The Next American Revolution — Will It Come from the Left or Right?
My sister and coauthor Margaret Talbot — who worked with me on the new book, By the Light of Burning Dreams — and I call the upheavals of the 1960s and ‘70s “the Second American Revolution.” And we narrate the tragedies and heroic achievements of this second revolution with unflinching candor. Because if we don’t learn from this history, we’re doomed to repeat it. But as we’re being interviewed about the book, a question always arises: Who will make the next American revolution? (Btw, here’s a good recent interview with us, by historian Jon Wiener, on his podcast for The Nation magazine. We come on the show about 13:30 into it.)
At this point, it seems like far-right militants — who are pumped up, well-organized and fully armed — have the momentum to revolutionize America. They were not only able to violently storm the Capitol in January, but also block an independent investigation of the insurrection. They wield power at the grassroots level and in Washington D.C. And their white nationalist vision of America is deeply chilling.
Activists on the left have shown glimmers of political passion — particularly in the occupation of Wall Street and other urban centers in 2011 and the wave of George Floyd uprisings in 2020. But we’ve not been able to sustain our protest movements over time, nor elect enough progressives to Congress to redirect national policy. Currently we must concede that it’s the far right that has more momentum in America.
That’s why the stories and lessons in By the Light of Burning Dreams are so important. Yes, as a coauthor of the book, I’m not simply an objective observer. But Margaret and I are talented journalists, and the history we’ve compiled here is incendiary and illuminating. And as a popular historian — and a former foot soldier in these in the struggles of the ‘60s and ‘70s — I know how important this book is. As in the past, we need to build a Movement again. We need to forge bonds of solidarity across class, race and gender lines. We need to fight for our vision of America — and this time we need to win.
Footnote: Before his assassination in April 1968, the increasingly radical Martin Luther King Jr. was building a remarkably diverse coalition — including the Black Panthers, as Bobby Seale himself told me — to not just march on Washington, but to occupy the capital until Congress agreed to divert spending from the Vietnam War to urgent domestic needs. That’s why King was viewed as “the most dangerous Negro” in America by the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover. And that’s why he was killed.