The soft left was the name given to the more moderate left wing forces in the British Labour Party in the 1980s. They were first seen as a distinct movement when many previous left wingers such as Neil Kinnock refused to support Tony Benn in the election for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party in 1981. The term was often used in contrast to hard left. Similar terminology is used in the Australian Labor Party (see Socialist Left).
Lately, the terminology of "soft left" has been used by radical leftists to describe the Communist Party USA because of its continuing decline and tendency to support Democratic Party candidates and positions as the "lesser of two evils."http://infoshop.org/iportal/left_field_guide.php
