Jane Fonda and the Campaign for Economic Democracy
by John Lawrence, November 26, 2018
There was a very interesting show on HBO recently: Jane Fonda in Five Acts. It was basically a biography of her life narrated by Jane herself. It made me recall the days of the New Left when Fonda was married to Tom Hayden and they both were very involved in the activist movement. The interesting thing though was that they started this "Campaign for Economic Democracy", and to fund it Jane did an exercise video. That video became the biggest selling video of all time so what happened to the Campaign for Economic Democracy?
It turns out that most of the money made from the videos went to support Hayden's political efforts. He mounted a losing campaign for California Senator. But as Wikileaks reports: "He and Fonda later initiated the Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED), which formed a close alliance with then Governor Jerry Brown and promoted solar energy, environmental protection and renters' rights policies, as well as candidates for local office throughout California, more than 50 of whom would go on to be elected." Hayden later served in the California State Assembly and Senate.
The New York Times reported:
Perhaps unknown to many of [the buyers of the video], they are helping finance the operations of a New Left political organization in California, the Campaign for Economic Democracy. Indirectly, they are helping the efforts of the campaign's founder, Tom Hayden, to win election in a state legislative district here that has become a kind of battleground between conservatives and the New Left.
Mr. Hayden, who was one of the most prominent of the campus radicals of the 1960's, is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 44th State Assembly District. The district includes much of West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Malibu and adjacent coastal areas.
In an interview, Mr. Hayden, who is married to Miss Fonda, said that his efforts to win public office stem from what he sees as a need ''to respond to Reaganomics and the need to reform and revitalize the Democratic Party.''
It seems that Hayden's political career was the major recipient of the funds generated by Fonda's exercise videos. Perhaps that's OK as Hayden went on to be a progressive voice for the rest of his life including his academic career. He is the author of 19 books and died in 2016. He and Fonda were divorced in 1990. Fonda went on to marry billionaire Ted Turner although she remained politically active for progressive causes.
The New Left fizzled out in the 1970s probably because the war in Vietnam ended. Ronald Reagan put the finishing touches on the fizzle out of the New Left which at one point had been a force to behold. Hayden and Fonda in their own ways were probably smart to adapt their politics to a more mainstream position. Jane Fonda is still active and still making movies. Her movie "9 to 5" publicized the efforts of working women to gain respect in the marketplace. It stared Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton as three working women who live out their fantasies of getting even with, and their overthrow of, the company's autocratic, "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss, played by Dabney Coleman.
