New Left

noun

1. (sometimes lowercase),  a radical leftist political movement active especially during the 1960s and 1970s, composed largely of college students and young intellectuals whose goals included racial equality, de-escalation of the arms race, nonintervention in foreign affairs, and other major changes in the political, economic, social, and educational systems.

New Left

noun

1. a loose grouping of left-wing radicals, esp among students, that arose in many countries after 1960

New Left

1. A radical movement of the 1960s and 1970s. New Leftists opposed the military-industrial complex and involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War; they urged more public attention to conditions of black people and the poor. New Leftists were less theoretical than communists and generally did not admire the Soviet Union. But many of them were interested in Maoism, and they spoke strongly for “participatory democracy.” (See sit-ins.)

Other Word Forms

• New Leftist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of New Left¹

First recorded in 1960; phrase apparently introduced by U.S. sociologist C. Wright Mills (1916–62)