''New Politics'' is an independent

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

journal founded in 1961 and still published in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

today. While it is inclusive of articles from a variety of left-of-center positions, the publication is historically associated with a "Neither Washington Nor Moscow!"

Third Camp The third camp, also known as third camp socialism or third camp Trotskyism, is a branch of socialism that aims to oppose both capitalism and Stalinism by supporting the organised working class as a "third camp". The term arose early during ...

, democratic

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

perspective, placing it typically to the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album '' Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * ...

of the

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

views in the journal ''

Dissent Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...

.''

Overview

Julius The gens Julia (''gēns Iūlia'', ) was one of the most prominent patrician families in ancient Rome. Members of the gens attained the highest dignities of the state in the earliest times of the Republic. The first of the family to obtain the ...

and

Phyllis Jacobson Phyllis Jacobson (1922 – March 2, 2010) was an American socialist. Together with her lifetime political and personal partner Julius Jacobson, she co-edited the independent left journal '' New Politics'' from the 1960s until the end of the 20th ...

were the founders and longtime co-editors of the journal, which had a political center of gravity reflective of their youthful formative experience in the

Independent Socialist League The Workers Party (WP) was a Third Camp Trotskyist group in the United States. It was founded in April 1940 by members of the Socialist Workers Party who opposed the Soviet invasion of Finland and Leon Trotsky's belief that the USSR under ...

of the 1940s and 1950s. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

, ''New Politics'' espoused the idea that

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...

is indissoluble from

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

and

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...

and argued strongly against

totalitarian Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...

Communist state A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comint ...

s and authoritarian visions of

as corruptions of and departures from the socialist ideal. The journal is perhaps best known for having published the seminal article by

Hal Draper Hal Draper (born Harold Dubinsky; September 19, 1914 – January 26, 1990) was an American socialist activist and author who played a significant role in the Berkeley, California, Free Speech Movement. He is known for his extensive scholarship on t ...

, "

The Two Souls of Socialism ''The Two Souls of Socialism'' is a socialist pamphlet by the Marxist writer Hal Draper, in which the author posits a fundamental division in socialist thought and action between those who favor "Socialism from Above" and those who favor "Sociali ...

," in 1966. It was also the first English-language publication to publish articles by the dissident Polish socialists

Jacek Kuroń Jacek Jan Kuroń (; 3 March 1934 – 17 June 2004) was one of the democratic leaders of opposition in the People's Republic of Poland. He was widely known as the "godfather of the Polish opposition," not unlike Václav Havel in Czechoslovakia. K ...

and Karol Modzelewski. The first series of ''New Politics'' ran from 1961 through 1976, after which it ceased publication for a decade. The journal was restarted in 1986 and has been in print ever since, publishing two issues per year. The current co-editors are Saulo Colón, Dan La Botz, Nancy Holmstrom, Jason Schulman, and Julia Wrigley, and its editorial board members are Barry Finger, Thomas Harrison, Michael Hirsch, Micah Landau, Scott McLemee, Stephen R. Shalom,

Bhaskar Sunkara Bhaskar Sunkara (born June 1989) is an American political writer. He is the founding editor of ''Jacobin,'' the president of ''The Nation,'' and publisher of ''Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy'' and London's '' Tribune''. He is a former ...

, Lois Weiner, and Reginald Wilson. For many years Joanne Landy was a member of the editorial board until her death in 2017. Contributors have included Michael Albert,

Bettina Aptheker Bettina Fay Aptheker (born September 13, 1944) is an American political activist, radical feminist, professor and author. Aptheker was active in civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and has since worked in developing femini ...

Stanley Aronowitz Stanley Aronowitz (January 6, 1933 – August 16, 2021) was a professor of sociology, cultural studies, and urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He was also a veteran political activist and cultural critic, an advocate for organized labo ...

, Elaine Bernard,

Janet Biehl Janet Biehl (born September 4, 1953) is an American author, copyeditor, and artist. She authored several books and articles associated with social ecology, the body of ideas developed and publicized by Murray Bookchin. Formerly an advocate of his ...

, Ian Birchall,

Murray Bookchin Murray Bookchin (January 14, 1921 – July 30, 2006) was an American social theorist, author, orator, historian, and political philosopher. A pioneer in the environmental movement, Bookchin formulated and developed the theory of social ...

, Johanna Brenner, Stephen Eric Bronner, Paul Buhle, Eric Chester, Tony Cliff,

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

Bogdan Denitch Bogdan Denitch (born Bogdan Denis Denić, sr-Cyrl, Богдан Денис Денић; August 9, 1929 – March 28, 2016) was an American sociologist of Serb origin. He was a leading authority on the political sociology of the former Yugoslavia, ...

Martin Duberman Martin Bauml Duberman (born August 6, 1930) is an American historian, biographer, playwright, and gay rights activist. Duberman is Professor of History Emeritus at Herbert Lehman College in the Bronx, New York City. Early life Duberman was born ...

, Martin Glaberman,

Robin Hahnel Robin Eric Hahnel (born March 25, 1946) is an American economist and professor emeritus of economics at American University. He was a professor at American University for many years and traveled extensively advising on economic matters all over ...

, Herbert Hill,

Doug Ireland William Douglas Ireland (March 31, 1946 – October 26, 2013) was an American journalist and blogger who wrote about politics, power, media, and LGBT issues. He was the U.S. correspondent for the French political-investigative weekly Bakch ...

Staughton Lynd Staughton Craig Lynd (November 22, 1929 – November 17, 2022) was an American political activist, author, and lawyer.Staughton Lynd, ''Living Inside Our Hope: A Steadfast Radical's Thoughts on Rebuilding the Movement,'' Cornell University Pres ...

, Sidney Lens,

Nelson Lichtenstein Nelson Lichtenstein (born November 15, 1944) is a professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor and Democracy. He is labor historian who has written also about 20t ...

Michael Löwy Michael Löwy (born 6 May 1938) is a French-Brazilian Marxist sociologist and philosopher. He is emeritus research director in social sciences at the CNRS (French National Center of Scientific Research) and lectures at the ''École des hautes ...

, Manning Marable,

Sean Matgamna Sean Matgamna is an Irish Trotskyist active in Britain. A founder of Workers' Fight in 1966, he is still a prominent member of the group, now called the Alliance for Workers' Liberty. Early life Matgamna was born in 1941 in Ennis, County Clar ...

, Paul Mattick,

Kim Moody Kim Moody (born 1940) is an American socialist activist and writer on labor who advocates social movement unionism, a revitalized labor movement of mobilized and militant rank-and-file workers, rather than business unionism, structured from the to ...

, Christopher Phelps,

Adolph Reed Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...

, David Roediger,

Saskia Sassen Saskia Sassen (born January 5, 1947) is a Dutch-American sociologist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration. She is Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University in New York City, and Centen ...

Jane Slaughter Jane Slaughter (born January 9, 1949) is an American journalist who writes frequently on labor affairs. Her writing has appeared in ''The Nation'', ''The Progressive'', ''Monthly Review'', and ''In These Times''. She is based in Detroit. Back ...

Immanuel Wallerstein Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein (; September 28, 1930 – August 31, 2019) was an American sociologist and economic historian. He is perhaps best known for his development of the general approach in sociology which led to the emergence of his wo ...

Stan Weir Stanley Brian Weir (born March 17, 1952) is a Canadian former ice hockey centre. He played on five different teams for the National Hockey League, and one season in the World Hockey Association, over an 11-year career that lasted from 1972 to ...

Cornel West Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society an ...

B. J. Widick B. J. Widick (born Branko J. Widick in Okučani, present-day Croatia, October 25, 1910; died Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 28, 2008) was an American labor activist in the United Auto Workers union and socialist movements. Background An immigrant to ...

, Ashley Dawson,

Ellen Willis Ellen Jane Willis (December 14, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was an American left-wing political essayist, journalist, activist, feminist, and pop music critic. A 2014 collection of her essays, ''The Essential Ellen Willis,'' received the National ...

Kevin B. Anderson Kevin B. Anderson (born 1948) is an American sociologist, Marxist humanist, author, and professor. Anderson is Professor of Sociology, Political Science and Feminist studies at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He was previousl ...

Dan Georgakas Dan Georgakas ( el, Νταν Γεωργακάς; 1938–2021) was an American anarchist poet and historian, who specialized in oral history and the American labor movement, best known for the publication ''Detroit: I do mind dying: A study in u ...

Patrick Bond Patrick Bond (born 1961, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is Distinguished Professor at the University of Johannesburg Department of Sociology. From 2020-21 he was professor at the University of the Western Cape School of Government and from 2015-19, d ...

, Sharon Smith, Christian Parenti, David Bacon,

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor __NOTOC__ Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is an American academic, writer, and activist. She is a professor of African American Studies at Northwestern University. She is the author of ''From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation'' (2016). For this book, ...

Gilbert Achcar Gilbert Achcar ( ar, جلبير الأشقر; 5 November 1951) is a Lebanese socialist academic and writer. He is a Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University ...

and

Howard Zinn Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922January 27, 2010) was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist thinker and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a politica ...

References

* Worcester, Kent. "''New Politics''," in ''The Encyclopedia of the American Left,'' 2d ed., ed. Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, and

(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998): 555–556.

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Alternative magazines Political magazines published in the United States Biannual magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1961 Magazines published in New York City Socialist magazines