Top Ten Leftist Thinkers
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.. January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968) was an African American minister and a pioneering civil rights leader. From 1955 until his assassination in 1968, he became the most visible spokesperson for the civil rights movement. King is best known for leading nonviolent... read more He helped get equal footing for black families during the 60s. He also considered himself to be a democratic socialist.
Eric Arthur Blair (June 25, 1903 - January 21, 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. He is best known for his novels Animal Farm and 1984, which critique totalitarian regimes and explore themes of truth and freedom. Orwell's work... read more Stop trying to steal him, right wingers, don't you know property is theft? Or was that by a communist? Wait, wasn't he a socialist, and didn't he fight against fascists, the modern right? He criticized Stalin, but not communism.
No, he hated the fascist left!
He wrote classic books on the abuse of state governments, critics of capitalism and communism, and poverty. Orwell considered himself to be a democratic socialist, and even sympathized with the anarchists during the Spanish Civil War.
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, and political activist who revolutionized the field of linguistics with his theory of generative grammar.
Beyond academia, he has been a prominent critic of political systems, advocating for human rights and social justice. Chomsky is one of the most popular political scientists in recent history. He considers himself to be a Libertarian Socialist.
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time... read more Tolstoy was an anarchist and a pacifist. His philosophy was to treat everyone kindly and to be peaceful.
John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. was an American author of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books, and five collections of short stories. He is best known for works such as The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, and East of Eden. Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize in Literature in... read more John Steinbeck's novels were usually about the struggles of ordinary people. Because of that, he showed sympathies towards socialists and communists, although he never came out and openly expressed his political views.
He made beautiful books that subtly pointed at flaws in the American lifestyle that rely on the working class to break their backs for a cause they will never see.
Bernard "Bernie" Sanders (born 1941) is an independent U.S. Senator from Vermont, first elected in 2006 and serving since 2007. He mounted campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020, advocating for policies such as Medicare for All and tuition-free public college. Sanders... read moreGoldman was a famous anarchist and feminist. She fought for better working conditions, equality for both sexes, and less state involvement in the lives of the people.
Kurt Vonnegut (November 11, 1922 - April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels.His published work includes fourteen novels, three short story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works produced over a career spanning more than fifty years... read more
His novels expressed concern for the rising abuse of the state, the unsettling rise of religious intolerance, and the rise of ignorance. He showed sympathies towards socialism and communism, although he admitted that he was not very political.
Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little and later known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist. He was a prominent figure in the Nation of Islam during the civil rights movement and advocated for the rights of African Americans. He was assassinated in 1965.
Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 - 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory of relativity, but he also made important contributions to the development... read more Einstein supported socialism, and promoted peace and tolerance.
The Newcomers
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 - 6 December 1956), popularly known as Babasaheb or B. R. Ambedkar, was an Indian jurist, economist, politician, and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement and campaigned against social discrimination towards Untouchables (Dalits), while also supporting... read more
Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American activist and politician. She has served as the U.S. Representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party and has become one of the most prominent... read more
Huxley was against tyranny, and supported democracy and individualism, and supported liberal causes. He was also critical of capitalism.
Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818 - 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, critic of political economy, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known works are the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto and the four-volume Das Kapital (1867-1883)... read more The pioneer of modern socio-economic ideologies, author of Das Kapital and the Communist Manifesto, and a major figure in communist thought is only in 15th place. Shaking my head, proletarians of America.
He provided many quotes in his time that describe the current events in life as being flawed.
One of the greatest thinkers of all time.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India.He's widely known for his philosophy of nonviolent resistance, or satyagraha, which helped lead India to independence in 1947. Gandhi's methods and beliefs influenced civil rights... read more
Rosa Luxemburg (5 March 1871 - 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalized German revolutionary socialist, orthodox Marxist, and anti-war activist during the First World War... read more
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (22 April 1870–21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924 and of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1924. Under his administration,... read more
Theodore Roosevelt (October 27, 1858 - January 6, 1919) was an American statesman, author, naturalist, soldier, and reformer who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he championed trust busting, conservation, and the expansion of... read more
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 - June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years... read more
Zinn was a political scientist who supported democratic socialism, and held sympathies towards anarchism as well.
Leon Trotsky was a Russian revolutionary, Marxist theorist, and Soviet politician whose particular strain of Marxist thought is known as Trotskyism. He played a leading role in the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War. Trotsky was later exiled and assassinated in Mexico in 1940.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government... read more