Left-winger taken aback about blokes in distress (7)
I believe the answer is:
torment
'distress' is the definition.
(I know that torment is a type of distress)
'left-winger taken aback about blokes' is the wordplay.
'left-winger' becomes 'trot' (short for Trotskyite).
'taken aback' says the letters should be written backwards.
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'blokes' becomes 'men' (bloke can informally mean a man).
'trot' written backwards gives 'tort'.
'tort' going around 'men' is 'TORMENT'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for torment that I've seen before include "Inflict pain on - pester" , "Anguish" , "Hound" , "Severe physical or mental suffering" , "Cause great pain to" .)