Left-wing politics

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Left-wing politics describes the range of

social hierarchy as a whole[1][2][3][4] or certain social hierarchies.[5] Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in society whom its adherents perceive as disadvantaged relative to others as well as a belief that there are unjustified inequalities that need to be reduced or abolished[1] through radical means that change the nature of the society they are implemented in.[5] According to emeritus professor of economics Barry Clark, supporters of left-wing politics "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."[6]

Within the

secularisation of society[7] while those on the right were supportive of the traditional institutions of the Ancien Régime. Usage of the term Left became more prominent after the restoration of the French monarchy in 1815, when it was applied to the Independents.[8]
The word wing was first appended to Left and Right in the late 19th century, usually with disparaging intent, and left-wing was applied to those who were unorthodox in their religious or political views.

Ideologies considered to be left-wing vary greatly depending on the placement along the

centre-left, while the Left is typically reserved for movements more critical of capitalism,[9] including the labour movement, socialism, anarchism, communism, Marxism and syndicalism, each of which rose to prominence in the 19th and 20th centuries.[10]
In addition, the term left-wing has also been applied to a broad range of
political parties.[14][15][16]
‌

Positions

The following positions are typically associated with left-wing politics.

Economics

See also:
Marxism and Keynesianism, and Socialist economics

Left-leaning economic beliefs range from

social democrats who adopted the Third Way. Left-wing politics are typically associated with popular or state control of major political and economic institutions.[19]

Other leftists believe in

capitalist state of affairs and a communist society. Marx defined the proletariat as salaried workers, in contrast to the lumpenproletariat, who he defined as the outcasts of society such as beggars, tricksters, entertainers, buskers, criminals and prostitutes.[22] The political relevance of farmers has divided the left. In Das Kapital, Marx scarcely mentioned the subject.[23] Mikhail Bakunin thought the lumpenproletariat was a revolutionary class, while Mao Zedong believed that it would be rural peasants, not urban workers, who would bring about the proletarian revolution
.

economic globalisation due to its negative consequences for the poor, workers, the environment, and small businesses.[24][25][26]

Leftists generally believe in innovation in various technological and philosophical fields and disciplines to help causes they support.[5]

Environment

See also: Eco-socialism, Green anarchism, and Green politics

One of the foremost left-wing advocates was Thomas Paine, one of the first individuals since left and right became political terms to describe the collective human ownership of the world which he speaks of in Agrarian Justice.[27] As such, most of left-wing thought and literature regarding environmentalism stems from this duty of ownership and the aforementioned form of cooperative ownership means that humanity must take care of the Earth. This principle is reflected in much of the historical left-wing thought and literature that came afterwards, although there were disagreements about what this entailed. Both Karl Marx and the early socialist philosopher and scholar William Morris arguably had a concern for environmental matters.[28][29][30][31] According to Marx, "[e]ven an entire society, a nation, or all simultaneously existing societies taken together, are not the owners of the earth. They are simply its possessors, its beneficiaries, and have to bequeath it in an improved state to succeeding generations".[28][32] Following the Russian Revolution, environmental scientists such as revolutionary Alexander Bogdanov and the Proletkult organisation made efforts to incorporate environmentalism into Bolshevism and "integrate production with natural laws and limits" in the first decade of Soviet rule, before Joseph Stalin attacked ecologists and the science of ecology, purged environmentalists and promoted the pseudoscience of Trofim Lysenko during his rule up until his death in 1953.[33][34][35] Similarly, Mao Zedong rejected environmentalism and believed that based on the laws of historical materialism, all of nature must be put into the service of revolution.[36]

From the 1970s onwards, environmentalism became an increasing concern of the left, with social movements and several unions campaigning on environmental issues and causes. In Australia, the left-wing

eco-socialist ideology.[38] Barry Commoner articulated a left-wing response to The Limits to Growth model that predicted catastrophic resource depletion and spurred environmentalism, postulating that capitalist technologies were the key cause responsible for environmental degradation, as opposed to human population pressures.[39] Environmental degradation can be seen as a class or equity issue, as environmental destruction disproportionately affects poorer communities and countries.[40]

Global warming was the cover story of this 2007 issue of the Ms. magazine.

Several left-wing or socialist groupings have an overt environmental concern and several green parties contain a strong socialist presence. The

Bolivian president Evo Morales has traced environmental degradation to capitalist consumerism,[42] stating that "[t]he Earth does not have enough for the North to live better and better, but it does have enough for all of us to live well". James Hansen, Noam Chomsky, Raj Patel, Naomi Klein, The Yes Men and Dennis Kucinich hold similar views.[43][44][page needed][45][46][47][48]

In

carbon emissions as the center-left often advocates a reliance on market measures such as emissions trading and a carbon tax while those further to the left support direct government regulation and intervention in the form of a Green New Deal, either alongside or instead of market mechanisms.[49][50][51]

Nationalism, anti-imperialism and anti-nationalism

See also: Anarchism and nationalism, Anti-imperialism, Internationalism (politics), Left-wing nationalism, and Proletarian internationalism

The question of

Boulangism increasingly became associated with the far-right.[53]

The

Against His-Story, Against Leviathan and The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism.[57]

The failure of revolutions in

Maoist China
formally supported the theory of socialism in one country.

European social democrats strongly support

Naxalites in India have argued that the First World and the Second World Left takes a racist and paternalistic attitude towards liberation movements in the Third World.[citation needed
]

Religion

See also: Anarchism and religion, Buddhist socialism, Christian anarchism, Christian communism, Christian left, Christian socialism, Jewish left, and Islamic socialism

The original

Russian Orthodox hierarchs were summarily executed by a firing squad, and children were deprived of any religious education outside of the home.[60]

Today in the

Comte de Saint-Simon based their theories of socialism upon Christian principles. Other common leftist concerns such as pacifism, social justice, racial equality, human rights and the rejection of capitalism and excessive wealth can be found in the Bible.[61]

In the late 19th century, the

laïcité
and other leftists opposing the prohibition based on personal and religious freedom.

Social progressivism and counterculture

See also: Counterculture, New Left, Socialism and LGBT rights, and Socialist feminism

libertarian movement. Public education was a subject of great interest to groundbreaking social progressives such as Lester Frank Ward and John Dewey
, who believed that a democratic society and system of government was practically impossible without a universal and comprehensive nationwide system of education.

Various counterculture and anti-war movements in the 1960s and 1970s were associated with the New Left. Unlike the earlier leftist focus on

Trotskyists, who characterized this approach as "substitutionism" which they described as a misguided and non-Marxist belief that other groups in society could "substitute" for and "replace" the revolutionary agency of the working class.[64][65]

Many early

International Working Women's Day events.[72]

The

LGBTQ rights movement in the aftermath of the Stonewall Riots
of 1969. Contemporary leftist activists and socialist countries such as Cuba are actively supportive of LGBTQ+ people and are involved in the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights and equality.

History

See also: American Left, French Left, Left–right political spectrum, and History of political thought
The 5 May 1789 opening of the Estates General of 1789 in Versailles

In politics, the term Left derives from the

1848 Revolution
, but only a small portion of the population supported this.

In the mid-19th century,

classless communist society. It was in this period that the word wing was appended to both Left and Right.[74]

The

International Workers' Association (IWA–AIT).[75] The Second International (1888–1916) became divided over the issue of World War I. Those who opposed the war, among them Vladimir Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg
, saw themselves as further to the left.

In the United States, leftists such as

Reconstruction era in the aftermath of the American Civil War, the phrase "the Left" was used to describe those who supported trade unions, the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.[76][77] More recently, left-wing and right-wing have often been used as synonyms for the Democratic and Republican parties, or as synonyms for liberalism and conservatism, respectively.[78][79][80][full citation needed][81]

Since the Right was populist, both in the

Shostakovich's opera (The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District) in Pravda as follows: "Here we have 'leftist' confusion instead of natural, human music".[83][page needed
]

Types

The spectrum of left-wing politics ranges from

state intervention in matters pertaining to the public interest
.

In several countries, the terms far-left and radical left have been associated with many varieties of

conspiracism, xenophobia, and nationalism.[86][87][88][89][90]

In China, the term

economic reforms enacted by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s and 1990s, favour instead the restoration of Maoist policies and the immediate transition to a socialist economy.[91] In the Western world
, the term New Left is used for social and cultural politics.

In the United Kingdom during the 1980s, the term

democratic socialist society and an end to austerity
measures.

See also

References

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Further reading

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