The New Left in the United States

Abstract

The New Left: An agglomeration of thousands of young Americans self-righteous but courageous, radical but not specifically socialist, democratic but not anti-communist, far-out but reformist, liberated yet enormously confused. A journalistic literature has sprung up in the past year which describes this strange phenomenon but unfortunately most of the discussion remains on the level of description. Certain vital questions remain unanswered: Why the New Left? Why now? Is it merely the reassertion-after the McCarthy hiatus--of a tradition of student rebellion? Do the traits of the New Left represent a new trend of radical politics? Or rather, are they the necessary result of its peculiar process of self-birth? Does the New Left reflect any fundamental contradictions of American society, contradictions which can be expected to become aggravated? Does it have any chance of developing a coherent ideology and mushrooming into a full-scale radical movement?