The Utopian Exhilaration

In the early sixties, african american protest movement evolved from non violent civil rights demonstrations to a more militant movement. There was a parallel generational conflict going on at the same time within the white American lefter. Many of America's left wing institutions were populated with recent generation immigrants from southern and eastern europe who knew first hand the evil that had been done in the name of communism. The communists didn't like the new deal because improving the lives of workers would make it harder to win them over for the cause of revolution. These people were still solid democratic socialists, but they were also solid americans.