Left and right. Origin and political differences
In politics, left and right are understood as antagonistic views on the proper way to achieve social welfare.
The difference between left and right is that the left advocates an ideal system in which wealth is equitably distributed among the collective. For its part, the right promotes a welfare state achieved through individual rights.
| Left | Right | |
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| Source | France, 1789 | France, 1789 |
| Currents |
Revolutionary left
Reform democratic left
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| Most representative political events |
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| Fundamental precepts |
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Differences between political left and right
The left and the right have a series of fundamental doctrines or ideas that are antagonistic. These are some of the most representative differences between both views:
Welfare state
For the left, collective well-being is above individual progress. To achieve this, all social classes have to be abolished. The right, for its part, promotes individual well-being (focused on economic progress), as the central axis of well-being.
Economic system
For the political left, the state must be the owner and administrator of the means of production. On the other hand, the right advocates the non-intervention of the State in the economic system.
Wealth distribution
The left promotes an equitable distribution of wealth, based on the belief that all individuals are equal. While the right believes in a distribution according to the effort and contribution of each individual.
Political organization
For the left, the State is the only political actor and most of its traditional currents defend the idea of centralized power in a single party. On the right and its multiple streams you can find different views ranging from systems democratic elections with free elections and the participation of political parties, up to a centralized power (dictatorships right).
Origin of the political left and right
What today represents a marked political antagonism, like the left and the right, had its origin in an anecdotal fact that was executed without any intention of transcending, although it was finally done.
On August 28, 1789, the first National Constituent Assembly was held and the need arose to discuss the political weight that the popular assembly would have as opposed to royal power, represented in the figure of the King of France.
At the time of the vote, the representatives of the aristocracy, the upper bourgeoisie and the clergy, who defended the royal power, organized themselves to the right of the president of the assembly. While the supporters of popular power rallied to the left.
The latter were, for the most part, deputies belonging to the so-called Third Estate: a majority social group made up of peasants and the lower bourgeoisie who had in common an absence of legal and economic rights as opposed to their burdens tributary.
After the French Revolution, the left-right dichotomy not only became more evident, it deepened for a century and then spread to South America in the nineteenth century, coinciding with the processes independentistas.
Left politics
The political left is an ideological current that is characterized by defending the collective welfare, having as its central axes the abolition of social classes and the central role of the State as owner and administrator of the means of production.
Although it arose in parallel to the French Revolution in the 18th century, during the following century it had a role fundamental in Europe, being the ideological component of the Russian revolution (1917) and the German revolution (1918).
For its part, in Latin America, Asia and Africa, the left was essential in the 20th century for the emergence of multiple social and political movements. Some of them included guerrilla formation and armed struggle as means to weaken or eliminate right-wing political systems.
However, despite the fact that leftist ideological foundations have been maintained over time, there are different views on how the collective welfare should be achieved. Based on this, there are several types of left:
Revolutionary left
The revolutionary left in turn includes multiple visions or ideological positions that can be subdivided into:
Marxism-Leninism
It has its origin in the theoretical postulates of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), and focuses on the proletariat or working class as administrator of the means of production and beneficiary of its Profits. Under this paradigm, the state is not necessary because the proletariat assumes power, although until now there is no consensus on how this can be put into practice.
Trosktism
It is a doctrine of León Troskti (1879-1949) that proposes the abolition of classes to establish an egalitarian system that works under a socialist structure; however, he posits this as a gradual process, which he called "permanent revolution."
Maoism
It is a version of Marxism created by the dictator Mao Zedong (1893-1976), founder of the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Republic of China. It is basically an adaptation of Marxist precepts, only that within China it was not called Maoism, but Mao Zedong Thought, although the doctrine was not his own.
Libertarian Marxism
It is not in itself a type of ideology, but a set of currents of thought in which the idea prevails of the workers' organization as a political protagonist, instead of the party centralism proposed by Marxism classic. Furthermore, they propose deliberative democracy as opposed to political centralism.
Reform democratic left
The democratic left, as its name indicates, promotes forms of political organization based on democracy. Its central axis is free elections and the distancing of radical currents of thought that propose political centralization and dictatorial systems.
This movement, which in turn is in favor of the establishment of gradual political, economic and social reforms, has two fundamental currents:
Eurocommunism
It promotes democratic socialism as a political system and focuses on solving problems that affect the collective.
Social democracy
It is based on liberal democracy as the basis for achieving social welfare. It defends the elected power in a representative manner and protected by the rule of law.
See also Difference between socialism and communism.
Political right
The political right is understood to be a set of currents or ideologies that are based on the well-being of the individual over the collective to achieve progress.
In this sense, the right promotes equal opportunities, free economic competition and the protection of private property as some of the essential means for progress.
Since its inception during the French Revolution, the political right has been the cornerstone of multiple historical events. Some examples were the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain or Thatchertism, a conservative right-wing doctrine based on the privatization of state services, implemented by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher between 1979 and 1990.
Although there are multiple currents in the political right, in general terms it can be said that the Right-wing governments tend towards conservatism, defending traditions and identity national.
These are some of the currents that coexist within the political right:
Political traditionalism
He defends values and customs typical of the past, which is why he rejects any change in the state of things.
Conservatism
Defend a system of traditional values, framed in Christianity. However, she is in favor of incorporating all those technological advances that serve to raise the well-being of the individual and, therefore, bring prosperity.
Liberalism
Although it is an economic doctrine, it is also considered a right-wing current when promoting freedoms individuals from the free market and state non-intervention in the economy as guarantors of a state of wellness.
See also:
- Differences between Democrats and Republicans.
- Differences between liberals and conservatives.
