Universities and Left Review was founded in 1957 by Oxford students Raphael Samuel, Gabriel Pearson, Charles Taylor, and Stuart Hall.

[1][2] The initial impetus behind the magazine came from the events of 1956, particularly the Suez crisis, the Soviet invasion of Hungary and Khrushchev's revelations about the Stalin's purges, that triggered shockwaves throughout the British left.

"[3] The magazine's first issue was produced in spring of 1957, and contained essays by three of the founding editors, Pearson, Hall and Taylor, as well as contributions from the artist Peter de Francia, Lindsay Anderson the noted British New Wave filmmaker, the economist Joan Robinson, historians E.P.

Later issues would include essays by Samuel, Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart, Isaac Deutscher, John Strachey, Peter Sedgwick, Ralph Miliband, Karel Reisz, Margot Jefferys, John Berger and others, and feature design by future design director of Penguin Books, Germano Facetti.

ULR would, however, be marked from its predecessors by its openness to debate, as well the influence of the burgeoning youth culture of late 1950s Britain.