Interviewing many co-op founders, it has been striking that so many young radicals of the time were so inspired by Mao and the Chinese revolution. While the glum bureaucracy of the Soviet Union was hardly compelling, the apparent energy of the Chinese revolution, along with the Marxist revolutions throughout the Third World, seemed like a viable alternative to American capitalism and imperialism...
On May 10, 1972 3,000 people, mostly University of Minnesota students, protested the mining of North Vietnamese ports. Some tore down fences, flipping a car and coming into conflict with riot police at the scene. Susan Shroyer, who had been instrumental in the People’s Pantry, the predecessor to the Twin Cities’ first natural food co-op, was there with her 8mm camera, and she shared her dramatic footage with Radical Roots.
