NAM members are unequivocal in their disdain for electoral politics. Just as Minard says of D-SOC, "We are not all revolutionaries," Lise Newcomer '77, of NAM, says determinedly, "We are revolutionaries." But from then on, the definitions get a little vague.

Kaarli Tasso '76-2, a NAM spokesperson, says that revolution is any process that leaves society "radically changed." And Saffran suggests that what NAM means by a revolution is massive civil disobedience and labor and tenant strikes, that "could lead to violence."

"D-SOC's vision," Saffran said, "is electoral politics that would be buttressed by that kind of civil action."

Such arguments are academic except as they do indicate the nature of the groups at Harvard. Still, the styles of the two groups seem to reflect such ideological differences.

NAM's Laura Burns says that although NAM has not yet reached a "consensus," the group will probably put less emphasis this year on study groups within the group than on working at organizing or picketing. On the other hand, D-SOC's Minard talks ambitiously about discussion groups and guest speakers.

An easy generalization is that D-SOC is more closely-allied with academia, while NAM is alienated, and this notion is borne out somewhat by the large proportion of NAM members who take semesters or years off. NAM member Brian K. Allen '75-3 says, "We have a clearer idea than others what lies outside Harvard."

NAM members harbor a stern faith in equality; they say they are democratic, and in meetings they fiercely assert the right of every member to speak his or her piece without "getting trampled on," as Allen says. D-SOC members do not seem so obsessed with this purist notion, perhaps because they have already made the concession to work within the system.

In spite of such easy conclusions, the organizations are compatible in their positions on local issues, and spokespersons for neither group will rule out formation of short-term coalitions. It has been a long time since 1969, but both groups foresee another long haul, over which they must do their own work, separately if similarly.