Editing Old Left (section)

{{Short description|Pre-1960s left-wing in the Western world}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2025}}
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}
{{Marxism|related}}
The '''Old Left''' is an informal umbrella term used to describe the various [[Left-wing politics|left-wing political movements]] in the [[Western world]] prior to the 1960s. Many of these movements were [[Marxism|Marxist]] movements that often took a more [[vanguardism|vanguardist]] approach to [[social justice]]; focused primarily on [[labor union]]ization and [[social class]] in the West.<ref>{{cite book|author=Cynthia Kaufman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3nJUwFqRLTwC&q=new%20left%20cynthia%20kaufman&pg=PA275|title=Ideas For Action: Relevant Theory For Radical Change|isbn=9780896086937|year=2003|publisher=South End Press}}<br>- [[Todd Gitlin]], "The Left's Lost Universalism", in Arthur M. Melzer, Jerry Weinberger and M. Richard Zinman, eds., ''Politics at the Turn of the Century'', pp.&nbsp;3–26 (Lanham, MD: [[Rowman & Littlefield]], 2001)<br>- {{cite journal|author=Grant Farred|author-link=Grant Farred|year=2000|title=Endgame Identity? Mapping the New Left Roots of Identity Politics|journal=[[New Literary History]]|volume=31|issue=4|pages=627–648|jstor=20057628|doi=10.1353/nlh.2000.0045|s2cid=144650061}}</ref> Generally, the Old Left, unlike the [[New Left|New]], focused more on [[Economy|economic]] issues than [[Culture|cultural]] ones. However, seminal figures of the Old Left, such as [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]], opposed [[economism]]. 

Unlike the [[New Left]], the Old Left puts less emphasis on social issues such as [[identity politics]], [[intersectionality]], [[Abortion-rights movements|abortion]], [[Drug policy reform|drugs]], [[feminism]], [[LGBT rights by country or territory|LGBT rights]],  [[environmentalism]], [[immigration]] and the abolition of the [[capital punishment]]; some Old Leftists outright oppose the New Left positions on these issues.

While some parties within the Old Left embraced gay rights, influenced by movements like [[Eurocommunism]], others focused on advocating for the working class alone, like the [[Socialist Party (Netherlands)|Socialist Party of the Netherlands]] and the [[Social Democrats (Denmark)|Social Democrats of Denmark]].  

The emergence of the New Left, which initially originated in the UK, witnessed a shift away from the focus on class struggle and Marxist views of labor. New Left theorists like [[Herbert Marcuse]] emphasized instead the liberation of human sexuality.