The Politics of Protest [week 10]

1. The Politics of Protest [week 10] The Left: the Old, the New, and the Far

3. Characteristics of Old Left politics (by 1960s) • 1. Industrial workers and trades unions as key motor forces of change

4. Characteristics of Old Left politics (by 1960s) • 2. Emphasis on economic explanation • Condemnation of capitalism

5. Characteristics of Old Left politics (by 1960s) • 3. Politics parties as chief organisational vehicles

6. Characteristics of Old Left politics (by 1960s) • 4. Belief in ‘progressive’ reform from above

7. Characteristics of Old Left politics (by 1960s) • 5. Depression, war and Stalinism • Key reference points

8. Even after practically half a century, my throat contracts as I recall the almost intolerable tensions under which we lived month after month, the unending moments of decision about what to say and do on which our future lives seemed to depend, the friends now clinging together or facing one another bitterly as adversaries. Eric Hobsbawm

9. Two key events from 1956 1. Hungarian Uprising 2. The Suez Crisis

12. The Old Left and New Left – key difference 1 • Old Left: • Claimed to represent proletariat • New Left: • - Adapted Marx to conceive new social groups as force for change

13. The Old Left and New Left – key difference 2 • Old Left: • Emphasised economic explanation • New Left: • - Emphasis on culture

14. The Old Left and New Left – key difference 3 • Old Left: • Political parties as vehicles for change • New Left: • - Believed in creation of counter-institutions

15. The Old Left and New Left – key difference 4 • Old Left: • Belief in inevitability of socialism • New Left: • - Emphasised importance of continuous revolt

16. The Old Left and New Left – key difference 5 • Old Left: • Experiences of trauma and defeat • New Left: • - General sense of prosperity and expanding horizons

18. C Wright Mills

19. Herbert Marcuse

20. Happy Sad Angry Intrigued