Meanings
- historicalgovernmentA broad political movement, mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a range of reforms on issues such as civil and political rights, feminism, and the legalization of drugs.
The New Left is a product of popular affluence and social change—once the revolutionary goals of the European Left; it does not arise from mass oppression.
1968 July 5, “The ‘New Left’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN1 more example
In theory the New Left wanted to remake society, but in practice old divisions of labor went unchallenged: men got all the glory, becoming leaders and spokespeople, while women were left with the dull office work, their efforts invisible behind the scenes.
2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 4, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 新左翼
- 新左翼 (xīn zuǒyì)political movement
Finnish uusvasemmisto
- uusvasemmistopolitical movement
Cite this entry
New Left. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/New%20Left
“New Left.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/New%20Left. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “New Left,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/New%20Left.
Source: New Left on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.