Difference between revisions of "Leftist"

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In politics, '''left-wing''', '''the political left''', or '''the Left''' are positions that seek to reform or abolish the existing social order in favor of a more equal distribution of wealth and privilege. In general, the left advocates a society where all people have an equal opportunity, which they often describe as a "level playing field".  Because of this, the left tends to support labor unions, worker cooperatives and sometimes Commune (intentional community)|communes. Its emphasis on social change puts it in alliance with Civil rights movement|civil rights, feminist and green politics|green movements.
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|<hr/>In the 1920s, the Oregon legislature passed a [[KKK]]-supported measure which prohibited [[public school]] teachers from wearing religious clothing;<ref>February 7, 2010. [https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/18589/coalition-seeks-repeal-of-klan-era-ban-on-religious-garb-in-oregon-schools Coalition seeks repeal of Klan-era ban on religious garb in Oregon schools]. ''Catholic News Agency''. Retrieved September 25, 2021.</ref> the [[ACLU]] opposed repealing the law in the 2010s.<ref>Brell, Alexandria (March 8, 2010). [https://sundial.csun.edu/22460/opinions/oregon-repeals-religious-clothing-ban-amen-to-that/ Oregon repeals religious clothing ban, amen to that.]. ''Daily Sundial''. Retrieved September 25, 2021.</ref>
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'''Leftist''' refers to someone on the Left side of the [[political spectrum]], such as a particularly [[liberal]] member of the [[American]] [[Democrat Party]], a member of the [[British]] [[Labour Party]], a member of the Canadian [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] or [[New Democratic]] parties, a [[progressive]], [[socialist]], [[Democratic Socialist]], or (to the far Left) a [[Communist]]. A Leftist supports collectivism, more government control of the economy, direct government control over social policy (although there were some leftists, such as [[Jean-Paul Sartre]], [[Michel Foucault]], and [[Noam Chomsky]] who adhered to a purely [[anarchism|anarchistic]] view of the world), including federal control over education at all levels, lower [[military]] spending, censorship of religion, a [[Living Constitution|living constitution]], [[same-sex "marriage"]], a more unisex society, [[globalism]], [[transnationalism]], [[feminism]], the [[homosexual agenda]], [[anti-Semitism]], [[racism]], support for [[Islam]], genital mutilation of children,<ref>https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/02/25/rand-paul-is-right-transgender-interventions-dor-kids-can-include-genital-mutilation/</ref> taxpayer-funded [[abortion]], and sometimes even taxpayer-funded [[terrorism]]<ref>https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/your-taxes-are-funding-terrorists-demand-that-this-stops</ref> and [[censorship]] of [[Christianity]] and [[social media]] in the public arena. Some leftists even want a totalitarian one-party world government.{{citation needed}}
  
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According to Barry Clark,<ref name="Clark">Clark, B. (1998). ''Political economy: A comparative approach''. Westport, CT: Praeger Press.</ref> 
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==Origins of leftist ideology==
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===French Revolution===
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cquote|Leftists... claim that human development flourishes when individuals engage in cooperative, mutually respectful relations that can thrive only when excessive differences in status, power, and wealth are eliminated. According to leftists, a society without substantial equality will distort the development of not only deprived persons, but also those whose priveleges undermine their motivation and sense of social responsibility. This suppression of human development, together with the resentment and conflict engendered by sharp class distinctions, will ultimately reduce the efficiency of the economy. 
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[[Image:Prise de la Bastille.jpg|thumb|200px|Capture of the [[Bastille Day|Bastille]] ]]
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{{see also|Secular left|History of Atheism|French Revolution}}
  
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Ideologies considered part of the left include Progressivism, Social liberalism, Social democracy, Left-libertarianism, Socialism, Syndicalism, Marxism, Communism, Autonomism, and most forms of Anarchism.
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During the French [[Reign of Terror]] of the early [[Enlightenment]], the Left attempted a de-Christianization movement to replace the "reactionary" worship of God and replace it with the worship of national patriotism, or the ''Patrie''.  Many churches were closed and either converted into Temples of Reason,<ref>John Hall Stewart, ''A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution'' (Macmillan, New York, 1963).</ref> or otherwise demolished outright under the order of Jacobin leader [[Maximilien de Robespierre]] under the pretense that their design was "undemocratic."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050309031846/https://culturewars.com/CultureWars/Archives/Fidelity_archives/parricide.html Operation Parricide: Sade, Robespierre & the French Revolution]</ref> The Left even formed a new calendar [[Liberal censorship|secularizing Christian holidays]]. This calendar was short-lived though and was never accepted in the rural, more religious parts of France.  
  
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In countries such as the United States and United Kingdom where mainstream parties accept capitalism, the left generally pursues openly free-market capitalism|capitalist policies, and varying levels of state spending.
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The term Left has its origins in 1790s, when in the French revolutionary parliament the representatives for the socialists sat to the presiding officer's left.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/left Left Ideology], Encyclopedia Britannica</ref> In addition, it was also stated that the left-wing had some origins in the [[Book of Revelation]] when [[Jesus Christ]] transfigured people on his right and left as sheep and goats, respectively.<ref>https://www.theculturewatch.com/the-french-revolution</ref><ref>James Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men: Origin of the Revolutionary Faith.</ref>
  
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==Definition==
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==19th century European leftists ==
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From the 18th to 20th Centuries the "Old Left" argued that differences in social class determined the nature of a society.
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===Marx===
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[[File:KarlMarx.jpg|left|thumb|[[Karl Marx]]]]
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[[Karl Marx]] (May 5, 1818<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/letters/misc/1818-bc.htm Birth Certificate of Karl Marx], Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, ''Collected Works'', Vol. 1 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 635</ref> – March 14, 1883) was a [[bourgeois]]<ref>Francis Wheen, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3KOyuSakn80C Karl Marx: A Life]'' (W.W. Norton & Company, 2001) ISBN 0393321576, pp. 8, 278</ref> political pamphleteer,<ref>George Bernard Shaw, “Trotsky, Prince of Pamphleteers,” ''The Nation'' (ISSN 0027-8378) Vol. 1922 No. 30 (June 7, 1922), pp. 560-561, reprinted in Brian Tyson, ed., ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ui6sNgX5vfQC Bernard Shaw's Book Reviews: Volume Two,1884-1950]'' (University Park, PA.: Penn State Press, 1996) ISBN 0271015489, pp. 440-450. Cf. Terrell Carver, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=HgbPEM0A4ksC The Postmodern Marx]'' (University Park, PA.: Penn State Press, 1998), p. 160</ref> polemicist<ref>Chris Matthew Sciaberra, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=D7z2ACODvLkC Marx, Hayek and Utopia]'' (SUNY Press, 1995) ISBN 0791426165, p.6. Cf. Michael Grenfell and Cheryl Hardy, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ao6emzDlvIAC Art Rules: Pierre Bourdieu and the Visual Arts]'' (Berg Publishers, 2007) ISBN 1845202341, p.17</ref> and [[propagandist]],<ref>Baron John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ItJmAAAAMAAJ The Cambridge Modern History]'' (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1910), p. 758. Cf. Milorad M. Drachkovitch and Sidney Hook, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MJkLqIlu-q4C Marxist Ideology in the Contemporary World: Its Appeals and Paradoxes]'' (Ayer Publishing, 1973) ISBN 0836981545, p. 113</ref> credited as co-founder (with [[Friedrich Engels]]) of communism<ref>Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=am7G9xBmlXAC The Communist Manifesto and Other Writings]'' (Barnes & Noble, 2005) ISBN 1593081006, p. vi</ref> and specifically of Marxism. Although Marx always considered himself an economist,<ref>Charles H. Powers, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=cw8nRx08ix0C Making Sense of Social Theory: A Practical Introduction]'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010) ISBN 1442201193, p. 115</ref> "the Marxist system as a whole is not regarded as economics by the mainstream," according to Don Ross, co-editor of ''[http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/oso/public/content/oho_philosophy/9780195189254/toc.html The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Economics]''.<ref>Don Ross, "[http://uct.academia.edu/documents/0095/6341/Economics__anti-economics_and_ideology.pdf Economic theory, anti-economics, and political ideology]," p. 10</ref> Ex-Marxist<ref>"'I was a Marxist when I went to the University of Chicago, and I was still a Marxist after I took [[Milton Friedman]]’s course. ... But just one summer as an economics intern in Washington got rid of all of that.' Sowell worked in the Labor Department, in the Wage and Hour Division. He was interested in whether minimum wages helped the poor by raising their pay or hurt them by denying them jobs. He found that the personnel around him were interested in other things: namely, the preservation of their own jobs, and the perpetuation of government programs." Jay Nordlinger, "[https://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/article/?q=NTQ5ZjNhNzE5MjhmOGY5MjYwNGFjNmEwYWNmZjNmNTk= A Lion in High Summer]," ''National Review'', Vol. LXIII, No. 3 (February 21, 2011)</ref> economist [[Thomas Sowell]] agrees:
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{{cquote|[T]he Marxian contribution to [[economics]] can be readily summarized as virtually zero. Professional economics as it exists today reflects no indication that Karl Marx ever existed... [T]he development of modern economics has simply ignored Marx. Even economists who are Marxists typically utilize a set of analytical tools to which Marx contributed nothing... In professional economics, ''Das Capital'' was a detour into a blind alley...<ref>Thomas Sowell, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TVkVAAAAIAAJ Marxism: Philosophy and Economics]'' (Taylor & Francis, 1985) ISBN 0043201717, p. 217.</ref>}}
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William Coleman of the Australian National University actually goes so far as to identify Marx as an "anti-economist."<ref>William Coleman, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=jMipPwAACAAJ Economics and its Enemies: Two Centuries of Anti-Economics]'' (London: Palgrave as Macmillan, 2002) ISBN 1403941483, p. 234. As economics concerns human prosperity and thriving, "anti-economics" may be understood as an anti-human project of death and destruction.</ref> Ross concurs, labeling Marx "the most influential anti-economist of all."<ref>Don Ross, "[http://uct.academia.edu/documents/0095/6341/Economics__anti-economics_and_ideology.pdf Economic theory, anti-economics, and political ideology]," p. 10</ref> Even Michael Harrington, a well-known Marxist,<ref>Wayne Price, "[http://www.utopianmag.com/files/in/1000000043/wayne_utopia.pdf Anarchism: Utopian or Scientific?]" ''The Utopian'' Vol. 5, p. 62</ref> in his book, ''The Twilight of [[Capitalism]]'', devoted an entire chapter to Marx "The anti-economist."<ref>Michael Harrington, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=__ROAAAAMAAJ The Twilight of Capitalism]'' (Simon and Schuster, 1976) ISBN 0671227599, chapter 5</ref> Nevertheless, men and women of zeal, often well-meaning but without understanding<ref>"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." [http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0277_0438_ZD.html Brandeis, J., Dissenting], ''Olmstead v. United States'' 277 US 438 (1928)</ref> of economics, ravaged the 20th century reifying Marx's anti-economics&mdash;in the process killing more people than all the century's wars combined.<ref>R.J. Rummel, [http://democraticpeace.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/what-only-35000000-killed-in-20th-century-war/ What? Only 35,000,000 Killed in 20th Century War?], Democratic Peace Blog, November 30, 2008. In 1918, [[Grigory Zinoviev]], first head of the [[Comintern]], announced: "To overcome our enemies we must have our own socialist [[militarism]]. We must carry along with us 90 million out of the 100 million of [[Soviet Russia]]'s population. As for the rest, we have nothing to say to them. They must be annihilated." (George Leggett, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NRUFAQAAIAAJ The Cheka: Lenin's Political Police]'' [Oxford University Press, 1986] ISBN 0-19-822862-7, p. 114) Zinoviev's estimate that the Soviets would murder 10 million people was far too low: Mid-range academic estimates of the number of civilians murdered by Marxists range from 94 million (Stéphane Courtois, ed. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=H1jsgYCoRioC The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression]'' [Harvard University Press, 1999] ISBN 0-674-07608-7, p. 4) to 148 million. Margaret Cox, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=xMvOoPN58CoC The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves: Towards Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures]'' [Cambridge University Press, 2008] ISBN 0521865875, p. 8; Cf. Rudy Rummel, [http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Genocide&month=0511&week=d&msg=kbHvcYM/g2BcFyVBXdoRew&user=&pw= Reevaluated democide totals for 20thC. and China], H-Genocide Discussion Logs, H-Net (Humanities and Social Sciences Online), Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences Online (Michigan State University), November 28, 2005; T. Matthew Ciolek, [http://www.ciolek.com/SPEC/rummel-on-democide-2005.html R.J. Rummel: Reevaluated democide totals for 20th C. and China], Asia Pacific Research Online, Internet Publications Bureau, Research School of Asian and Pacific Studies, National Institute for Asia and the Pacific (Australian National University), November 29, 2005</ref>
  
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The modern socialist movement largely originated in the late–19th century working class movement. During this period, the term "socialism" was first used by European social critics, who spoke against capitalism and private property. Karl Marx, who helped establish and define the modern socialist movement, wrote that socialism would be achieved through class struggle and a proletarian revolution.<ref>Marx, Karl, ''Communist Manifesto, Penguin  (2002)</ref> Marxism has had a lasting influence on most branches of socialism.
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===Bakunin===
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Anarchist thinker Mikhail Bakunin critiqued prominent leftist theoritician [[Karl Marx]] in 1873 with these words,
  
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As the ideas of Marx and Engels took on flesh, particularly in central Europe, socialists sought to unite in an international organization. In 1889, on the centennial of the French Revolution of 1789, the Second International (politics)|Second International was founded, with 384 delegates from 20 countries representing about 300 labour and socialist organizations.<ref>[http://www.marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/eam/secondinternational.html ''The Second (Socialist) International 1889–1923''] accessed 12 July 2007</ref> It was termed the "Socialist International" and Engels was elected honorary president at the third congress in 1893.
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:"..if the [[proletariat]] is to be the ruling class, over whom is it to rule? ...the peasant "rabble" who, as it is known, does not enjoy the sympathy of the Marxists who consider it to represent a [[Racism|lower level of culture]], will probably be ruled by the factory proletariat of the cities. Or, if this problem is to be approached [[Nationalism|nationalist]]ically, the [[Slavs]] will be placed in the same subordinate relationship to the victorious German proletariat in which the latter now stands to the German bourgeoisie." <ref>Michael Bakunin, ''Statism and Anarchy'', (1873), in Sam Dolgoff, ''Bakunin'' On Anarchy, (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1972), p. 330.</ref>
  
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When World War I began in 1914, many European socialist leaders supported their respective governments' war aims. The social democratic parties in the UK, France, Belgium and Germany supported their respective state's wartime military and economic planning, discarding their commitment to proletarian internationalism|internationalism and solidarity.  
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It should be noted that Bakunin was also a leftist, and in fact, the only difference he had from Marx was the exact extent that they should get rid of government. In addition, he also declared regarding anarchism: "Let us put our trust in the eternal spirit which destroys and annihilates only because it is the unsearchable and eternally creative source of all life--the passion for destruction is also a creative passion!"<ref>''Reaction in Germany'', 1842</ref> Richard Wagner also noted of Bakunin that “The annihilation of all civilization was the objective on which he had set his heart…. It was necessary, he said, to picture the whole European world - transformed into a pile of rubble.”<ref>https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/understanding-tyranny-and-terror-the-french-revolution-modern-islamism</ref><ref>Richard Wagner, quoted in Bryan Magee, The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy (New York: Henry Holt, 2000), p. 39.</ref>
  
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Lenin, however, denounced the war as an imperialist conflict, and urged workers worldwide to use it as an occasion for proletarian revolution. The Second International dissolved during the war, while Lenin, Trotsky, Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, together with a small number of other Marxists opposed to the war, came together in the Zimmerwald Conference in September 1915.
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==United States leftists ==
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:''Main article: [[American liberalism]]''
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===State planning===
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{{See also|Economic planning}}
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In the United States men such as [[Eugene Debs]], Maurice Hilquit and [[Norman Thomas]] believed they could, by a gradual series of alterations in the structure of society, create a truly democratic world in which all people would enjoy not merely freedom, but prosperity. They believed this could not be achieved under the system of [[private property]] and [[profit]]. They advocated a gradual acquisition by the State of all the great utilities, transportation, communication, and basic industries such as coal, oil, and steel.
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[[Image:1904SO.JPG|thumb|200px|[[Eugene Debs|Debs]] for President poster, 1904]]
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The dream of a cooperative commonwealth in which all would share equally in the prosperity created by an economic system owned by the people was the vision of [[Socialist]]s.  This in theory would end [[poverty]], [[ignorance]] and [[crises]].  The idea was to [[Nationalization|nationalize]] banks, railroads, all means of transport, mines, and a few basic industries, but leave some factories, stores, farms, entertainment industries, etc., in the hands of private owners. The government would assume responsibility for making the economy work, for the well-being of all the citizens, their protection from the hazards of life, poverty, sickness, and old age. To make the whole economy work continuously without occasional [[Great Depression#Boom or Bust Cycles|boom-bust]] cycles, the government would create [[economic planning]] boards staffed by a bureaucratic class which would continuously study and observe the functioning of the economic system and make plans covering production, prices, distribution, financing, profits, [[wages]], hours, etc. Thus there would be Planned Capitalism, with the State responsible for the planning and for ensuring the carrying out of its plans through great government bureaus armed with the necessary powers to enforce compliance.
  
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===Socialists seize power in Russia===
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===Borrowing from fascism===
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[[File:Benito Mussolini Roman Salute.jpg|left|thumb|200px|[[Benito Mussolini]] after gaining power]]
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In the 1920s [[Benito Mussolini]] had adopted the Planned Capitalist State and gave it the name "[[fascism]]". [[Adolf Hitler]] adopted the same idea and called it [[National Socialism]]. Mussolini and Hitler both realized that a system which imposes a vast complex of decrees upon a people while subjecting them to confiscatory [[tax]]es to support the immense activities of the government cannot be operated except by an [[Absolutism|absolute]] government that has the power to enforce compliance. Prior to [[World War II]], this type of system had spread all over Europe. For nearly 70 years all the countries in Europe, with Germany in the lead, had been experimenting with the idea of the [[welfare state]], the State which attempts to provide its people with jobs and protection from all the hazards of life.
  
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The October revolution|Russian Revolution of October 1917 brought about the definitive ideological division between Communists as denoted with a capital "C" on the one hand and other communist and socialist trends such as anarcho-communists and social democrats, on the other. The Left Opposition in the Soviet Union gave rise to Trotskyism  which was to remain isolated and insignificant for another fifty years, except in Sri Lanka where Trotskyism gained the majority and the pro-Moscow wing was expelled from the Communist Party.  
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This system is the direct opposite of [[classical liberalism]]. It is the negation of the classical liberal philosophy which for decades has been fighting to [[Emancipation|emancipate]] the people from the [[tyranny]] of the all-powerful State. During the [[New Deal]] this doctrine became known in America as "liberalism". Liberals did not admit that it implied the restoration to the State those very powers which had been stripped from the State as the means of giving people [[freedom]]. They called it the [[planned economy]]. But it was and is fascism by whatever name it is known. Incrementally the government must be made stronger, and the rights of the citizens reduced.
  
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In 1922, the fourth congress of the Communist International took up the policy of the United Front, urging Communists to work with rank and file Social Democrats while remaining critical of their leaders, who they criticized for "betraying" the working class by supporting the war efforts of their respective capitalist classes. For their part, the social democrats pointed to the dislocation caused by revolution, and later, the growing authoritarianism of the Communist Parties. When the Communist Party of Great Britain applied to affiliate to the Labour Party in 1920 it was turned down.  
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==Modern leftists==
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{{see also|Cultural Marxism|Long march through the institutions}}
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Modern leftists in the United States have come under increasing criticism as advocates of thought control.<ref>[http://www.humanevents.com//article.php?id=20562 Leftist Thought Control], David Limbaugh, ''Human Events'', 05/04/2007.</ref>  Author David Limbaugh cites, "Consider the subjects of [[evolution]], [[global warming]], [[homosexual agenda|special rights for homosexuals]] and [[abstinence]] education. Consider efforts of the Left to [[Fairness Doctrine|silence conservative talk radio]]. Consider the mainstream media's arrogant denial of its transparent [[liberal bias]], pronouncing itself to be above politics and inherently objective and its critics somehow skewed....Consider the leftist refrain that [[red state]] conservatives do not merely possess a different world view, but are not part of the 'reality-based community.'"
  
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===After the World War II===
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===Gramsci===
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During the 1960s this perspective was broadened by the "New Left" to include an egalitarian approach to culture|cultural politics, including "New social movements|New Social Movements" based on anti-racism, feminism, environmentalism and LGBT rights. This turn to so-called "identity politics" has been decried by organizations of the Old Left<ref>Specifically, orthodox marxist-lenninist-trotskyists</ref> as being partially responsible, together with other failures to focus on the class structure of society as the essential issue, for the co-optation of leftist elements into establishment ones as in the neo-conservative, neo-liberals, and green politics|greens.
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[[File:Gramsci.png|thumb|150px|right|[[Antonio Gramsci]] ]]
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[[Antonio Gramsci]] was a lieutenant of [[Joseph Stalin]] who headed the [[Italian]] branch of the International Communist movement ([[Comintern]]). After several failed assassination attempts on Mussolini, Gramsci was imprisoned in 1926 until his death in 1937. While in prison Gramsci wrote his ''Prison Notebooks'', speculating on the failure of [[violent]] [[revolution]] to materialize in [[Western Europe]] as [[Karl Marx]] had predicted. Gramsci's works are considered by [[Socialists]] to be foundational to modern [[public education]] and [[Cultural Marxism]].<ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/23768314?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents</ref><ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/gramsci/prison_notebooks/problems/education.htm</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdTTr4iYT0M</ref>
  
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The last quarter of the twentieth century marked a period of major crisis for Communists in the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc, where the growing shortages of housing and consumer goods, combined with the lack of individual rights to assembly and speech, began to disillusion more and more Communist party members. With the rapid collapse of Communist party rule in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe between 1989 and 1991, the Soviet version of socialism has almost disappeared as a worldwide political force.
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Gramsci's theory of "cultural hegemony" states that the ruling capitalist "oppressor" class uses cultural institutions, such as "traditional marriage," to maintain power. The "oppressors" develop a "hegemonic culture" using [[ideology]] unlike Socialists who use [[violence]], economic force, and coercion. "Hegemonic culture" propagates its own values and norms so that they become "[[common sense]]" values and thus maintain the [[status quo]]. According to [[Wikipedia]], this "Hegemonic power is therefore used to maintain consent to the capitalist order, rather than coercive power using force" as Marxism does "to maintain order. This cultural hegemony is produced and reproduced" by the dominant Christian oppressor class "through the institutions that form the superstructure."
  
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===Today===
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Joseph A. Buttigieg, [[Pete Buttigieg]]'s father, was a founding member of the International Gramsci Society and served as the executive secretary."<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20100616163619/http://english.nd.edu/faculty/profiles/joseph-a-buttigieg/</ref>
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Center left refers to the left side of mainstream politics in liberal democracy|liberal democracies. These support liberal democracy, representative democracy, and private property rights in combination with tax funded spending on social welfare, active regulation of the economy, and some public ownership. "Center" is generally defined relative to a particular national or regional norm rather than the global state of affairs.
 
  
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Prominent examples of center-left parties include the United Kingdom|UK Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party, the Liberal Party of Canada, the US Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party<ref>Here the left-center-right spectrum is relative to specific national norms, by European standards, the US democratic party would be center right, at least as it has been thru summer 2008.</ref>, and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. There are also many nationalist parties who describe themselves as being on the left. For example in the United Kingdom in Scotland there is the Scottish National Party (SNP), in Wales there is Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales).
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== Leftism: Use of condemnation/mockery rather than reasonable argumentation ==
  
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In some countries (especially the UK), "soft left" refers to reformism|reformist, democratic and/or parliamentary forms of socialism, whereas "hard left" refers to socialists who advocate more radical change in society. Organizations described as far left are rooted in the politics of the "Old Left." Ultra-left organizations are those on the extreme left of the political spectrum, such as autonomism and anarchism.
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In a ''BloombergView'' article, Stephen L. Carter wrote about the Left:
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{{Cquote|But the left has work to do, not only on policy and organization but also on attitude. Too many of my [[progressivism|progressive]] friends seem to have forgotten how to make actual arguments, and have become expert instead at condemnation, derision and mockery. On issue after issue, they’re very good at explaining why no one could oppose their policy positions except for the basest of motives. As to those positions themselves, they are too often announced with a zealous solemnity suggesting that their views are Holy Writ -- and those who disagree are cast into the outer political darkness. In short, the left has lately been dripping with hubris, which in classic literature always portends a fall.<ref>[https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-11-11/trump-and-the-fall-of-liberalism Trump and the Fall of Liberalism] by Stephen L. Carter, BloombergView</ref>}}
  
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As with "center" the term 'left-wing' is relative to the politics of individual countries and regions. In an article on the 2001 general election in the United Kingdom, the American ''Washington Post'' newspaper observed that the British Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative party's policies on healthcare and welfare would be on "the far left-wing fringe of American politics", and that the British election had been conducted way to the left of America's political dialogue.<ref>'The least worst party', ''Sunday Times'', 3 June 2001, page 16.</ref>
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==Leftism and violence==
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{{See also|2020 Leftist insurrection|Left-wing violence in the Trump era}}
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Leftist ideology is known for its propensity to induce and inspire some of the most heinous and mindless acts of senseless violence, hate and [[murder]].
  
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Although the left is generally thought of as being secular, in some Roman Catholic countries there is a tradition of liberation theology which focuses upon "social justice", and in some Protestant countries there is a tradition of Christian Socialism. Some philosophers and historians, such as Eric Voegelin<ref> Eric Voegelin, ''Modernity Without Restraint'', University of Missouri Press, 2000, ISBN 9780826212450.</ref> and Jacob Talmon<ref> J.L. Talmon et al, ''Totalitarian Democracy and After'', Frank Cass Publishers, 2002, ISBN  9780714683041.</ref>, argue that the left is a utopian secular political religion.
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*A Leftist deliberately swerved his pick-up truck to kill a [[Harley-Davidson]] motorcycle rider.<ref>https://www.wbay.com/2020/07/09/fdl-sheriff-man-to-make-initial-court-appearance-following-fatal-crash-on-winnebago-drive/</ref>
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*Leftists defaced the [[Lincoln Memorial]] in [[Washington, D.C.]].<ref>https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/11/social-justice-warriors-deface-statues-of-actual-social-justice-warriors/</ref>
 +
*Leftists tore down a statue to [[Frederick Douglass]], a runaway slave.<ref>https://nationalfile.com/black-lives-matter-rioters-topple-statue-of-black-abolitionist-legend-frederick-douglass/</ref>
 +
*Leftists vandalized statues of [[Mahatma Gandhi]] in Washington, [[London]] and [[Manchester]].
 +
*Leftists defaced the statue of [[Winston Churchill]] in London who defeated [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[Third Reich]].
 +
*In keeping with [[San Francisco values]], leftists tore down the statue of [[Ulysses S. Grant]] who accepted the surrender of [[Confederate]] General [[Robert E. Lee]].
 +
*In [[Madison, Wisconsin]], leftists tore down the statue of Col. Christian Heg, an [[abolitionist]] who gave his life to free [[Black]]s from slavery.  The same leftist [[homophobe]]s nearly beat to death a [[homosexual]] [[Democrat]] state senator who witnessed the violence.
 +
*In [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], leftists defaced the 54th Regiment Memorial to Black soldiers in the [[Civil War]].<ref>https://www.westernjournal.com/rioters-deface-monument-black-civil-war-veterans-served-union/</ref>
 +
*In [[Seattle]]'s [[CHOP]] zone, leftists shot three Blacks, killing two, one of them a child. The third survivor was also a child.
 +
*In [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia]], leftists murdered an 8-year-old Black girl and a Black male adult as part of the [[Black Lives Matter]] protests.
 +
*In [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]], leftist murdered a 77-year-old retired Black police captain in retaliation for the death of [[George Floyd]].
 +
*In [[Oakland, California]], leftists murdered a Black federal security policeman to protest police brutality against Blacks.
 +
*In Washington, D.C., leftists defaced the [[World War II]] memorial to commemorate the soldiers who defeated [[fascism]].
 +
*Leftists are church burners.<ref>https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/paula-bolyard/2020/06/01/breaking-rioters-burn-historic-st-johns-church-in-d-c-deface-monuments-across-the-city-n474820</ref><ref>https://www.redstate.com/brandon_morse/2020/05/21/mississippi-church-that-refused-to-closed-burned-down-by-arsonist-who-leaves-message/</ref>
  
−
Leftists themselves are divided among those who emphasize individual well-being (modern liberals) and communitarians (radicals and socialists).Fact|date=August 2008
+
==See also==
  
−
==Origins and history of the term==
+
*[[War on Freedom]]
−
seealso|Left-Right politics
+
*[[Peoples Temple Agricultural Collective]]
 +
*[[Leftist chants]]
 +
*[[Alliance for Global Justice]]
  
−
The term originates from the French Revolution, when liberalism|liberal deputies from the Third Estate generally sat to the left of the president's chair, a habit which began in the French States-General|Estates General of 1789. The nobility, members of the Second Estate, generally sat to the right. It is still the tradition in the French Assemblée Nationale for the representatives to be seated left-to-right (relative to the Assemblée president) according to their political alignment.
+
==References==
 +
{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}}
  
−
In the years leading up to World War I, many on the left advocated communism as the best method to end the exploitation of the working class by the upper class.  Left-wing revolutions in Russia and China overthrew the existing governments of those countries, and established what were called "people's" governments.
+
==External links==
 +
*[https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/09/the_imploding_leftist_establishment.html The Imploding Leftist Establishment], ''American Thinker''
 +
*[http://www.marx2mao.com/Lenin/LWC20.html V. I. Lenin, ''"Left-Wing" Communism, An Infantile Disorder''] (1920) V. I. Lenin, Selected Works, English edition, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1952, Vol. II, Part 2.
 +
*[http://jonjayray.tripod.com/leftism2.html John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.), ''THE MOTIVATIONS OF POLITICAL LEFTISTS'']
  
−
In contemporary Western world|Western political discourse, "the Left" is most often used to describe forms of socialism, social democracy, or, in the sense in which the term is understood in the American liberalism|United States and Canadian liberalism|Canada, liberalism.
+
{{Liberalism}}
−
 
+
{{Democrat establishment}}
−
Some, such as Roger Scruton, deny that green politics is inherently "on the left" arguing (with reference to damage to the environment which occurred in communist regimes such as the USSR) that conservatism is the natural home of conservation. Libertarians argue that people with property rights are more likely to take care of property they own than they are of property held in common. Many Greens however associate the right with free market exploitation of natural resources. When Green politicians have formed political coalitions (most notably in Germany, but also in local governments elsewhere), it has almost always been with groups that classify themselves as on the left. Fact|date=February 2007  Notable exceptions include Green Parties participating in center-right governments in Alliance for Change (Mexico)|Mexico, with the National Action Party (PAN); in the Matti Vanhanen's second cabinet|4-party "green-blue" coalition in Finland; and, on March 9 2004 Indulis Emsis of Latvia's Union of Greens and Farmers became the first Green Prime Minister in the world, at the head of a minority center-right coalition.
+
[[Category:Leftism]]
−
 
+
[[Category:Liberalism]]
−
==Left-wing issues==
 
−
The Left has traditionally identified with the lower classes and with combating oppression. Thus the industrial revolution saw left-wing politics become associated with the working conditions|conditions and worker's rights in the new industries. This led to movements advocating social democracy, socialism and trade unionism. More recently, the left has criticized what it perceives as the exploitative nature by current forms of globalization, e.g. the rise of sweatshops and the "race to the bottom", and either has sought to promote more just forms of globalization, such as fair trade, or has sought to allow nation-states to "delink" or break free of the global economy.
 
−
 
 
−
Although specific means of achieving these ends are not agreed upon by different left-wing groups, almost all those on the left agree that some form of government or social intervention in economics is necessary, ranging from Keynesian economics and the welfare state through industrial democracy or the social market to nationalization of the economy and central planned economy|planning.<ref>Andrew Glyn, ''Social Democracy in Neoliberal Times: The Left and Economic Policy since 1980'', Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0199241385.</ref>
 
−
   
 
−
As civil rights|civil and human rights gained more attention during the twentieth century, the Left has allied itself with advocates of Race (classification of human beings)|racial and gender equality and cultural tolerance.<ref>Van Gosse, ''The Movements of the New Left, 1950-1975'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, p. 1, "This book defines the New Left more broadly as the combination of all these movement, from civil rights in the 1950s to gay and womens rights in the 1970s.", ISBN 978-1403968043.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
==Foreign policy positions==
 
−
 
 
−
Proletarian internationalism is a Marxist social class theory whose concept is that members of the working class should act in solidarity towards working people in other countries on the basis of a common class interest, rather than following their respective national governments. Proletarian internationalism is summed up in the slogan, ''Workers of all countries, unite!'', the last line of The Communist Manifesto. Early unionists learned that more members meant more power because by joining together the workers gained greater bargaining power. Thus, taken to an international level, it would further increase the power of the working class versus that of their bosses.
 
−
 
 
−
Proletarian internationalism also claims itself to be a deterrent against wars amongst nations, because people with a common interest are less likely to take up arms against one another, however they are more likely to do so against the ruling class that Marxists believe oppress workers. According to Marxist theory the antonym of proletarian internationalism is bourgeois nationalism.
 
−
 
 
−
In contrast, some, like George Orwell, an ex-Marxist, have perceived social realities to be quite different from proletarian internationalism, in that "in all countries the poor are more national than the rich." To this, Marxists might counter that while the rich may have historically had the awareness and education to recognize cross-national interest of class, the poor of those same nations likely have not had this advantage, and so have been fooled into "patriotism," failing to recognize that their own class interest exists and could be used to overthrow the ruling class order.
 
−
 
 
−
The Western left have been opponents of imperialism|imperialist and colonialism|colonial warsFact|date=September 2008, and have championed anti-colonial rebellionsFact|date=September 2008. While some segments of the Western left are inspired by a strict adherence to pacifism, much left-wing opposition to war arises primarily from anti-capitalist sentiment. Left-wing opposition to war is also often characterized by the Internationalism (politics)|internationalist belief that Workers of the world, unite!|world's workers share common interests with one another, rather than with the powers governing their respective countries.
 
−
 
 
−
===History===
 
−
 
 
−
The First World War triggered fierce debate among socialist groups as to the right response to take, with the leaderships of most socialist parties of the Second International supporting their governments, and a minority of socialists, such as Rosa Luxemburg and Lenin opposing the war as imperialist. Left-wing opponents to the war came together at the Zimmerwald Conference. The Bolsheviks responded to a revolt by soldiers against the First World War with promises of "bread, land and peace."  This took place under economic blockade, and at a time when the Soviets put all their resources into efforts to defend their country from invasion, a period known as "War Communism."
 
−
 
 
−
As a result of the Nazi-Soviet pact supporters of the Soviet Union were instructed by Stalin to describe those who advocated military attacks upon Nazi Germany as capitalist warmongers, but when Hitler turned on Stalin by invading the Soviet Union the majority of those on the left who had opposed the war became supporters of military action against Germany.
 
−
 
 
−
The Spanish Civil War, in which a democratically elected government was opposed by a military coup, was seen by many on the left as an important fight against fascism. In response to the outbreak of war, many joined the International Brigades or other left-wing militias organized by trade unions or political parties, such as the Anarchist CNT-FAI or the left-wing Marxist POUM. Others campaigned for arms embargoes and advocated intervention by the League of Nations.
 
−
 
 
−
The biggest anti-war movement that involved the Western world|western left was that against military involvement by the USA and Australia in South Vietnam when it was faced with an insurgency by the Vietcong, who were supported militarily by North Vietnam. The protests were directed primarily against the American military intervention and eventually received considerable mainstream support.
 
−
 
 
−
The American-led war in 2003 Invasion of Iraq|Iraq divided the left. Some left-wing parties (such as Tony Blair's Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party) sent their countries' troops to participate in this war. A Left justification for this policy is supplied by, for example, Oliver Kamm ''Anti-Totalitarianism: The Left-wing Case for a so-called "Neo-Conservative" foreign policy''. <ref> Oliver Kamm ''Anti -Totalitarianism: The Left-wing Case for a Neo-Conservative Foreign Policy''2005, London: Social Affairs Unit ISBN 1-904863-06-X </ref>  However, most of the left has opposed the war in Iraq.  Some on the left claim that the war in Iraq is imperialist, that control of the Middle East with its strategic oilfields, and not the removal of regime of Saddam Hussein, was the actual goal. Others argue the legal justification<ref> [http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N02/682/26/PDF/N0268226.pdf United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441, 8 November 2002.]</ref> for the war was inaccurate, specifically the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.<ref> Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, ''Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq'', Tarcher, 2003, ISBN 1585422762, ISBN-13 978-1585422760. </ref>  <ref> Ali A. Allawi, ''The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace'', Yale University Press, 2007, ISBN 0300110154, ISBN-13 978-0300110159. </ref>
 
−
 
 
−
Some criticism has been leveled at some left-wing groups for forming anti-war coalitions with libertarian organizations (such as the paleolibertarian Antiwar.com) or with groups led by fundamentalist Islamists Fact|date=March 2008. Some on the French left (especially within ATTAC) argue that antiwar protests distract from the economic arguments advocated by the anti-globalisation movement. In the U.S., much left-wing activism was channeled into Anybody but Bush campaigns, which effectively meant supporting the centre-left Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party. In the U.K, anti-war feeling may have been a factor in a drop in support for the pro-war Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party government, and the cause of gains for the Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats.
 
−
 
 
−
Hugo Chávez has increased arms purchases from Brazil, forming oil-for-expertise trade arrangements with Cuba, and creating unique barter arrangements that exchange Venezuelan petroleum for cash-strapped Argentina's meat and dairy products. On July 27, 2006 Hugo Chávez and Russian president Vladimir Putin announced an agreement in Moscow which enabled the import of military equipment from Russia to Venezuela.<ref>"Year in Review-Chronology" (pp 5-30) in ''Encyclopædia Britannica Almanac 2008''. 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-1-59339-414-1.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
==Positions around the world==
 
−
===Militant Maoism===
 
−
Today Maoist organizations, grouped in RIM, have their greatest influence in South Asia. They have been involved in violent struggles in Bangladesh and, until recently, Nepal. The Nepalese Maoist militant struggles have ended and the Maoists have peacefully negotiated to become the majority party in the newly formed republic. There are also minor groups active in Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan|Afghanistan, Peru<ref>[http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA255144 The Shining Path: The Successful Blending of Mao and Mariategui in Peru<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and Turkey<ref>[http://www.rwor.org/a/v24/1181-1190/1187/mkp.htm RW ONLINE: First Congress of the Maoist Communist Party of Turkey<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.pacificnews.org/jinn/stories/2.18/960904-kurd.html [09-04-96&#93; FRANZ SCHURMANN, MORE DESTABILIZING THAN SADDAM HUSSEIN - TURKEY'S KURDISH LEADER SPREADS MAOIST INSURGENCY<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>.
 
−
 
 
−
In the Philippines, the Communist Party of the Philippines, which is not part of the RIM, leads an armed struggle through its military wing, the New People's Army.
 
−
 
 
−
In Peru, several columns of the Shining Path|Communist Party of Peru/SL are fighting a sporadic war. Since the capture of their leadership, Chairman Gonzalo and other members of their central committee in 1992, the PCP/SL no longer has initiative in the fight. Several different political positions are supported by the leadership of the PCP/SL.
 
−
 
 
−
In India, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) have been fighting a protracted war.<ref>[http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/IN_MAO.htm?v=in_detail Reuters AlertNet - Indian Maoist violence<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Formed by the merger of the People's War Group and the Maoist Communist Center ("notorious for its macabre killings") originating from the 25 May 1967 peasant uprising.<ref>[http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/mcc.htm Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) Maoist Coordination Committee (MCC)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, they have expanded their range of operations to over half of India and have been listed by the Prime Minister as the "greatest internal security threat" to the Indian republic since it was founded.<ref>Jo Johnson, ''Leftist Insurgents Kill 50 Indian Policemen.'' Financial Times, March 15, 2007.</ref><ref>[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20339 Impasse in India - The New York Review of Books<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://us.rediff.com/election/2004/apr/02espec.htm The biggest threat to Indian elections<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
===Bolivarian Revolution===
 
−
 
 
−
The  “Bolivarian Revolution” refers to a mass social movement and political process in Venezuela.  Its most prominent leader is Hugo Chávez, the founder of the Fifth Republic Movement and the current President of Venezuela.  The "Bolivarian Revolution" seeks the implementation of Bolivarianism in Venezuela. Proponents of Bolivarianism trace its roots to an avowedly socialism|socialist interpretation of some ideals of Simón Bolívar, an early 19th century Venezuelan and Latin American revolutionary leader, prominent in the South American Wars of Independence. Critics inside Venezuela as well as foreigners say Chávez has used the Bolivarian Revolution to consolidate his power, nationalize industries, and use the government to change vast aspects of everyday life for Venezuelans.<ref name="FAInSearch">Shifter, Michael. [http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20060501faessay85303/michael-shifter/in-search-of-hugo-ch-vez.html "In Search of Hugo Chávez"]. ''Foreign Affairs'', May/June 2006. '''85''':3</ref><ref name="StateDem1">U.S. Department of State (December 1, 2005). [http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/57714.pdf "The State of Democracy in Venezuela".] Accessed 18 June 2006.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
Chávez is the most prominent exponent of Bolivarianism, which functions as the root ideology of the "Bolivarian Revolution". Hugo Chávez|Chávez has listed a number of ideological streams that he sees as having contributed significantly to Bolivarianism.
 
−
 
 
−
Chávez asserted in his September 2005 speech at the Bronx's Latino Pastoral Action Center that Jesus of Nazareth was a Extremism|radical activist who purportedly emphasized and sought redistributive social justice and democratic socialism--Chávez has stated that such emphases also characterize Bolivarianism. Chávez has repeatedly claimed that Jesus was a ''social'', as well as an individual, savior and liberator who was active in class struggle, social justice, and human rights both individual and collective.
 
−
 
 
−
Chávez's statements on Bolivarian ideology have attracted the ire of some evangelicalism|evangelical and conservative groups, who traditionally place almost exclusive emphasis on Jesus as a ''personal'', as opposed to a social, savior.
 
−
 
 
−
Chávez's Administration (government)|administration has sought to strengthen the Venezuelan government's control over the nation's vital oil industry while seeking to better redistribute the revenues earned from petroleum exports. Bolivarianism has continually changed and evolved as an ideology since Hugo Chávez was elected president in late 1998.
 
−
 
 
−
===New leftism and restoration of Maoism===
 
−
Chinese New Left|New Leftism (zh-c|c=新左派) in the People's Republic of China is an ideological tendency in opposition to capitalism and the Economic reform in the People's Republic of China|Chinese economic reforms and in favour of the restoration of Maoist-style socialism. The movement first gained steam during the mid-1990s.  New Leftism is seen as being more appealing to students in China today than liberalism or neoliberalism — problems faced by China during its modernisation, such as inequality and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, are becoming more serious.  It is also known as 'neo-leftism'.
 
−
 
 
−
New Leftists can usually be divided into two main groups: (1) believers in either postmodernism or Maoism|Mao's interpretation of Marxism; and (2) those who support Chinese nationalism. The Chinese New Left's origins lie mainly in scholarly people who were heavily influenced by the idea of postmodernism in universities in the Western world before coming back to China in the mid-1990s. They tend to think that the social problems faced by China are caused by capitalist loopholes and Political corruption|corruption. Current plans for a "New Socialist Countryside" could be seen as a concession to New Left ideas.<ref>web cite|url=http://news.ft.com/cms/s/74029202-a389-11da-83cc-0000779e2340,s01=1.html|title=China launches ‘New Deal’ for farmers|publisher=Financial Times|date=2006-02-22</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
==Positions in the West==
 
−
===Anti-globalization and alter-globalization===
 
−
The Global Justice Movement movement, also known as the anti-globalisation or alter-globalization movement, are protesters against global trade agreements and the negative consequences they perceive them to have for the poor and the environment. This movement is generally characterised as left-wing, though some activists within it reject association with the traditional left.  There are also those on the right, Pat Buchanan for example, who oppose globalization on nationalistic grounds.  The Global Justice Movement does not oppose globalisation per se, on the contrary, it supports some forms of internationalism). The main themes of the movement are the reforms of international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and the creation of an international social justice movement. It rejects the leadership of any political party, defining itself as a "movement of movements."
 
−
 
 
−
===Feminism===
 
−
main|The left and feminism
 
−
Early feminism in the nineteenth century was often, although not always, connected to radical politics. Today, socialist feminists, Marxist feminism|Marxist feminists, liberal feminists and some radical feminists position themselves as on the left of the political spectrum.
 
−
 
 
−
===Developing world===
 
−
Left-wing political ideas and groups were involved in many of the anti-colonial movements in Africa, Asia and South America. Some left-wing groups in the developing world, such as the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Mexico, Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa and the Naxalites in India, argue that the Western world|western left usually takes a racist and paternalistic attitude towards popular movements in dominated countries. There is particular criticism of the role played by NGOs and the assumption by the Anti-globalization movement in Europe and North America that it is a global movement with an automatic right to lead movements in the South.
 
−
 
 
−
===Post-modernism===
 
−
Left-wing Post-modernist theories reject attempts at universal explanatory theories such as Marxism, deriding them as Metanarrative|grand narratives. They argue for an embrace of culture as the battle grounds for change, rejecting traditional ways of organising such as political parties and trade unions, focusing instead on critiquing or deconstruction. Left-wing critics of Post-modernism view it as a reaction to the economic failure of State Socialism (both in Europe and Latin America and the USA) and disillusionment with authoritarian Communist regimes. They assert that cultural studies courses inflate the importance of culture through denying the existence of an independent reality.<ref>[http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=59issue=105 Postmodernism, commodity fetishism and hegemony], Néstor Kohan, International Socialism (journal)|International Socialism, Issue 105.</ref><ref>[http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/chomsky-on-postmodernism.html Chomsky on Postmodernism], Noam Chomsky, Z Communications|Z-Magazine's Left On-Line Bulletin Board.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
The most famous critique of post-modernism from within the left came in the form of a 1996 prank by physicist and self-described leftist Alan Sokal. Concerned about what he saw as the increasing prevalence on the left of "a particular kind of nonsense and sloppy thinking… that denies the existence of objective realities, or…downplays their practical relevance…",<ref>[http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/lingua_franca_v4/lingua_franca_v4.html A Physicist Experiments With Cultural Studies], Alan Sokal</ref> Sokal composed Sokal Affair|a nonsensical article entitled "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity",<ref>[http://www.physics.nyu.edu/~as2/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity],  Alan Sokal, first published in; Social Text, issule 46/47, 1996</ref> in which a mix of mis-stated and mis-used terms from physics, postmodernism, Literary criticism|literary analysis, and Political philosophy|political theory are used to claim that physical reality, and especially gravity|gravitation, do not objectively exist, but are psychologically and politically constructed.
 
−
 
 
−
The journal ''Social Text'' published the paper in its Spring/Summer 1996 issue, whereupon Sokal publicly revealed his hoax. While some saw Sokal as attacking leftism in general, he was very clear that this was intended as a critique from within:
 
−
 
 
−
<blockquote>Politically, I'm angered because most (though not all) of this silliness is emanating from the self-proclaimed Left. We're witnessing here a profound historical ''volte-face''. For most of the past two centuries, the Left has been identified with science and against obscurantism… epistemic relativism betrays this worthy heritage and undermines the already fragile prospects for progressive social critique. Theorizing about "the social construction of reality" won't help us find an effective treatment for AIDS or devise strategies for preventing global warming. Nor can we combat false ideas in history, sociology, economics and politics if we reject the notions of truth and falsity.… The results of my little experiment demonstrate, at the very least, that some fashionable sectors of the American academic Left have been getting intellectually lazy.<ref>[http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/lingua_franca_v4/lingua_franca_v4.html A Physicist Experiments With Cultural Studies], Alan Sokal</ref>
 
−
</blockquote>
 
−
 
 
−
Traditionalist thinking (conservative) scholar/criticsWho|date=September 2008 view post-modernism as nihilistic. Gary Jason claims that "''The failure of socialism, both empirically and theoretically, ... brought about a crisis of faith among socialists, and Post-modernism is their response.''"<ref>[http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2005_06/jason-pomo.html Socialism's Last Bastion], Gary Jason, Liberty</ref>
 

Latest revision as of 04:42, October 2, 2025

Nghfuyr.png
Oregon KKK March 1920s.jpg
In the 1920s, the Oregon legislature passed a KKK-supported measure which prohibited public school teachers from wearing religious clothing;[1] the ACLU opposed repealing the law in the 2010s.[2]

Leftist refers to someone on the Left side of the political spectrum, such as a particularly liberal member of the American Democrat Party, a member of the British Labour Party, a member of the Canadian Liberal or New Democratic parties, a progressive, socialist, Democratic Socialist, or (to the far Left) a Communist. A Leftist supports collectivism, more government control of the economy, direct government control over social policy (although there were some leftists, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, and Noam Chomsky who adhered to a purely anarchistic view of the world), including federal control over education at all levels, lower military spending, censorship of religion, a living constitution, same-sex "marriage", a more unisex society, globalism, transnationalism, feminism, the homosexual agenda, anti-Semitism, racism, support for Islam, genital mutilation of children,[3] taxpayer-funded abortion, and sometimes even taxpayer-funded terrorism[4] and censorship of Christianity and social media in the public arena. Some leftists even want a totalitarian one-party world government.[Citation Needed]

Origins of leftist ideology

French Revolution

Capture of the Bastille
See also: Secular left, History of Atheism, and French Revolution

During the French Reign of Terror of the early Enlightenment, the Left attempted a de-Christianization movement to replace the "reactionary" worship of God and replace it with the worship of national patriotism, or the Patrie. Many churches were closed and either converted into Temples of Reason,[5] or otherwise demolished outright under the order of Jacobin leader Maximilien de Robespierre under the pretense that their design was "undemocratic."[6] The Left even formed a new calendar secularizing Christian holidays. This calendar was short-lived though and was never accepted in the rural, more religious parts of France.

The term Left has its origins in 1790s, when in the French revolutionary parliament the representatives for the socialists sat to the presiding officer's left.[7] In addition, it was also stated that the left-wing had some origins in the Book of Revelation when Jesus Christ transfigured people on his right and left as sheep and goats, respectively.[8][9]

19th century European leftists

Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Marx (May 5, 1818[10] – March 14, 1883) was a bourgeois[11] political pamphleteer,[12] polemicist[13] and propagandist,[14] credited as co-founder (with Friedrich Engels) of communism[15] and specifically of Marxism. Although Marx always considered himself an economist,[16] "the Marxist system as a whole is not regarded as economics by the mainstream," according to Don Ross, co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Economics.[17] Ex-Marxist[18] economist Thomas Sowell agrees:

“ [T]he Marxian contribution to economics can be readily summarized as virtually zero. Professional economics as it exists today reflects no indication that Karl Marx ever existed... [T]he development of modern economics has simply ignored Marx. Even economists who are Marxists typically utilize a set of analytical tools to which Marx contributed nothing... In professional economics, Das Capital was a detour into a blind alley...[19] ”

William Coleman of the Australian National University actually goes so far as to identify Marx as an "anti-economist."[20] Ross concurs, labeling Marx "the most influential anti-economist of all."[21] Even Michael Harrington, a well-known Marxist,[22] in his book, The Twilight of Capitalism, devoted an entire chapter to Marx "The anti-economist."[23] Nevertheless, men and women of zeal, often well-meaning but without understanding[24] of economics, ravaged the 20th century reifying Marx's anti-economics—in the process killing more people than all the century's wars combined.[25]

Bakunin

Anarchist thinker Mikhail Bakunin critiqued prominent leftist theoritician Karl Marx in 1873 with these words,

"..if the proletariat is to be the ruling class, over whom is it to rule? ...the peasant "rabble" who, as it is known, does not enjoy the sympathy of the Marxists who consider it to represent a lower level of culture, will probably be ruled by the factory proletariat of the cities. Or, if this problem is to be approached nationalistically, the Slavs will be placed in the same subordinate relationship to the victorious German proletariat in which the latter now stands to the German bourgeoisie." [26]

It should be noted that Bakunin was also a leftist, and in fact, the only difference he had from Marx was the exact extent that they should get rid of government. In addition, he also declared regarding anarchism: "Let us put our trust in the eternal spirit which destroys and annihilates only because it is the unsearchable and eternally creative source of all life--the passion for destruction is also a creative passion!"[27] Richard Wagner also noted of Bakunin that “The annihilation of all civilization was the objective on which he had set his heart…. It was necessary, he said, to picture the whole European world - transformed into a pile of rubble.”[28][29]

United States leftists

Main article: American liberalism

State planning

See also: Economic planning

In the United States men such as Eugene Debs, Maurice Hilquit and Norman Thomas believed they could, by a gradual series of alterations in the structure of society, create a truly democratic world in which all people would enjoy not merely freedom, but prosperity. They believed this could not be achieved under the system of private property and profit. They advocated a gradual acquisition by the State of all the great utilities, transportation, communication, and basic industries such as coal, oil, and steel.

Debs for President poster, 1904

The dream of a cooperative commonwealth in which all would share equally in the prosperity created by an economic system owned by the people was the vision of Socialists. This in theory would end poverty, ignorance and crises. The idea was to nationalize banks, railroads, all means of transport, mines, and a few basic industries, but leave some factories, stores, farms, entertainment industries, etc., in the hands of private owners. The government would assume responsibility for making the economy work, for the well-being of all the citizens, their protection from the hazards of life, poverty, sickness, and old age. To make the whole economy work continuously without occasional boom-bust cycles, the government would create economic planning boards staffed by a bureaucratic class which would continuously study and observe the functioning of the economic system and make plans covering production, prices, distribution, financing, profits, wages, hours, etc. Thus there would be Planned Capitalism, with the State responsible for the planning and for ensuring the carrying out of its plans through great government bureaus armed with the necessary powers to enforce compliance.

Borrowing from fascism

Benito Mussolini after gaining power

In the 1920s Benito Mussolini had adopted the Planned Capitalist State and gave it the name "fascism". Adolf Hitler adopted the same idea and called it National Socialism. Mussolini and Hitler both realized that a system which imposes a vast complex of decrees upon a people while subjecting them to confiscatory taxes to support the immense activities of the government cannot be operated except by an absolute government that has the power to enforce compliance. Prior to World War II, this type of system had spread all over Europe. For nearly 70 years all the countries in Europe, with Germany in the lead, had been experimenting with the idea of the welfare state, the State which attempts to provide its people with jobs and protection from all the hazards of life.

This system is the direct opposite of classical liberalism. It is the negation of the classical liberal philosophy which for decades has been fighting to emancipate the people from the tyranny of the all-powerful State. During the New Deal this doctrine became known in America as "liberalism". Liberals did not admit that it implied the restoration to the State those very powers which had been stripped from the State as the means of giving people freedom. They called it the planned economy. But it was and is fascism by whatever name it is known. Incrementally the government must be made stronger, and the rights of the citizens reduced.

Modern leftists

See also: Cultural Marxism and Long march through the institutions

Modern leftists in the United States have come under increasing criticism as advocates of thought control.[30] Author David Limbaugh cites, "Consider the subjects of evolution, global warming, special rights for homosexuals and abstinence education. Consider efforts of the Left to silence conservative talk radio. Consider the mainstream media's arrogant denial of its transparent liberal bias, pronouncing itself to be above politics and inherently objective and its critics somehow skewed....Consider the leftist refrain that red state conservatives do not merely possess a different world view, but are not part of the 'reality-based community.'"

Gramsci

Antonio Gramsci

Antonio Gramsci was a lieutenant of Joseph Stalin who headed the Italian branch of the International Communist movement (Comintern). After several failed assassination attempts on Mussolini, Gramsci was imprisoned in 1926 until his death in 1937. While in prison Gramsci wrote his Prison Notebooks, speculating on the failure of violent revolution to materialize in Western Europe as Karl Marx had predicted. Gramsci's works are considered by Socialists to be foundational to modern public education and Cultural Marxism.[31][32][33]

Gramsci's theory of "cultural hegemony" states that the ruling capitalist "oppressor" class uses cultural institutions, such as "traditional marriage," to maintain power. The "oppressors" develop a "hegemonic culture" using ideology unlike Socialists who use violence, economic force, and coercion. "Hegemonic culture" propagates its own values and norms so that they become "common sense" values and thus maintain the status quo. According to Wikipedia, this "Hegemonic power is therefore used to maintain consent to the capitalist order, rather than coercive power using force" as Marxism does "to maintain order. This cultural hegemony is produced and reproduced" by the dominant Christian oppressor class "through the institutions that form the superstructure."

Joseph A. Buttigieg, Pete Buttigieg's father, was a founding member of the International Gramsci Society and served as the executive secretary."[34]

Leftism: Use of condemnation/mockery rather than reasonable argumentation

In a BloombergView article, Stephen L. Carter wrote about the Left:

“ But the left has work to do, not only on policy and organization but also on attitude. Too many of my progressive friends seem to have forgotten how to make actual arguments, and have become expert instead at condemnation, derision and mockery. On issue after issue, they’re very good at explaining why no one could oppose their policy positions except for the basest of motives. As to those positions themselves, they are too often announced with a zealous solemnity suggesting that their views are Holy Writ -- and those who disagree are cast into the outer political darkness. In short, the left has lately been dripping with hubris, which in classic literature always portends a fall.[35] ”

Leftism and violence

See also: 2020 Leftist insurrection and Left-wing violence in the Trump era

Leftist ideology is known for its propensity to induce and inspire some of the most heinous and mindless acts of senseless violence, hate and murder.

See also

References

  1. ↑ February 7, 2010. Coalition seeks repeal of Klan-era ban on religious garb in Oregon schools. Catholic News Agency. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  2. ↑ Brell, Alexandria (March 8, 2010). Oregon repeals religious clothing ban, amen to that.. Daily Sundial. Retrieved September 25, 2021.
  3. ↑ https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/02/25/rand-paul-is-right-transgender-interventions-dor-kids-can-include-genital-mutilation/
  4. ↑ https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/your-taxes-are-funding-terrorists-demand-that-this-stops
  5. ↑ John Hall Stewart, A Documentary Survey of the French Revolution (Macmillan, New York, 1963).
  6. ↑ Operation Parricide: Sade, Robespierre & the French Revolution
  7. ↑ Left Ideology, Encyclopedia Britannica
  8. ↑ https://www.theculturewatch.com/the-french-revolution
  9. ↑ James Billington, Fire in the Minds of Men: Origin of the Revolutionary Faith.
  10. ↑ Birth Certificate of Karl Marx, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Collected Works, Vol. 1 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1975), p. 635
  11. ↑ Francis Wheen, Karl Marx: A Life (W.W. Norton & Company, 2001) ISBN 0393321576, pp. 8, 278
  12. ↑ George Bernard Shaw, “Trotsky, Prince of Pamphleteers,” The Nation (ISSN 0027-8378) Vol. 1922 No. 30 (June 7, 1922), pp. 560-561, reprinted in Brian Tyson, ed., Bernard Shaw's Book Reviews: Volume Two,1884-1950 (University Park, PA.: Penn State Press, 1996) ISBN 0271015489, pp. 440-450. Cf. Terrell Carver, The Postmodern Marx (University Park, PA.: Penn State Press, 1998), p. 160
  13. ↑ Chris Matthew Sciaberra, Marx, Hayek and Utopia (SUNY Press, 1995) ISBN 0791426165, p.6. Cf. Michael Grenfell and Cheryl Hardy, Art Rules: Pierre Bourdieu and the Visual Arts (Berg Publishers, 2007) ISBN 1845202341, p.17
  14. ↑ Baron John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, The Cambridge Modern History (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1910), p. 758. Cf. Milorad M. Drachkovitch and Sidney Hook, Marxist Ideology in the Contemporary World: Its Appeals and Paradoxes (Ayer Publishing, 1973) ISBN 0836981545, p. 113
  15. ↑ Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto and Other Writings (Barnes & Noble, 2005) ISBN 1593081006, p. vi
  16. ↑ Charles H. Powers, Making Sense of Social Theory: A Practical Introduction (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010) ISBN 1442201193, p. 115
  17. ↑ Don Ross, "Economic theory, anti-economics, and political ideology," p. 10
  18. ↑ "'I was a Marxist when I went to the University of Chicago, and I was still a Marxist after I took Milton Friedman’s course. ... But just one summer as an economics intern in Washington got rid of all of that.' Sowell worked in the Labor Department, in the Wage and Hour Division. He was interested in whether minimum wages helped the poor by raising their pay or hurt them by denying them jobs. He found that the personnel around him were interested in other things: namely, the preservation of their own jobs, and the perpetuation of government programs." Jay Nordlinger, "A Lion in High Summer," National Review, Vol. LXIII, No. 3 (February 21, 2011)
  19. ↑ Thomas Sowell, Marxism: Philosophy and Economics (Taylor & Francis, 1985) ISBN 0043201717, p. 217.
  20. ↑ William Coleman, Economics and its Enemies: Two Centuries of Anti-Economics (London: Palgrave as Macmillan, 2002) ISBN 1403941483, p. 234. As economics concerns human prosperity and thriving, "anti-economics" may be understood as an anti-human project of death and destruction.
  21. ↑ Don Ross, "Economic theory, anti-economics, and political ideology," p. 10
  22. ↑ Wayne Price, "Anarchism: Utopian or Scientific?" The Utopian Vol. 5, p. 62
  23. ↑ Michael Harrington, The Twilight of Capitalism (Simon and Schuster, 1976) ISBN 0671227599, chapter 5
  24. ↑ "The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." Brandeis, J., Dissenting, Olmstead v. United States 277 US 438 (1928)
  25. ↑ R.J. Rummel, What? Only 35,000,000 Killed in 20th Century War?, Democratic Peace Blog, November 30, 2008. In 1918, Grigory Zinoviev, first head of the Comintern, announced: "To overcome our enemies we must have our own socialist militarism. We must carry along with us 90 million out of the 100 million of Soviet Russia's population. As for the rest, we have nothing to say to them. They must be annihilated." (George Leggett, The Cheka: Lenin's Political Police [Oxford University Press, 1986] ISBN 0-19-822862-7, p. 114) Zinoviev's estimate that the Soviets would murder 10 million people was far too low: Mid-range academic estimates of the number of civilians murdered by Marxists range from 94 million (Stéphane Courtois, ed. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression [Harvard University Press, 1999] ISBN 0-674-07608-7, p. 4) to 148 million. Margaret Cox, The Scientific Investigation of Mass Graves: Towards Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures [Cambridge University Press, 2008] ISBN 0521865875, p. 8; Cf. Rudy Rummel, Reevaluated democide totals for 20thC. and China, H-Genocide Discussion Logs, H-Net (Humanities and Social Sciences Online), Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Sciences Online (Michigan State University), November 28, 2005; T. Matthew Ciolek, R.J. Rummel: Reevaluated democide totals for 20th C. and China, Asia Pacific Research Online, Internet Publications Bureau, Research School of Asian and Pacific Studies, National Institute for Asia and the Pacific (Australian National University), November 29, 2005
  26. ↑ Michael Bakunin, Statism and Anarchy, (1873), in Sam Dolgoff, Bakunin On Anarchy, (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1972), p. 330.
  27. ↑ Reaction in Germany, 1842
  28. ↑ https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/understanding-tyranny-and-terror-the-french-revolution-modern-islamism
  29. ↑ Richard Wagner, quoted in Bryan Magee, The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy (New York: Henry Holt, 2000), p. 39.
  30. ↑ Leftist Thought Control, David Limbaugh, Human Events, 05/04/2007.
  31. ↑ https://www.jstor.org/stable/23768314?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
  32. ↑ https://www.marxists.org/archive/gramsci/prison_notebooks/problems/education.htm
  33. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdTTr4iYT0M
  34. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100616163619/http://english.nd.edu/faculty/profiles/joseph-a-buttigieg/
  35. ↑ Trump and the Fall of Liberalism by Stephen L. Carter, BloombergView
  36. ↑ https://www.wbay.com/2020/07/09/fdl-sheriff-man-to-make-initial-court-appearance-following-fatal-crash-on-winnebago-drive/
  37. ↑ https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/11/social-justice-warriors-deface-statues-of-actual-social-justice-warriors/
  38. ↑ https://nationalfile.com/black-lives-matter-rioters-topple-statue-of-black-abolitionist-legend-frederick-douglass/
  39. ↑ https://www.westernjournal.com/rioters-deface-monument-black-civil-war-veterans-served-union/
  40. ↑ https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/paula-bolyard/2020/06/01/breaking-rioters-burn-historic-st-johns-church-in-d-c-deface-monuments-across-the-city-n474820
  41. ↑ https://www.redstate.com/brandon_morse/2020/05/21/mississippi-church-that-refused-to-closed-burned-down-by-arsonist-who-leaves-message/

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