David S. writes:
Hitler was opposed to Soviet Bolshevism. However, he had no problem labeling himself a socialist. One could say that George Meany and Harry Truman opposed communism, but that would not put them on the right side of the spectrum in your view, would it? I think the analysis requires you to abstractly identify the necessary elements of the class of concepts that make up the "Left," without thinking about Hitler, and then seeing where Hitler fits (and also self-proclaimed leftists). The opposite of the extreme list is the extreme right only if you imagine political ideology as a linear spectrum. If you imagine political ideology as a circle, then there is little real difference between the extremes. Or you can analyze ideology as a grid with personal liberty on one axis and economic liberty on an other axis, in which case certain extremes are in different quadrants, but would not be extreme opposites of each other.
================================ Almost certainly mentioned already, but racial or ethnic superiority is integral to fascist ideology, and has been expressed in murderous fashion in many cases, genocidally under the Nazis. The left is in theory internationalist, and has historically demonstrated this in practice by leading campaigns against racism and anti-semitism and for full equality under the law. Many such campaigns, most famously in Germany as the Nazis neared power, have led to pitched battles in the streets, while conservatives and even many liberals favouring civil rights, passively or equivocally stood by. The Soviet Bolsheviks defended the Jews against right-wing pogroms prior to and during the revolution and subsequently during the Nazi genocide, and imposed harsh penalties against manifestations of anti-semitism within their own ranks. Race prejudice and repression remains a central issue, and the lines of political demarcation haven't much changed. How does your description of there being "little real difference between the extremes" square with the above? There are other crucial differences in the economic programmes of left and right, some of which also have undoubtedly been well canvassed on the thread, which I've only followed sporadically. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
