Domestically, within American history, we have always associated social liberation with the ideological left. That is--a liberal or socialist movement that has aided in the beneficial reforms of cultural and economic humanity. Humanity of civil and equal rights, along with policies that support labor and commerce benefits for a working class genre. This has resulted in the various ways we socially and politically view the leftist in society. Within Albert Memmi’s The Colonizer and the Colonized, the author somewhat surprisingly explains the faults of the leftist colonizers and how he interestingly points out why the leftist view could not win the political war that struggled to denounce and dismantle diseased colonization.

Of course the leftist view differs somewhat socially and politically between American society and the colonial societies of the 19th and 20th century Africa. There is no doubt that Memmi directly attacks the ideas and acts of colonialism, describing it as an inescapable trap that is a destructive force upon the native culture. What is truly important about how Memmi describes the left view as compared to the right, “The essential factor is firmness of ideological attitude and condemnation of colonization. To be a rightist or leftist is not merely a way of thinking but also…a way of feeling and of living” (27).

Memmi makes an interesting point when he discusses the leftist position in respect to the natural position of a colonizer. Even though the leftist primarily rejects colonization, he soon finds himself assimilating into the culture because of the ever going environment. “He participates in and benefits from those privileges which he half-heartedly denounces” (Memmi 20). What Memmi is conveying is that the leftist colonizer is on an equal level in terms of treatment with his fellow citizens, which the colonized are certainly not.

Memmi also delivers the notion that one can be both a revolutionary and an exploiter, also giving evidence that the leftist has a dual face that they may not necessarily be able to control. The leftist can not at anytime truly relate themselves to the colonized for a very simple fact. It is the fact that the colonized are from different origins. It comes down to colonizers taking away the question, “who am I?” right from the hands of the colonized. What Memmi points out is that when the colonizer performs the colonization process, he is taking utmost everything away from the colonized. History is taken, religion is taken, even the language is taken in order to set up a government with the colonizers language. And the leftist can not escape that factor which places him as both an exploiter and a revolutionary.

According to Memmi, the leftist usually finds himself in a struggle between traditional means of colonization and the final aims of the left wing to which he belongs. Another words, the colonizer is constantly toying with the idea of liberation among the colonized. However, he takes part daily within the natural acts of the colonizers.

Memmi uses the example of terrorism and political assassination. Terrorism, a common method for the push towards liberation, must be condemned, and would certainly be condemned by the leftist. However, when the colonized use this method the leftist colonizer is politically and socially embarrassed. “He makes an effort to separate them from the colonized’s voluntary action; to make an epiphenomenon out of his struggle. They are spontaneous outbursts of masses too long oppressed, or better yet, acts by unstable, untrustworthy elements which the leader of the movement has difficulty in controlling” (Memmi 30). The leftist colonizer would have a difficult time trying to explain the actions which could be destructible in terms of violence and politically damaging. These factors also contribute to the minimal number of leftists that exist within a colony, which in turn, limit’s the liberation of a colony even greater.

There is an interesting comparison that can be made from the leftists of the colonization process to the leftists of modern day America. That comparison is the idea that both left-wing genres could not single out the powerful economic elite who represents. For instance, throughout the colonization process, the leftists could not alienate the upper-crust land owners and powerful bourgeois. While, political leftists today, who are more or less “liberals” must still pay homage to corporate elites for major campaign contributions and more simply, the process of corporate capitalism. That means that legislation does not often gear towards social reform as much as economic reform that traditionally benefits the one’s who need it the least.

The real question is what does a colonizer being on the left mean? Being a colonizer who places himself on the left means not only placing himself as a leader in the fight for liberation of the peoples, but also integrates a society with political and economic freedom that rejects the premises of racism and xenophobia. “Because such aspirations mean all those things, every true leftist must support the national aspirations of people” (Memmi 34). The author also explains the humanitarian case of the leftist colonizer. After all, the colonizers lives (especially if he is a leftist) and the colonized are intertwined with each other including similar destiny’s for they thrive off of each other economically, politically and socially. “The leftist colonizer is part of the oppressing group and will be forced to share its destiny, as he shared its good fortune” (38).

There is one underlying principle that Memmi conveys in a rather direct manner. It is that the left all agree that the colonizer should withdraw and grant immediate liberation from such political and socio-economical shackles. Memmi supports the leftist, especially compared to the rightist, but he doesn’t stop short at being honest with the idea that the role of the left-wing colonizer collapses. He points to the constant cycle of leftist scrutiny from colonizers that have a self-purpose to be where they are. The rightist genre are the ones who truly believe in the colonizing and profiting process. It is an ideology that is just not well-accepted by the majority of colonizers who are there--for why would the leftists be there anyway? The leftist overall tries to do good for the colonized but when colonizers are known for wiping out history‘s, traditions, and religions, Memmi sees them as a collapsible political ideology within the realms of colonization.