This chapter reviews the Frankfurt School’s critique of the new “mass” leisure of the inter-war period. Conservative critics saw mass leisure as a threat to civilisation. In contrast, Cecil Delisle Burns, a British philosopher of civilisation, saw the “new leisure” of the radio and the cinema as external expressions of contemporary modernity, bringing men and women together in new ways and thus advancing democratisation. Where the conservative critique of the new leisure saw cultural decline and a lowering of standards, Burns’ critique pointed towards a new shared culture and well-being. Also discussed is the politicisation of leisure in National-Socialist Germany and Fascist Italy, where leisure was harnessed to the objectives of the totalitarian state. The third aspect of leisure discussed in this chapter concerns women, whose time and opportunity for leisure greatly increased in the inter-war period. Through Women’s Institutes, women created and managed their own leisure and helped introduce democratic progresses in the social life of rural villages.