Confessions of an unrepentant Maoist

I. How it all began (2015 August Riv, September PP, Nok) I remember when it happened. It was 1961. I had just started graduate school at the University of Minnesota. I was doing research for a history of theater seminar. I was assigned a report on the Abbey Theater and…

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CONFESSIONS OF AN UNREPENTANT MAOIST: Taking Power

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BY ED FELIEN Before the Open Meeting Law, politicians decided destinies in smoke-filled rooms. Of course, that was also before the laws against smoking indoors. After the election, I was invited by Louis DeMars to a meeting at the Leamington Hotel to organize city government: free food, free booze, lots…

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CONFESSIONS OF AN UNREPENTANT MAOIST: Downzoning

BY ED FELIEN In 1970 I was publishing Hundred Flowers, a weekly underground newspaper, an anti-war, anti-racist, early feminist, psychedelic fun rag that sold for a quarter. Some people were having a demonstration somewhere on Harriet Avenue protesting the demolition of houses to make room for a two-and-a-half story walk-up…

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