Changes

The New Left rejected [[capitalism]], [[technology]], [[bureaucracy]] and modernity generally. They took the fight to the universities they attended, sometimes seizing offices and denouncing the administration. According to former New Left radical [[Ronald Radosh]], the object was to politicize the university curriculum. Many senior professors of the era were liberals who rejected the aims of the New Left, and generally favored keeping the universities as an apolitical place of learning and debate. Eventually, the phenomenon of "tenured radicals" emerged--that is, New Left graduate students who themselves obtained [[PhD]]s.

The New Left rejected [[capitalism]], [[technology]], [[bureaucracy]] and modernity generally. They took the fight to the universities they attended, sometimes seizing offices and denouncing the administration. According to former New Left radical [[Ronald Radosh]], the object was to politicize the university curriculum. Many senior professors of the era were liberals who rejected the aims of the New Left, and generally favored keeping the universities as an apolitical place of learning and debate. Eventually, the phenomenon of "tenured radicals" emerged--that is, New Left graduate students who themselves obtained [[PhD]]s.

The New Left encouraged free use of drugs and free sexuality--and (much to the dismay of their elders), long hair styles for men. They found their uniforms in working class clothes such as [[T-shirts]] and jeans.  Some joined hippie communes where everything was shared in common; most folded after a few months.

The New Left encouraged free use of drugs and free sexuality--and (much to the dismay of their elders), long hair styles for men. They found their uniforms in working class clothes such as [[T-shirts]] and jeans.  Some joined hippie communes where everything was shared in common; most folded after a few months.  

 

===Britain===

===Britain===

[[Harold Wilson]], on becoming prime minister in 1964, tried to bypass old doctrinal arguments by harnessing nationalized industry to ideas of scientific modernization. But his government was a great failure, not least in its relations with the trade unions, the linchpin of the party since its founding. Wilson represented the older traditions of the Labour Party and never understood the emerging "New Left" with new social roots, new ideas and new styles of political behaviour in the late 1970s. Following the disillusion and demoralization of traditional Labour Party activists with Wilson's government, a more radical and well-educated local Labour leadership appeared at the local level. This bred much disillusionment and launched a new left-wing socialism in the 1970s. The Labour government of 1974-79 added to this division. The left-wing pressure reached its climax in the early 1980s when Conservative [[Margaret Thatcher]] was in power but resulted only in heavy defeats for Labour in 1983 and 1987. The general impression in 1989 is of a loss of political and intellectual confidence, with British socialism trapped between a cherished past and an uncertain future.<ref> Kenneth O. Morgan, ''Britain since 1945: The People's Peace'' (2001)</ref>

[[Harold Wilson]], on becoming prime minister in 1964, tried to bypass old doctrinal arguments by harnessing nationalized industry to ideas of scientific modernization. But his government was a great failure, not least in its relations with the trade unions, the linchpin of the party since its founding. Wilson represented the older traditions of the Labour Party and never understood the emerging "New Left" with new social roots, new ideas and new styles of political behaviour in the late 1970s. Following the disillusion and demoralization of traditional Labour Party activists with Wilson's government, a more radical and well-educated local Labour leadership appeared at the local level. This bred much disillusionment and launched a new left-wing socialism in the 1970s. The Labour government of 1974-79 added to this division. The left-wing pressure reached its climax in the early 1980s when Conservative [[Margaret Thatcher]] was in power but resulted only in heavy defeats for Labour in 1983 and 1987. The general impression in 1989 is of a loss of political and intellectual confidence, with British socialism trapped between a cherished past and an uncertain future.<ref> Kenneth O. Morgan, ''Britain since 1945: The People's Peace'' (2001)</ref>

==Parties==

==Parties==

Parties and movements which emerged from the New Left in the U.S. include the [[Revolutionary Communist Party]], the [[Progressive Labor Party]], the political movement of [[Lyndon LaRouche]], [[Students for a Democratic Society]], the [[Weather Underground]], the [[Youth International Party]], and several others. A distinguishing feature of the New Left was a tendency to view the [[Third World]] as the "[[Revolutionary Vanguard|vanguard of the revolution]]", rather than the industrial working class of Europe and North America as the Old Left did.  Thus, the imagery and ideology of such Third World revolutionaries as [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Che Guevara]] were favored.  Another distinguishing feature of the New Left was a much greater emphasis on manifestations of cultural rebellion against mainstream society, particularly borrowing from the [[hippie]] movement, radical [[feminism]], and [[black nationalism]].  Again, was a sharp reaction against the Old Left which was culturally very staid and which saw counter-cultural movements as decadent and capitalistic.

Parties and movements which emerged from the New Left in the U.S. include the [[Revolutionary Communist Party]], the [[Progressive Labor Party]], the political movement of [[Lyndon LaRouche]], [[Students for a Democratic Society]] (SDS), the [[Weather Underground]], the [[Youth International Party]], and several others. Judge [[Robert Bork]] observed, "The New Left is important because it is still with us in the guise of modern [[liberal]]ism. What was contained in the [SDS's] [[Students for a Democratic Society|Port Huron statement]], therefore, is a guide to today's cultural and political debacles."

 

A distinguishing feature of the New Left was a tendency to view the [[Third World]] as the "[[Revolutionary Vanguard|vanguard of the revolution]]", rather than the industrial working class of Europe and North America as the Old Left did.  Thus, the imagery and ideology of such Third World revolutionaries as [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Che Guevara]] were favored.  Another distinguishing feature of the New Left was a much greater emphasis on manifestations of cultural rebellion against mainstream society, particularly borrowing from the [[hippie]] movement, radical [[feminism]], and [[black nationalism]].  Again, was a sharp reaction against the Old Left which was culturally very staid and which saw counter-cultural movements as decadent and capitalistic.

==Bibliography==

==Bibliography==

* Diggins, John Patrick. ''The Rise and Fall of the American Left'' (1992), includes old and new left; by a leading conservative historian

* Diggins, John Patrick. ''The Rise and Fall of the American Left'' (1992), includes old and new left; by a leading conservative historian