The New Left movement emerged in the 1960s as a radical left-wing movement centered around American university campuses that opposed the political and economic establishment. Inspired by the civil rights movement, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) formed in 1960 and adopted the Port Huron Statement which criticized racial inequality, economic issues, foreign policy, and called for more participatory democracy. The SDS grew significantly in the mid-1960s as they organized numerous protests against the Vietnam War and worked to give students more power on campus, such as during the 1964 Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley. However, by the late 1960s the New Left movement had declined due to internal factionalism, the winding down of the Vietnam War, and

1. The New Left and Counterculture in the 1960s:
Since the French Revolution, people who wanted radical change for human equality have been known as “the Left”.
From the late 19th century, the Left focused on economic inequality and the exploitation mainly of the industrial
working class as the main agents of change as they aimed to replace capitalism with Socialism.
“New Left” refers to radical left-wing movements of the 1960s, based mainly on American campuses, which were
linked to youth movements across the world, including Eastern Europe. In 1960, half of America’s population was
under 18 – these youth set the stage for revolt against status quo: racism, sexism and classism, violence of Vietnam
War. At college campuses, anger against “the Establishment’s” practices turned to protest.
Movement got its name from C. Wright Mills’ “Open Letter” of 1960, titled Letter to the New Left, in which he argued
for a new leftist ideology that moved away from the “Old Left’s” concern with labour / union issues as industrial
workers were not the only group that could effect meaningful social change (engine of change). Young intelligentsia
(students / professionals) were “live agencies of change” – they faced such issues as anomie, authoritarianism,
depression, and other ills of modern society.
New Left focused on the political and cultural problems of power. They opposed various forms of institutional power
(see work of Foucault). They resisted being governed in any form – be it school, organisations, media – opposed
restrictions of bureaucracy, discipline and predictability, and demanded autonomy = were anti-Establishment and
opposed to military-industrial US society. Even rejected Soviet Union because of authoritarianism – hence “New” as
opposed to “Old Left”. Mostly white middle class. Launching pad of left wing politics – stimulated by civil rights and
Vietnam War protest. Unlike the Old Left, New Left was loosely organised, though there was one nationally
recognised organisation, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Concerns:
(i) Student issues such as dress codes at university, rigid grading systems, irrelevant courses, same-sex
dorms, etc
(ii) Military-industrial complex: protest university involvement in military investment, especially research
that benefited military, army recruitment, investment in companies that produced arms, etc.
(iii) Civil Rights: many joined struggle in the South – sit-in of 1961, Freedom Rides of 1964, march on
Washington, 1963 – witnessed poverty, violence, and discrimination for the first time.
(iv) Vietnam War: major issue as draft extended to students from 1966. Vietnam War seen as moral outrage
that undermined the ambitions of a Great Society.
(v) Imperialism, control by wealthy nations of the resources of poorer nations.
Strategies:
Favoured direct action that attracted press coverage and made public aware of issues – demanded immediate redress.
Included:
(i) Protest marches – singing, banners, rallies, meetings, music, speeches
(ii) Sit-ins, Lie-in – occupies public buildings to protest injustice or demands changes to draw public
attention.
(iii) Civil disobedience – one step up – broke laws and courted arrest.
STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY (SDS)
Formed in 1960 when Student League for Industrial Democracy (SLID) changed to SDS. Inspired by 1960 sit-ins and
formation of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which became vanguard of student civil rights
militance, mobilising white people. These were the first stirrings of student activism - developed around struggle in
the South against Jim Crow segregation – sit-ins to desegregate restaurants and other public establishments. SNCC
brought into activism new layer of young Black students - inspired by the civil rights movement, white students in the
North began forming civil rights support groups and hundreds went south to participate in voter registration drives,
freedom rides, sit-ins and other protests. Early civil rights struggles set the stage for what was to follow.
Early politics not revolutionary - reflected liberal politics. June 1962, fewer than 100 people attend first SDS
convention at Port Huron, Michigan - adopted official political manifesto, Port Huron Statement, drafted by Tom
Hayden - first statement of principles raised criticisms of racial and economic inequality in US, Cold War foreign
policy and threat of nuclear war. Spoke of ‘participatory democracy’ and urged individual to break out of the confines
of alienated and atomized culture - outlookof a new generation of mostly middle-class students uncomfortably with
the world they were to inherit. Power of statement lies in concept of a participatory democracy, in which people take
part in making decisions that affect their lives - view of political ownership and diffusion of power becomes core
theme in New Left’s rise. Believe that political structures kept individuals powerless.

2. How? Social welfare agencies monitored poor; business and unions controlled worker grievances; government
repressed African Americans and the poor; and universities trained people to become establishment “yes men”.
By 1965, SDS attracted 25,000 protestors; and 1968 around 50,000 SDS members. SDS was beginning of a break with
what had come before -tried to tie together criticisms ofracism, economic inequality and foreign policy into a coherent
critique of entire industrial-military system - attempt to move beyond single-issue struggles toward a more radical
project ofchanging thewhole society. New Left felt liberals madetoo many compromises with southern congressmen,
business concerns and US military. As insiders they could not make fundamental change. Wanted to break down the
system. Slogan “The issue is not the issue”, meaning that individual grievances were not the problem, but the system
itself.
1962-1964: worked as organisers in poor, urban communities. Concern about poor and saw them as potential force
for social and political change. Became pessimistic by end of 1964. At this time, SNCC influenced by Black Power
ideology which held in part that whites should cease involvement in struggles for African American improvement.
Thus involvement in CRM out of the question. At this time, student power becomes crucial – starts with Berkely.
1964: Free Speech Movement (FSM) - Berkeley, California, 1964: important early movement that shows rift between
administrators and students caught up in fervour ofCivil Rights Movement. Mario Savo led movement that demanded
end to ban on campus political life, right to free speech and academic freedom. Trouble began in September when
university announced new regulations that prohibited advocacy of political causes, outside speakers, recruiting
members and fund-raising (Fund-raising tables banned). Students argued that right to Free Speech was guaranteed by
1st Amendment. 29 Sept. – students took direct action – set up tables, distributed literature, refused to show ID cards
to campus police, arrested. When Jack Weinberg, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) member , arrested, students
surrounded vehicle. Protests continued and on 2 Dec. students took over Admin. Building, Sprout Hall. Savo (1942-
1966), a maths professor and part of Freedom Summerin Mississipi earlier that year, became famous for a fiery speech.
Police surrounded building on 3 Dec – 600 police began clearing building. 8 Dec, Academic Senate passed resolution
that reversed students suspensions and allowed political activity. Student victory. Today, steps of Sprout Hall called
“Mario Savo Steps”. Overall aim was to stop universities doing research that assisted the military and big American
corporations. Belief that these idealistic institutions corrupted and should be transformed into agents of dissident
thought and action.
1964-1968: most energy spent on anti-Vietnam War protests. In part because white students drafted but also because
they supported Third World Revolutions (while opposed to the Soviet Union). When Johnson started sustained
bombing of the North in 1965 and land war in the South, anti-war protests gained momentum. First major rally in
Washington by SDS attracted around 25 000 people. However, New Left’s leadership role in anti-war protest faded
as liberals took over – radicals called for radical analysis of US role in the world – why else would US prosecute a war
in such a far off place?
Weather Underground: some New Leftists veered into radical activity – islands of radicalism in a conservative sea.
For example, Weather Underground believed that peaceful protests were ineffective and engaged in violent activity
such as property destruction, sporadic bombing of police stations, and the US Capitol. Weathermen believe violent
action was necessary in a time of crisis - to catch nation’s attention. National headlines in March 1970, shortly after
Bernardine Dohrn announced a “declaration of war”, bomb detonated accidentally and three Weathermen killed in
basement of Manhattan townhouse - became the target of FBI manhunt and members were forced into hiding - bomb
was to be set off at a dance at a local Army base. They were widely criticized for their use of violence as a means of
social and political change and were accused of terrorism and of giving all activists, both militant and more mainstream,
a bad name. This split the SDS and eventually led to its demise.
Collapse: By now, SDS just a “brand name” – lost significance – collapsed – left void in youth politics – rasons: (i)
factionalism within the ranks of SDS; (ii) women feeling marginalised and finding their place and voice in the women’s
movement; gradual ending of Vietnam War; (iv) was alienated from mainstream political system; (v) lacked strong
organisational framework; (vi) no clear strategy for progressive political change.
Evaluation: some see this as a period of muddled thinking; others see this as a great era of experimentation marred
by actions of a few extremists. Overall, could not remain a coherent project with a common vision though it imploded
into localised and individual projects. It was just one expression in the 1960s of a search for a different racial, class,
gender and generational identity. They did force people to think about the kind of society they were living in and how
it could be changed.

3. Revision Question:
Describe clearly the ideology of the "new left" during the 1960s and evaluate its successes and failures. Consider the
following issues:
(i) What specific criticisms did the new left make of American society?
(ii) Were there any "unifying threads" in most of their specific criticisms? In other words, how were their
criticisms similar to one another?
(iii) What visions did the new left present of an ideal society? In what ways do you agree with them?
Disagree?
(iv) How did the new left explain the apparent apathy (indifference) of most of their fellow Americans
toward the oblems of the society?
(v) What groups did the new left believe could become the agents of needed social change?
(vi) Who in the society probably felt most threatened by the ideology of the new left? Why?
RESOURCES:
Document #1: Al Haber (SDS President 1960-62), "Agenda for a Generation," Venture, an SDS publication,
Fall 1960
"In its early stages, student radicalism is neither very radical nor a very profound social protest. It generally does not
go beyond a single issue....It does not seek root causes...
"The [SDS] participants would almost all fall to the left of the Republican Party and most to the left of the Democratic
Party. [Early student radicalism] lacks...faith in the political process...but it offers no alternative beyond direct
action....It does, however, have the appeal, publicity value, manpower, and organizational resources to serve as a
foundation for a movement of more fundamental protest and more positive radical direction."
Document #2: Bob Dylan, "Blowin' in the Wind," 1962
"How many years can a mountain exist
before it is washed to the sea
And how many years can some people exist
before they're allowed to be free
And how many times can a man turn his head
and pretend that he just doesn't see
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind..."
Document #3: Tom Hayden (SDS President 1962-63), "The Port Huron Statement", 1962
This SDS pamphlet helped shape the thought of the New Left for the next several years.
"We regard men [people] as infinitely precious and possessed of unfulfilled capacities for reason, freedom, and love.
In affirming these principles we are aware of countering the dominant conceptions of man in the 20th century: that he
is a thing to be manipulated, and that he is inherently incapable of directing his own affairs. We oppose the
depersonalization that reduces human beings to the status of things….Society [should be] organized…for majority
participation in decision-making….The goal of man and society should be human independence: a concern not with
image or popularity but with finding a meaning in life that is personally authentic.
"Loneliness, estrangement, isolation describe the vast distance between man and man today. These dominant
tendencies cannot be overcome by better personnel management, nor by improved gadgets, but only when a love of
man overcomes the idolatrous worship of things by man."
Document #4: Carl Oglesby, (SDS President 1965-66), speech, Nov. 1965
"We work to remove from society what threatens and prevents [love] — the inequity that coordinates with injustice
to create plain suffering and to make custom of distrust. Poverty. Racism. The assembly line universities of this Pepsi
generation. The ulcerating drive for affluence…"
Document #5: Todd Gitlin (SDS President 1963-4), The Battlefields of War, April 1964
"One of the diabolical successes of this organized society is that it perverts people’s notions about themselves into
fantasies that perpetuate an unjust system. This is…particularly true about the poor, the unemployed, the Negroes."
Document #6: Tom Hayden, "Port Huron Statement", 1962
"The decline of utopia and hope is one of the defining features of social life today….the horrors of the 20th century,
symbolized in the gas ovens and concentration camps and atom bombs, have blasted hopefulness.…To be idealistic
is to be considered deluded…
"Some would have us believe that Americans feel contentment amidst prosperity — but might it not better be called
a glaze above deeply-felt anxieties about their role in the new world?
"…We seek the establishment of a democracy of individual participation,…a participatory democracy….The political
order should provide outlets for the expression of personal grievance and aspiration…

4. "To turn these possibilities into realities will involve national efforts at university reform by an alliance of students
and faculty. They must wrest control of the educational process from the administrative bureaucracy. They must
make…contact with allies in labor, civil rights, and other liberal forces outside the campus. They must import major
public issues into the curriculum….They must make debate and controversy…the common style for educational life."
Document #7: Tom Hayden, Spring 1964, quoted in Jack Newfield, A Prophetic Minority, 1966
"We are saying ordinary, common people should make decisions about urban renewal and the war on poverty….By
insisting the poorcan make decisions, we are striking at all of the society’s pretenses, respectability and hierarchy….We
are trying to organize, first, around the feeling of being poor and powerless, rather than being black. We are also trying
to organize so that poor people develop a consciousness of themselves as worthwhile human beings."
Document #8: SNCC, "Statement of Purpose", Oct. 1960
"We affirm the philosophical or religious ideal of non-violence as the foundation of our purpose…and the manner of
our action….Through non-violence, courage displaces fear. Love transcends hate. Acceptance dissipates prejudice;
hope ends despair. Faith reconciles doubt. Peace dominates war. ….Justice for all overthrows injustice. The
redemptive community supersedes immoral social systems."
Document #9: Mario Savio, (Berkeley Free Speech Activist), "An End to History," Humanity, Dec. 1964
"Many students here…have come to the University to learn to question, to grow, to learn….And they find that to
become part of society, to become lawyers, ministers, business men, or people in government, very often they must
compromise those principles which were most dear to them….The university is well structured, well tooled, to turn
out people with all the sharp edges worn off — the well-rounded person….
"The ‘futures’ and ‘careers’ for which American students now prepare are for the most part intellectual and moral
wastelands. This chrome-plated consumers’ paradise would have us grow up to be well-behaved children. But an
important minority of men and women coming to the front today have shown that they will die rather than be
standardized, replaceable, and irrelevant."
Document #10: Paul Cowan (a member of the Harvard SDS), The Making of an Un-American, 1967.
"We call ourselves radicals, but the truth was…we were almost the only loyal opposition in the country. We joined a
few Senators…in questioning the assumptions behind the United States’ intervention in Vietnam. But our questions,
which outraged so many of our elders, usually fell well inside the framework of America’s global interests. Most of us
still wanted to help run the country, not to become revolutionaries…
"For each ofus, privately, the draft threatened to…put an end to the comfortable life we all enjoyed whilewe protested
a war we agreed was immoral. But even after the first major escalation, in February 1965, it was still a danger that
could be outmaneuvered. Marriage meant a deferment; so did graduate school, the Peace Corps, most forms of
government work, [and] the slightest physical or psychological defect."
Document #11: Paul Potter (SDS President 1964-65), speech in Washington, D.C., 1965
"What kind of system is it that justifies the United States or any country seizing the destinies of the Vietnamese people
and using them callously for its own purposes? What kind of system is it that disenfranchises people in the South,
leaves millions upon millions of people throughout the country impoverished;…that creates faceless and terrible
bureaucracies…that consistently put material values before human values — and still persists in calling itself fit to
police the world?"
Document #12: Jack Newfield (former member of the SDS), A Prophetic Minority
"Slowly during 1965 and 1966, a new SNCC began to take shape…Now the keynote phrases in SNCC are
INDEPENDENT BLACK POWER, RACE PRIDE, BLACK DIGNITY, AND THE THIRD WORLD.
"The 25 whites on the SNCC staff will now organize only poor whites. They will be kept out of the black community.
Countywide, independent all-black political parties will be organized, patterned after the Black Panther party…"
Document #13: Stokely Carmichael (leader of SNCC 1966-69), Power and Racism, 1966
"The economic foundations of this country must be shaken if black people are to control their lives. The colonies of
the United States — and this includes the black ghettoes within its borders, north and south — must be liberated…
"A powerful few have been maintained and enriched at the expense of the poor and voiceless colored masses. This
pattern must be broken…For racism to die, a totally different America must be born.
"This is what the white society does not wish to face; this is why that society prefers to talk about integration. But
integration speaks not at all to the problem of poverty….As a goal it has been based on complete acceptance of the
fact that IN ORDER TO HAVE a decent house or education, blacks must move into a white neighborhood or send
their children to a white school. This reinforces, among both black and white, the idea that ‘white’ is automatically
better and ‘black’ is by definition inferior. This is why integration is a [scheme] for the maintenance of white
supremacy."
Document #14: Carl Davidson (SDS Vice President 1966-67), New Left Notes, Nov. 13, 1967

5. "No one goes limp anymore, or meekly to jail. Police violence does not go unanswered.…An increasing number of
the sit-ins this Fall displayed the quality of Tactical Political Resistance. Their purpose was the disruption and
obstruction of certain events and actions BY WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY."
Document #15: Dotson Rader (member of SDS), I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore, 1969
"The meaninglessness of non-violent, ‘democratic’ methods was becoming clear to us in the spring of 1967. The Civil
Rights Movement was dead. Pacifism was dead….It took…us awhile to give up the sweet life of the democratic Left
for revolt."
Document #16: Tom Hayden, "Two, Three, Many Columbias," Ramparts, June 15, 1968
"[The student strike at Columbia University] opened a new tactical stage in the resistance movement:…from the
overnight occupation of buildings to permanent occupation; from mill-ins to thecreation ofrevolutionary committees;
from symbolic civil disobedience to barricaded resistance...
"In the future it is conceivable that students will threaten destruction of buildings as a last deterrent to police
attacks…Raids on the offices of professors doing weapons research could win substantial support among students…
"The Columbia students…did not even want to be included in the decision-making circles of the military-industrial
complex that runs Columbia; they want to be included only if their inclusion is a step toward transforming the
university.
"…Support from outside the university communities can be counted on in many large cities. A crisis is foreseeable
that would be too massive for police to handle.…We are moving toward power — the power to stop the machine if
it cannot be made to serve humane ends."
Document #17: "SDS Message to Fellow Students Working for McCarthy [the Democratic nominee for
President]", 1968
"As we witness this Democratic National Convention coming to Chicago, our analysis tells us that the major decisions
have already been made….We reject your candidate, not because he’s yours, but precisely because he’s NOT, because
all he can do is make statements, a figurehead, a mouthpiece, manipulated, just like the other candidates, by those who
really hold power and make the decisions."
Document #18: "The Fire Next Time", New Left Notes, 1970
"In SDS we believe that the only solution to the problems of imperialism is a socialist revolution. Liberal reforms
which do not change the basic structure of society will not end the exploitation of working people by the rich….
"By a socialist revolution we mean the complete reorganization of America. Workers will control the goods and wealth
they produce. Schools, transportation, housing, and all the other institutions ofsocial welfare will be controlled by the
people and not by the few rich men who now run America. Black and brown people will seize control of their
communities and take back the culture which centuries of imperialist oppression has robbed from them. Women will
break from the secondary roles they fill in capitalist America, and along with men will develop non-exploitative human
relationships."
Document #19: "Weathermen Communiqué #1", 1971
The Weathermen were an "underground" offshoot of SDS. Their violent language frightenedmany Americans, even though their act ions
fell short of their words.
"All over the world, people fighting Amerikan imperialism look to Amerika’s youth to useourstrategic position behind
enemy lines to join forces in the destruction of the empire.
"Black people have been fighting almost alone for years. We’ve known that our job is to lead white kids to armed
revolution….Tens of thousands have learned that protests and marches don’t do it. Revolutionary violence is the only
way."
Document #20: From the Weatherman songbook, to the tune of White Christmas:
"I’m dreaming of a white riot
Just like the one October 8,
When the pigs take a beating
And things start leading
To Armed war against the state.
We’re heading now toward armed struggle,
With every cadre line we write.
May you learn to struggle and fight,
Or the world will off you ‘cause you’re white."
Document #21: Carl Oglesby, in Liberation, 1969
"The United States is to experience not a social revolution at the hands of its own people, but a military defeat at the
hands of twenty, thirty, many Vietnams — plus a few Detroits.”

6. Document #22: Two New York Weathermen, 1971
"We won very few people over to our politics. We were not yet capable of leading masses of kids. Our…intolerance
[hurt us]….Wewere lazy….We had succeeded in hardening ourselves — we could be critical of each other, we could
fight for our ideas, we could fight pigs. But in all this hardening, we lost some of our humanity….Very often we lost
sight of the deep love that had made us revolutionaries in the first place."