Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships and parliamentary procedure, the founders conceived of the organization as a broad exercise in “participatory democracy”. From its launch in 1960 it grew rapidly in the course of the tumultuous decade with over 300 campus chapters and 30,000 supporters recorded nationwide by its last national convention in 1969. The organization splintered at that convention amidst rivalry between factions seeking to impose national leadership and direction, and disputing “revolutionary” positions on, among other issues, the Vietnam War and Black Power.
Presented below is SDS as seen through its many publications and leaflets. We present first New Left Notes, though not its first periodical, it does represent the height of SDS influence as part of the new left that it journal is named after, that is during the Vietnam War and the movement against it, along with the Civil Rights and Black Liberation movements that heavily influenced. What follows this listing of New Left Notes are its predecessor publications and the very important Progressive Labor Party 1969 take over of SDS which took over the paper while a non-PL published faction organized around the Weathermen published their own short lived rival to this periodical with the same name.
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Jump to: New Left Notes 1966-1969 | Progressive Labor Party run New Left Notes
SDS Activist (1960-1963) | SDS Bulletin (1963-1965) | SDS Caw! (1968-1969) | SDS Fire (1969) | Assorted and Miscellaneous NLN/SDS items
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No. 43, November 11 [misnumbered]
No. 50, November 30 [misnumbered]
No. 14, April 13 [misnumbered]
No. 21, May 27 [misnumbered]
No. 39, November 6 [misnumbered]
No. 40, November 13 [misnumbered]
No. 43, December 12 [misnumbered]
No. 8, February 26 [misnumbered]
No. 9, March 4 [misnumbered]
No. 1, January 8 [misnumbered]
No. 6, February [no date and wrong number]
No. 29, August 29 [alternate issue]
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Starting June of 1969, at the 1969 SDS Nationl Convention, the Progressive Labor (PL) - Worker Student Alliance (WSA) faction of SDS took over SDS, and the "New Left" - Weatthermen faction left / was expelled. The New Left faction continued to publish a version of New Left Notes in June, July, and August of 1969, a continuation of "Volume 4". The main SDS proper, now run by PL - WSA, began in June to publish "Volume 5" of their version (now the mainstream) of New Left Notes, and continued to do so into 1973.
Vol. 5, No. 3, August 26, 1969
Vol. 5, No. 4, September 20, 1969
Vol. 5, No. 5, November 1, 1969
Vol. 5, No. Extra!, November 2, 1969
Vol. 5, No. 6, November 13, 1969
Vol. 5, No. 7, December 10, 1969
Vol. 5, No. 8, December 22, 1969
Vol. 5, No. 9, January 10, 1970
Vol. 5, No. 10, February 5, 1970
Vol. 5, No. 11, March 16, 1970
Vol. 5, No. 17, August 26, 1970
Vol. 5, No. 18, September, 1970
Vol. 5, No. 19, October 24, 1970
Vol. 5, No. 20, November 22, 1970
Vol. 5, No. 21, December 10, 1970
Vol. 6, No. 1, January 15, 1971
Vol. 6, No. 9, August 12, 1971
Vol. 6, No. 10, August 30, 1971
Vol. 6, No. 11, September 25, 1971
n.d., Racist Professor Chased Out of Iowa extra
n.d., Come to the SDS National Convention issue
n.d., SDS National Convention extra [March 1972]
n.d., Strike issue [April 1972]
n.d., SDS Summer Projects issue
n.d., Unite to Fight Racism extra
n.d., U.S. Get Out Now! extra [April 1972]
n.d., Shut the Schools Down! [May 1974]
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The Activist began as a civil rights newsletter of the Midwestern Student Coordinating Committee in 1960. By 1961 it became an independent journal of political opinion associated with the Students for a Democratic Society and became a publication of SDS from 1962-63 before becoming an independent journal again. The Activist continued publishing until at least 1974 and issues after its split from SDS can be found at the Independent Voices website. Please contact us if you have issues missing from this collection. The volume and number of some issues were printed incorrectly, but these are believed to be in chronological order:
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SDS Bulletin published from 1962-65 that was more of a traditional 8 ½ x 11 newsletter, but contained opinion pieces, news and acted as a forum for debate within the organization. Please contact us if you have issues missing from this collection.
Vol. 2 No. 1, October 1963, missing pages 9-10
Vol. 2 No. 2, November 1, 1963
Vol. 2 No. 9, June 1964, missing pages 27-28
Vol. 3 No. 3, November-December 1964
Vol. 3 (No number, Special Edition), October 1965
Vol. 4 No. 1, circa November 1965
Vol. 4 No. 2, circa January 1966
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CAW! was a brief-lived SDS magazine that published four issues 1968-69 that contained poetry, songs, art and in-depth articles. We have all four issues.
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Fire replaced New Left Notes after the 1969 convention of the organization where it split into three factionsóthe Weathermen (later Weather Underground) that controlled the national office, the Progressive Labor Party dominated rival SDS headquartered in Boston and the Revolutionary Youth Movement II which in turn split into competing Maoist factions. Fire published three issues as an SDS publication before the group dropped the SDS name. We have all three issues.