War and Peace in the Rhetoric of the Psychedelic Revolution in the United States and the United Kingdom

Abstrakt

First, the idea of “warfare” as inherent
in the initiation aspect of the psychedelic
experience is discussed; then this experience
is highlighted as the nucleus of the so called
new consciousness, understood by T. Leary
as the “revolution of the mind.” Other ideologists
of the Hippie generation, though, interpreted
it in terms of socio-political “warfare”
(J. Sinclair), i. e. in contradiction to “love and
peace”: most immediately associated with the
Hippies, and here interpreted to some extent
along the lines of Baudelaireian “artificial
paradise.” The resulting paradoxes, as well
as various meanings of “warfare” or “conflict,”
are subsequently exemplified on the basis of relevant rock lyrics of the era (e.g.The Beatles, Tomorrow, Jefferson Airplane,MC5), when “artistic articulation” basically meant the musical one. Finally, the paradoxical nature of LSD as the weapon of the Hippie Revolution is elucidated through the analysis of Country Joe & the Fish’s second album.

Keywords: psychedelia; acid rock;
Hippies; non-violence; escapism; revolution.