Vacuum on the left
June 17th, 2011“Is Ferenc Gyurcsány a left winger?”, asks Figyelő’s commentator two days before a Socialist congress, at which the party is expected to choose between two rival strategies.
According to the author, Miklós Kis, there is a great deal of confusion about what being left wing means, and the main culprit is Anthony Giddens, former British PM Tony Blair’s advisor, “who introduced the idea that staunch representatives of capital can also be left-wingers”.
Former Hungarian PM and ex party chairman Ferenc Gyurcsány is a Giddens-follower and therefore does not qualify for the left wing label as understood by the commentator. “For the left has always laid an emphasis on reducing wealth inequalities and rolling back poverty – even at the price of harming economic efficiency”.
The commentator’s problem is that the “profile of (the rival, present party chairman Attila) Mesterházy is unclear”. It doesn’t resemble either the traditional or the so called modern left wing outlook. “It would be difficult to predict what will follow if Mesterházy’s team were to win.”
“One thing is certain: there is a tremendous vacuum on the left side… Somebody is bound to fill it one day”.
Tags: Gyurcsány, Mesterházy, MSZP