Wikipedia

Hard 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] As a noun and modifier it is sometimes used pejoratively in referring to left-wing political movements and ideas seen as outside the mainstream centre-left.[3] The term has been used to describe wings and factions of several political parties across the world, particularly the left-wing of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom [4][5][6] and left-wing factions of the Australian Labor Party, particularly in the 1980s.[7][8] In Australia, the term refers especially to the group around Anthony Albanese. In the UK, it refers especially to Tony Benn’s Socialist Campaign Group.

Australia

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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 future Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.[9] 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.[10]

During the 1980s, prolonged disputes over tactical issues and personality conflicts resulted in a split occurring within the New South Wales Labor Left, creating two sub-factional groupings; the 'Hard Left' and the 'Soft Left',[11] the latter of which was the successor of the Baldwinites.[12] A significant event which caused the split was the election of the Secretary Assistant of the New South Wales Labor Party, where the Hard Left faction supported Anthony Albanese while the Soft Left faction supported Jan Burnswoods.[11] The Hard Left faction was more closely aligned with left-wing groups external to the Labor Party, maintaining "closer links with broader left-wing groups, such as the Communist Party of Australia, People for Nuclear Disarmament and the African National Congress" as well as trade union officials, political staffers, lobbyists and student politicians, while the Soft Left's main base of support was among rank-and-file party branch members.[11][12] In terms of tactics, the Hard Left favoured a top-down approach of transactional negotiation with the Labor Right, whilst the Soft Left advocated a continuation of the Baldwinite bottom-up strategy of mobilising the grassroots membership to win party positions. This difference in approach led to struggles between the two factions over candidate selections, with the Hard Left using their control over the party apparatus in tandem with sections of the Right to deselect Soft Left MPs across the state, particularly in western Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong. For example, in Newcastle Bryce Gaudry was deselected in favour of the Right's Jodi McKay, following which about 130 members resigned or were expelled from the city's ALP branches, previously the largest in the state.[12] The factions also had differing views on policy. While members of both the Soft and Hard Left opposed the Hawke/Keating government's privatisation of the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas, the Hard Left was seen as being more staunchly resistant to these changes.[11]

In Victoria, the term "hard left" historically referred to the far-left "Tomato Left" faction, which included Bill Hartley, George Crawford, and Joan Coxsedge.[13][14]

Britain

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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.[15] Within the party, the Labour left or "hard left", represented by the Socialist 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.[16][17][18] Neil Kinnock's first term as party leader was dominated by his clash with the hard left.[19][20][21]

Politicians commonly described as being on the hard left of the Labour Party at the time included Tony Benn, Derek Hatton, Ken Livingstone,[22] Dennis Skinner,[23] and Eric Heffer.[24]

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.[25][26] It has continued to be used pejoratively for the left-wing of the Labour Party.[6] The term was widely used to describe Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters in Momentum.[27][28]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "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. ^ Quinn, T. (14 October 2004). Modernising the Labour Party: Organisational Change since 1983. Springer. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-230-50491-2.
  5. ^ Leach, Robert (15 July 2009). Political Ideology in Britain. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-230-58473-0.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ a b c d Leigh, Andrew (2000). "Factions and Fractions: A Case Study of Power Politics in the Australian Labor Party" (PDF). Australian Journal of Political Science. 35 (3): 427–448. doi:10.1080/713649348. S2CID 144601220.
  12. ^ a b c Daniel, Nicholas (13 November 2020). "Labor's Anthony Albanese Is Not a Friend of Australia's Left – And He Never Was". Jacobin. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  13. ^ Munro, Ian (29 November 2009). "Tomato wars recalled as union marks century". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  14. ^ Corey Oakley &bull (12 July 2012). "The rise and fall of the ALP left in Victoria and NSW". Marxist Left Review. Retrieved 28 February 2026.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ Crines, Andrew Scott (2011). Michael Foot and the Labour leadership. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. p. 161. ISBN 9781443832397.
  17. ^ "What's left of the Labour left?". Total Politics. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  18. ^ Crines, Andrew Scott (12 July 2011). Michael Foot and the Labour Leadership. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-4438-3239-7.
  19. ^ Williams, Ben; Hickson, Kevin (16 June 2022), Keir Starmer: what Labour leader could learn from Neil Kinnock to capitalise on Boris Johnson's woes, The Conversation, doi:10.64628/ab.fkuf7h6xg
  20. ^ Hartley, Olivia (1 October 2020). ""I'll tell you and you'll listen": the Neil Kinnock speech that lives on". The Critic Magazine. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  21. ^ Tranmer, Jeremy (2012). "From Young Socialists to Young Labour : The changing face of left-wing youth politics in Britain". Les politiques de la jeunesse au Royaume-Uni et en France (in French). Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle. p. 42–72. doi:10.4000/books.psn.6871. ISBN 978-2-87854-547-0. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  22. ^ Hill, Dave (2002). Marxism Against Postmodernism in Educational Theory. Lexington Books. p. 188. ISBN 0739103466.
  23. ^ Andrew Roth (20 March 2001). "Dennis Skinner". The Guardian. Andrew Roth's parliament profiles.
  24. ^ Thorpe, Andrew (2008). A History of the British Labour Party (3rd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 228. ISBN 978-1137248152. [dead link]
  25. ^ James Curran (29 July 2005). Culture Wars: The Media and the British Left. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 196, 209.
  26. ^ Use by BBC: * "Kinnock attacks hard left", BBC World Service. 18 September 1998. <Use by The Guardian: Use by The Independent: Use by The Glasgow Herald:
  27. ^ Thompson, Paul; Pitts, Frederick Harry; Ingold, Jo (2021). "A Strategic Left? Starmerism, Pluralism and the Soft Left". The Political Quarterly. 92 (1): 32–39. doi:10.1111/1467-923X.12940. ISSN 0032-3179. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  28. ^ 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 (UK)|]] (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.

Further reading

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