Students for A Democratic Society

THE HISTORY OF Students for A Democratic Society (SDS) can be traced to 1905 when writers Upton Sinclair and Jack London joined with lawyer Clarence Darrow and journalist Walter Lippmann to found the Intercollegiate Socialist Society (ISS), which aimed at motivating young people to adopt leftist philosophies. In 1921, the student arm of ISS (SLID) evolved into the League for Industrial Democracy (LID), which in turn became Students for A Democratic Society in 1959. In its heyday, Students for A Democratic Society claimed over 100,000 members with 400 chapters on college campuses across the United States. After the publication of the Port Huron Statement in 1962, which became the manifesto of America's New Left by calling for a commitment to “participatory democracy,” SDS surfaced as ...