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Life and Times of the First New Left

NLR’s founding editor recalls the emergence of the British New Left out of the double conjuncture of 1956—Hungary and Suez—and identifies the cross-currents, cultural and political, that nourished its initial cohort.

Raphael Samuel: 1934-1996

“Raphael Samuel, who died of cancer in December—in the old weaver’s house in Elder Street he loved so much, behind Spitalfield Market in the heart of what was once Jewish and Radical London—was one of the most outstanding, original intellectuals of his generation: a lifelong socialist of deep . . .” read more

Negotiating Caribbean Identities

“In this lecture I will address questions of Caribbean culture and identity. I want to suggest that such questions are not in any sense separate or removed from the problems of political mobilization, of cultural development, of economic development and so on. The more we know and see . . .” read more

Authoritarian Populism: A Reply

“In nlr 147 Jessop, Bonnett, Bromley and Ling contributed a long and important article ‘Authoritarian Populism, Two Nations and Thatcherism’. This article took issue with ‘authoritarian populism’ (hereinafter, alas, ap) and the use of that concept in my work on Thatcherism; and proposed some wide-ranging alternative . . .” read more

Nicos Poulantzas: 'State, Power, Socialism'

“The unexpected and tragic death of Nicos Poulantzas, in Paris, in October of this year has robbed Marxist theory and the socialist movement of one of its most distinguished comrades. Though only 43 at his death, he had already established for himself a just reputation as a theoretician . . .” read more

Commitment Dilemma

“The Writer And Commitment,” read more

The Politics of the Common Market

“with the Common Market, we have arrived at a real turning point in post-war history. It is always difficult to date such moments precisely, but it can now be clearly seen that the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957, gathering up as it did the . . .” read more

Notes on the Cuban Dilemma

“only those who did not follow Mr. Kennedy’s pronouncements on Cuba in the days before his election were surprised by the American intervention. For Mr. Kennedy has never wavered on Cuba. When his Administration undertook yet another agonising reappraisal of foreign policy, Cuba remained the one territory . . .” read more

Direct Action--A Discussion with Alan Lovell

“Paddy Whannel and Stuart Hall put questions about direct action and civil disobedience to Alan Lovell, a member of the Committee of a Hundred. The questions are in italics throughout.” read more

The New Frontier

“there is now considerable discontent brewing about education. It arises from many different quarters—among teachers and administrators (Cf. the recent controversy in The Observer between Mr. Amis and his colleagues and Dr. Petersen), academic authorities (Cf. the reports of several recent conferences), parents (Cf. the recent PEP . . .” read more

Student Journals

“there is nothing that I know of to match the flood of university journals which have been irrigating the newstands in recent months. Undaunted by rising costs and a high death-rate, new journals with an unexpected level of seriousness and technical proficiency have continued to flow through. . . .” read more

Lady Chatterley’s Lover

“It is the way our sympathy flows and recoils that really determines our lives. And here lies the vast importance of the novel properly handled. It can inform and lead into new places the flow of our sympathetic consciousness, and it can lead our sympathy away and recoil . . .” read more

Crowther in Cold Storage

“Hailed by everyone as forward-looking, the Report has been officially welcomed and officially shelved. The welcome is hardly surprising, since the major recommendations are no longer controversial. It established for the late-Sixties, targets for full and part-time education which were recognised as basic in the 1944 Act. But . . .” read more

Crosland Territory

“A political introduction to the series of articles on What’s Wrong With Capitalism, linking the theoretical arguments to the current political debate in the Labour Party.” read more

Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance

“Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance is john arden’s second play to be put on at the Royal Court. It is in every way a development out of, and a distinct advance over Live Like Pigs. In the earlier play, Arden made a stubborn plea on behalf of a Gipsy . . .” read more

ULR Club in Notting Hill

“The London Club has increasingly found that the successful public meetings and discussion groups were not enough—especially for younger Club members. Many members had had no previous experience of political work of a direct kind. They found the prospect of throwing themselves into active Constituency Party work uninviting, . . .” read more

Introducing NLR

““It is a new Society that we are working to realise, not a Cleaning up of our present tyrannical muddle into an improved, smoothly-working form of that same “order”, a mass of dull and useless people organised into classes, amidst which the antagonism should be moderated and veiled . . .” read more