Applying my definition of the Far Left

I recently wrote a Matitya’s Musing defining the Far left. I would now like to clarify certain parts of my definition.

I defined Far Left as “those on the Left that the mainstream Left, for ideological reasons, considers worthy of repudiation excluding those who are repudiated for not being left-wing enough.” I’m now going to elaborate as to how to apply the criteria of this definition.

1. “on the Left”. If I said “those whom the Left denounces” then that would have included the Right, so my first criterion for someone being Far Left is the person actually being left-wing.
2. “for ideological reasons”. Repudiation can’t simply be a matter of “this person on my side did something violent and I don’t condone that” it has to be because of the set of beliefs. People like John Derbyshire and his ilk are, rightly, denounced by Rich Lowry and the mainstream Right for their racist views, regardless of whether or not they advocate violence. It’s fair to apply the same standard to the Left. Likewise, repudiation cannot be for tactical reasons. Saying “don’t say abolish the police, it’s bad optics” isn’t a line in the sand separating the mainstream Left and the Far Left. Saying “we believe in the necessity of police reform but don’t abolish the police, that’s a step too far” is a line in the sand separating between the mainstream Left and the Far Left.
3. “that the mainstream Left … considers worthy of repudiation.” This is the most important one, especially in regards to conversations about the “Alt-Left”. If something universally believed on the Left were “Alt-Left” then it wouldn’t really be an alternative to the mainstream Left. Likewise, in the phrase “Far Left”, ‘Left’ is a noun and ‘far’ is an adjective such that the very usage of the phrase “Far Left” presupposes the existence of a Left that is not far. That’s simply how grammar works. In the United States of America, there are two major political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. You might wish it were otherwise (and I would agree with you) but it’s the case. In the United States, the Democrats are considered the Left and the Republicans are considered the Right. So if a Pro-Lifer who regards abortion as murder were to say “of course, they’re Far Left, they support killing babies” it wouldn’t be a good argument, for the simple reason that abortion is something that the Democrats almost universally support. On the other hand, if someone were to say “he’s Far Left, he’s an apologist for Communism” that would make sense. Joe Biden,, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg and a number of other major Democratic politicians harshly criticised Bernie Sanders and his ilk for their Communist apologia. And Biden, as President, denounced Communism as “a universally failed system.” As such, it makes sense to describe American Communists as being on the Far Left.
4. “excluding those who are repudiated for not being left-wing enough.” The American anarchist political commentator Noam Chomsky has said “Look, what people call “left of [centre]” doesn’t mean anything — it means they’re conventional liberals and conventional liberals are very state-oriented, and usually dedicated to private power.” Chomsky has also criticised Dr. Jordan Peterson for describing universities as being dominated by the Left. Chomsky commented “for him, the Left is anybody to the Left of Attila the Hun. In fact, universities are dominated by the Right. He’s so far on the Right, that that looks like the Left to him.” Notably Chomsky’s criticism of the media and academia are based on the idea that they aren’t sufficiently left-wing. The fact that Chomsky and his ilk denounce left-leaning people does not make the latter Far Left. If it did, then people like Joe Rogan and Dr. Sam Harris would have to be Far Left because of how frequently left-wingers (like Ezra Klein and Rebecca Lewis) denounce them. That would make absolutely no sense whatsoever given that a major reason for left-wing criticism of Dr. Harris is that he speaks out against the excesses of the Left. On the other hand, when Ben Kiernan and some others of the Left began to turn against Noam Chomsky due to Chomsky’s defence of the Khmer Rouge that would qualify Chomsky as the Far Left because it was the mainstream Left disavowing Chomsky’s radicalism.

So those are my criteria for someone being Far Left.