ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the point of contact between these two levels: that is, the Left as a historical movement of visions and ideas on the one hand and the Left as an everyday performance on the other by focusing on the experience of being a leftist in Cyprus during the period around the Sixties. It examines three different sources: first, imagery from local leftist clubs, which, as is shown in detail, was key to the formation of left-wing identities in Cyprus; second, the poetry of Pavlos Liasides, a well-known left-wing poet considered here to be a significant case study of a left-wing intellectual who combined a staunch localism with a modernist outlook; third, the everyday experience of being leftist, drawn from the analysis of a biography of a local, independent leftist. The chapter argues that all three cases represent forms in which leftism was manifested and experienced in everyday life, foregrounding the different ideological elements that partook in its formation.
