PERHAPS YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT'S HAPPENING TO NEW YORK AND OUR OTHER CITIES THAT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A COMPUTER PRINT-OUT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000100630001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 17, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: LETTER

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339 Lafayette Street, New York, N.Y. 10012
1 Letter Jrorn LIBL'R.1 TION's Editorial Collective.
Dear Friend,
SPECIAL ISSUE
NVC CRISIS
Intluemy:
EN
FRANCES FOX "'N
ROBERT ZEVIN
JANE JACOBS
MILTON KOTLER
MURRAY SOCI CHIN
STAUGHTON LYND
DENISE LEVERTOV
GARY SNYDER
JOEL OPPENHEIMER
JOHN BERGER
Perhaps you've been looking for an explanation of what's happening to New York and our other
cities that doesn't sound like a computer print-out, a massive conspiracy, or nothing to worry about.
While the Daily News and Time portray it as a battle between city bureaucrats and federal politicians,
too many other "in-depth" analyses bury the truth in a mound of statistics and charts.
What's needed is a probing look at the crisis in our cities-now and for the future-which puts
people first. And which considers all sides of the problem-not just money and politics, but the feelings
and expressions of everyday people.
If this is what you're looking for LIBERATION's special 140-page double issue on the city crisis
will answer your questions and more: (for sample quotations, see inside)
W h:1t call-,rd the cri,i,'.' The economic, political and bureaucratic mumblings and fumblings which
led to the disaster are analysed in two detailed, expert articles.
* Who', hurting and how'' The heart of the problem: housing, crime, the schools, the unions.
Writers with direct experience in each area provide detailed explanations of the effects of the
crisis.
* What can be done? Who's doing it? People's answers have included rent strikes, increased radical
activity, neighborhood government, cost-cutting lifestyle experiments-and more questions. Writers
and participants discuss their successes and failures, and make suggestions for future action.
* What does it feel and look like? The poetry and art, dreams and nightmares of city life are an
integral part of our concern. Poets like Gary Snyder, Denise Levertov, Philip Lopate, Joel
Oppenheimer and Jim Moore, speak as artists and human beings-with passion, humor, percep-
tion and depth. Graphic artists and photographers add their visions to produce a magazine that
is as rich to look at as it is to read.
Why LIBERATION? How are we different from the other magazines you read, or have given up on?
Before speaking for ourselves, we suggest you look on the inside at what others have said about us. We've
won the support of people like Mary McCarthy, Noam Chomsky, Susan Sontag and Dan Ellsberg, by being
unique. While we are proud to carry articles by writers such as these, we are even more concerned to pub-
lish the unheard voices of people whose ideas would otherwise not appear in print.
Our approach is radical, which means we talk about people's lives and are not arrogant about it; we
talk about changing the world, but don't claim to have all the answers. In each issue, we combine the
personal and analytical, cultural and political.
(Please turn to the back page.)
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Q: CAN NEW YORK CTY SURVIVE?
A. WRVW IS FOR COCKROACHES.
WE rtMNT TO UVEl
STAT
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Highlights from LIBERA iivlv s %-,ity issue-yours FREE if you subscribe!
"Death for a city is not physical de-
struction as befell Carthage or Hiro-
shima. It is the loss of those things
which define a city's vitality, the cul-
ture and ferment, material pleasures
and comforts, exploration and in yen -
tion, growth of old activities and
creation of new ones which serve as
positive attractions for immigrants
andproduce a flow of ideas and pro-
ducts for export. If these are vital
signs, New York is moribund, en-
crusted with decaying, old West Side
Highways and decadent, new World
Trade Centers. " -Robert Zevin,
"Taking Care of Business"
"No amount of police can enforce
civilization where the normal, casual
enforcement of it has broken down."
-Jane Jacobs,
`Sidewalks, Crime and Community"
"Love New York Day was a conglom-
eration of New York politics, of dis-
connection, but also of possibility.
Their traditions and institutions are
crumbling, but in the vacuum this
creates it is not clear that their loss
will be our gain." -Paul Loeb
"Survival is for
cockroaches-we
want to live!"
-Love N.Y. Day Rally
The tenant strike of 60,000 residents
of Co-op City: "Hundreds-thou-
sands-of people in Co-op City now
know each other who never knew
each other before, and have begun
to watch out for each other."
"This crap about a wage freeze for
city workers-1 didn't see the politi-
cians taking any cuts and freezing
their salaries and their little rake-offs
and theirlittle side deals that nobody
even knows about till they're already
out ofoffice... .
... I don't think a lot of people realize
how much garbage you put on that
truck. The average guy puts between
five and six tons on that truck. Twice
a day. That's a hell of a lot of gar-
bage!" -"Talking Trashman Blues"
What Some of Our Readers Write About LIBERATION
"Liberation has consistently provided thoughtful and
challenging analyses of the central problems of our soci-
ety, from the point of view of the libertarian left. It has
been a remarkably open and honest journal, willing to
face the hard and important problems...."
-Noam Chomsky
"... a shrewd, urgent, brave and human voice of the
movement." -Susan Sontag
"Liberation is always a pleasure to me because I can't pre-
dict to myself what I'll find there. It's a genuine forum-a
discussion center for like-minded people who neverthe-
less disagree among themselves-the only one I know of
in America." -Mary McCarthy
"Liberation is one of the very few journals I believe de-
serves wide readership, combining the sort of humane
values and realistic analysis that can help us find a way
out." -Daniel Ellsbsrg
"The 'State Connection' article in Vol. 19, No. 6 was ex-
cellent! It's the first time I had seen anything approaching
analysis of the issues in the Boston busing situation. It de-
mystified things. There has been so much liberal rhetoric
and sentimentalism. Liberation once again breaks out of
the nonsense." -a reader in Bronx, N.Y.
"Every time Liberation arrives I feel better connected to
the processes that keep my going. My heart squeezes the
blood through the arteries with greater confidence that
life needs a chance." -a reader in Pacifica, Calif.
"... When I went to Washington, I found my CIA article
(Vol. 19, No. 3) on every desk I visited." -Fred Landis,
author of "Psychological Warfare in Chile:
The CIA Makes Headlines"
"There were so many articles in the recent issue that
looked factual reality in its seamy face and saw real mean-
ing. I'll look at every issue very closely. Keep writing, you
people!..." -a reader in Pittman, N.J.
"Within the history of capitalism,
Manhattan is the island reserved for
those who are damned because they
hoped excessively." -John Berger,
"Inside/Outside New York"
"What's happen-
ing to cities should
help radicals
understand why
Reagan and
Wallace are so
popular."
-Staughton Lynd
"In the place of class-oriented poli-
tics, we have politics based on indivi-
dual, ethnic and neighborhood-
oriented patronage. As a conse-
quence, American political leaders,
including municipal leaders, have
been free to attack the working class
while still winning the working class
vote." -"Frances Fox Piven
Talks About New York"
"Architectural machismo confronts
and affronts us continuously. The
20th-Century urban skyscraper, the
pinnacle of patriarchal symbology, is
rooted in the masculine mystique of
the big, erect and forceful; the full
balloon of the inflated masculine
ego. Each building competes for
individual recognition and domina-
tion in this schema, while the value of
human identityis impoverished."
--Phyliss Birkby, Leslie Weisman,
"Patritecture"
"When I was a child growing up in
New York City, many things about
that place were more friendly.
Central Park was then wholly
unfrightening. My father and I used
to bicycle around the park before
breakfast, counting the squirrels.
Nor was night time in the park scary.
I recall, as a teenager, spending a
whole night in the Park once, swim-
ming with a girl in the lake near the
Metropolitan Museum as the dawn
came." -Staughton Lynd,
"Thoughts on New York"
"New York's loss of municipal self-
administration to the central govern-
ment could portend a far-reaching
destruction of municipal institutions
everywhere." -Murray Bookchin,
"Urban Possibilities"
-------------------
F_LIBERATION
339 Lafayette St., New York, N.Y. 10012
A city teacher's lament "It wasn't just
the peeling vomit green paint, falling
plaster, the incessant bells and time-
clock, nor even the police presence,
endless regulations and bathroom
passes that affected me. All of that
was around when I was in high-
school. Something more insidious
was at work. Insidious? No, explicit
-direct orders to maintain martial
law; instructions that I was not to
teach science content but instead in-
spire students to want low level tech-
nical jobs; an acknowledgement that
many of them are the enemy."
'Because the city no longer covers
for landlords' neglect, tenants have
no recourse but to stand up for them-
selves. The number of rent strikes
throughout the city has increased
steadily since Emergency Repair
Program became ineffective, and
will continue to grow.... "
-Meg Charlop, "Housing in Crisis"
^Enclosed is my check for $10 for a year's subscription (11 issues). Please
send me the (';h, Crisis double issuefree. Start my sub with the next one.
^Enclosed is my check for $12.50, for a year's subscription-including the
City Crisis double issue free-plus David Dellinger's More Power Than We
Know, at the discount rate of $2.50.
^Enclosed is my check for $18 for a 2.year subscription (22 issues). Please
send me, free, the City Crisis double issue, and David Dellinger's book.
Start my sub with your next issue.
Name-
Address
City_
lip I
^ Write me about bulk rates for the "City Crisis" issue.
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(Letter from the Collective, continued....)
Take for example our issue for July and August 1975, in which we combined these features:
MacBird author Barbara Garson's "Tuna Fish"-a personal account of the daily experiences
of cannery workers in Astoria, Oregon.
an in-depth review of Detroit. I Do Mind Dying, a book about Detroit organizing efforts
during the late '60s.
a special, 20-page report from Portugal-at a time when readers searched in vain for accurate,
sympathetic coverage of the popular power movement, we published first-hand accounts of
what people were doing, and a letter from ex-CIA man Philip Agee warning of covert U.S.
intervention there.
* an exclusive conversation with Agee, discussing his experiences inside and outside of the CIA.
* a report from Chile since the coup, told by MIR leader Manuel Cabiese Donoso, his wife and
children.
* a thoughtful discussion about the politics of housework.
* Wendell Berry's "The Culture of Agriculture", and a study of dairy farming in the United States.
* poems by Tuli Kupferberg, France Burke and Ronald Block.
seven pages of lively dialogue with our readers.
In all modesty, we can say confidently that no other magazine in the United States covers such
a variety of topics with such depth. We take the trouble to do it not because we make money at it,
but because it's important to us. We are continuing a tradition which began in 1956, with articles by
Martin Luther King, Jr., A.J. Muste and Paul Goodman. LIBERATION has been a unique voice for
these visionaries and others following their moral and intellectual path ever since. Past writers have
included Bertrand Russell, Erich Fromm, James Baldwin and I.F. Stone. Current writers include
Grace Paley, Noam Chomsky, Allen Ginsberg, Michelle Russell-and of course, many more.
We think you will find that LIBERATION makes a difference in your life. That's why we want
you to subscribe. To encourage you to do it now, we will send you-FREE-the current 120-page
double issue (a $2 value), and start your subscription with our next issue.
your subscription, we will refund your entire subscription fee. Please use the enclosed order form
and envelope to send us your subscription today.
We are so confident that you will like LIBERATION, that if at any time you decide to cancel
Sincerely,
U cz 5i1'z O_Z /
for the LIBERATION Collective
You may be interested to read a book-length statement of the LIBERATION philosophy, told
in terms of the experiences of the '60s and '70s. If so, we'll send you a FREE copy of the important
new book by LIBERATION founder David Dellinger, More Power Than We Know, in return for a
two-year, subscription. Please use the enclosed order form.
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339 Lafayette St., New York, N.Y. 10012 1
^Enclosed is my check for $18 for a 2-year subscrip-
tion (22 issues). Please send me, free, the City Crisis
double issue, and David Dellinger's More Power
Than We Know. Start my sub with your next issue.
^ Enclosed is my check for $12.50, for a year's sub-
scription (11 issues)-including the City Crisis
double issue free-plus David Dellinger's book at
the discount rate of $2.50.
^Enclosed is my check for $10 for a year's subscrip-
tion (11 issues). Please send me the City Crisis doub-
le issue free, and start my sub with the next one.
City State Zip
^Writeme=~ .., .._4....f,...al..."('.i....J" :......-
"For those who are interested in
the truth, Dave Dellinger's book
is essential reading.... When
he writes about American soci-
ety, he keeps to the harder and
more significant truths that the
media are careful to avoid. "
-Noam Chomsky
"This is not for a moment the
autobiography of a single indivi-
dual. It is a chapter of the bio-
graphy of a country and of its
grievous society.... The history
of this era has not been told be-
fore in its entirety and so meth-
odically.... " -Kay Boyle,
Pacific Sun
Get this important
book for $2.50 with a
year's subscription,
or FREE with a two-
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