Winthrop Rockefeller is confident that he will defeat Orville Faubus next year to become Arkansas' first Republican governor in this century. Last night he spelled out his formulas and his views on the GOP's future in the South for the Harvard Young Republicans.

Rockefeller's narrow loss to the Faubus last year did not dampen his optimism. "Republicans can not only consolidate their gains in the South, but we can also make a tremendous and permanent contribution to the national party," he said.

He placed little emphasis on either racial strife or Goldwaterism to explain recent successes and near-misses of Republicans in the South. "Younger citizens are not happy with the many jaded and unimaginative but self-perpetuating Democrat politicians, these 'eternal incumbants,'" he said.

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Technology--"a rapid rate of change, a growing sophistication of industry and people"--had also contributed to the "thirsting for unjaded politics," Rockefeller explained.

He ran 30,000 votes ahead of Goldwater in his campaign last year. "I am the kind of conservative who believes change is necessary to preserve freedom," he said. "We must divest ourselves of confusing labels and turn our attention to problems of human needs and goals."

Rockefeller's own immediate goal is victory. He plans to capitalize on the "apathy" of disenchanted Democrats and to harness the "new vitality" in the South.

The Republican Party must be able to rely on both the Negro and the white traditionalist vote, Rockefeller said. "Our Party can accommodate divergent points of view. We must sell this truth in the days of change ahead."