Why is "left" considered liberalism and socialism and the "right" associated with conservativism and others?

Question

Why liberalism AND socialism, comunism are considered left?
Who came with this orientationally defined terms, WHY?

Answer 1

Do you want a historical explanation?

I've been told that in the French Parliament of old, those who supported the King sat on the right hand side, and those who opposed the King sat on the left.

So, those of the old school who supported the Monarchy no matter what (conservative) sat on the right, and the people who believed in "progressive" ideas sat on the left.

Socialism, Communism, and liberalism are relatively new political theories, so they are considered new school, or "left".

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The terms Left and Right have been used to refer to political affiliation since the early part of the French Revolutionary era. They originally referred to the seating arrangements in the various legislative bodies of France, specifically in the French Legislative Assembly of 1791, when the moderate royalist Feuillants sat on the right side of the chamber, while the radical Montagnards sat on the left.

Originally, the defining point on the ideological spectrum was attitudes towards the ancien régime ("old order"). "The Right" thus implied support for aristocratic, royal, or clerical interests, while "The Left" implied opposition to the same. At that time, support for laissez-faire capitalism and free markets were regarded as being on the left whereas today in most Western countries these views would be characterized as being on the Right. But even during the French Revolution an extreme left wing called for government intervention in the economy on behalf of the poor.

In Great Britain at that time, Edmund Burke (now generally described as a conservative) held similar economic views to this first French Left. Nonetheless, he strongly criticized their anti-clericalism and their willingness to turn to mob violence for support and to overturn institutions of long standing. Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France criticized the Left as excessively rationalistic and disrespecting of the wisdom of tradition.

Answer 2

Don't cofuse the word Socialist and Liberal because your argument has failed on it's face!

Plese read this carefully so you might get a clue as to why you are not correct in your assumption!!

Liberalism is an ideology, philosophy, and political tradition that holds liberty as the primary political value. Broadly speaking, liberalism seeks a society characterized by freedom of thought for individuals, limitations on power, especially of government and religion, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market economy that supports relatively free private enterprise, and a transparent system of government in which the rights of minorities are guaranteed. In modern society, liberals favour a liberal democracy with open and fair elections, where all citizens have equal rights by law and an equal opportunity to succeed


I guess you don't believe in any of these!!

Answer 3

Because left wingers are notorious word stealers.

They've stolen the words liberal and progressive as if that makes them automatically on the side of enlightenment. In reality a liberal can never be left wing because the left are always putting restrictions on individual liberty.

Ronald Reagan is partly to blame however by contrasting his conservatism with the Hollywood "liberalism" he personally despised. Reagan was a social conservative but it's possible to be right wing and socially liberal. Libertarians tend to be.

Answer 4

Because people with similar views tended to sit together when they met in the early legislatures. Originally, the conservatives tended to gather on the right side of the aisle, and the liberals tended to sit on the left side.

Answer 5

don't know who but if you think that thy all work together to buffalo us then its to get the people who associate right as right. to lean in a favorable manner. like stacking the deck. you'd want the one that was right. like a game server with all the good players on one side thy never lose. and thy all ways get what thy want. its cheating on a democratic scale. like democracy hay thats part 2 of the stack. (demacrat)(democrazy)

Answer 6

Because being conservative is RIGHT. Actually, it comes from which side of the chambers the parties sit on. But my first statement still holds true.