"...there seems to be a kind of leftist who's suspicious of pleasure, who exudes a Calvinist lust for suffering, because it's somehow ennobling."
You are referring, of course, to that notorious leftist, Adam Smith, in his Theory of Moral Sentiments? Or could it have been Benjamin Franklin you had in mind? While I'm sure there are people -- leftist, Calvinist and otherwise -- who are "suspicious of pleasure" and "exude a lust for suffering" there is also a quite respectable argument that the coveting of wealth (emphasis on the coveting, not so much on the wealth) has a corrupting influence on morals and character. The rationale for this isn't that wealth is bad and poverty is good per se but that there are more important things than splendor and luxury that should command our attention and our energies such as common sympathy among individuals and liberty; peace, enjoyment and happiness; honour and truth. All of those qualities are obviously quite nebulous and really only take on substance when they become or remain a part of our daily thought and conversation. But if we're always thinking about what other people own, what we want to own and how we're going to get enough money to buy it, there's no time for that other stuff. The quote below, from the early 19th century, pretty much exemplifies how a Calvinist leftist views the drift from a vicious appetite for luxury to despotism, misery and ignorance.
"Oh, if I dared venture to anticipate the last paragraph of the historian that generations hence shall trace the character of this age and country, it should run thus.—“The increase of trade and commerce opened a boundless extent to luxury:—the splendour of luxurious enjoyment in a few excited a worthless, and debasing, and selfish emulation in all:—The attainment of wealth became the ultimate purpose of life:— the selfishness of nature was pampered up by trickery and art:—pride and ambition were made subservient to this vicious purpose:—their appetite was corrupted in their infancy, that it might leave its natural and wholesome nutriment, to feed on the garbage of Change Alley:—instead of the quiet, the enjoyment, the happiness, and the moral energy of the people, they read in their horn-book of nothing but the wealth, the commerce, the manufactures, the revenue, and the pecuniary resources of the country; the extent of its navy and the muster-roll of its hireling army:— in honour of this beastly Belial they made a sacrifice of the high energies of their nature:—they hailed his progress with hosannahs, though on his right hand sat Despotism, and on his left Misery:– they made a welcome sacrifice to him of their virtues and their liberties:—to satisfy his cravings they forewent their natural desires:—honour and truth were offered up on his altars:—and the consummation of their hopes was characterised by misery and ignorance; the dissolution of all social virtue and common sympathy among individuals; and by a disunited, feeble, despotic, and despised government!"
The Sandwichman