Historical research about the so-called New Left was until the late 1990s an entirely newacademic field in Swedish academia. However, a large part of this research still deals withquestions concerning “who did what” and perhaps more notably “who was right”.This thesis is an attempt to move away from such inquiries and instead look towardshow one albeit small but very important part of this so-called New Left discussed andused the term America and things American. Formed largely around the Anti-WarMovement, the Marxist-Leninist – or “Maoist” – Left naturally opposed US worldpolicies; but perhaps more interesting a significant part of the ideas about America andthe Vietnam War seemed to stem from USA itself – such as naming your anti-war folkgroup “Freedom Singers” after the US civil rights group “The Freedom Singers”.Analyzing three Swedish Marxist-Leninist magazines the study thus complements theresearch on not only the Swedish New Left but also the study of anti-Americanisms;firstly, by examining what the Marxist-Leninist left considered particularly American;secondly, by studying in what context these particular Americanism was discussed; and,thirdly, by observing if these notions changed over time, and why. The aim is thereforenot to paint a “complete” picture of the image of America in the Swedish New Left butto analyze how things considered American was used, and why.By discussing the term narrative (berättelse) against the term image (bild) the study amongother things shows that the terms America and things conceivably American was used toexpress a number of things, such as a demonization of the Soviet Union. Moreover, a lotof motivation not only came from China – the natural utopia for European Maoist – butfrom American black-power leaders such as Malcolm X; that is, the image of America inthe Swedish New Left was not only more complex than previously thought of, butindeed took inspiration and ideas, albeit sometimes anti-American ideas, from the UnitedStates itself – or rather, “the other America” inside the United States of America.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2008. / Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Doctor of Philosophy in History." Bibliography: leaves 244-249.

Most histories of the New Left emphasize that some variant of Marxism ultimately influenced activists in their pursuit of social change. Through careful examination of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), I argue that New Left thought was not always anti-liberal. Founding SDS members hardly rejected liberal political theory during the early years of the movement (1960-1963). New Left thought was profoundly indebted to John Dewey's political and philosophical method. Deweyan liberalism suggested theory should be directly applicable in the world of social action and truth should always be regarded as contingent. The connection between Dewey and SDS becomes apparent when one considers the role of Arnold S. Kaufman in the movement. Kaufman, a University of Michigan philosopher, applied Dewey's political and philosophical method in his work as an activist and academic. He coined the term "participatory democracy" for the New Left. Consequently, this key New Left concept was itself grounded in Dewey's philosophy.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Esta dissertaÃÃo de mestrado versa sobre a aÃÃo polÃtica de alguns sujeitos histÃricos que no final dos anos sessenta e inÃcio dos setenta do sÃculo passado, concluÃram que a luta armada seria o mÃtodo mais racional e viÃvel para enfrentar a ditadura civil-militar imposta ao paÃs em 1964, mesmo se tendo outras possibilidades de oposiÃÃo aos capitalistas e ao seu sistema autoritÃrio. Neste sentido, para o entendimento desta opÃÃo extremada, foram privilegiados e associados dois nichos, as leituras escritas efetivadas antes e durante o conflito bÃlico, assim como Ãs mÃltiplas vivÃncias dos guerrilheiros, da infÃncia atà os derradeiros episÃdios da contenda. Completando este quadro o trabalho ainda destaca a emergÃncia de uma Nova Esquerda marxista, num mundo, tanto ao nÃvel local e nacional, como internacional, marcado pela Ãtica da Guerra Fria. / This dissertation deals with the political action of some historical subjects than in the late sixties and early seventies of last century, concluded that armed struggle would be the most rational and feasible to address civil-military dictatorship imposed on the country 1964, even if taking other possibilities of opposition to the capitalists and their authoritarian system. In this sense, the understanding of this extreme option, members were privileged and two niches, the readings written committed before and during the armed conflict, as well as the multiple experiences of the rebels, from childhood until the ultimate episodes of strife. Completing this picture, the work also highlights the emergence of a New Left Marxist, a world both locally and nationally, and internationally, marked by the optics of the Cold War.

Centrée sur le contexte des « longues années 68 », la thèse porte sur les raisons et le déroulement de la protestation juvénile entre les Etats-Unis et l’Europe, à partir du début des années Soixante jusqu’à la moitié de la décennie suivante. Il s’agit d’une période durant laquelle les pays développés connaissent une transformation sans pareil, marquée par l’élargissement de la société de consommation de masse et par le progrès frappant dans le domaine de la communication. La recherche vise surtout à éclairer deux questions principales : définir le rôle joué par la contre-culture dans la vague révolutionnaire et encadrer la dimension internationale du mouvement. Ce travail est donc divisé en deux parties : la première aborde les causes et l’esprit de la contre-culture à partir de ses racines américaines, tandis que la deuxième partie sera centrée sur les agitations étudiantes dans les pays de référence. En ce qui concerne les acteurs de la mobilisation, la recherche porte sur trois sujets principaux : les groupes undergrounds, le mouvement étudiant international et la révolte italienne de Soixante-dix-sept. Il s’agit de trois sujets qui représentent trois phases distinctes dans la chronologie du « cycle de protestation », un cycle qui se déroule dans un récit déchiqueté où on assiste à un changement continu de paradigme. Malgré cette inconstance fondamentale, il subsiste des mots d’ordre qui occupent une place privilégiée dans la mentalité des activistes : anti-autoritarisme, égalitarisme, répression, droit, révolution restent les nœuds théoriques les plus significatifs de la contestation dans le milieu juvénile, étudiant et également ouvrier. / Centred on the political and cultural context of the “long Sixties”, this work examines the reasons and the dynamics of social movements between USA and Europe, focusing on the period from 1960 to the mid-1970s. It was a period of great transformations where the affluent societies witnessed an explosive growth both in social field and in technological domain. This thesis aims above all to understand two main issues: the role counterculture played in the war protest and civil rights movement and the international dimension of this phenomenon. Thus, this research is divided into two parts: the first section concerns with the underground movement beginning with its American roots while the second part is dedicated to the student movement thought an international perspective. Concerning the social actors involved in the mobilisation, this work is focused on three main subjects: the counterculture groups, the several student movements and the militants of Italian 1977 revolt. It means to analyse three different moments in the “protestation cycle” of long Sixties that remains a tumultuous period of paradigm shifts. In spite of this instability, it is possible to indicate some keywords that characterise the spirit of the age: anti-authoritarianism, egalitarianism, repression, rights, and above all, revolution remain the more significant theoretical questions on which this work revolves.

by Stephen Eugene Parr. / Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 445-456).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In 1956 a cadre of Marxist historians in Britain created what would come to be known as the New Left. The New Left in Britain took the form of a loose affiliation of scholars and intellectuals whose goal it was to create a space for socialist change within and between the existing structures in the British labor movement. These intellectuals greatly influenced socialist thought in the aftermath of Stalinsim and paved a way forward for future socialist activism. Existing works on the group analyze its impact and assess its successes and failures. By placing an emphasis on understanding the conditions that existed during the making of the First New Left, the following historical analysis argues that these assessments within the historiography require revision.

Orientador: Fátima Cabral / Banca: Marcos Tadeu Del Roio / Banca: Maria ribeiro do Valle / Resumo: O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a reflexão empreendida por Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) acerca dos fenômenos do poder e da violência, bem como sua crítica à Nova Esquerda , crítica essa que se apresenta de forma sistematizada em seu ensaio Sobre a violência, de 1969. A distinção entre poder e violência constitui-se, pois, em tema central do pensamento político da autora, que teve como motivação para sua reflexão a Rebelião Estudantil de 1968, a guerra do Vietnã e o papel da violência no âmbito da Nova Esquerda. Com efeito, o poder, para Arendt, é inerente a toda comunidade política e resulta da capacidade de agir conjuntamente. Por outro lado, a violência, que é instrumental, se funda na categoria meio-fim, e quando recobrada no âmbito do político é responsável por fazer desaparecer o poder. Portanto, poder e violência são assuntos opostos: quando um se afirma absoluto, o outro desaparece. Do contato com o pensamento de Arendt, percebemos que seu conceito de poder foi forjado tendo como referência a tradição da polis grega, a qual, no entendimento de Arendt, lança luzes sobre a derrocada dos valores da política moderna, bem como sobre a necessidade de resgatar a diferença entre as esferas pública e privada para fazer emergir o fenômeno originariamente político. Confrontando suas idéias com as de outros autores, consideramos que a análise de Arendt sobre o poder transcende completamente as relações conflituosas constitutivas da vida política e suas instituições tradicionais. Além disso, a rejeição da ação radical da Nova Esquerda, por esta autora, em grande medida parece engrossar o coro que recusa e rechaça a utopia, que significa, no contexto do "fim da ideologia", a negação da perspectiva socialista em favor, mais uma vez, da "democracia" e do "pluralismo" norte-americanos. / Abstract: The aim of this paper is to analyze the reflexion undertaken by Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) on the phenomena of power and violence as well as her critique of the New Left, which is presented systematically in her essay On Violence (1969). The distinction between power and violence thus comprises a central theme in her political thought, which has had as a motivation for her reflexion the Student Rebellion of 1968, the Vietnam war and the role of violence within the New Left. Indeed, the power, on Arendt's account, is inherent to every political community and it is a result of the ability to act jointly. Furthermore, the violence, that is instrumental, is based upon the means-end category and whenever stablished within the political sphere becomes responsible for causing the power to vanish. Therefore, power and violence are opposite subjects: as one becomes absolute, the other vanishes. By being in touch with Arendt's thinking we come to realize that her innovative concept of power has been forged having as reference the tradition of Greek polis, which, from Arendt's understanding, casts light on the defeat of the values of the modern Politics, as well as on the need of restoring the difference between public and private spheres to cause the originally political phenomenom to emerge. By putting her thoughts with those of other authors, we consider that Arednt's analysis of power goes completely beyond the conflicting constituents of political life and its traditional institutions. Moreover, the rejection of the extreme action of the New Left, by the author, largely seems to reinforce the chorus that refuses and rejects the utopia, which means, in the "end of ideology" context, the negation of the socialist perspective in behalf, once again, of the American "democracy" and "pluralism". / Mestre

This dissertation examines student radicalism in Tennessee between Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) and the national backlash against the Kent State University shootings in Kent, Ohio in May 1970. As the first statewide study of student activism, and one of the few examinations of southern student activism, it broadens the understanding of New Left student radicalism from its traditionally defined hotbeds in the Northeast and the West Coast. It also argues for a consideration of student radicalism that incorporates white and black accounts, assessing issues surrounding civil rights, labour, the renegotiation of student roles on campus, and Vietnam on black and formerly all-white campuses. Three main arguments drive this dissertation. First, the notion of the New Left inhabiting only a brief moment in time, rising and falling in the 1960s—years of hope, days of rage, in Todd Gitlin’s influential telling—is problematic in the context of Tennessee. The location of Highlander Folk School in Tennessee created a strong connection to Old Left labour activism for the state’s New Left. Student movements both developed more slowly in Tennessee and fractured more slowly. My second argument is that forms of radicalism in Tennessee were distinctly southern. The region’s political order was more stifling than its counterpart in the North, and could easily turn more deadly. Students radicals in the South grasped this difference. Any left in the South had to address issues of race, but, in light of the danger, had to do so gingerly. Thirdly, race mattered a great deal to southern leftists, black and white, at first bringing them together and later driving them apart. Both black and white students viewed attempts to establish personal autonomy within campus and community organising as centrally important to their activities. Black and white students understood personal autonomy in a broad sense, conceptualised of as ‘student power’: it covered immediate concerns over universities’ assumption of parental power over students, as well as apparent infringements of civil rights and civil liberties. This dissertation reconstructs this pursuit of student power, both within campuses and beyond, and details the growing rift between black and white student interests.