On the Three Climaxes of Western Left Ideology

Zhang Chunhou

Abstract: Since the French Revolution, left wing and right wing or the Left and the Right have acquired definite meaning in general, but their concrete content changes as the times changes. What is more, as specific political factions, left wing and right wing can change into each other. From the perspective of concreteness and historicity of the left-wing ideologies and based on systematic examination of the history of modern western political thoughts, this paper thinks that modern western left-wing ideologies have undergone three climaxes. The bourgeois ideologies of the Renaissance, the Reform and the Enlightenment are the first climax, opposed to Loyalists and the classic conservatives. The utopian socialism, scientific socialism and anarchism constitute the second ideological climax, opposed to the bourgeois liberalism. The popularity of the new left and the new social movement started in the 1960s is the third ideological climax, opposed to the new Anglo-American right. Contemporary mainstream western liberal ideologies are deeply affected by the second left-wing ideological climax, and form the center left and center right leaning toward the middle ground. The third left-wing ideological climax deviates from economic issues and class confrontation, of which the plural trend and confrontation with the new right bring about deep changes in the social and political relations of the western developed countries, thus forming the political formation of rising center, balanced poles, and compromise of the center left and center right. As a result, the contemporary western society and politics tend to be tolerant, open and diverse.