Old Left

The term old left refers to Marxist and socialist activists, particularly those identified with radical political parties during the first half of the 20th century in the United States. The term was invented by sociologist C. Wright Mills and appropriated by student activists during the 1960s to connote the differences in ideology and political practice between them and radical activists before them. For the new left of the 1960s, their elders represented an outmoded progressive politics erroneously driven by ideological dogmatism, excessive party demands, and sectarianism.

Looking at “old” and “new” lefts in 20th-century U.S. history requires a careful examination of economic, political, and cultural developments in the two key periods of left politics: the 1930s and the 1960s. These decades signify two historical moments in left history that transcend in meaning and significance the particular decades they signify.

The 1930s, a decade of political ferment in the United States, represents the culmination of the emergence of social and political movements driven and inspired by the Industrial Revolution of post–Civil War America. Marxian socialism spread from Europe to the United States in the late 19th century, as did the growing drive for unionization of factory workers. The Socialist Party of pre–World War I America, led by Eugene V. Debs, generated hundreds of thousands of supporters, as did trade union organizing initiated by the American Federation of Labor and the Industrial Workers of the World.

After the political repression of the left in the 1920s, the tragedy of the Great Depression sparked a renewed interest in left politics and trade union organizing in the 1930s. Socialists and communists, who had split from the socialists after World War I, participated in efforts to unionize industrial workers, culminating in the formation of the 4-million-member Congress of Industrial Organizations. Communists worked prominently in campaigns to combat racism, such as in the defense of the Scottsboro men falsely accused of raping white women, pressuring employers in cities such as New York and Chicago to hire African Americans, and mobilizing against lynchings in the South. During this decade, the Communist Party of the United States recruited at least 100,000 members. The former Soviet Union, then seen as a beacon of hope for building an alternative society, inspired thousands of U.S. radicals to join the communist movement.

The Communist Party, several smaller Marxist parties influenced by Leon Trotsky's critique of the Soviet Union, and the Socialist Party gained popularity. All were engaged in labor and anti-racist organizing. All pursued growing memberships. All encouraged disciplined organization. Some required members to engage in political practices defined by the leadership of their parties. And finally, all were influenced by Marxist theory. Because of the influence of the left in 1930s America, popular culture was framed by working-class struggles: in fiction, in painting, in music. Even those not formally linked to left parties were influenced in their cultural work by the ambience of the times.

After World War II, labor militancy was weakened as anti-communism became basic to the culture. Anti-communism was imposed by political repression, including jailing, loyalty oaths, purges in the labor movement, and blacklisting campaigns in movies and television. The standard reference to McCarthyism reflects historians' assessments that political and cultural repression constituted a central feature of post-war America. In addition to anti-communism, the instrumentalities of popular culture promoted consumerism, materialism, and individual gratification over the older spirit of community that characterized Depression America. The Cold War seemed to encapsulate all these elements in one struggle against the threat of communism in America.

...