I was reading an article about the huge peace rally in D.C. in 1969, and the article mentioned the “old left” and the “new left.” I know what political left means, but what do these terms mean?
In 1969, the Old Left was the Democratic Party of labor unions, farmers, and FDR. It was populist, dominated by city machines, rural Granges, and other folk who wanted to put a leash on the rapacious character of Big Business. The New Left was more concerned with civil rights, racial and women’s issues, and the environment. It was a more intellectual wing of the Democratic Party, and gained strength from opposition to the war in Vietnam.
The New Left of the 1960’s is today’s Old Left; while today’s New Left retains many of the 1960’s causes, it is more centrist, having learned to take minorities and labor unions for granted. It throws most of its weight behind small (but highly symbolic) shifts in policy.
Nametag kinda of . …
I guess depends on one’s understanding of what we mean “Left”.
A general rule of thumb, from my socialist pov, is that:
Old Left refered to those organizations/parties borne out of the 1900’s up to the early 1960’s whose major influence or point of being was the Communist Party.
New Left refered to those Leftist group arose in the '60’s. Many in the New Left organized in response to what they saw as a “conservative” Communists.
For a good list on both try Red Encyclopedia.
The New New Left arose from the 1990’s as the New Left has tried to reinvent itself and the new generation of Leftist try to include post-moder theory; speak of corporate power and issues rather than say Capitalism and working-class, etc.
XicanoreX
The “New New Left…”
This just shows how daft it is to name anything “new” that’s going to be around for a while. The “New School” is, what, 70 years old by now? Then you’re forced to keep tacking on extra "New"s every time the thing is updated… an infinite regression… in 2102 there’ll be a thread: “What’s the difference between the ‘New New New Left’ and the ‘New New New New Left’?”