Looking Left

At a time when the majority of Americans equate ‘liberal’ with ‘left’, it is not surprising that American leftists find it hard to agree what the left really is. So it is remarkable how much these two very dissimilar historians do agree. Both adopt capacious and historically changing definitions. Both see equality, democracy and freedom as core issues of the left; both consider equality the more fundamental cause, yet recognize that the left has achieved more in expanding freedom. Both doubt that transcending capitalism or establishing socialism is currently an achievable goal. They arrive at similar – and sobering – conclusions. First, while seldom, if ever, capable of fully realizing its proximate, let alone ultimate goals, the left has nonetheless been disproportionately responsible for such progress as the US has made toward its putative ideals of freedom, equality and common good. Second, the left has made this contribution, however, primarily when allied with and putting pressure on liberals, and only rarely as an independent movement.

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