[Billthedrill]

HERE's a 1964 reference to the term in a bit of cant from Marxist theoretician Mario Tronti:

Both have their material base in the process (still slowly developing) by which the class and the historical organisations of the class — the “working class” and the “labour movement” — first become divided, and then come to counterpose each other. What does this mean concretely, and where will it lead us? The first thing to say is that the goal, the aim of this approach is the solid recomposition of a politically correct relationship between the two moments.

Certain Socialists agree. John Molyneux gives this reference to Paul Berman in the International Socialism Journal article referenced HERE -

'Politically Correct' was originally a phrase on the Leninist left to denote someone who steadfastly toed the party line. Then it evolved into 'PC', an ironic phrase among wised up leftists to denote someone whose line-toeing fervour was too much to bear. Only in connection with the PC debate itself did the phrase get picked up by people who had no fidelity to radicalism at all, but who relished the nasty syllables for their twist of irony.

By 1988 the term was so old it was already being used in irony as it is today by its foes. Its proponents apparently have only lately caught onto the sting of the thing and have therefore banned it. Pathetic.

[Question_Assumptions]

Thanks for the reference. As the old Usenet posts show, it was already and old worn term by the early 1980s and I used to have a reference going back to the 1960s, so I did know it went back pretty far. Part of what converted it to a term of derision was the overuse by leftist academics and part comes from the neo-cons, many of whom were leftists in their youths. At least that's the way I heard it.