NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/bit/listserv/politics/20627

Text File | 1992-12-24 | 1.7 KB | 36 lines

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Date:         Thu, 24 Dec 1992 11:54:00 EST
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From:         waiting for the wolves <[e-mail]>
Subject:      left-right origin revisited
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Daniel:
>The terms "right wing" and "left wing" come from a time when facists and
>communists were two extremes on a certai national government.  In the
>legislative house, the facists sat on the far right of the room, the communists
>on the far left.  Other factions placed themselves inbetween these two extremes
>depending on how close they were to one or the other.

Bzzzzzt!  But thanks for playing...

As I posted previously, the left wing and right wing terms originate in the
French Revolution, "...when the partisans of the revolution were seated on
the left side of the national assembly and the proponents of the ancien
regime' on the right.  As such, they have retained a generic meaning over the
centuries, although their specific meaning has changed with each new political
era."

(source: "Looking left and right: the evolution of political direction", John
Judis, 'In These Times', June 12-25, 1991, pp. 12-13.)

Gary W. Olson                   "Santa'll cut ya, man!  Santa's a blade man!"
[e-mail]     -Crow, MST3K presentation of
[e-mail]               'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'