Left from Right: Part 1 - Definitions

One of the more perplexing elements of politics is most certainly the way people describe it; the polarised left and right. So what are we talking about when we say left or right?

There are (at least) two kinds of left-right scale in politics. The most prominent of these are those used by The Political Compass:

+ The economic; that is left-Communism & right-Capitalism.
+ and the social; that is left-Libertarianism & right-Authoritarianism.

The Liberals and Labour traditionally represent two faces of the same left-wing of British politics.

The larger part of the Liberals professed 'social libertarianism'. Now this merely describes a certain alignment, a set of values. In this case the Liberals are described as believing that society is best served through individuality and civil liberties, protected by law, with the government only interfering with society to prevent harm; that is libertarianism.

Economically, classical liberals believed in a right-wing approach to economics, that of free market capitalism. This evolved by the start of the C20th into 'social liberalism'. This advocated some restriction on the market to allow for increased and above all 'fair' competition. The approach meant ensuring that, financially, everyone has a common basic starting point that is considered the very least a civilised human being could be expected to have a chance to succeed from. They believed this allowed for 'individuals' to have the greatest chance of success and that there-in lies the success of all. That then is the social; that is to say that society, through public investment & regulation, should act to shape our economy, albeit still for the elevation of individuals.

Labour on the other hand have usually advocated socialism. In reality this has meant a belief in a strong state that best serves the people with a strongly directive approach, sometimes almost authoritarian. The idea is to intercede on behalf of the people in order to deliver social justice. The focus is on society, community and equality over individualism.

Economically, socialism has traditionally expressed a wish for nationalisation of various industries and organisations in order to establish the state, and there-in the people's control over the means of production. This allowed for the easier establishment and enforcement of equality. However economies based on state-run enterprise have suffered on global markets. So Labour adopted what is known as the 'Social Market Economy'. This system has regulation to limit and restrict the market; towards a goal of ensuring fair competition which can then be taxed to pay for state run organisations.

However these are just simplifications. The reality is that parties are not uniform and have many faces & factions. Labour has been visibly afflicted by this in the past, particularly during its thirteen years in office (Jones, 2006). Even more than that, these positions can change with social and economic trends as the ever sensible Mr Tony Benn (2010) observes about the Labour Party:

'What is really significant about [Blair's] political life was that he set up a new political party, New Labour. This transformed the Labour party... when Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson concluded that Labour could never win unless it adopted the economic policy that Mrs Thatcher had set out'.

In the next issue we will explore this idea further, looking at how the left and right can change shape, drift and even merge.

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References:
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+ The Political Compass

+ Nicholas Jones' 'Brownites vs Blairites - the Full Story'; September 2006;

+ Tony Benn's 'What is really significant about Tony Blair was that he set up a new political party, New Labour'; September 2010;