New Left

The New Left is a term used in political discourse to refer to radical left-wing movements from the 1960s onwards. They differed from earlier leftist movements that had been more oriented towards labor activism, and instead adopted a broader definition of political activism commonly called social activism. The "New Left" was an intellectually driven movement which attempted to correct the perceived errors of "Old Left" parties in the post-WWII period. The movement began to wind down in the 1970s, when activists either committed themselves to party projects, developed social justice organizations, or became inactive in the movement.

Origins

World War II severely disrupted operations of established communist parties in the United States and Western Europe. Political repression such as the Red Scare restricted organizing and limited communist recruitment in the immediate post-war period, particularly in the U.S. In Western Europe, social-democratic parties nationalized health care and transporation services, co-opting key planks of pre-war communist party platforms.

Related Topics:
World War II - Communist - Political repression - Red Scare - Social-democratic - Health care

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The confused response of the CPUSA and the CPGB to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 created a crisis of confidence in party decision making. Independent Marxist intellectuals began to develop a more individualistic approach to leftist politics, which was opposed to the perceived bureaucratic and inflexible politics of the pre-war leftist parties. In Western Europe, these new developments occurred both inside and outside social democratic and communist parties, contributing toward the development of eurocommunism. The New Left in the U.S. was primarily based on college campuses. The New Left in the United Kingdom emerged through the links between dissenting Communist Party intellectuals and campus groups.

Related Topics:
CPUSA - CPGB - Hungarian Revolution of 1956 - Marxist - Individualistic - Eurocommunism

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