What does left and right mean

Left and right in politics represent two factions with different positions in politics, also known as leftists and rightists.

Traditionally, the left usually advocates positive reforms, the abolition of old ideologies and systems and the establishment of new ones. The opposition usually considers itself to be leftist.?

The Right is generally conservative, advocating steady, orderly, gradual, and slow reforms and emphasizing the preservation of old traditions. Royalists usually consider themselves to be on the right. Both the left and the right are relative, and the specifics of what they advocate are different in different contexts. They cannot be categorized into static "doctrines" or "classes".

These two terms are fairly broad descriptive terms that can be used for a wide range of dialectical interpretations, as well as for describing or distinguishing political positions, political ideologies, or political parties. Unless applied to the multidimensional political spectrum, these two terms are usually used to describe two completely opposite positions.

Expanded:

p>It is customary to use the terms "left" or "right" to distinguish between political factions or parties. This habit originated in the three levels of the French Revolution.

At that time in France, the first and second classes were the privileged classes, including the clergy and the nobility, who did not pay taxes and enjoyed high salaries. The third class included the bourgeoisie, workers, peasants and urban commoners, who created wealth but had no place in politics, were economically exploited and had to pay taxes.

In May 1789, in order to solve the financial crisis, King Louis XVI of France convened a meeting of representatives of the three classes at the Palace of Versailles on the outskirts of Paris. The king attempted to raise taxes on the third class, which wanted to limit the king's power and introduce reforms.

The delegates of the first and second classes were overwhelmingly in favor of the king and sat on his right; the delegates of the third class were against him and sat on his left. From then on, when the National Convention was convened, the radicals who favored democracy and freedom sat on the left, and the royalists and conservatives sat on the right, invariably forming the left and right factions.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Leftists and Rightists