REPLY TO LEVENTHAL

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Mr. Fred M. Leventhal is mistaken in his understanding of the SDS petition on the Rhodesian crisis: so far the SDS as an organization has NO policy on the crisis, except in its general opposition to undemocratic, oppressive governments. Neither the general membership nor the executive committee has made any decision, and until that time the SDS will continue to have no specific stand.

But I think that Mr. Leventhal has made an even greater error. He says that "war itself is immoral," and at the same time he says that war is an "obsolete method of solving international conflicts," implying that at one time it was valid. Perhaps this is a feat of double-think equally astounding as the one he unjustly accuses SDS of When has war ever solved international conflict? For that matter, can violence ever solve any conflict? All that violence can possibly do is suppress conflict, only to have it reappear in a new but heightened form. Our sitting on the brink today should testify that immoral means never lead to moral ends. All the wars of the past have not delivered a safer world; violence or the threat of violence now and in the future will not lead to peace. The only solution is to renounce completely all immoral means. Only by accepting this fact, and by initiating a change in moral and political philosophy, can the United States be considered a moral nation. To be sure, there is no way to peace but peace itself. Michael R. Sage '68