Session Abstract

Globally the 1960s stand out as a decade of radical social transformation and Latin America was no exception. As the decade unfolded, a new generation of leftist activists grappled with the dilemma of how to enact deep social change in societies bounded by colonial legacies of entrenched inequality. The 1960s saw the emergence of multiple “New” and “Revolutionary” Left groups across the continent, whose engagement with new ideas and methods challenged both the existing social order and traditional Leftist political parties. Considerable discussion has unfolded among historians as of late regarding the New Left in the U.S. and Latin American contexts. For Latin America, inquiry has focused on such matters as the very definition of “New Left,” the formative experience that was the 1959 Cuban Revolution, and avenues for comparative study.

This panel brings fresh perspectives to debates about Old and New Lefts in 1960s Latin America by foregrounding the lived experience of young activists across different national geographies. Collectively the papers shade the boundaries between New Left political and cultural expression and situate the 1960s in a broader transnational framework, tracing commonalities in experiences across South, Central, and North America. In the context of Peru, Tamara Feinstein explores how Old and New Lefts clashed and fractured during the 1960s and 1970s over the role of armed struggle and the use of violence, and the lasting impact of these ideological debates for the Peruvian democratic Left.  Shifting south to Chile, Marian Schlotterbeck and Patrick Barr-Melej examine emergent New Lefts in the Allende era, underscoring the challenge these youth-driven groups posed to both the status quo and the traditional Left. Schlotterbeck analyzes individual narratives of militancy in the Chilean MIR to contextualize the widespread appeal for collective radical change. Barr-Melej shifts attention to New Left countercultural movements, who promoted personal over collective transformation and often succeeded in mobilizing youth as youth in ways that challenged the class-based strategies of the Marxist Left, including the MIR. Finally, through a comparative study of 1960s student movements in Nicaragua, Mexico, and the United States, Francisco Barbosa underscores the limitations for integrating different class identities and ideologies. Instead he suggests that global counterculture provided a critical space for unity across class within youth movements that often failed to attract significant working-class support to their ideologically driven models for social change.

Our chair, Peter Winn, a specialist in Chilean history, has written extensively on the Allende period and Chile’s experience with socialist change. Our commentator, Jeffrey Gould has worked on themes of revolution, memory and violence in Central America, making him an ideal discussant for Barbosa and Feinstein. Gould has also published on 1968, most recently in the American Historical Review special issue (2009).