Editing Irving Howe (section)

==Political activist==
Since his high school and CCNY days, Howe was committed to [[left-wing politics]]. A professed [[democratic socialism|democratic socialist]] throughout his life, he was a member of the [[Young People's Socialist League (1907)|Young People's Socialist League]] (YPSL), joining it in the 1930s when it was under the influence of the [[Trotskyist]] [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|Socialist Workers Party]].{{sfn|Howe|1982|pp=33–34}} He remained with YPSL in 1940 when it became the youth organization of [[Max Shachtman]]'s [[Workers Party (US)|Workers Party]], where Howe served in a leading capacity and for a while edited its paper, ''Labor Action''. He continued his activist role in the Workers Party when it morphed into the [[Independent Socialist League]] in 1949.{{sfn|Howe|1982|pp=80–87}} He left the organization in 1952, deeming it too [[Sectarianism#Political sectarianism|sectarian]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Cohen |first=Mitchell |title=Irving Howe: A Socialist Life |url=https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/irving-howe-a-socialist-life/ |date=Fall 2020 |magazine=[[Dissent (American magazine)|Dissent]]}}</ref>

At the request of his friend [[Michael Harrington]], Howe helped form the [[Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee]] (DSOC) in the early 1970s and served on its national board. After DSOC merged into the [[Democratic Socialists of America]] (DSA) in 1982, Howe became an Honorary Chair of the DSA.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=DSA Convention Report 1989 |last=Kleniewski |first=Nancy |magazine=Democratic Left |volume=18 |number=1 |date=January 1990 |pages=8–9 |url=https://dlarchive.dsausa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/DL_1990_V018_01_final.pdf}}</ref>

He was a vociferous opponent of both Soviet [[totalitarianism]] and [[McCarthyism]]. He called into question [[orthodox Marxism|standard Marxist doctrine]], and came into conflict with the [[New Left]] after he criticized their brand of radicalism.<ref name=NYT/> In later years, his socialist politics gravitated towards a more pragmatic approach to [[foreign policy]], a position he espoused in the pages of ''[[Dissent (American magazine)|Dissent]]'' magazine.

He had a few famous run-ins with people on political matters. In 1969 while at [[Stanford University]], he was verbally attacked by a group of young [[Students for a Democratic Society|SDS]] radicals, who claimed that Howe was no longer committed to the revolution and had become ''status quo''. Howe turned to the leader of the group and said, "You know what you're going to end up as? You're going to end up as a ''dentist''!"<ref name=NYT/>{{sfn|Howe|1982|p=306}}