The origins of the student movement of the 1930s are discussed, with attention to internal dynamics and reactions to external events, and the impact on student attitudes today. After providing a background of the antiwar movement, individual university revolts and strikes are considered. An explanation is offered concerning students' thoughts and fears about the Spanish Civil War and their concern about America's own movement toward World War II. Additionally, the woman's role in the peace movement and the alternative it offered to the traditional collegiate male code of conduct are considered. Additional topics include: the influence on the movement of Marxism, religion, progressivism, and the revisionist view of the Great War; the relationship between government and education and attitudes toward academic freedom; and the development of a new kind of American student, who was to become a model (both positive and negative) for student activists of a later generation. It is noted that in the 1930s American radicalism was resurrected in a setting of economic catastrophe and international conflict. Although the movement did relate specifically to student issues, the main focus and the most successful issue in winning mass student support was the question of war and peace. (SW)