Africa South Africa The
uMkhonto weSizwe Party is a self-proclaimed socialist and
left-wing populist party in South Africa founded by
Jacob Zuma. The party participates in the
Progressive Caucus led by the
Marxist–Leninist Economic Freedom Fighters party. It has been described as a "radical left-wing party" for its support of socialist and populist causes, but is also described as conservative-left or as being part of the
right-wing to
far-right due to its use of
anti-foreigner and
anti-LGBT rhetoric. The party supports
monarchism and looks to expand the powers of traditional tribal monarchs in South Africa.
Tanzania The ruling Tanzanian
Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party has been described as both centre-left and conservative. Originally an
African socialist party and a supporter of the
Ujamaa system, it has since transitioned to supporting a
mixed economy, while adopting more conservative stances on cultural issues, including homosexuality and birth control.
Social conservative policies within the CCM were especially prominent under
John Magufuli, who served as President of Tanzania from 2015 to his 2021 death.
Asia Cambodia The
Cambodian People's Party (CPP) has been described as a left-conservative party. The CPP previously adhered to
Buddhist socialism and
Marxism–Leninism, before embracing conservatism and
monarchism in 1991. Despite the ideological shift, the party continues to follow the "principles of Leninist party organization" and retains a "communist party structure pervading all administrative levels and institutions in Cambodia". The party is additionally considered to have "embedded the legacy of communism based on Leninist ideology" into its party policies, as it continues to use socialist-oriented rhetoric and policies to maintain legitimacy, such as through promoting
gender egalitarianism and establishing state-backed organizations such as the Kampuchea Revolutionary Women's Association. The CPP hosted a
Socialist International meeting in 2004, remains a close ally of the
Communist Party of Vietnam, and most party members are former communists.
China In China, orthodox Marxist-Leninist ideological
bureaucrats who were skeptical of the
Chinese economic reforms were simultaneously regarded as both left-wing and conservative. The left-conservative faction of the post-reform and opening up
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is represented by the supporters of
Chen Yun,
Deng Liqun, and
Xi Jinping Thought within the party. CCP's
neoauthoritarianism was described as "right-wing" by the liberal Chinese-Canadian sociologist
Yuezhi Zhao.
Jiang Shigong, a
Schmittian thinker, is a "conservative socialist" exponent of Xi Jinping Thought and is opposed to
liberalism in China. According to studies conducted by the
Cato Institute and
Stanford University, Chinese citizens who support socially conservative and
nationalist policies are more likely to support economic socialism and oppose
capitalism; while Chinese who support
globalization and
socially progressive policies are more likely to support
free-market capitalism.
Iran The "
Khomeinist Left" () or "Islamic Left" () played a crucial role in the early years of the
Iranian Revolution, advocating for
social justice and
anti-imperialism. They combined cultural and religious conservatism (strict adherence to Islamic law and the
Velayat-e Faqih) with left-wing economic policies. The
Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line was a leading organization within the Khomeinist Left, which led the
Iran hostage crisis. However, many figures within the Khomeinist Left have become
Islamic liberal "
Reformists" since the 1990s. In 1991, the left-wing Khomeinist political party, the
Assembly of the Forces of Imam's Line, was founded. In the 1990s, as the "Reformists" increasingly embraced
market liberalism, the political space for the Islamic Left was largely vacated. This created a vacuum that was filled in the 2000s by the
right-wing populism of
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Emerging from the Islamic conservative "
Principlists", Ahmadinejad maintained a hardline stance on Islamic social values and national sovereignty while simultaneously pursuing an economic agenda of massive wealth redistribution and
anti-elitist rhetoric. Scholars have characterized this synthesis as "plebeian conservatism" or "radical conservatism" due to its departure from the pro-market stances of the traditional Iran's Islamic Right. Consequently, his movement has been described as a form of left-conservatism, though within the Iranian establishment, it was later marginalized and pejoratively labeled as the "
deviant current" by more traditionalist Principlists.
Europe Denmark The
Social Democrats have been described as left-conservative under the leadership of
Mette Frederiksen. Under her leadership, the party adopted an oppositional stance on immigration, particularly in regards to immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, framing it as a response to the perceived negative aftereffects of
globalization. It has also generally downplayed certain sociocultural issues, such as gender and race, in its programme.
France The views of
Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the
French Communist Party, have been described as left-conservative. and
Manova News, operated by Jens Wernicke. During the
COVID-19 protests in Germany, left-wingers and conservatives sometimes protested together against the German government's prevention measures. speaking at a
BSW electoral campaign event, 2024
Sahra Wagenknecht and her
Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) political party are noted for their "conservative leftist" outlook. BSW's platform emphasizes a
redistributionist economic program and policies favoring the economic interests of the working class while adopting conservative stances on cultural issues. Wagenknecht criticized the
democratic socialist Die Linke party for ceasing "to reflect the outlook of poorer Germans" and for intolerant "
wokeness". KKE voted against the introduction of
same-sex civil unions in 2015, but has also criticized
homophobia and discrimination in general. Despite criticizing homophobia, KKE envisions Greek
communist society as promoting
heteronormativity and having little room for
non-heterosexuals, with the party stating: "With the formation of a socialist-communist society, a new type of partnership will undoubtedly be formed—a relatively stable heterosexual relationship and reproduction".
Italy There existed a left-conservative current in the
Italian Communist Party (PCI). Pasolini himself would embrace left-conservative criticisms of the
1968 movement in Italy, believing the protests to be the result of the
Italian economic miracle and subsequent rise of
consumerism,
modernity, and the permissiveness of divorce and abortion in Italian society. In 21st-century Italy, political commentators and politicians
Diego Fusaro,
Marco Rizzo, and
Alessandro Di Battista have expressed left-conservative positions and cited Marxism when explaining their opposition to
LGBTQ rights and
legalization of illegal drugs.
Poland During its foundation, the
Law and Justice (PiS) party sought to position itself as a
centrist Christian democratic party, although shortly after, it adopted more
culturally and
socially conservative views and began their shift to the
right. Under
Jarosław Kaczyński's
national-conservative and
law and order agenda, PiS embraced
economic interventionism. During the 2010s, the party also adopted
right-wing populist positions. After regaining power in
2015, PiS gained popularity with more populist social policies, pursuing close and popular relations with the
Catholic Church. Despite its embrace of the right, the party has been described as "
left-
paternalistic", and left-conservative.
Russia Political scientist Nikolai Rabotyazhev described Russian left-conservatism as an extension of
socialist ideologies writing: "the possibility of the existence of a political phenomenon such as left-wing conservatism is explained by the fact that conservative and socialist ideologies initially had numerous points of contact. Conservatism and socialism, in reaction to the process of modernization, rejected a liberal civilization based on individualism, rationalism, and the power of money." The
National Patriotic Forces of Russia attempts to unite left-nationalist and
right-nationalist political groups in support of KPRF. Rabotyazhev describes the
Izborsky Club, a
Russian conservative think tank, as being imbued with left-conservative thought, describing some members of the think tank as attempting to synthesize the Russian "
red" and "
white" traditions.
United Kingdom , founder of the
Blue Labour faction Historically, the
Labour Party included a strong socially conservative element. From its inception, the party consisted of a broad coalition of the more
progressive middle-class
intelligentsia and the more socially conservative
working classes and
trade unions. This coalition was enabled by Labour's
socialist or
social democratic policy agenda and its links to the trade union movement in the era of mass union membership, which enabled the inclusion of socially conservative voices in the party, particularly social conservatives in the working class who saw Labour's socialist and left-wing economic policies as improving their living standards and felt no affinity with the traditionally upper-class
Conservative Party. Labour also continued to adopt more socially conservative stances on certain issues, embracing patriotism and championing
opposition to immigration and
Euroscepticism. These were eventually toned down or superseded by progressive stances at the turn of the 21st century as the party shifted away from socialism towards
social liberalism in the 1980s and 1990s. Despite Starmer's economic conservatism, the Blue Labour movement is widely seen as exerting significant influence over his social policies, including opposition to immigration, an emphasis on nationalism and patriotism, and
opposition to
transgender rights. A separate left-conservative tradition existed in the United Kingdom, known as
Tory anarchism, which was expressed by
George Orwell and the
Independent Labour Party. More recently, the
Workers Party of Britain, a left-conservative party led by former MP
George Galloway, was founded in 2019 and saw Galloway make a temporary return to the
UK Parliament after winning the
2024 Rochdale by-election.
North America Mexico The
Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (PVEM), a Mexican centre-left environmentalist party that is part of the
Sigamos Haciendo Historia electoral coalition with the
progressive Morena party and
Maoist Labor Party, maintains left-conservative and
green conservative positions. In 2008, the PVEM initiated an advertising campaign in favor of reintroducing the
death penalty in Mexico. During a 2009 interview, PVEM candidate Gamaliel Ramirez verbally attacked an openly gay candidate for mayor of
Guadalajara and called for
criminal laws against homosexuality to be established. That same year, during the
2009 Mexican legislative election, the party campaigned in favor of the death penalty for murderers and kidnappers and for the extension of school hours.
United States The
Prohibition Party is a
political party in the United States founded in 1869 known for its
opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and for being an integral part of the
temperance movement. Although it was never one of the leading parties in the United States, the Prohibition Party was an important force in the
Third Party System during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The organization declined during the
Prohibition Era in the United States but saw a rise in vote totals following the repeal of the
Eighteenth Amendment in 1933. However, following
World War II it declined, with
1948 being the last time its presidential candidate received over 100,000 votes and
1976 being the last time the party received over 10,000 votes. Its platforms throughout the 19th century supported
progressive and
populist positions including
women's suffrage, equal racial and gender rights,
bimetallism, equal pay, and an income tax. The platform of the party today is
progressive on economic issues in that it supports
Social Security and
free education, but is
conservative on social issues, such as supporting temperance and advocating for a
consistent life ethic. The party also advocates for
environmental stewardship. A study found that that 12% of voters who supported
democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the
2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries voted for
right-wing populist candidate
Donald Trump in the
2016 U.S. presidential election. Compared to average
Democratic Party voters, Sanders–Trump voters were much more
conservative on racial and social issues. Over 40% of Sanders–Trump voters disagreed that
white people have advantages, compared to less than 10% of Sanders voters who voted for Bernie's rival
Hillary Clinton. Compared to the average Sanders voter, Sanders–Trump voters tend to be
white and older. A
CCES survey showed that only between 17% and 18% of Sanders–Trump voters identified themselves as ideologically
liberal, with the rest either identifying as
moderate or
conservative. Jeff Stein of
Vox suggested that many Sanders–Trump voters may have been
Reagan Democrats who were white and pro-
union. According to a March 2020
ABC News/
Washington Post poll, 15% of
Sanders 2020 campaign supporters planned to vote for Trump. Citing exit polls on the
2020 South Carolina Democratic presidential primary,
Washington Examiner columnist
Timothy P. Carney suggested that Sanders voters were demographically similar to Trump voters. In 2020,
Brian Schaffner suggested that Sanders' appeal to
Sanders–Trump voters was due to his outsider status, his populist policies, and his targeting of issues which affected groups of people Trump attempted to court in his
2016 campaign. of the
American Communist Party, a left-conservative party in the United States In late 2022, American political commentators
Jackson Hinkle and
Haz Al-Din began advocating for the idea of "
MAGA Communism". Hinkle was a
Bernie Bro and supporter of
Muammar Gaddafi, while Al-Din had held
Western Marxist and
Bordigist views before embracing Marxism–Leninism.
Vice described MAGA Communism as a "swirl of social conservatism, patriotism and subversive energy". Hinkle and other supporters of the idea argued that those who care about the
American working class should ally with the
MAGA movement, which they considered to be the largest
anti-establishment movement in the United States, to incite a
populist revolution. When Hinkle was questioned on whether he actually supported
communism; he said that the United States can learn from the
Soviet Union and
Communist China, that
Marxism–Leninism has historically been conservative, and that what he described as modern communism's "liberal-leftist values" are a perversion "funded by George Soros". MAGA Communists support Marxism–Leninism, criticize
identity politics, denounce
American imperialism,
oppose Zionism and U.S. support for Israel, and dismiss
climate change concerns as "virtue-signaling" and "green fascism". On July 21, 2024, Hinkle and Al-Din announced the launch of the
American Communist Party (ACP), which espouses
socially conservative views. The
Communist Party of the Russian Federation stated that ACP "relies strictly on class struggle, rather than on 'identity politics' – the so-called gender, race, and sexual struggles that are so popular today in America and Western Europe." ACP positions itself as a
patriotic and
anti-revisionist alternative to the
Communist Party USA and other existing American
communist parties.
South America Brazil Workers' Party member and former
President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff maintained left-conservative stances on abortion, the
legalization of marijuana, and other social issues. The
Workers' Cause Party, a Brazilian
Trotskyist party, expresses a
religious conservative opposition to
LGBTQ rights and denounced the criminalization of
transphobic speech as an attack on the
freedom of religion, with a party publication stating: "A citizen can no longer profess their religion if they believe that '
transsexuals' and homosexuals are, in their view, an anomaly and contrary to God's law. [Yet] The overwhelming majority of religions—if not all—share this understanding." The party defends the progressive function of religion, stating: "Marxists, who aren't religious, never said we should force people to abandon their religion. That's absurd! Why would someone do that? They believe in God, they've had their little
church since childhood, they were born there [...] If you're active in the labor movement, you'll never go to workers and raise issues with their religion." It also defends
Islam and
Islamic fundamentalist groups like
Al-Qaeda and the
Taliban, stating "Islam is not a repressive religion. Generally speaking, it is even more progressive than Christianity. [...] Islam is the religion of countries oppressed by imperialism", and describing
Islamist militants, like
Osama bin Laden, as "an example of selflessness, conviction, [and] disposition".
Peru The
Communist Party of Peru – Shining Path (PCP), a
Marxist–Leninist–Maoist militant group in Peru, has been accused of
opposing LGBT rights and engaging in
violence against LGBT people. Between 1989 and 1992, the Shining Path and fellow communist group
MRTA killed up to 500 "
non-heterosexual" people. According to one woman who was kidnapped by the Shining Path in 1981, a homosexual man's penis was cut into pieces before he was murdered by the group. The Shining Path defended its actions by saying that LGBT individuals were not killed because of their sexual identity, instead, they were killed because of their "
collaboration with the police." The Shining Path has denied allegations of
homophobia or overt violence against LGBT people, stating, "It is probable that the PCP has executed a homosexual, but rest assured that it was not done because of their sexual orientation but because of their position against the revolution... Our view is that homosexual orientation is not an ideological matter but one of individual preference... Party membership is open to all those who support the cause of communist revolution and the principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
Gonzalo Thought, regardless of what their sexual preferences may be." The
Militarized Communist Party of Peru (MPCP), an offshoot of the Shining Path that follows Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and
Xi Jinping Thought, openly espouses socially conservative and
anti-LGBT views. On May 23, 2021, the MPCP carried out the
San Miguel del Ene attack, leaving behind leaflets that stated the attack was carried out to "clean
VRAEM and Peru" of outcasts, "parasites and corrupts" as well as "homosexuals, lesbians, drug addicts" and "thieves". In 2018, the MPCP announced an alliance with the
ethnocacerist Plurinational Association of Tawantinsuyo Reservists (ASPRET), called the
United Democratic Andean Revolutionary Front of Peru. In 2022, the alliance was terminated over ASPRET's disagreements with the MPCP's alleged ties to Free Peru. Both
Pedro Castillo and
Vladimir Cerrón, leaders of the
Marxist Free Peru party, have taken conservative stances on social issues, including opposing
same-sex marriage, supporting existing restrictions on
abortion in Peru, and voicing an opposition to the discussion of
gender issues in school curricula. While Free Peru is officially opposed to
Fujimorism,
IDL-Reporteros reported that the party had formed an alliance with right-wing Fujimorists in the government due to their widespread power within Peru's institutions. ==See also==