Capitalization of 'The Left' and 'The Right'?
Example "The Left regrouped and took another vote. The Right were outnumbered and defeated". In politics where referring to factions within a party, should the terms be capitalized? And also should the word 'party' be capitalized, when referring to political parties, eg the Labour party or The Labour Party?
1 answer 
Adding to Tolley's excellent answer:
Left and Right are capitalized in this context (see Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, 2010 at 8.66). However, "the" -- as in "the Left" and "the Right" -- is not capitalized unless it begins a sentence. You should note that when left and right are used as adjectives -- the left wing of the Democratic Party -- they are not capitalized.
Party is capitalized when it is used as part of the formal name of the political group (see CMoS at 8.65). But again note, party is not capitalized when it stands alone -- the party convention was held. And again, the is not capitalized unless it begins a sentence.
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answered Jan 22 at 03:24
Jeff Pribyl
Grammarly Fellow
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Also a very helpful answer. Thank you so much.
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