How the modern progressive left turned into a new form of reactionary force
The essay argues that today’s left has become authoritarian, hostile to free speech and increasingly detached from working-class concerns, citing recent events such as the Berlin Pride attack and campus controversies.
In this commentary the writer claims the modern left has morphed into an authoritarian, anti-working-class movement that prioritises a brand of hyper-liberalism over ordinary concerns. Recent incidents, such as the Islamist assault on a Pride event in Berlin and the emergence of “Queers for Palestine,” are presented as evidence of a tangled progressive agenda under the banner of intersectionality. The author notes that personalities once aligned with Labour, including JK Rowling, Graham Linehan and Josh Howie, have turned against trans ideology, reflecting a wider re-evaluation among former leftists.
A two-part one outlet iPlayer documentary by Canadian filmmaker Ric Bienstock is cited to illustrate campus disputes over “white supremacy,” standard English instruction and the labeling of Zionism. The piece concludes that the left’s current moral-superiority stance fuels new forms of intolerance, echoing historic patterns of virtue-signalling and authoritarianism.
Why it matters
It highlights how shifting ideological currents on the left may reshape debates on free speech and class politics.
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