Hard left orhard-left is a term that is used particularly inAustralian andBritish English to describe the most radical members of aleft-wingpolitical party orpolitical group.[1][2] The term is also anoun andmodifier taken to mean thefar-left[1] and theleft-wing political movements and ideas outside the mainstreamcentre-left.[3] The term has been used to describe wings and factions of several political parties across the world, such as the left-wing of theLabour Party in the United Kingdom[4] and left-wing factions of theAustralian Labor Party.[5][6]
As with theLabor Right faction, theLabor 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.InNew 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 likeFrank Walker,Arthur Gietzelt, andAustralian Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese.[7] 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 politiciansPeter Baldwin andJack Ferguson.[8]InVictoria, the term "hard left" historically referred to thefar-left "Tomato Left" faction, which includedBill Hartley,George Crawford, andJoan Coxsedge.
The term was first used in the context of debates within both theLabour Party and the broaderleft in the 1980s to describeTrotskyist groups such as theMilitant tendency,Socialist Organiser andSocialist Action.[9] Within the party, the Labour left or "hard left", represented by theSocialist Campaign Group, subscribed to more stronglysocialist views while the "soft left", associated for example with theTribune Group, embraced more moderatesocial democratic ideas.[10][11]
Politicians commonly described as being on the hard left of the Labour Party at the time includedTony Benn,Derek Hatton,Ken Livingstone,[12]Dennis Skinner,[13] andEric Heffer.[14]
The term has since then often been used pejoratively by Labour's political opponents, for example, during theConservative Party's election campaigns of the early 1990s, and by the media.[15][16] It has continued to be used pejoratively for the left-wing of the Labour Party.[4]
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
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.
However, there is concern in the parliamentary party that several hard-left groups such as Left Unity, the Socialist Workers party (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.