A negative electrode for a lithium secondary battery, in which α-Fe2O3 that is low in cost, has little environmental impact and has high theoretical capacity is used as an active material, maintains high adhesiveness between a current collector and an electrode layer, and can simultaneously achieve both of an improvement in the cycle characteristics and high capacity. In a negative electrode for a lithium secondary battery, which is configured of a current collector, and an electrode layer that is formed on the current collector and contains at least a negative electrode active material, a conductive assistant and a binder component, the negative electrode active material is composed of α-Fe2O3 particles that generate a conversion electrode reaction, the binder component is a mixture of polyamide acid and partially imidized polyamide acid. The electrode layer is configured so that a concentration of the binder component decreases as distanced from the current collector.