The Protracted Conflict: Barbarians at the Gates

Many good, respectable people have taken part in this spring’s antiwar campaign. They have contributed money, lent their names to appeals and committees, opened their churches and homes to the Kids, marched on April 24, spoken at rallies.

These good, respectable people, and especially the political figures conspicuous among them, have been anxious, as usual, to distinguish their own “responsible” expression of dissent from the “excesses” of “a small handful.” However, granted that their motives were uniformly angelic, this in no way alters the objective consequences of their actions. They entered into a united front with the pro-Moscow Communist Party, the Trotskyist party, and assorted Maoists, Guevarists, anarchists and freaks; they marched beside them and spoke from the same platforms; they condoned and excused their behavior; they gave the revolutionists aid, comfort and cover.

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James Burnham

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Many good, respectable people have taken part in this spring’s antiwar campaign. They have contributed money, lent their names to appeals and committees, opened their churches and homes to the Kids, marched on April 24, spoken at rallies.

These good, respectable people, and especially the political figures conspicuous among them, have been anxious, as usual, to distinguish their own “responsible” expression of dissent from the “excesses” of “a small handful.” However, granted that their motives were uniformly angelic, this in no way alters the objective consequences of their actions. They entered into a united front with the pro-Moscow Communist Party, the Trotskyist party, and assorted Maoists, Guevarists, anarchists and freaks; they marched beside them and spoke from the same platforms; they condoned and excused their behavior; they gave the revolutionists aid, comfort and cover.