Unnamed speaker urges 'creative maladjustment,' ties civil rights to opposition to Vietnam War

An unnamed speaker at a public event urged listeners to “recapture the revolutionary spirit” and adopt what the speaker called "creative maladjustment," arguing that the U.S. should oppose poverty, racism and militarism.

The speaker framed the appeal as both moral and political, saying that failure to make democracy real had driven some toward Marxism. "This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has a revolutionary spirit," the speaker said, adding that "communism is a judgment of our failure to make democracy real and to follow through on the revolutions that we initiated."

The speech linked civil-rights work and opposition to the Vietnam War. Quoting another figure, the speaker said, "Mister Davis said, and I say to you that I choose to be among the maladjusted. As my good friend, Bill Coughlin said, there are those who have criticized me and many of you taking a stand against the war in Vietnam and for seeking to say to the nation that the issues of civil rights cannot be separated from the issues of peace."

The speaker urged moral courage over expediency and popularity. "Somewhere, we must see that justice is indivisible. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," the speaker said, adding that in some positions "it is necessary for the moral individual to take a stand that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular. But he must do it because it is right."

The speaker closed by rejecting harassment and intimidation of activists and urging continued protest. "And we say to our nation tonight, we say to our government, we even say to our FBI, we will not be harassed. We will not make a butchery of our conscience. We will not be intimidated, and we will be heard," the speaker said.

The remarks combined appeals to moral principle with explicit political positions on civil rights and the Vietnam War. No formal actions, votes or policy decisions were recorded during the excerpted remarks.