross recalled joining the conference after picketing local stores in support of southern sit-ins. Haber then recruited him and other participants into SDS . Students who had joined a protest now had a group in which to keep working.[2]
By early 1962, Haber was signing SDS publications as president. His circular asked people to write and share resources for teaching about peace. It proposed work on local politics and the economic choices tied to disarmament. It also invited them to the June convention, where SDS would debate a manifesto.[4][5]
Haber later described the work that followed adoption of the statement. Members typed stencils, ran a mimeograph machine, collated pages and sent copies to chapters and meetings. His account places printing and distribution inside the work of building an organization. It does not tell us how many people read the statement or what they did with it.[2]
Major works
Formation and organizing through 1962
Haber wrote papers and appeals to help SDS do its work. His convention letter linked peace education with the coming manifesto debate. The joint foreword to Revolution in Mississippi showed why students outside the South should study what was happening there.[4][5]
Students and Labor set out things students and unions could do together. Haber urged support for union campaigns, efforts to organize campus workers and research on local economic problems. He also proposed study groups, reading lists and class discussions to bring labor into courses. These were things he wanted students to try. The paper does not show how many followed his advice.[3]
Influence and criticism
Formation and organizing through 1962
Ross's account shows how Haber helped bring in another organizer. He recalled Haber arguing that students from different backgrounds could unite around democracy. They went on to build chapters and take part in student government. Ross explains how Haber drew people in. He does not make Haber the only reason the movement grew.[2]
The Port Huron Statement [1] called for students to work with groups beyond the campus. It criticized union leaders but also gave reasons to work for change within labor. Haber's September paper offered a more detailed plan for working with unions. Both texts sought allies among workers. That shared aim does not tell us which parts of the statement Haber wrote.[3][1]