Hardy the leftist? : Tess of the D'Urbervilles

The Norton Critical Edition of Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" that I'm reading has an essay on Hardy and Marxism, and it's easy, too easy maybe, to see the connection. Is Hardy a hero of the left? He was no doubt embraced by many, I can just see the Soviets championing Tess as an example of a working-class heroine and so on. And yes, nobody writes better, more feelingly, with less condescension about agrarian life in England than Hardy - a huge accomplishment totally setting him apart from his peers and forebears. Also, Angel Clare, Tess's love interest, seems to have progressive ideas about social class - he despises the landed aristocracy (though he's also strangely interested in them) and respects honest labor - again, a very progressive hero, and Hardy deserves great praise for presenting him so thoughtfully and without the layers of irony that so many other novelists would lay on thick. Hardy is nothing if not sincere. I'll have to see as I read farther into Tess whether it's truly a leftist novel - I think finally not when it comes down to it, as Hardy is interested in class and sees the evil nature of the strict English hierarchical society, but he's not so interested in change - maybe tending to romanticize the agrarian life too extensively. In the old terminology - there's no dialectics. Not that he has to be or should be a revolutionary, and he has to be honored for his progressive views, brave at the time and maybe even today.