I often say “left” (in air quotes) for the reason that it’s so nebulous as to be almost meaningless in the context of the western left. That said, I do think it has utility. There are people, like the patsocs, who call themselves communist in name, but act more like rightists. And criticism of them isn’t necessarily as simple as putting them squarely in the camp of capitalist or communist. We could call them opportunists, but this doesn’t really get at why they are a misleading representation of communism and communist organizing. So being able to say a thing like “right deviationist” can call to mind an idea of being somewhere in the ballpark of espousing communist ideas but then taking it in a direction that mimics rightist worldview and policy.

If we view right and left as USian conservative and USian liberal, the terms are basically useless, but we don’t have to view them that way ourselves. It’s like that line in Office Space, “Why should I change? He’s the one who sucks.” We don’t need to shy away from one term or another because some part of the world uses it in a politically illiterate way. Where fear of crackdown is concerned, that’s different, do what you have to in order to survive and build. But in the sense of what is useful in communicating about the subject and educating, I don’t think the terms are entirely out of place, they are just misused a lot.