Hi!
I know I know, we don’t like politics here much but I’ve been wondering if there are any good resources to learn about it. I think it’s important for being part of the society, no?
I saw Ground News, and though it seems interesting, I don’t know what right leaning left leaning centre means and what to watch out for.
I don’t want to be an expert, but I’d appreciate to know the basics so I know what’s going on around me. Can I learn about it in general or is it per country thing I don’t know.
Thanks :)
I think a great starting place is to learn about what people mean by Right and Left, then go from there to see how it applies to your local area, country, and how your country interacts with the world.
Before that, though, it’s important to understand Modes of Production and Class dynamics. Modes of Production refer to how industry is owned and directed. From collectively owned production in Socialism to Privately owned in Capitalism, these Modes of Production are made up of class dynamics, like Worker/Owner in Capitalism, or Serf/Feudal Lord in Feudalism. Leftist structures seek class abolition in general, as Leftists see class dynamics as key drivers of misery and a block on Human progression.
Right generally means supporting the current class dynamics, ie social relation to the Means of Production. Feudalism, Capitalism, etc. It is in this manner that both fascism and Social Democracy, despite being very different, can be considered right wing, as both retain Capitalism’s class dynamics.
Left generally refers to the revolutionary side, ie fundamentally changing existing class dynamics. It is in this manner that Anarchism, Communism, and Socialism are left wing. All 3 of those umbrella terms seek general elimination of Capitalism as a whole, and wish to eliminate class struggle via collective ownership, rather than individual ownership.
Beyond this, there is the Overton Window. This is a snapshot of your given country. In America, there are 2 right wing parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, but Liberalism is less right wing than Conservativism, which is welcoming to fascists. In this manner, Liberals are sometimes considered left or left of center, despite believing in Capitalism and supporting the status quo. The Overton Window is where things get confusing for many people!
Taking it all together, looking up youtube videos and reading wikipedia articles is great for learning more about what you should learn more about, then you can read books and go deeper than that. On Lemmy, you’ll find many Marxists and Anarchists, as well as Social Democrats and Liberals, but very few conservatives or fascists, so the Overton Window is definitely skewed to the Left here.
There are many meanings of left and right, often shaped by the current political debate in a given country. The term originates from the French Revolution, predating Marx’s discovery of the labor theory you’re describing.
Social Democracy is generally considered left, even in former communist states, where the status quo was (theoretically) a system without private ownership of production. This is because Social Democratic ideologies advocate for increased state welfare, increased labor rights, and social progressivism, whereas the right-leaning ideologies in most countries advocate for unregulated markets, and social conservatism. Of course, as you mentioned, I’m just describing how the Overton window decides the break-point between right and left in most countries.