ABSTRACT
Liberalism in the latter part of the twentieth century was
broadly seen to be progressive, on the right side of history.
Liberals opposed the cold war and imperialism, were against
racism, reviled oppression, and saw themselves as marking
progress beyond a stodgy, heartless, out-of-date conservatism;
they supported social welfare for the poor, feminism and civil
rights, self-rule for colonial peoples, environmental politics,
even-within limits-unions. They supported individual liber-
ties and social equality, opposed corporate capital when it over-
stepped its bounds, and generally believed in government regula-
tions against the predations of a capitalist market when it threat-
ened to run amuck. Above all else, liberalism was pitted against a
conservatism that seemed to defend the rights of established
class, race, and gender power. Liberalism opposed both a feudal-
ism that preceded it and a fascism and communism that arose at
different moments on the same watch.
