| Summary: | This paper is based on close lexical and semantic analysis of a collection of newspaper texts stored in the Marxists’ Internet Archive which, in effect, constitute an opportunity sample of Leftist language. The texts run to approximately ten million words. The purpose of the paper is to identify key linguistic features that appear to be typical of Leftist discourse during the period (1977–1983) when the paper (Socialist Challenge) was sold on the streets of Britain. There is a particular focus on lexical choices made by the text producers, and it is argued that a significant number of these involve the selection of what might be termed inflammatory or provocative words and phrases over those of a similar meaning but more neutral connotations. The discourse that emerges from the analysis is shown to involve portraying society as divided into two distinct and irreconcilable groups (workers and capitalists), and it is demonstrated that the use of words in the semantic fields of “war”, “flighting” and “struggle” underpins and sustains this discourse. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the relationship between language, discourse and ideology, as well as with several suggestions for future research.
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