Hard left

For the Australian political tendency, see Labor Left.

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[1] 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.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Definition of 'hard left'". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Definition of hard left". Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  3. ^ * John Wilson (1996). Understanding Journalism: A Guide to Issues. Psychology Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-415-11599-5. 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
    • Grant, Moyra (1984). The British media (illustrated ed.). Comedia. p. 29. ISBN 9780906890516. Retrieved 1 November 2015. 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.
  4. ^ a b "Labour's left wing 'can't tolerate dissent', a right-wing Labour MP has claimed". The Independent. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  5. ^ Megalogenis, George (16 November 2010). Quarterly Essay 40 Trivial Pursuit: Leadership and the End of the Reform Era. Black Inc. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-921866-53-1.
  6. ^ Sartor, Frank (2011). The Fog on the Hill: How NSW Labor Lost Its Way. Melbourne Univ. Publishing. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-522-86106-8.
  7. ^ Harris, Tony (10 August 2007). Basket Weavers and True Believers: Making and unmaking the Labor Left in Leichhardt Municipality, c.1970–1991. Leftbank Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-9803883-5-0.
  8. ^ Harris, Tony (10 August 2007). Basket Weavers and True Believers: Making and unmaking the Labor Left in Leichhardt Municipality, c.1970–1991. Leftbank Press. pp. 192–198. ISBN 978-0-9803883-5-0.
  9. ^ Eric Shaw (1 January 1988). Discipline and Discord in the Labour Party: The Politics of Managerial Control in the Labour Party, 1951–87. Manchester University Press. p. 267. ISBN 978-0-7190-2483-2.
  10. ^ Crines, Andrew Scott (2011). Michael Foot and the Labour leadership. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. p. 161. ISBN 9781443832397.
  11. ^ "What's left of the Labour left?". Total Politics. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  12. ^ Hill, Dave (2002). Marxism Against Postmodernism in Educational Theory. Lexington Books. p. 188. ISBN 0739103466.
  13. ^ Andrew Roth (20 March 2001). "Dennis Skinner". The Guardian. Andrew Roth's parliament profiles.
  14. ^ Thorpe, Andrew (2008). A History of the British Labour Party (3rd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 228. ISBN 978-1137248152. [dead link‍]
  15. ^ James Curran (29 July 2005). Culture Wars: The Media and the British Left. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 196, 209.
  16. ^ Use by BBC: * "Kinnock attacks hard left", BBC World Service. 18 September 1998. <Use by The Guardian:
    • Wintour, Patrick (24 October 2015). "Unite challenges expulsion of alleged Trotskyists from Labour party". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015. 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:

Further reading