LEFT AND RIGHT
So let’s start with the distinction between Left and Right. Originally a matter of opposing ideas on opposite sides in the National Assembly in France in the 1780s. The terms have become descriptive terms in any democratic parliament, especially in the UK.
“Left” or “Left-wing” refers to a group of political philosophies under the general title of Socialism.
The concept arose as a reaction against the domination of peoples by autocratic ruling classes, so that society exists for the benefit of the people. A reasonable definition of Socialism is
“A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.”
In particular Socialism promotes social equality. Equality of outcome, not just equality of opportunity.
Conversely, the Right or “Right-wing” generally oppose Socialism, favouring a society where people are not equal. In particular allowing people to benefit from their efforts or position over others. This includes "Capitalism”, where some people and organisations own a disproportionately large share of the nation’s capital, and thereby enjoy a greater share of the value created from it.
Simplistically, the Left would prefer everyone in the same size house with the same income, whereas the Right would prefer it to be possible to have a bigger house and a higher income. The Right therefore believe in aspiration, which is effectively stifled on the Left.
Nonetheless, any one person may have views on individual aspects of life that may be a mixture of Left and Right philosophies. This is especially true when looking at:
• How people feel about aims and objectives, their “heart”, and
• How they think about policies to achieve them, their “head”.
Hence describing someone’s overall philosophy in two halves, Heart:Head, as discussed here
SPECTRUM OF LEFT-WING
On any one issue, there will be a range of views across the population. But it helps to classify people on the Left into three broad groups. However any individual may be in different groups depending whether considering objectives (heart) or policies (head). The three groups are:
- SoftLeft – known as “Social Democrats” and “Moderates”
- HardLeft – known as “Democratic Socialists”
- FarLeft – strong central control, such as Communism
The distinction in UK politics between HardLeft and FarLeft is best described by the change made in the Labour Party ’s constitution, the Clause 4 that is printed on membership cards which describes the party’s aims and values.
The original FarLeft version back in 1918, as the First World War ended, was:
“To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service”
The version that was introduced in 1995, with the opening sentence regarded as HardLeft, is
“The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect”
Whilst this coincides with the creation of New Labour, that movement was marketed as a somewhat softer version of socialism, with policies somewhat to the right of those HardLeft aims.
That is better described as SoftLeft, “Social Democracy”. That had been the foundation of the SDP Social Democratic Party in 1981 by four so-called “moderate” MPs. A reasonable definition of Social democracy is:
“Social democracy is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a capitalist economy.”
What separates the SoftLeft is acceptance of using the framework of a Capitalist economy is a pragmatic position. That's given Capitalism is the basis of western societies, and there is no indication that is going to fundamentally change any time soon.
Bear in mind these definition statements principally describe aims and values, with just a hint of policies. As such the statements describe the “heart” rather more than the way the “head” thinks these aims should be achieved.
SPECTRUM OF RIGHT-WING
As noted above, Capitalism provides the economic foundations to right-wing politics, together with personal aspiration. People with right-wing politics view society having hierarchies and the inequalities that result as being the natural outcome of traditional social differences or the result of competition in market economies.
Again the right-wing can be analysed into three main groups:
- SoftRight – known as “Moderates”, and embracing Valuerism
- HardRight – known as “Neo-Liberals” – the New Liberals
- FarRight – including Fascists, Nazis and Racial Supremacists
Neo-Liberalism (HardRight) is described as “a modified form of liberalism tending to favour free-market capitalism.” Neoliberalism includes economic liberalization policies such as privatization, austerity, deregulation, free trade and reductions in government spending in order to increase the role of the private sector in the economy and society
Liberalism is itself a broad political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of the individual to be the central problem of politics.
The SoftRight believe in Neo-Liberal principles, but with a greater degree of regulation against the undesirable effects of unfettered free-trade markets. This means protection of consumers, the avoidance of monopolies which have undesirable consequences, and regulation of industries such as financial services. It can also mean overlapping with the SoftLeft with the concept of Valueism.
WHERE LEFT MEETS RIGHT
Left meets Right in two ways. Hence regarding the Left-Right spectrum as a circle rather than a line:
- The policies of the FarLeft and FarRight are very similar, with strong central control, despite a different set of objectives. It is very easy for Left-wing folk to be sucked into the FarRight, as UKIP and Hitler proved, as well as vice versa
- SoftLeft meets SoftRight in what is termed “Centrism”. Again the policies are similar, though the underlying objectives are somewhat different
CENTRISM
The concept of Centrism is very important to British politics. A highly significant proportion of UK voters, as well as non-voting adults, regard themselves in the centre, or only slightly to the Left or Right. i.e. Soft Left and Soft Right.
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| Voters' Assessment of Own Position on Spectrum, ComRes research 2014 (Left to Right, 5 = Centre) |
These people in that spike of centrism do not empathise with either the Left-wing position of the Labour party nor the right-wing position of the Conservatives. Where the battle for votes is between these two major parties with their current policies, Centrist voters will tend to vote AGAINST the party they dislike most. General Elections are usually won by how well the two parties court that rejection.
The obvious question is why isn’t there a proper Centrist party that Centrists can vote FOR? What has happened to the LibDems? What would be needed to create a credible Centrist party?
These questions are the subject of the next blog article.
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