Political persuasion labels

Author
Discussion

FoolOnTheHill

Original Poster:

1,018 posts

217 months

Tuesday 5th May 2009
quotequote all
Just been pondering this.

Why is the left wing "left", and the right wing "right".

Why not top, or bottom, or up or down?

Who invented these labels?

anonymous-user

60 months

Tuesday 5th May 2009
quotequote all
GOOGLE!!!!!!!!!

In politics the term left wing derives from the French Revolution, when radical Montagnard deputies from the Third Estate generally sat to the left of the president's chair, a habit which began in the Estates General of 1789. The moderate Feuillants generally sat to the right. It is still the tradition in the French Assemblée Nationale for the representatives to be seated left-to-right (relative to the Assemblée president) according to their political alignment. In some European countries classical liberals were labelled as 'left' before Marxist ideas came to define the left. In the case of Denmark and Norway the historical liberal parties still carry the name Venstre (literally meaning 'Left') even though they are now considered to be right-wing. A similar phenomenon exists in France, where it is known as sinistrisme.

FoolOnTheHill

Original Poster:

1,018 posts

217 months

Tuesday 5th May 2009
quotequote all
Google invented them??? eek


anonymous-user

60 months

Tuesday 5th May 2009
quotequote all
FoolOnTheHill said:
Google invented them??? eek
No, just lazy feckers who can't be arsed to look anything up for themselves wink