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Show Contemporary Issues Harrington supports McGovern, calls Nixon also 'socialistic' The national chairman of the Socialist Party of America - Michael Mich-ael Harrington - blasted President Nixon and announced his support of George McGovern, in a speech at the University on Thursday night. Harrington, who authored "The Other America," said he was not supporting the Jenness-Pulley Socialist Soc-ialist ticket because their candidacy was "a Socialist exercise in futility "just a socialist form of capitalism." capital-ism." In foreign affairs Harrington lauded Nixon's trips to Peking and Moscow and said "at least he's a little better than John Foster Dulles." "There is absolutely no doubt that the future is going to be col-lectivist. col-lectivist. The question," he added, "is not whether we shall be col-lectivists, col-lectivists, but how." "The world of the 20th Century is much more unstable and the possibilities pos-sibilities of another Sarajevo are much more ubiquitous." He cited the efects of the Arabs terorists in Munich and the "General commanding com-manding the air arm in Vietnam who is carrying on his own war," in terms of their impact on the stability sta-bility of the world community as examples. which will mainly help the Republicans." Repub-licans." In his prepared speech he said conflicting types of socialism. "Socialism "Soc-ialism is the future. There is no fight against socalism versus capitalism. capi-talism. There is a fight between corporate socialism and democratic democra-tic socialism." "Socialism for the rich is what Nixon is for, and then there is socialism soc-ialism for the majority, which is what I am for. Conservatism is just a name for corporate socialism." Harrington attached Nixon's programs pro-grams as socailist measures cloaked cloak-ed in conservative rhethoric. "Nixon "Nix-on can't admit he's as good a socialist soc-ialist as he is," said Harrington. While repeatedly boosting McGovern, McGov-ern, he scored the domestic and foreign policys of the President. Big Corporations, he added, were Mr. Harrington's 1962 book, "The Other America," is considered a major catalyst to the Kennedy Administration's "War on Poverty." Harrington is also the author of "The Accidental Century," and "Toward a Democratic Left." "We must fight for the humani-zation humani-zation of an inevitable collectivist society, he said. The collectivist alternatives for the future are totalitarianism; to-talitarianism; a corporate collectivism collecti-vism oriented toward the wealthy; or a collectivism in the interests and under the commands of the people. "Conservatism in our time has become corporate collectivism." He outlined the domestic policy of President Nixon as being a subsidized sub-sidized welfare system which benefits bene-fits the rich and not the poor as a result -of 1) wageprice controls "The Third World will not set by and acecpt the deals of the big powers," he continued. "We are taking more money from these countries than we give them because be-cause our foreign aid programs are directed primarily to American companies in foreign lands." Harrington said the five great powers are the United States, China, Japan, Russia and the Comon Market. "Nixon went to Peking for conservative reason," he continued. "It is now the American Amer-ican Doctrine to keep the USSR and China strong because a threatened threat-ened China or Russia is a dangerous danger-ous China or Russia." Harrington said Nixon's international politics were the "same shrewd sophisticated sophisti-cated conservatism" which the President employed on a domestic level. that have resulted in a "Governmental "Govern-mental program which hinders full employment;" 2) a welfare system which is for the rich who are subsidized sub-sidized by the poor as a result of tax loopholes which results in "housing subsidies in inverse relationship re-lationship to need;" and 3) national health care programs which will be beneficial to private health insurance insur-ance agencies wherein "we will subsidize their profits." In foreign policy, Harrington saw Nixon as a Metternichian who conceived the power relationship of the world in 19th Century terms. "We are putting our trust in a balancing act which is not applicable applic-able to the 20th Century," he said. |