The New Left was a range of activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who focused their attention on marginal identities and, eventually, identity politics. They rejected involvement with the labor movement and Marxism's historical theory of class struggle. Abandoning the Marxist goals of educating the proletariat, the New Left turned to student activism as its reservoir of power.
In both the U.S. and Japan, the "New Left" was associated with the Hippie movement and college campus protest movements. The American New Left in particular opposed what it saw as the prevailing authority structures in society, which it termed "The Establishment", and those who rejected this authority became known as "anti-Establishment".
Read more about New Left: Historical Origins, Theory and Philosophy, Student Movement, United States New Left, Japanese New Left, Continental European New Left, Inspirations and Influences, Key Figures, Other Associated People
Famous quotes containing the word left:
“It was heady stuff, recognizing ourselves as an oppressed class, but the level of discussion was poor. We explained systemic discrimination, and men looked prettily confused and said: “But, I like women.””
—Jane O’Reilly, U.S. feminist and humorist. The Girl I Left Behind, ch. 2 (1980)