These words refer to persons whose ideologies stress the elimination of inequalities, especially those resting on privilege and inherited wealth. Left-winger arose as a term because in many European countries, conservatives are seated on the presiding officer’s right while their opponents are seated on the left. This gave rise to the practice of locating political movements, ideologies and activists on a spectrum of fairly general applicability. This spectrum reads, from left to right: communist , socialist , progressive , liberal , conservative, reactionary, fascist. At both ends of the spectrum, left and right, are those who are called radicals , in that they favour drastic measures, such as revolution, in order to achieve a complete re-structuring of society. In common usage in countries such as Australia, the word radical is usually taken to mean left-winger , presumably because at present there are many more radicals on the left than on the right. In practice, extreme left-wingers experience great difficulty in realizing the goals of their ideology. Thus, in the Soviet Union, great inequalities in power and wealth have become apparent, while the official ideology still stresses the communist’s goal of equality and shared ownership of the nation’s wealth. Because of this, and because of those on the right often attempt to equate communist with socialist , parties such as the Australian Labor Party have come to stress their commitment to the ideal of equality by describing themselves as democratic socialists . Nevertheless, certain similarities between communists and socialists remain, such as a stress on the working class as a politically progressive element in such society, and advocacy of social (as opposed to capitalist) control of the means of production – which usually, but not invariably, has meant control by the State.

Liberal , according to its etymology, pertains to someone devoted to freedom. In theory, therefore, there is no necessary reason why the word should carry the connotation of left-winger : Many liberals in the 19th century believed that there was a conflict between freedom and equality. In this century, liberals have come to stress the desirability of the egalitarian goal of guaranteeing basic freedoms for all, and may thus be considered left of the centre of the spectrum, although they still differ from socialists in their distaste for direct governmental control of the economic sector. In Australia, the Liberal Party is generally considered to be the more right-wing of the two major parties, but is still to the left of centre when compared with most non-labour parties in other countries. Outside the political sphere, liberal can refer to someone who favours tolerance, permissiveness and constructive change, as in education and theology: A liberal who favoured the new maths; those cardinals at the Ecumenical Council who became known as liberals .

Progressive is a word that has been used most commonly in political discourse in the United States. Thus it has at least twice appeared in the name of a U.S. third party to the left of Democratic Party liberals . The term would usually imply a stance more activist than that of a liberal but one more moderate than that of a socialist . On the other hand, the word can sometimes be used simply to indicate militance of the left: The Progressive Labor Party in the United States. Used more generally outside politics, the word can suggest someone who is forward-looking and dynamic: a progressive businessman who had contributed to many community and civic projects.