What is it about idealism which makes it such a potent and uncompromising force? How does it differ from other equally worthy motives which ignited the revolutions and revolts in times prior: freedom and liberation movements, slave uprisings and prison breaks, workers’ strikes, boycotts , and all manner of struggles against specific injustices, such as the right to vote or against discrimination in the workplace, or the more general ones, such as civil rights? The answer, I suggest, resides in the origins of the movement, in its composition: the rank and file.
Say what you will, but the New Left was the product of middle or upper class upbringing; the spoiled brats, mostly white, who had nothing better to do than to attend liberal arts colleges and waste their time on drugs, free love and what have you, the direct result of the unprecedented prosperity which, once upon a time, was the trademark of the American experience. Not for all, I hasten to add, but for the many. And so, a movement was born.
Vietnam was the first bone of contention, but it was only the beginning. The movement soon spread to include all points of (moral) disagreement: the military-industrial complex, the Establishment, civil rights, feminism, gay rights, the rights of the physically impaired, the environment, and on and on. Every single advance in the area of human rights in the second half of the 20th century can be traced, if not directly than at least indirectly, to the New Left’s involvement. And it doesn’t matter now whether the New Left embraced the new causes or whether it simply grew as the fight spread to include the hotly-disputed issues. The net effect was, the little ol' hippie revolution of the sixties energized everything it touched in ways unlike any other movement before or since; it had infused it with its particular brand of energy, enthusiasm and passion; and in a manner of speaking, it spearheaded every single advance in the area of human rights and every fight against injustice, large or small, and in so doing, it affected the outcome, which is just another way of saying that the rise of the New Left coincides or is synonymous with the explosion of universal, mass consciousness. The rest is history.
Article comments
1 - Irene Wagner
I don't know, Roger Nowosielski. Maybe the New Left and the Old Right (no neocons allowed, but that's just my own bias talking), will put their heads together and get things settled.
I hope everyone will still feel OK about enjoying a nice Bar-B-Q once all is said and done. After all, animals are sentient beings, not to mention the inequitable land food distribution issues involved in raising vegetables vs. lifestock. I might be ashamed of this comment fifty years from now.
2 - Ruvy
Roger, the Infantile Left, the bunch of stupid and loud mouthed hippies who never grew up that you talk about here, are a bunch of tyrannical bastards who have forgotten what free speech and freedom of thought is.
They have nothing to backslide to but the mud of fascism they crawled out of, and this they are proceeding to do apace. Problem is they have one of their own assholes in the White House dragging you all back with them. Have fun in the mud, Roger!
3 - roger nowosielski
We had better come together, Irene, as I argue for in Part III, coming out manana. As you know, divided we cannot stand.
4 - roger nowosielski
It would be a heckuva surprise, Ruvy, if you had something positive to say for a change. I'd eat my hat.
You make me think you never really had a childhood, just grew up into nasty adolescence. Try to think of happy days.