When I started twenty years ago with the study, the GDR was liquidated. This experience was fundamental to my understanding of capitalism. The understanding that the cold war – led one sided – is ongoing and that constant is class war from above, was ultimately the beginning of my class-consciousness. In order to develop that one must already be a leftist.
In these terrible for the East, but for me hopeful days of my first semester, I was shocked by the testimony of a fellow student (- Another Eastman (Ostler (West German: Ossi))), the discussion with the words: “Oh, right-wing-left-wing – all the same!” wanted to escape. “Right and left – that’s all bunkum!” he said.
This view, I have met many times so should be explained here, why left-wing and right-wing can not be mistaken, and why the distinction is fundamentally important in politics.
Capitalism is characterized by class conflicts. So this is not – but that class contradictions are obscured by the ruling class. It must therefore be explained what’s driving all the real thinking political organizations – that dimension must be illuminated which spans the political spectrum. The political spectrum ranges from left to right.
So what is left and what right?
A leftist to be does mean to be egalitarian, a rightist to be – elitist.
A leftist to be means to be for equal rights of all to be, a rightist to be – fight for particular interests.
A leftist to be means to be in solidary, a rightist to be – corrupt and unsolidary.
A leftist to be means to fight for the human right, a rightist to be – to combat it.
A leftist to be means to combat the exploitative and oppressive government, a rightist to be – obeying the government.
A leftist to be means to love people, a rightist to be – the state.
A leftist to be means that the state belongs to the people (contributors) and serves them, a rightist to be – that people belong to the state and serve.
Implications
Therefore means to be a leftist to stand up against discrimination against minorities, against racism and fascism, against exploitation and degradation of rights, to be a rightist – to be the opposite.
And again to be a leftist means to be against conscription and against forced services, to be to be a rightist – to demand sacrifices from the people and to make people into murderers.
Therefore means to be a leftist – to fight for democracy, to be a rightist – to fight against it.
Therefore means to be a leftist – to combat privileges, to be a rightist – to enforce them by violence.
Therefore means a leftist to be – to be altruistic and to strengthen the common good, to be a rightist – to be selfish and fight it.
Therefore means a leftist to be ecologically to be, a rightist to be – without regard to consume.
Therefore means a leftist to be – International Friendship, to be a rightist – war.
Secondary implications
Therefore means to be a leftist in capitalism that we may imprisoned or murdered for our convictions.
Therefore means a rightist to be in capitalism left opposition to spy out and to track and to kill trade unionists.
Therefore means a leftist to be – to split the class compromise, be a rightist – to drive with the D-Mark to Mallorca and to vote for CDU (the entrepreneurs party in FRG).
Therefore means a leftist to be, in capitalism’s own safety to put the workplace, the livelihood, health or even life for my conviction on the line.
Because Leftists exploitation as the cause (reason) of the oppression and exploitation (→ »Left and Property«(unready)) as the cause of private property of the means of production have identified, are leftists against the private ownership of productive assets and rightists are in favor of that anyone can accumulate any amount of property.
In every country there is a spectrum of different mixtures of these two very different positions. From left-right scheme divergent positions, we call apolitical. They play no role for social progress. Extreme-right positions are logically inhuman and public danger. They impede the progress.
Therefore means a rightist to be, in socialism – to be locked up as long as one is a rightist because fascists are not allowed to run loose!
Implications for the spectrum
The described left-right model is important for understanding the political landscape.
Exploiters to continue to exploit someone, have to be able to suppress. In order to suppress and in order to move other people to help them and thus to convince especially the volunteers who are not exploiters, of the meaning of their activities, they need a right attitude. The conservatism (in Germany) is one such attitude mixed with religious ornaments and family romance.
The left-right diagram shows why the “Greens” are no longer green. They are no longer left-wing. Left know that both social and environmental demands can always be enforced only against corporate interests – not with them! They know that the capitalist state can not be democratic. “The Greens” do not know it longer and aren’t able to push through anything.
The left-right model shows that the CDU (Christ-democratic Union – the conservative party) is far on the right of the middle and the warring SPD (so-called social-democratic party) with its low wage slavery and the pension reform is today also far to the right of center.
The Left Party, which sometimes takes part in provincial governments must follow in a bourgeois coalition government, a mixture of capitalist policy (ie suppression) and left objectives. It is clear that a mixture of repression and emancipation, a mix of private capitalist appropriation and the common good, a mixture of accumulation and redistribution to bottom, a mixture of war and peace not can work. It is therefore far from to be the leftmost force in the political spectrum.
[Evariste]
German source: »Was ist der Unterschied zwischen Links und Rechts?«