Left and right

Summary

Dominique Pagani holds to the divide between right and left against those who call it obsolete1, but he refuses to judge the left by its label. Following Marx, one does not judge an epoch by its self-consciousness: calling oneself left-wing is not enough to be so2. He contrasts the left of Jaurès with that of Mitterrand, a man of Vichy and an Atlanticist, and of Jules Moch, and he maintains that the leftists of '68 stood to the right of De Gaulle1. For him, the anti-communist left has served the far right, as Noske shows2. He describes a "left-washing": a false left replaces class struggle with societal demands that divide the collective worker, and it abandons the tricolour flag and popular sovereignty to Marine Le Pen3. He adds that the right is more effective under a left-wing label. He sees "Islamo-leftism" as a right-wing term that masks "Islamo-Atlanticism". Finally, he defines the left by its content: taking the side of the victims, of David rather than Goliath4.

1. 1#11 Ukraine: mathematics unites men, politics divides them (Aristotle)24 Mar 2022
2. 2Who is hiding beneath the surfaces? Aesthetics and politics20 May 2022
3. 3Left-washing: are the woke the most asleep?17 Nov 2021
4. 4Neither left nor right? Islamo-leftism?17 Oct 2023

Introduction produced automatically from the 4 sessions on this theme, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the sessions.