> 1. No it doesn't

Thanks for clearing it up...

No problem. Feel free to enquire if you need more.

Maybe, but compared to the US they're hotbeds of rampant leftism. Probably a good 1/3 or more of UK conservatives would vote Democrat if it came right down to it.

Compared to the US, almost everywhere in Europe is a hotbed of rampant leftism. The US Democratic Party is pretty right wing by European standards, and arguably more right wing than the UK Conservative Party. But compared to the rest of Europe, Poland and the UK are right wing.

> Poland and the UK are right wing.

I don't know details about UK, but Polish labor laws are quite strong (in terms of protecting the workers), which is no suprise, given that they were created in 1974, i.e. under the Communist regime (similar for public housing, education, tenant protection etc. BTW - all written by communists and not changed much since). I wouldn't be surprised if they were stronger than in Denmark or Sweden, where the policies (from what I've read) focus on helping the unemployed/laid off, but don't meddle into the employee-employer relationship as much.

There's really no strong correlation between communism and strong labour laws. In the Soviet Union and China labour had/has almost no real legal protections. Likewise Vietnam. The argument being that the party literally embodies the will of the workers by definition, so those limited labour protections that do exist at the local level are co-opted by the party machine and not actually controlled by labour at the local level.

Poland had a much stronger local union structure, along socialist lines outside party control, which is why Solidarity union activism was possible. My knowledge of that time in Poland is pretty limited though.

>The US Democratic Party is pretty right wing by European standards, and arguably more right wing than the UK Conservative Party.

Any facts to back this claim? I'd say the US Democratic party is more left wing than Europe's major parties now.

You've nailed it.