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[](https://philosophyportal.substack.com/) # [Philosophy Portal](https://philosophyportal.substack.com/) Subscribe Sign in # The Great Recession, and its impact on the political consciousness of the Millennial Left ### Or: How the Millennial Left got lost in a misrecognised fantasy of the 1960s New Left [](https://substack.com/@philosophyportal) [Cadell Last](https://substack.com/@philosophyportal) Feb 25, 2026 5 1 1 Share [](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v6cv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73b0b5db-53ed-4369-bcb4-16d9cb8f3875_962x884.heic) This year at Philosophy Portal we are unfolding a new course, *Marxist Politics for Undead Millennials*, led by “The Last Marxist”, Chris Cutrone. Throughout the course we will be thinking American Revolution, Trump, Lenin, Critical Theory, The Party, and much more. To find out more or to get involved, visit the link below: [Marxist Politics for Undead Millennials](https://philosophyportal.online/marxist-politics-for-undead-millennials) *** What can be found below is an edited reflection offered by Marxist theorist Chris Cutrone informed by a question that will shape the upcoming class at Philosophy Portal *Marxist Politics for Undead Millennials*. ## How does Marxism frame the Great Recession of 2008 and general economic crises in capitalism? In terms of thematics, this theme of “Great Recession” is of course one of the formative experiences of the Millennial Left. This means that the Millennial Left had the Great Recession, the financial crisis of 2008, as a kind of formative experience of shaping their consciousness. Now, in that formative experience, there is some treacherous character to it. This treacherous character means that the 1930s, the Great Depression, was recalled, and compared and contrasted to the Great Recession. Therefore, the Millennial Left started to think the necessity of a reform on the level of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) New Deal, as well as Lyndon B. Johnson’s (LBJ) “Great Society-ism”. However, because it was neoliberalism that went into crisis during the Great Recession, the Millennial Left also saw this event as an opportunity to undo neoliberalism, to in a way go back to pre-neoliberalism, and to restore, albeit in an improved way, FDR’s “New Deal” and LBJ’s “Great Society”. Consequently, the Millennial Left sought to redo the major capitalist reforms of the 20th century, but better this time. This is equivalent in their thinking, to doing it in a “more woke way”, i.e. to do it in a more anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-phobic way, more egalitarian than ever before. I think there is a lot of confusion in this approach. To understand my confusion in relation to the Millennial Left, you have to remember that I am an older person, I am Gen X. I am not a Millennial. What that means is that I am familiar with these tropes or quips about how Marxists have predicted 10 out of the last 5 recessions, and 0 of the last 5 booms, 0 out of the last 5 recoveries. In other words, to be a Marxist means to be always predicting the next recession. I thought, well, that is a miserable position to be in\! However, it also raises all sorts of questions because the Left, as I understand it, is as much a legacy of the 1960s “New Left” as it was of the 1930s “Old Left”. There is a kind of mixture of heritage here. If the 1930s Old Left was a revolt against the poverty generated by capitalism, the 1960s New Left was the revolt against affluence. This means the 1960s New Left was not motivated by a downturn, it was not motivated by a recession, it was not motivated by an economic crisis (e.g. the Great Depression or the Great Recession). The 1960s New Left was motivated by a rebellion against full employment, high wages, and low working hours. In fact, the 1960s had historically high wages and low working hours, and historically low profits and low influence of Wall Street. We should never forget that the 1960s New Left was revolting against that situation, they were not just trying to make the New Deal dispensation more equal for minorities and women, plus some objections to the Cold War and imperialism. There is a lot more to the New Left moment than the Millennial Left’s misrecognition of it. The fact that it is a revolt against affluence, that it is a revolt against capitalism when capitalism seems to be succeeding, doing well inclusive of the New Deal and Great Society reforms. The 1960s New Left, in other words, is an attempt to point beyond capitalism, beyond the limits of capitalism, not when it fails, but when it is successful. This is very different from objecting to capitalism when it fails. How should we interpret a New Left that is saying: “capitalism is succeeding, but we can do better than this”? That is clearly very different than what the Millennial Left was saying: “oh, see, capitalism is failing.” The latter opens itself up to the limits of the Millennial Left’s political consciousness: “well, maybe we could just do capitalism better, as opposed to going beyond it”. This results in the Millennial Left’s (confused) belief that they could do the FDR “New Deal” or LBJ’s “Great Society”, but better this time. *** Key readings for class on February 28th: - Cutrone, C. 2023. Obama: three comparisons: MLK, JFK, FDR. In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 41-46. - Cutrone, C. 2023. Obama and Clinton. In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 47-52. - Cutrone, C. 2023. Finance capital. In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 53-56. - Cutrone, C. 2023. Symptology. In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 57-64. - Cutrone, C. 2023. Friedrich Hayek and the legacy of Milton Friedman. In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 65-72. - Cutrone, C. 2023. Whither Marxism? In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 73-78. - Cutrone C. 2023. A cry of protest before accommodation? In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 79-84. Key prompts/questions: - How did the Great Recession lead to a retroactive reconstruction of right-wing projects in the 20th century as left-wing? - How distorted was the Millennial Left’s understanding of the motivations and context of the 1960s New Left? - What is “woke politics”, its relationship to the Great Recession, or the way it interfaces with general political ideation in 21st century Left politics? - How should we interpret reactions against capitalism when capitalism itself is succeeding? (i.e. full employment, high wages, low working hours) - Did the Millennial Left’s political ambitions always actually remain within the coordinates of “doing capitalism better”? *** To learn more about the course *Marxist Politics for Undead Millennials*, or to sign up: [Marxist Politics for Undead Millennials](https://philosophyportal.online/marxist-politics-for-undead-millennials) *** Enter The Portal. 5 1 1 Share #### Discussion about this post Comments Restacks [](https://substack.com/profile/284503401-pigeonreligion?utm_source=comment) [PigeonReligion](https://substack.com/profile/284503401-pigeonreligion?utm_source=substack-feed-item) [1d](https://philosophyportal.substack.com/p/the-great-recession-and-its-impact/comment/219906413 "Feb 26, 2026, 6:34 AM") Liked by Cadell Last The millennial great repression of the Great Recession\! [Reply]() [Share]() Top Latest Discussions No posts ### Ready for more? © 2026 Cadell Last · [Privacy](https://substack.com/privacy) ∙ [Terms](https://substack.com/tos) ∙ [Collection notice](https://substack.com/ccpa#personal-data-collected) [Start your Substack](https://substack.com/signup?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_content=footer) [Get the app](https://substack.com/app/app-store-redirect?utm_campaign=app-marketing&utm_content=web-footer-button) [Substack](https://substack.com/) is the home for great culture This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please [turn on JavaScript](https://enable-javascript.com/) or unblock scripts

[](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v6cv!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F73b0b5db-53ed-4369-bcb4-16d9cb8f3875_962x884.heic) This year at Philosophy Portal we are unfolding a new course, *Marxist Politics for Undead Millennials*, led by “The Last Marxist”, Chris Cutrone. Throughout the course we will be thinking American Revolution, Trump, Lenin, Critical Theory, The Party, and much more. To find out more or to get involved, visit the link below: [Marxist Politics for Undead Millennials](https://philosophyportal.online/marxist-politics-for-undead-millennials) What can be found below is an edited reflection offered by Marxist theorist Chris Cutrone informed by a question that will shape the upcoming class at Philosophy Portal *Marxist Politics for Undead Millennials*. In terms of thematics, this theme of “Great Recession” is of course one of the formative experiences of the Millennial Left. This means that the Millennial Left had the Great Recession, the financial crisis of 2008, as a kind of formative experience of shaping their consciousness. Now, in that formative experience, there is some treacherous character to it. This treacherous character means that the 1930s, the Great Depression, was recalled, and compared and contrasted to the Great Recession. Therefore, the Millennial Left started to think the necessity of a reform on the level of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) New Deal, as well as Lyndon B. Johnson’s (LBJ) “Great Society-ism”. However, because it was neoliberalism that went into crisis during the Great Recession, the Millennial Left also saw this event as an opportunity to undo neoliberalism, to in a way go back to pre-neoliberalism, and to restore, albeit in an improved way, FDR’s “New Deal” and LBJ’s “Great Society”. Consequently, the Millennial Left sought to redo the major capitalist reforms of the 20th century, but better this time. This is equivalent in their thinking, to doing it in a “more woke way”, i.e. to do it in a more anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-phobic way, more egalitarian than ever before. I think there is a lot of confusion in this approach. To understand my confusion in relation to the Millennial Left, you have to remember that I am an older person, I am Gen X. I am not a Millennial. What that means is that I am familiar with these tropes or quips about how Marxists have predicted 10 out of the last 5 recessions, and 0 of the last 5 booms, 0 out of the last 5 recoveries. In other words, to be a Marxist means to be always predicting the next recession. I thought, well, that is a miserable position to be in\! However, it also raises all sorts of questions because the Left, as I understand it, is as much a legacy of the 1960s “New Left” as it was of the 1930s “Old Left”. There is a kind of mixture of heritage here. If the 1930s Old Left was a revolt against the poverty generated by capitalism, the 1960s New Left was the revolt against affluence. This means the 1960s New Left was not motivated by a downturn, it was not motivated by a recession, it was not motivated by an economic crisis (e.g. the Great Depression or the Great Recession). The 1960s New Left was motivated by a rebellion against full employment, high wages, and low working hours. In fact, the 1960s had historically high wages and low working hours, and historically low profits and low influence of Wall Street. We should never forget that the 1960s New Left was revolting against that situation, they were not just trying to make the New Deal dispensation more equal for minorities and women, plus some objections to the Cold War and imperialism. There is a lot more to the New Left moment than the Millennial Left’s misrecognition of it. The fact that it is a revolt against affluence, that it is a revolt against capitalism when capitalism seems to be succeeding, doing well inclusive of the New Deal and Great Society reforms. The 1960s New Left, in other words, is an attempt to point beyond capitalism, beyond the limits of capitalism, not when it fails, but when it is successful. This is very different from objecting to capitalism when it fails. How should we interpret a New Left that is saying: “capitalism is succeeding, but we can do better than this”? That is clearly very different than what the Millennial Left was saying: “oh, see, capitalism is failing.” The latter opens itself up to the limits of the Millennial Left’s political consciousness: “well, maybe we could just do capitalism better, as opposed to going beyond it”. This results in the Millennial Left’s (confused) belief that they could do the FDR “New Deal” or LBJ’s “Great Society”, but better this time. Key readings for class on February 28th: - Cutrone, C. 2023. Obama: three comparisons: MLK, JFK, FDR. In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 41-46. - Cutrone, C. 2023. Obama and Clinton. In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 47-52. - Cutrone, C. 2023. Finance capital. In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 53-56. - Cutrone, C. 2023. Symptology. In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 57-64. - Cutrone, C. 2023. Friedrich Hayek and the legacy of Milton Friedman. In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 65-72. - Cutrone, C. 2023. Whither Marxism? In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 73-78. - Cutrone C. 2023. A cry of protest before accommodation? In: *The Death of the Millennial Left*. Sublation Press. p. 79-84. Key prompts/questions: - How did the Great Recession lead to a retroactive reconstruction of right-wing projects in the 20th century as left-wing? - How distorted was the Millennial Left’s understanding of the motivations and context of the 1960s New Left? - What is “woke politics”, its relationship to the Great Recession, or the way it interfaces with general political ideation in 21st century Left politics? - How should we interpret reactions against capitalism when capitalism itself is succeeding? (i.e. full employment, high wages, low working hours) - Did the Millennial Left’s political ambitions always actually remain within the coordinates of “doing capitalism better”? To learn more about the course *Marxist Politics for Undead Millennials*, or to sign up: [Marxist Politics for Undead Millennials](https://philosophyportal.online/marxist-politics-for-undead-millennials) No posts