The New Left and American Politics After Ten Years

Abstract

A participant observer interpretively sketches the nature and history of the New Left movement, from its genesis in the civil rights movement in the early 60s to its recent factional divisions, focusing primarily upon how New Left groups such as the Students for a Democratic Society have viewed their own aspirations and efforts and (to a lesser extent) those of the Old Left (here called “corporate liberals”). Particular attention is given to the significance and contributions of the two SDS documents, “The Port Huron Statement” (1962) and “America and the New Era” (1963). The paper concludes that, as a result of co‐optation and of the failure of the liberals to embrace the New Left program as a whole, the movement is now largely defunct; nevertheless, the legacy of the New Left will be historically significant.