The Dialectics of Liberation

The Congress of the Dialectics of Liberation, held in London in 1967, was a unique expression of the politics of modern dissent, in which existential psychiatrists, Marxist intellectuals, anarchists, and political leaders met to discuss the key social issues of the following decade. Edited by David Cooper, this volume compiles speeches by Stokely Carmichael, Herbert Marcuse, R. D. Laing, Paul Sweezy, and others. The collection explores the roots of violence in society. Against the backdrop of rising student frustrations, racism, class inequality, and environmental degradation, this conference aimed to create genuine revolutionary momentum by fusing ideology and action on the levels of the individual and of mass society. These speeches clearly indicate the rise of a new, forceful, and (to some) ominous style of political activity.