The European Far Left and New Social Movements. A Contribution to the History of the 1970s
I propose to carry out research for a single-author monograph on a formative experience having shaped the social, political and cultural contours characterizing Western Europe in the 1970s: Ships Passing in the Night? The Far Left and New Social Movements. A Contribution to the History of the 1970s in Western Europe.
Following the turbulent events of global 1968, political cultures in Western Europe in subsequent years changed and developed in quantitative and qualitative terms.
Two key innovations were: a) the so-called New Social Movements, and: b) the Far Left. My aim is to demonstrate the centrality of both the Far Left and New Social Movements for a comprehensive understanding of the history and politics of the 1970s in Western Europe.
The six case studies have been chosen with similar criteria guiding each individual choice. I have identified one ‘new social movement’ which is generally regarded as the or one of the most important manifestations of the new mode of protest politics in a given country during the 1970s. And I have then attempted to target the one organization from the spectrum of the Far Left in each given state, which was most closely associated in active support work within the chosen NSM. The final chapter will draw together the six strands of the preceding country descriptions, aiming to point out parallels, similarities and overall lessons from those carefully selected virtuous cycles of often fruitful – if rarely completely harmonious – interactions between NSMs and the Far Left.
The six cases are in no particular order of importance:
a) West Germany: the anti-nuclear power plant movement and the Kommunistischer Bund – Nord;
b) Great Britain: Rock Against Racism, the Anti-Nazi League and the Socialist Workers Party;
c)France: Larzac and the Gauche Ouvrière et Paysanne / Révolution! / Organisation Communiste des Travailleurs; d) Italy: Second Wave Feminism and Lotta Continua;
e) Spain: Neighborhood Associations and the
erstwhile Left Catholic cum proto-Maoist Organización Revolucionario de los Trabajadores as
well as, in Catalonia, Bandera Roja;
f) Portugal: Neighborhood Associations and the umbrella organization of the Far Left, the Frente de Unidade Revolucionário.
- Project: 2022-2023
- Keywords: social movements, radical left, western europe
- Contact : Gerd-Rainer Horn
