ABSTRACT
The year 1968 may be taken as marking the major watershed in the development of the New Left (NL). By the later 1960s, the movement had become a spectre haunting Europe as well as America and Britain. During that year the NL became recognized in official circles as undeniably a serious movement; as it reached the zenith of its mass support, it moved to near-revolutionary militancy in the spring and summer. To understand the great divide in the movement, it is necessary to consider several occurrences outside America and Britain, which had a fundamental impact and implication for the Western NL as a whole. The impact on the Western NL of the Czech developments in August can be compared significantly with the previous decisive impact of Tet and Paris. Few events in the development of the NL were infused with greater ambiguity than those which took place inside and outside the Hilton Hotel in Chicago in August 1968.
