What is the Difference between a Leftist vs Liberal?

Politics is confusing, to say the least. Over the years that humans have lived in an urbanized society, numerous ideologies have appeared and disappeared. Years and years of humans evolving perspectives as the world changes around them. It’s no wonder everything in politics is so complex, and more often than not, too much. It doesn’t help that misinformation is so widespread and available to the general people through means of technology. It makes it so propaganda is always willingly being spread. However, one question has arisen amongst many young people, Americans specifically: what is a leftist vs a liberal? 

Leftism and liberalism have been conflated numerous times in our political environment. The United States does not have a clear cut when it comes to the political spectrum as some other countries, and neither is it all inclusive. For this reason. Many of us simply believed liberal and leftist to be complementary terms. However, they are far from the same, and that would reign upon your question of leftist vs liberal. If you are asking this question, then you have come to exactly the right place. Here is where you can learn from a peer the difference between a leftist and liberal, and learn what ideology you truly want to follow.

What is a Liberal?

Let’s start with what most of us Americans are familiar with: a liberal. We see liberals existing in politics all the time, posing as the direct opposition to the conservative parties in our country. We all seem to think we have a good understanding of what it means to be liberal, but once you start using it interchangeably with leftist, you actually don’t have a complete understanding of the two political ideologies. 

Liberalism is a political philosophy that advocates for individual liberty and rights to private property. It also calls for a free market, which is a market where the prices are determined by the supply and demand of the product(s) and unable to be affected by government intervention. Essentially, a liberal wants a very individualistic society, where people have equal access to private ownership and ability to control means of production.

However, unlike what many of you might think, liberalism is not a left-wing philosophy. While it might appear to be more progressive than the general right wing we understand, the conservative ideology, it is right-wing as well. This is where all the confusion happens. If liberalism isn’t left-wing, then what is?

What is a Leftist?

Now let’s get to the real revelation. What actually is leftism? Well, in the simplest terms, leftism begins at the rejection of capitalism, as anti-capitalism is the basis of leftist ideology. The left-wing, just as the right-wing, is not a  monolith. Just as conservatism and liberalism both exist under the right-wing spectrum while supposedly being rivaling positions, a multitude of political ideologies exist under the left-wing.

Communism

Probably the most defining ideology under the left-wing is communism. According to Engels in The Principles of Communism, “communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.” Its end goal for a stateless, classless, moneyless society where everyone gets the resources they need to live. Unlike capitalists, communists do not believe that people should have to work for money in order to pay for the life they desire, rather that everyone has what they need without money involved.

Socialism

Another popular ideology under the left-wing is socialism. Lenin is most known for creating the basis of socialism, especially since he was actively attempting to implement socialism in Russia after the revolution. Socialism calls for public ownership of means of production and distribution. As seen with Lenin, resources and wealth hoarded by the bourgeoisie, or the wealthy class,  would be distributed amongst the society. Wealth and private property would still exist, just in a way that was more socialized to prioritize the man. 

That’s where socialism and communism are different. In communism, wealth and private property is entirely eradicated while those aspects still exist in socialism, just under control to promote a more fair use of resources. For this reason, socialism is often considered the transitional state to communism, where the “dictatorship of the proletariat”, or power to the working class rather than the wealthy, is necessary to reach a classless society where the state is eradicated.

Other Ideologies

There are still many other ideologies other than socialism and communism. Anarchists, for example, exist in similarity to the two mentioned prior, just that it doesn’t provide a way to reach the stateless society it advocates for. There are also ideologies such as Marxism, Leninism, Marxist-Leninism. Stalinism, Trotskyism, Maoism, and many more, which essentially just identify people who agree with the theory of those well-known leftists figures. As you get into the leftist sphere, I highly suggest you do your own research on all the ideas of these figures to know where you really stand.

What is the Difference?

Okay, here comes the grand finale. What exactly is the difference between a liberal vs leftist? Well, they are truly more different than they are similar.

Firstly, liberalism is an ideology of the right-wing. As I have explained in the description of a liberal, liberalism  supports private property and free market, both aspects of a capitalistic society. Being a pro-capitalist political position, liberalism is very explicitly right-wing. This, obviously, is different from leftism, which encompasses all the ideologies under the left-wing. 

However, unlike conservatism, liberalism does seem to support more progressive stances, especially in terms of race, gender, and sexuality. However, this progressivism isn’t quite to the level that appears with leftists. Liberals want to reform a capitalistic society to hopefully reduce the effect of capitalism on minority groups. However, leftist call for the eradication of capitalism to give rise to the working class, and consequently minority groups, not simply to cushion the fall.

Conclusion

These are the basics you need to know to truly differentiate a leftist vs liberal. It’s not a bad question, even if you feel so. Unfortunately, our education system here in the US isn’t very good at educating on politics. Sometimes, it’s up to every one of us to do the digging to learn what we need to. Otherwise, we will be stuck in a mindless loop of consuming propaganda, unable to create original thought and bring forth true progress.