Sidney Lens
Sidney Lens, also known by his birth name Sid Okun, was an American labor leader, political activist, and author, best known for his book, The Day Before Doomsday, which warns of the prospect of nuclear annihilation, published in 1977 by Doubleday. He also wrote a history of U.S. intervention abroad, The Forging of the American Empire, originally published in 1974 and republished in 2003 by Haymarket Books with a new introduction by Howard Zinn; and an autobiography, Unrepentant Radical.
Formerly a member of Hugo Oehler's Revolutionary Workers League, Lens was active in retail worker unions in Chicago and in the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War. In 1967, he was among more than 500 writers and editors who signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse to pay the 10% Vietnam War Tax surcharge proposed by president Johnson.
Lens was an editor of The Progressive.
In 1980, Lens was the Citizens Party candidate for United States Senate in Illinois.Legacy
The Sidney Lens Photograph Collection is held at the Oviatt Library at California State University, Northridge. This collection consists of photographs taken by Sidney Lens, who is depicted in some of the images. Other papers and books related to the legacy of Sidney Lens are also held at the CSUN Oviatt Library Special Collections and Archives.
