Beyond the Campus: Why the American New Left Failed to Ignite a Working-Class Revolution

2025-12-30

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Episode Summary:In this episode of Explaining History, Nick continues his exploration of 1960s radicalism, focusing on the disconnect between the student-led "New Left" and the American working class.While the counterculture is often remembered through images of campus protests and the SDS, the reality was far more complex. Drawing on Kim McQuaid’s The Anxious Years and Mike Davis’s Set the Night on Fire, we examine why the anti-war movement struggled to build bridges with blue-collar workers who were enjoying unprecedented pro...

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Explaining History, Nick continues his exploration of 1960s radicalism, focusing on the disconnect between the student-led "New Left" and the American working class.

While the counterculture is often remembered through images of campus protests and the SDS, the reality was far more complex. Drawing on Kim McQuaid’s The Anxious Years and Mike Davis’s Set the Night on Fire, we examine why the anti-war movement struggled to build bridges with blue-collar workers who were enjoying unprecedented prosperity.

From the "hard hat riots" to the collapse of the Old Left after Khrushchev's secret speech, we delve into the ideological vacuum that student radicals tried—and largely failed—to fill. Why did the New Left view unions as "traitors to their class"? And how did the affluent origins of the student movement alienate the very people they hoped to liberate?

Plus: Important announcements about our upcoming live masterclasses for history students in early 2026!

Key Topics:

The Ivory Tower: Why the New Left remained isolated on university campuses.
The Hard Hat Riots: The clash between student radicals and pro-Nixon construction workers.
The Collapse of the Old Left: How 1956 and 1968 destroyed faith in Soviet communism.
Affluence vs. Revolution: Why prosperity dampened the revolutionary zeal of the American working class.

Books Mentioned:

The Anxious Years by Kim McQuaid
Set the Night on Fire by Mike Davis and Jon Wiener
One-Dimensional Man by Herbert Marcuse

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