Murray Levin
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Murray Burton Levin (1927–1999) was a
political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
professor at
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
from 1955 through his retirement in 1989. A progressive who once had been a member of the Communist Party USA, Levin was an unreconstructed radical throughout his academic career. In addition to teaching a popular core course on political science, Levin specialized in teaching
Marxist political theory Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marx's materialist approach to theory, or works written by Marxists. Marxist philosophy may be broadly divided into Western Marxism, which drew from ...
to both undergraduate and graduate students. Long before the collapse of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
, Levin eventually came to the conclusion that Marxist theory was not a science, let alone a viable system of
economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
, but was a powerful propaganda tool to mobilize the masses against capital.
Class consciousness In Marxism, class consciousness is the set of beliefs that a person holds regarding their social class or economic rank in society, the structure of their class, and their class interests. According to Karl Marx, it is an awareness that is key to ...
would be obtained ultimately when the masses finally revolted against the oligarchy.


Early influences

The progeny of a wealthy business family, Murray Levin took his bachelor's degree at
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
, the family's undergraduate alma mater, after completing his military service with the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
, serving as a military attaché' to a vice admiral during World War II. (Levin remained an excellent tennis player until late in life, and his primary duty was playing tennis with the admiral.) At Harvard, he was vastly influenced by the ideas of professor
Louis Hartz Louis Hartz (April 8, 1919 – January 20, 1986) was an American political scientist, historian, and a professor at Harvard, where he taught from 1942 until 1974. Hartz’s teaching and various writings —books and articles— have had an importan ...
. Hartz believed that the lack of feudalism in America had created a situation in which only one creed,
liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
(in the classic sense), could be tolerated. Since there was no tolerance for collectivist-oriented systems like
socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
, if the U.S. economic system were ever again to suffer a catastrophic failure such as that of the Great Depression, the U.S. might be imperiled by the lack of a viable, legitimate alternative such as socialism. Hartz's theories, as articulated in his 1955 book ''The Liberal Tradition in America'', served the basis for Levin's own ideas. Levin took his master's and Ph.D. degrees at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.


The "B.U. Five"

At Boston University, Levin was a close associate of
Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a politica ...
, whose office was located next to his in the political science department building. Both Levin, Zinn and fellow poli-sci faculty member
Frances Fox Piven Frances Fox Piven (born October 10, 1932) is an American professor of political science and sociology at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, where she has taught since 1982.
became part of the
B.U. Five
when they refused to cross union picket lines during a 1979 strike by clerical and custodial workers at the university and were targeted for retaliation by B.U. President John Silber. Silber had earlier rejected a labor contract already negotiated by the
American Association of University Professors The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations. The AAUP's stated mission is ...
and the University, which forced the professors out on strike in the fall semester of 1979. The clerks and custodians soon followed. When the university settled with the AAUP, the vast majority of professors went back to work teaching, but Levin, Zinn, Piven and two others refused to cross the other unions' picket lines. Levin and Zinn were two of the harshest critics of Silber's top-down "industrial" paradigm of university administration, in which Silber equated an institution of higher learning to a car factory. For their opposition, Silber had "merit" pay increases continually denied them. (Piven eventually left B.U. for a position at City University of New York.)


Talk radio and the American Dream

With a keen eye for the alienated voter, Levin was one of the first political scientists to notice the role
talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...
was playing in American politics. Talk radio shows were articulating the rage of what President Richard M. Nixon called "The
Silent Majority The silent majority is an unspecified large group of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly. The term was popularized by U.S. President Richard Nixon in a televised address on November 3, 1969, in which he said, " ...
" and others eventually described as "Joe Six-Pack" and "
Reagan Democrat A Reagan Democrat is a traditionally Democratic voter in the Northern United States, referring to working class residents who supported Republican presidential candidates Ronald Reagan in the 1980 or the 1984 presidential elections, or Georg ...
s": the alienated working class that once made up the New Deal-Fair Deal-New Frontier-Great Society coalition. Levin realized that by the late 1970s and early 1980s, this once reliable base of support for the Democratic Party were ripe pickings for reactionaries who could articulate their rage.


Edward M. Kennedy

Levin said that
Edward Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
became a
United States senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...
at the age of 30 "with one year of frantic campaigning and 30 years of experience as a Kennedy". He was a topic of several of Levin's books. As a progressive, Levin could be scathing about Kennedy, but he did concede in 1980 that he was the most effective person in the pre- 1980 Presidential election Senate. (In that year the Democrats lost their majority in the
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
for the first time since the 1950s.) However, he felt that this situation was an indictment of American democracy rather than an endorsement of Kennedy.


Murray B. Levin Legacy Fund

In the Spring of 2006, Boston University announced the formation of the Murray B. Levin Legacy Fund to honor the late professor. Most of the fund, a $250,000 endowment, came from the Lawrence and Lillian Solomon Fund, Inc. Lawrence Solomon, a real estate attorney, was very much influenced by Levin while a B.U. undergrad. B.U. Board of Trustees Chairman Alan Leventhal is matching 50% of the endowment with a grant, and other B.U. professors and alumni are making financial contributions to the fund, which will provide
scholarships A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...
to students majoring in political science or related disciplines. This is a development welcomed by many alumni of B.U., which has the lowest alumni giving rate of any major American university, and was only possible with the waning of John Silber's power at B.U.


See also

*
American Association of University Professors The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations. The AAUP's stated mission is ...
*
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
*
Frances Fox Piven Frances Fox Piven (born October 10, 1932) is an American professor of political science and sociology at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, where she has taught since 1982.
* John Silber *
Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a politica ...


Books

*''The Compleat Politician'' (with George Blackwood) (1962) *''The Alienated Voter: Politics in Boston'' (1965) *''Kennedy Campaigning: the System and the Style as Practiced By Senator Edward Kennedy'' (1966) *''Political Hysteria in America: the Democratic Capacity for Repression'' (1971) *''Edward Kennedy: The Myth of Leadership'' (1980) *'' Talk Radio and the American Dream'' (1986) *''Teach Me!: Kids Will Learn When Oppression Is the Lesson'' (1998)


References


External links


"Remembering Murray Levin", by Howard Zinn
Monthly Review, February 2000 {{DEFAULTSORT:Levin, Murray 1927 births 1999 deaths American political scientists American military personnel of the Korean War American political writers Boston University faculty Harvard College alumni Columbia University alumni Historians of the United States Jewish American writers Jewish socialists American Marxist historians American male non-fiction writers United States Navy officers 20th-century American historians 20th-century political scientists