The left in one era can be the right in another. There was much overlap between the Jacobins of the French Revolution and the Nazis and fascists of the 20th century, but where Robespierre was considered left, Hitler and Mussolini were considered right.
Sometimes "left" and "right" don't make much sense. You might have heard the expression "to the right of Louis XIV" (or "to the right of Attila the Hun"). Attila wasn't on the right in his day, and you'd have to do a lot of pondering to figure out if Louis XIV was.
That’s the problem with those labels. The words, “left” and “right” are only objective when talking about hands, etc.
Very true. People want to absolve themselves of bad historical associations, so today's leftists think of the left as kindly, tolerant, pacifist, vegetarian, multicultural. Everything that Robespierre and Lenin weren't (and even today's liberals aren't particularly tolerant of ideas they disagree with).
People on the right associate the right with constitutional democratic or capitalist forms and ideas that don't have much to do with the European right of Metternich and Bismarck. If you were a German rightist in the 1930s you didn't have a very positive view of representative democracy, and your view of capitalism was likely to be very conflicted.
When it comes to politiclal beliefs, one needs more descriptive labels. e.g. Classical Liberal, Republican, socialist, fascist, communist, democrat, etc.
Maybe. But if you were a classical liberal in the 1930s you were likely to get caught in the crossfire between the violent mobs fighting for control. That's why people say Hitler was on the right. Communism defined the left and the Nazis were fighting the communists in the streets. Classical liberals were few and were at home figuring out where everything went wrong.
Won’t Get Fooled Again:
“The party on the left is now the party on the right”
:)