This article deals with the ideas of the Left in the 1960's and the changes in leftist ideas and politics in the 1990's, after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the demise of socialism. It focuses on a conflict that has been present in the history of socialism: the question o civil rights. The article also analyzes the dilemmas of the Left of yesterday and of today, with an emphasis on the relationship between politics and freedom. It suggests that concomitant with the defense of social justice, the identity of the contemporary Left is largely defined by the defense of freedom as a fundamental value and the very essence of politics.
Left models; socialism; political freedom; authoritarianism; democracy