Left-winger eats fish to get respect (6)
I believe the answer is:
regard
'respect' is the definition.
(I know that respect is a more specific form of fear)
'left-winger eats fish' is the wordplay.
'left-winger' becomes 'red' (red can mean a leftwing person).
'eats' is an insertion indicator.
'fish' becomes 'gar' (type of fish).
'red' enclosing 'gar' is 'REGARD'.
'to get' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for regard that I've seen before include "Judge" , "Look at - esteem" , "Consider; gaze at" , "Think of" , "Consider, view" .)