Hard left explained
Hard left or hard-left is a term that is used particularly in Australian and British English to describe the most radical members of a left-wing political party or political group.[1] [2] The term is also a noun and modifier taken to mean the far-left and the left-wing political movements and ideas outside the mainstream centre-left.[3] The term has been used to describe wings and factions of several political parties across the world, such as the left-wing of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom[4] and left-wing factions of the Australian Labor Party.[5] [6]
Australia
As with the Labor Right faction, the Labor Left faction of the Australian Labor Party is split between multiple competing sub-factions, called "fractions". These vary between state branches and in union support and affiliation.In New South Wales, the left is split mainly between the so-called "hard" left and "soft" left. The hard left was historically focused on the trade union movement and international issues, and organised around figures like Frank Walker, Arthur Gietzelt, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.[7] The soft left presented a "more pragmatic" vision of the left and used rank-and-file members to gain power through branch stacking, and organised around politicians Peter Baldwin and Jack Ferguson.[8] In Victoria, the term "hard left" historically referred to the far-left "Tomato Left" faction, which included Bill Hartley, George Crawford, and Joan Coxsedge.
Britain
The term was first used in the context of debates within both the Labour Party and the broader left in the 1980s to describe Trotskyist groups such as the Militant tendency, Socialist Organiser and Socialist Action.[9] Within the party, the Labour left or "hard left", represented by the Campaign Group, subscribed to more strongly socialist views while the "soft left", associated for example with the Tribune Group, embraced more moderate social democratic ideas.[10] [11]
Politicians commonly described as being on the hard left of the Labour Party at the time included Tony Benn, Derek Hatton, Ken Livingstone,[12] Dennis Skinner,[13] and Eric Heffer.[14]
The term has since then often been used pejoratively by Labour's political opponents, for example, during the Conservative Party's election campaigns of the early 1990s, and by the media.[15] [16] It has continued to be used pejoratively for the left-wing of the Labour Party.
See also
Further reading
Notes and References
- Web site: Definition of 'hard left' . 24 March 2023 . Collins English Dictionary.
- Web site: Definition of hard left . 24 March 2023 . Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
- Book: John Wilson . Understanding Journalism: A Guide to Issues . Psychology Press . 1996 . 978-0-415-11599-5 . 203 . Condemnation by label is a favourite tactic of political antagonism ... Descriptions like 'hard left', 'far left' ... all have extra connotations, political under-meanings to damage the people they describe.
- Book: Grant . Moyra . The British media . 1984 . Comedia . 9780906890516 . illustrated . 29 . Key words and phrases like 'hard left', 'extremist' and 'Soviet style' are explicitly derogatory and dismissive labels which mask a serious lack of information and analysis about the theory and practice of socialism and communism. . 1 November 2015.
- Web site: 2016-01-05 . Labour's left wing 'can't tolerate dissent', a right-wing Labour MP has claimed . 2023-02-19 . The Independent . en.
- Book: Megalogenis, George . Quarterly Essay 40 Trivial Pursuit: Leadership and the End of the Reform Era . 2010-11-16 . Black Inc. . 978-1-921866-53-1 . 6 . en.
- Book: Sartor, Frank . The Fog on the Hill: How NSW Labor Lost Its Way . 2011 . Melbourne Univ. Publishing . 978-0-522-86106-8 . 328 . en.
- Book: Harris, Tony . Basket Weavers and True Believers: Making and unmaking the Labor Left in Leichhardt Municipality, c.1970–1991 . 2007-08-10 . Leftbank Press . 978-0-9803883-5-0 . 192 . en.
- Book: Harris, Tony . Basket Weavers and True Believers: Making and unmaking the Labor Left in Leichhardt Municipality, c.1970–1991 . 2007-08-10 . Leftbank Press . 978-0-9803883-5-0 . 192-198 . en.
- Book: Eric Shaw. Discipline and Discord in the Labour Party: The Politics of Managerial Control in the Labour Party, 1951–87. 1 January 1988. Manchester University Press. 978-0-7190-2483-2. 267.
- Book: Crines. Andrew Scott. Michael Foot and the Labour leadership. 2011. Cambridge Scholars. Newcastle upon Tyne. 9781443832397. 161.
- Web site: What's left of the Labour left?. Total Politics. 6 May 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150821005801/http://www.totalpolitics.com/print/161892/whats-left-of-the-labour-left.thtml. 21 August 2015. dmy-all.
- Book: Hill, Dave. Marxism Against Postmodernism in Educational Theory. 2002. Lexington Books. 0739103466. 188.
- News: Dennis Skinner. The Guardian. Andrew Roth. 20 March 2001. Andrew Roth's parliament profiles.
- Book: Thorpe, Andrew. A History of the British Labour Party. 3rd. 2008. Palgrave Macmillan. 978-1137248152. 228.
- Book: James Curran. Culture Wars: The Media and the British Left. Edinburgh University Press. 29 July 2005. 196, 209.
- Use by BBC: * "Kinnock attacks hard left", BBC World Service. 18 September 1998.
- News: Wintour. Patrick. Unite challenges expulsion of alleged Trotskyists from Labour party. 24 October 2015. The Guardian. 24 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151024122941/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/23/unite-challenges-expulsion-of-alleged-trotskyists-from-labour-party. 24 October 2015. live. However, there is concern in the parliamentary party that several hard-left groups such as Left Unity, the Socialist Workers party (SWP), the Socialist party and the AWL are trying to attach themselves to Momentum to gain entry into the party. Party moderates are fearful that Labour's largest affiliated union is too relaxed about opening the party's doors to the hard left..
Use by The Independent:
Use by The Glasgow Herald:
