Richard Remembers Joe Pyne: ‘Joe Pyne Interviews Jerry Rubin (1967)’

Source:Richard Remembers Joe Pyne- Left to right: Jerry Rubin & Joe Pyne.

“JERRY RUBIN is the leader of the student strike at the University of California at Berkeley, who broke up a House Un-American Activities Committee meeting by attending in a Revolutionary War uniform.” is the description on the film can, courtesy of Hartwest Productions, Inc. Filmed/broadcast circa January 1967. Joe Pyne"

Source:Richard Remembers Joe Pyne

First of all, this wasn’t a real interview and at best more of an attempt of Joe Pyne to cross-examine or prosecute Jerry Rubin who was part of the New Left in America from the late 1960s and early 1970s. A movement that was anti-war and American capitalism and wanted to see America move to some type of socialist economic system or social democracy.

What this TV performance was, was Joe Pyne telling Jerry Rubin that: “You are an asshole and I’m asking you these questions and showing you these things to show Americans how big of a piece of garbage that you are. And that you are poisoning America’s youth with your garbage”. And that is probably putting it nicely.

As far as what they almost talked about which is what the New Left called disobedience of laws. They weren’t so much talking about disobeying laws in general. (at least from what I know about them) But disobeying laws that they saw as unjust and even breaking the law to serve some cause that they saw as just. Like ending the Vietnam War, or ending what they saw as corporate greed. And very much inspired what we see from the Occupy Wall Street movement today. Who are the sons and daughters of the New Left from the 1960s and 70s. 

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