The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal covering world politics, economy, and culture, which was established in 1960.

History

Background

As part of the British " New Left" a number of new journals emerged to carry commentary on matters of Marxist theory. One of these was ''The Reasoner,'' a magazine established by historians E. P. Thompson and

John Saville John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

in July 1956. A total of three quarterly issues was produced. This publication was expanded and further developed from 1957 to 1959 as ''

The New Reasoner ''The New Reasoner'' was a British journal of dissident Communism published from 1957 to 1959 by John Saville and E.P. Thompson. The publication is best remembered as an antecedent of the long running journal ''New Left Review.'' ''The Reasone ...

,'' with an additional ten issues being produced. Another radical journal of the period was ''Universities and Left Review'', a publication established in 1957 with less of a sense of allegiance to the British communist tradition. This publication was more youth-oriented and pacifist in orientation, expressing opposition to the militaristic rhetoric of the Cold War, voicing strong opposition to the 1956

Suez War The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

, and support for the emerging

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuc ...

Establishment

''New Left Review'' was established in January 1960 when ''The New Reasoner'' and ''Universities and Left Review'' merged their boards. The first

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the merged publication was Stuart Hall. The early publication's style, featuring illustrations on the cover and in the interior layout, was more irreverent and free-flowing than later issues of the publication, which tended to be of a more somber, academic bent. Hall was succeeded as editor in 1962 by

Perry Anderson Francis Rory Peregrine "Perry" Anderson (born 11 September 1938) is a British intellectual, historian and essayist. His work ranges across historical sociology, intellectual history, and cultural analysis. What unites Anderson's work is a preoc ...

. In 1993, nineteen of the members of the editorial committee resigned, citing a loss of control over content by the Editorial Board/Committee in favour of a Shareholders' Trust, which they argued was undemocratic. The Trust cited financial sustainability of the journal as an issue. It comprised

, his brother

Benedict Anderson Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson (August 26, 1936 – December 13, 2015) was an Anglo-Irish political scientist and historian who lived and taught in the United States. Anderson is best known for his 1983 book '' Imagined Communities'', which e ...

, and Ronald Fraser. The Journal was again relaunched in 2000, and Perry Anderson returned as editor until 2003.

Since 2008

''New Left Review'' has followed the economic crisis as well as its global political repercussions. An essay by

Wolfgang Streeck Wolfgang Streeck (; born 27 October 1946) is a German economic sociologist and emeritus director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne. Early life Streeck was born "just outside Münster", the son of refugees – e ...

(issue 71) was called "the most powerful description of what has gone wrong in western societies" by the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

''s contributor Christopher Caldwell. Its contributors include

Vivek Chibber Vivek Aslam Chibber (born 1965) is an American academic, social theorist, editor, and professor of sociology at New York University, who has published widely on development, social theory, and politics. Chibber is the author of three books, ''Th ...

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...

Robin Blackburn Robin Blackburn (born 1940) is a British historian, a former editor of '' New Left Review'' (1981–1999), and emeritus professor in the department of sociology at Essex University. Background Blackburn was educated at Hurstpierpoint College, ...

and others.

Abstracting and indexing

In 2003, the magazine ranked 12th by

impact factor The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor (JIF) of an academic journal is a scientometric index calculated by Clarivate that reflects the yearly mean number of citations of articles published in the last two years in a given journal, as ...

on a list of the top 20 political science journals in the world. By 2018, however, the ''

Journal Citation Reports ''Journal Citation Reports'' (''JCR'') is an annual publicationby Clarivate Analytics (previously the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters). It has been integrated with the Web of Science and is accessed from the Web of Science-Core Collec ...

'' ranked ''New Left Review''s impact factor at 1.967, ranking it 51st out of 176 journals in the category "Political Science". In 2021 the alternative index,

Scopus Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top-l ...

, placed the journal as 99/556 Political Science and International Relations journals with a citation score of 2.4.

References

External links

*
''The New Reasoner'' Archive of Contents
Amiel Melburn Trust Internet Archive

Amiel Melburn Trust Internet Archive
Text of the March 1993 resignation of the majority of the editorial committee.
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Left Review Bi-monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines published in London 1960 establishments in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1960 Political magazines published in the United Kingdom Socialist magazines New Left