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APPENDIX STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY A source has advised that the Students for a Democratic Soci- ety (SDS), as presently regarded, came into being at a founding conven- tion held June, 1962. at Port Huron, Michigan. From an initial posture of “participatory democracy" the line of the national leadership has revealed a growing Marxist-Leninist adherence which currently calls for the building of a revolutionary youth movement, Concurrently, the pro- gram of SDS has evolved from civil rights struggles to an anti-Vietnam War stance to an advocacy of a militant anti-imperialist position. China, Vietnam, and Cuba are regarded as the leaders of worldwide strug- gles against United States imperialism whereas the Soviet Union is held to be revisionist and also imperialist. At the June. 1969. SDS National Convention, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) forces in the organization were expelled. As a result, the National Office (NO) group maintained its National Headquarters at 1608 West Madison Street. Chicago. snd the PLP faction set up head- quarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This headquarters subsequently moved to Boston. Each group elected its own national officers, which include three nations] secretaries and a National Interim Committee of eight. Both groups also print their versions of "New Left Notes" which sets forth the line and the program of the particular faction, The NO version of "New Left Notes" was recently printed under the title "The Fire Next Time" to achieve a broader mass appeal, Two major factions have developed internally within the NO group, namely, the Weatherman or Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM) I faction, and the KYM 11 faction. Weatherman is action-oriented up- holding Castro's position that the duty of revolutionaries, adventur- istic, elitist faction which denies the historical role of the working class as the base for revolution. RYM JI maintains that revolution, although desired, is not possible under present conditions, hence emphasizes organizing and raising the political consciousness of the working class upon whom they feel successful revolution depends. Although disclaiming control and domination by the Communist Party, USA, leaders in these two factions have in the past proclaimed themselves to be communists and to follow the precepts of a Marxist-Leninist philos- ophy, along pro-Chinese communist lines, A second source has advised that the PLP faction which is more commonly known as the Worker Student Alliance is dominated and control- led by members of the PLF, who are required to identify themselves with the Pro-Chinese Marxist-Leninist philosophy of the PLP, They advocate that an alliance between workers and students ig vital to the bringing about of a revolution in the United States. SDS regions and university and college chapters, although operating under the outlines of the SDS National Constitution, are autonomous in nature and free to carry out independent policy reflective of local conditions. Because of this autonomy internal struggles reflecting the major factional interests of SDS have occurred at the chapter level since the beginning of the 1969-70 school year. A characterization of PLP is attached, 35