Talk:Left Bloc (Portugal)

Should it be "Left Bloc"?
This is the literal transaltion and what one of the references at the bottom of the page calls it.A Geek Tragedy 18:53, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, that would be a better translation of the name. --Soman 09:12, 10 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Good! Moved. A Geek Tragedy 14:30, 11 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I think that "Leftwing Bloc" would be the best translation.--Húsönd 17:57, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Updates to implement
Paulo Portas is no longer the "right-wing leader".


 * He is again the "right-wing leader"--89.152.130.33 (talk) 19:42, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Socialists or Communists?
The Left Bloc is mostly a communist party and I'll explain why: they were formed from a merger of PSR (Trotskyist Mandelist), UDP (officially Marxist, Marxist-Leninist inspired) and Politics XXI (Democratic Socialist), but they still belong on the left-wing. — B.Lameira (talk) 23:39, 28 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Position should be Left-wing to far-left  This addresses the previously expressed concern about the absence of source. Left Bloc lives in a spectrum, so instead of going back and forward with left vs far-left, it should be acknowledged that it contains within it multiple tendencies. Do let me know if you have any improvements to this. Apeximius (talk) 02:54, 1 May 2019 (UTC)

The Left Bloc identifies as democratic socialist, not communist or far-left and its Forum is called “Socialism ”. They reject extremism and disapprove of international communist and far-left regimes. The current Left Bloc leader, Catarina Martins, calls the party a progressive party, acknowledging its change from the radical roots. Also, in this year’s electoral proposal, Catarina Martins labels the party the only alternative to the center-left party and says the Left Bloc a “social-democratic” program.Therefore, the position should be “Left-wing” only. Edgarxfg (talk) 18:36, 15 September 2019 (UTC)

Edgarxfg, Firstly, I want to thank for your input. If you don't mind, can you give reliable sources that show Catarina Martins, leader of left bloc called her party as a progressive party? Jeff6045 08:23, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

'''The Left Bloc is a Socialist party. Not a communist one.''' It is not a far-left one either. They reject extremists as said above. Is a Left party, not a center-left one nor a far-left one. Socialist, it is. ou can see the candidate, Marisa Matias (also MEP), for the presidential elections of 2021 from the Left Bloc was not a far-left one. Contrasting immensely with the Candidate from the Communist Party. Being way more close to the Socialist Party (social-democratic party) one. In Portugal nobody says that the Left Bloc is communist. Why would the English Wikipedia website? I have talked to members of the party that have stated this. Go read, and if need be use Google Translate, the talk page in the Portuguese Wikipedia page. Vascoruela (talk) 21/02/2021

Recent edits
Somebody should pay closer attention to this page, as I am suspicious of these last recent edits are not respecting the neutral point of view. The first paragraph even calls Paulo Portas an "extreme right-wing politician". I also notice there are some syntax errors in the article as well as poor use of English language. I would appreciate that somebody gave some aid on this regard. - B.Lameira (talk) 20:41, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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Major Error !?
This article states that the Left Bloc entered parliament for the first time in 2006 with 8 MPs. This is factually incorrect, it entered in 1999 with two MPs, which under the Portuguese constituion constituted a parliamentary group with speaking rights in every debate. You can check out the election results on the corresponding Wikipedia page.PhilomenaO&#39;M (talk) 16:08, 5 September 2018 (UTC)

I have now corrected that (with a link to the page on the 1999 election which states that it had 2 MPs elected. There is also a falsehood in the opening paragraph. The Portuguese press does not punctuate B.E. It write BE. So I'm going to change that. Example from Portuguese national newspaper Publico : BE vai insistir na taxa anti-especulação imobiliária https://www.publico.pt/pesquisa?query=+BE+ PhilomenaO&#39;M (talk) 15:08, 21 September 2018 (UTC)

Political leaning
It seems to be uncontroversial that Left Bloc leans to the left of the traditional left. 85.243.56.212 (talk) 17:09, 25 April 2019 (UTC)

Far-left
Another view about left bloc's political spectrum has been suggested by 89.154.84.93 with specific sources. I think this article needs another discussion whether the party is left-wing or left-wing to far-left. Here are the citations that are used to describe the party as the left-wing by 89.154.84.93. Jeff6045 07:54, 25 September 2019 (UTC)


 * The sources that were given for far-left (before being removed in the last edit) were mostly quite old, so it is reasonable that the party could have shifted in this time. However, one source that supported far-left from Euronews is from 2019. Then again, on the Portuguese language version of the page there seems to be agreement over defining the party as simply left-wing as that is how it stands in the infobox there and there does not seem to be edit warring over this. Based off of this I'm not sure where we should go, just outlining what I have seen. Helper201 (talk) 08:40, 25 September 2019 (UTC)

Warning! Please do not continue to put the Far-left classification on the page. It isn't a right classification. As a democratic socialist party it is not far-left. You can see the candidate, Marisa Matias (also MEP), for the presidential elections of 2021 from the Left Bloc was not a far-left one. Contrasting immensely with the Candidate from the Communist Party. Being way more close to the Socialist Party (social-democratic party) one. I am Portuguese, and believe me that euronews is not at all the best source. If you don't agree please talk to me and I'll answer. Go read, and if need be use Google Translate, the talk page in the Portuguese Wikipedia page. --Vascoruela (talk) 23:12, 21 February 2021 (UTC)

References that support the not far-left use on this page "Catarina Martins considerou a classificação do BE como "extrema-esquerda" um insulto." Catarina Martins considered the BE's classification as far-left an insult. "Catarina Martins quebrou um tabu de um partido que, da primeira vez que chegou ao Parlamento, insistiu em sentar-se à esquerda do PCP, precisamente no extremo esquerdo do hemiciclo. Na época havia uma revolução para fazer – agora, e deixemos de lado o peso simbólico da retórica, o que o Bloco quer fazer são reformas à boa maneira social-democrata, a tendência que modelou os partidos socialistas europeus" '''Catarina Martins broke a taboo for a party that, the first time it came to Parliament, insisted on sitting to the left of the PCP, precisely on the far left of the chamber. At that time there was a revolution to be made - now, and let's leave aside the symbolic weight of rhetoric, what the Bloco wants to do are reforms in the good social-democratic way, the trend that has shaped the European socialist parties (Entrevista a Catarina Martins: "O programa do Bloco é social-democrata") Interview with Catarina Martins: "The Bloco's program is social-democratic".''' "É assim que a afirmação de Catarina Martins sobre o programa do Bloco de Esquerda, definindo-o como social-democrata, não deve causar surpresa, embora possa atirar por terra algumas esperanças numa ideologia mais radical." Thus, Catarina Martins' statement about the Left Bloc's program, defining it as social-democratic, should come as no surprise, although it may dash some hopes for a more radical ideology. --Vascoruela (talk) 10:11, 22 February 2021 (UTC)