--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My political tradition is on the left…" description: "\"My political tradition is on the left, but I think that more modern leftists, they sometimes get stuck with this vision of large government and social ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1a/ilya-ponomarev-29984_community_my-political-tradition-is-on-the-left-bu_1574947.jpg" --- # My political tradition is on the left, but I think that… ![“My political tradition is on the left, but I think that more modern leftists, they sometimes get stuck with this vision of large government and social benefits and everything and that's against what is my position, because I think that the ultimate vision of Marx, Engels, and those people was to…” quote by Ilya Ponomarev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1a/ilya-ponomarev-29984_community_my-political-tradition-is-on-the-left-bu_1574947.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1a/ilya-ponomarev-29984_community_my-political-tradition-is-on-the-left-bu_1574947.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b1a/ilya-ponomarev-29984_community_my-political-tradition-is-on-the-left-bu_1574947.jpg) > “My political tradition is on the left, but I think that more modern leftists, they sometimes get stuck with this vision of large government and social benefits and everything and that's against what is my position, because I think that the ultimate vision of Marx, Engels, and those people was to eliminate government entities and to give as much power to the people. And in modern standing that means direct democracy, that means all the power to the communities, it means gradually eliminating all government oppression on the society. And 100 years ago, leftists' major allies were labor unions.” [Ilya Ponomarev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilya-ponomarev/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The modern left should move beyond large‑government welfare to direct democracy, giving power to communities and eliminating oppression. **In simple terms:** Leftist ideals favor community control over big government. Key Takeaway Promote local decision‑making and reduce state control. Themes politics democracy government community leftist ideology Mood critical hopeful Type philosophical practical When to use this quote - local councils - community budgeting - grassroots organizing - policy reform Key Concepts political theory direct democracy decentralization Questions to Reflect On - What structures can replace current welfare systems? - How to ensure community decisions are inclusive? A Different Perspective Transitioning from welfare to direct democracy faces practical implementation challenges. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Community](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) [Democracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democracy/) [Direct democracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/direct-democracy/) [Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dreams/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labor/) [Labor Unions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labor-unions/) [Leftists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leftists/) [Oppression](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oppression/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Political](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Power to the people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/power-to-the-people/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition/) [Vision](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vision/) ## Related quotes > [The strongest continuous thread in America's political tradition is skepticism about government.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/the-strongest-continuous-thread-in-america-s-political-tradition-is/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [The political tradition of ancient thought, filtered in Italy by Machiavelli, says one thing clearly: every prince needs allies, and the bigger the responsibility,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/silvio-berlusconi/the-political-tradition-of-ancient-thought-filtered-in-italy-by/) [Silvio Berlusconi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/silvio-berlusconi/) > [The political tradition of ancient thought, filtered in Italy by Machiavelli, says one thing clearly: every prince needs allies, and the bigger the responsibility,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/silvio-berlusconi/the-political-tradition-of-ancient-thought-filtered-in-italy-by-2/) [Silvio Berlusconi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/silvio-berlusconi/) > [Far from being aberrant and un-British, criticising a war in which our troops are actively engaged is a long-established parliamentary and political tradition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-colley/far-from-being-aberrant-and-un-british-criticising-a-war-in-which-our/) [Linda Colley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-colley/) > [The Declaration of Independence was to set forth the moral justification of a rebellion against a long-recognized political tradition - the divine right of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-taft-benson/the-declaration-of-independence-was-to-set-forth-the-moral/) [Ezra Taft Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-taft-benson/) > [“Some liberal theorists have seen a parallelism between this function of Islamic law and the “natural law” tradition of Europe, on which the liberal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mustafa-akyol/some-liberal-theorists-have-seen-a-parallelism-between-this-function/) [Mustafa Akyol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mustafa-akyol/) > [Representative democracy betrays the electorate when laws have no roots in the people but in oligarchies. 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Reich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-a-reich/) [Browse all 13,840 Community quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/community/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My political tradition is on the left, but I think that more modern leftists, they sometimes get stuck with this vision of large government and social benefits and everything and that's against what is my position, because I think that the ultimate vision of Marx, Engels, and those people was to eliminate government entities and to give as much power to the people. And in modern standing that means direct democracy, that means all the power to the communities, it means gradually eliminating all government oppression on the society. 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