The theoretical basis of the Revolutionary Youth Movement was an understanding that most of the American population, including both students and the so-called "middle class," comprised, due to their relationship to the instruments of production, the
working class; thus the organizational basis of SDS, which had begun in the elite colleges and had been extended to public institutions as the organization grew, could be extended to youth as a whole, including students, those serving in the military, and the unemployed. Students could be viewed as workers gaining skills prior to employment. This contrasted with the Progressive Labor Party view which saw students and workers as being in separate categories which could ally, but should not jointly organize. Politically, the RYM took issue with what they alleged was PLP's opposition to the right of
self-determination for oppressed nations and
ethnic groups. The RYM also criticized PLP's attacks on the
Vietnamese National Liberation Front, whom PLP had accused of "
selling out" to the U.S. during the
Paris Peace Talks, as well as other criticisms. But most of all, the RYM opposed what it considered to be PLP's unfounded attacks on the
Black Panther Party. In the 1969 fragmentation of SDS, RYM departed the convention hall and declared itself the "real SDS" in a new space across the street. In splitting SDS, the RYM itself also split. One section of the RYM (referred to as RYM I), containing most of the SDS leadership including
Bernardine Dohrn,
David Gilbert and
Mark Rudd, became the
Weathermen. Weathermen briefly retained control of the SDS National Office and membership lists before dissolving SDS and closing its headquarters in 1970, in favor of pursuing illegal activities that it believed would help to spark revolution in the short term. The other major section of the RYM, referred to as
Revolutionary Youth Movement II, were
Maoist-oriented and rejected the Weathermen's line of immediate armed struggle in the U.S., advocating building a new revolutionary
vanguard party instead. RYM II, which was led by the former national secretary of SDS,
Michael Klonsky, ==See also==