The 'Left' and 'Right' wing in Politics

The blog is based on several doubts that i encountered in reference of commonly used terminology in news such as left wing and right wing.

 Why are  Narendra Modi and Donald Trump called right wing leaders and why are all communists termed leftists.

This blog will address these questions from the origin of these terms to their present usage.

Questions Addressed

1. What is left wing and right wing? Are nationalists right wingers?

2. How is someone classified as a left winger or a right winger?

3. Who are communists and socialists? Why are they called leftists?

4. How did it all originate?

We shall address these questions in the reverse order.

How did the concept of left wing and right wing originate?

For that we need to have some context from the French Revolution who's premise was being laid in the 1740s - 1780s

Context

Year:  1740 - 1780

The British-French rivalry was at its peak with them competing in India , America and in Europe for supremacy.

The constant wars among the 2 were a huge burden to the exchequer , and the treasuries were fast drying out.

The monarch in France , Louis XVI was considering increasing the taxes to fund the wars of France. However given the French society it was not an easy decision.

French society

The French society had been stratified much like the caste system in India into 3 estates.

I Estate

Comprised of the Clergymen i.e the godmen and the priests of churches. They were given the highest honour and privileges in the French society much like the Brahmins in the early Indian society.

They comprised about 1% of the French population and owned about 30% of the French wealth. 

Being the privileged class they did not pay taxes.

II estate

Comprised of the Nobility i.e the royal families and the monarchs. Just like in the Indian society corresponding to the Kshatriyas they were second in the order of stratification and were also considered a privileged class.

They too comprised about 10% of the French population and owned about 30% of the wealth.

Also being a privileged class even they were not expected to pay taxes.

III Estate

Comprised of all the other subject classes including farmers businessmen merchants etc.

They composed about 89% of the French population and owned the rest 40% of the wealth.

However since they were the subject class only they were expected to pay taxes.

- So the burden of increased taxes to finance the French wars was to come on the III Estate alone , which was already struggling under the hyperinflation in France.

Understanding their concerns the King decided to summon the assembly of ' Estates General ' to take the final decision.

Estates General

It was a rudimentary parliament in the French society which had representation from all the estates. It was entrusted to take major decisions in France.

Composition - 

300 members from each estate.

Mechanism of taking decisions -

Each estate had cumulatively 1 vote. So all the members of an estate sat separately and took a decision.

If atleast any 2 estates agreed for a decision , it was adopted.

 For example if estate I and estate II decided that taxes cannot be imposed on them. Then even though estate III may not agree the decision would be adopted by 2-1 majority.

-

The Estate III realised this flaw in the system and hence put up 2 demands -

1. The number of representatives from estate III be doubled to 600 members.

2. All the 1200 members of the Estates General to sit together with each member having 1 vote.

To consider these demands , representatives from all the Estates gathered in front of the King Louis XVI.

The Estate III was to the LEFT of the King demanding change , while the Estates I and II were to the RIGHT of the King demanding status quo to honour the tradition.

This ultimately ended with the Estate III starting the French Revolution and ultimately overthrowing the King Louis XVI. 

However this narrative continued to be used. All those advocating change and moving away from the past were termed as left wing. They viewed a perfect society in the ' Future ' such as a globalised world with no borders. 

All those who wanted status quo and envisioned a perfect society which existed in the past such as the ancient society were termed as right wingers.

2. Why are the communists and socialists always described as Left wing?

The idea of communism was given by Karl Marx. Marx was witness to blatant exploitation of the working class in the newly industrialised countries. The workers did not have any fixed working hours , no minimum wages , 14-16 hour day shifts , no social security and pensions and they lived a miserable life under poverty.

Thus he advocated a ' change ' to a society where no one would be exploited and all would have equal status and well being. He termed this society as communist.

Marx majorly gave philosophical ideas. Lenin from Russia was inspired by Marx's ideas and he united the workers in Russian industries with a promise of a communist society.

He gave a methodology for this. He advocated a system where all the resources including land , industries , natural resources would be owned by the government. The government would try to achieve an economy with the idea ' from each according to their ability , to each according to their need '.

This system came to be known as socialism and such governments were called socialist states.

Now viewing from the lens of LEFT & RIGHT , we observe that the communists and socialists advocated a ' change ' from the existing capitalist structure and viewed a perfect society in                ' future '. 

Thus they came to be associated with LEFT Ideology perennially in the global context of the cold war.

How are left and right determined in the current context?

In the Indian context , BJP is often regarded as a right wing party because it sees a perfect society in the past ' Ram Rajya ideology ' . Hence they advocate a change towards the past thus they are considered a right wing party.

In the Global context , Donald Trump is considered a right wing leader because he advocates a perfect society from the past , evident as ' Make America Great Again '. Thus he is termed a right wing leader.

Why are nationalists often termed as Right Wingers?

The causes for world war I and the world war II have often been narrowed onto hyper-nationalism.

Since the world war II , the world has gradually moved towards globalisation which has diluted the ideas of nationalism with the emergence of           ' global village ' and ' global citizens '.

Thus globalisation sees a perfect society in the future without any borders and restrictions. On the other hand the nationalists advocate self sufficiency and import substitution which is against the idea of globalisation. Hence is often considered to seek a perfect society in the past.

Hence, the nationalists in this context are called right wingers while the globalists are termed as left wingers.

Thus we have observed that left and right are ideas which originated from the french revolution which continued on to became ideologies. While the right is not limited to nationalists the left is not limited to communists.

Amit Chauhan!