Quote: Saddened! "I'm not all that well up on politics, so don't understand this. One of the most common criticisms of Milliband's Labour was that his manifesto was too far left and ignored the centre-left. You seem to be encouraging them to do exactly what they already did?'"
Since the turn of the last century (and certainly with the arrival of the Nazi Party in Germany when the practice really began to gear up) it's been common to see political entities which anyone prior to WWII would consider "Right Wing" dress themselves in the clothes of the Left. Basically it's the [ipromise[/i of socialism without socialism.
As mentioned, the Nazi Party really were the masters of this black art. Those on the Right never cease to gleefully point out the "Socialist" in National Socialism. But the Nazi Party, whilst promising a socialist revolution, never had any intentions of delivering such.
True, there was a [isocial element[/i to Nazism. A strong one, too. But this was primarily centred around the Cult of Leadership, sexual politics and the nations rampant war economy.
You have to remember, the Nazis were in direct competition with the socialists during the time of the Wiemar Republic. So it was politically expedient to blur the definition of socialism in order to capture new members.
The true litmus test of whether Nazism equated to socialism was the question of
labour. A truly socialist system embraces labour unions. Indeed, such are at the very core of policy. The Nazis embraced labour unions - [iand then murdered them[/i.
Comparing Milliband's Labour with Nazism is somewhat extreme. But it's fundamentally the same argument. Labour is not a socialist party. It is not a "Left Wing" party (or even centrist).
Labour is a right wing party. The Conservative Party is further to the right. UKIP are not too distant from fascist.
I should say that the entire parliamentary political class (I don't consider today's political parties exist in any form other than name - which means this is effectively a one party state with multiple factions) will likely take two steps further to the right this term. And yes, unless this trend is reversed or diverted somehow (how, I'm not sure) we are going to have problems in the future.