Roberto: Why do intellectuals tend to lean toward the Left?
William: First, let’s ground ourselves in human history.
"The term 'Right' emerged during the National Constituent Assembly of 1789, during the French Revolution. The division was physical: those who defended royal authority, the aristocracy, and the Church (the Girondins and monarchists) sat to the right of the assembly president. They sought to preserve the traditional order and the power of the clergy and nobility. This seating arrangement gave rise to the political concept of the 'Right' as the conservative or reactionary wing, in opposition to the revolutionaries on the Left."
*Gemini*
"In Marxism, 'Right' generally refers to reformist or revisionist tendencies within the labor movement. These are sectors that seek to reconcile labor with capital, prioritizing gradual changes through parliament rather than abrupt revolution. Internally, the term labels those who stray from revolutionary orthodoxy (like Bukharin’s 'Right Opposition'). For Marx, the Right represents the maintenance of the bourgeois status quo and private property. Marx’s ideas eventually culminated in the Russian Revolution of 1917."
*Gemini*
Therefore, talking about "Right" or "Left" before 1789 is purely subjective. Were Socrates, Plato, Archimedes, or Marcus Aurelius "right-wing" or "left-wing" thinkers?
It’s better to analyze their thoughts without getting stuck on those labels.
Adam Smith’s "The Wealth of Nations" was released in 1776 and is considered the founding milestone of the capitalist economy.
However, back then, there was no internet, books were expensive, and there were no planes. Ideas moved slowly.
Mercantilism dominated until about 1850.
Capitalism as we know it didn't truly take hold until around 1900.
From 1900 onward, we’ve always had thinkers on both sides.
In my view, the Left is more romantic.
Humans aren't always rational, but they are always emotional.
I consider myself Center-Right.
I argue that if you want a house, you have to work for it and exercise financial discipline.
The left-leaning thinker says we can organize ourselves into a State, and you will be given a house.
Believing we can just "get" a house sounds a lot better than having to work to build one.
Right there, the left-wing thinker already wins over the majority.
Back in the early 1900s, that didn't seem like such an absurd idea.
Honestly, I think I would have been a Marxist if I had been born in that era.
But I was born well after the middle of the century, and I studied the collapse of the USSR in detail.
What we observe most often is that "well-intentioned" Socialists, once they reach power, never want to leave.
In practice, the nations that chose Socialism essentially reverted to a phase of Absolute Monarchy.
They just swapped titles like "King," "Pharaoh," or "Emperor" for "Supreme Leader."
Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Fidel... what is the real difference between them and Kings?
To answer your initial question:
"Why do intellectuals tend to be left-wing?"
From 1900 to 2010, the "romanticism" of the Left proved to be more effective.
However, the popularization of the internet and the arrival of smartphones around 2007 brought a flood of information to the average person.
The expectation now is that rationality will begin to predominate.
It’s not about eliminating romanticism altogether. It’s about having a more balanced "emotional intelligence."
The trend I see is that older left-wing thinkers will eventually pass away, and they aren't being replaced with the same intensity we saw in the past.
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