American Left

The American Left has consisted of a broad range of individuals and groups that have sought fundamental egalitarian changes in the economic, political, and cultural institutions of the United States. Left-wing ideologies came to the United States in the 19th century, but there are currently no major left-wing political parties in the U.S., because while the Democratic Party is almost evenly divided between liberals and moderates, elected Democrats and the Democratic Party's platform are to the right of the American population's central preferences. Despite its apparent weakness as a political movement, leftist activists in the United States have been instrumental in advancing progressive social change on issues such as labor and civil rights, civil liberties,peace, feminism, gay rights, and environmentalism, as well as providing critiques of capitalism.

History

Origins

Many indigenous tribes in North America practiced what Marxists would later call primitive communism, meaning they practiced economic cooperation among the members of their tribes.