What Is Social Democracy?

What is Social Democracy? An introduction By: Berend Jan van den Boomen INTRODUCTION Social democracy, or socialism, is now the world’s predominant political movement. Of all the global political federations, the Socialist International (SI) has the most affiliated parties and is far larger than, say, the Liberal International or the Centrist Democrat International (which brings together various Christian Democrat parties). Even communism is no longer a dominant international political movement since its collapse in Eastern Europe. Social democrats are now in government in many countries, either as the sole ruling party or as members of a coalition. Social democracy is a major political force and has been so for some time. However, this is not to say that it is the most powerful political movement. We shall return to consider the power and influence of social democracy later in this article. Before doing so, we consider its origins and history, and look at some of the currents of thought within the movement. It is also appropriate to consider the question of nomenclature. The use of two different terms – social democracy and socialism – can be seen as somewhat confusing. In theory, there is a difference. In practice, however, the distinction has faded to become almost negligible. The terms are often used interchangeably. Moreover, some countries use ‘social democratic’ to refer to parties or ideas which are actually very similar, if not identical, to those termed ‘socialist’ in another country. We shall also return to this point later. ORIGINS The roots of social democracy can be traced back to two major revo- lutions in ‘modern’ Western European history. The French Revolution of 1789 cleared the way for political views which focus on the interests of society, rather than those of the king or the church. The people became the basis for the sovereignty of the state, and for the government within that state. This enabled political movements such as liberalism to develop, followed somewhat later by social democracy. 2 3 The second great revolution which sowed the seeds of socialism was opportunities presented by existing political systems (e.g. by taking the Industrial Revolution which began in Great Britain in the early part in elections or sitting on local government bodies), or whether nineteenth century and gradually took hold elsewhere in Western all efforts should be directed to the putative revolution. In fact, those Europe. It brought about a huge growth in the working population. At who pushed for participation in the existing system did not see this first, workers’ interests, whether social or political, were largely as a substitute for the revolution, which they believed would still be ignored. They had no social status, since they owned no property, had inevitable once capitalism collapsed. In the meantime, however, par- no land, and did not control the means of production. They had no ticipation would enable them to further the cause of socialism while knowledge or skills which could be used as a bargaining tool. Their also bringing about some improvements, albeit minor, for the bene- living conditions were often extremely poor. They had no political fit of the working class. The struggle for universal suffrage (‘votes for rights or influence. One of the basic tenets of early social democracy all’), which involved collaboration with the Liberals, is an example of was equality, or egalitarianism. It deplored the injustice of the great the politics of ‘small steps’. This development within socialism was differences between the ‘haves’ and the have-nots’, and condemned termed ‘revisionism’ or ‘reformism’. The Revisionists contended that the exploitation of the working man by those who controlled the cap- several of the principles and beliefs of Marxism were fundamentally ital. Socialism wished to elevate people, improving them through flawed: capitalism, for example, would not merely collapse under its education and culture. own weight. The German Eduard Bernstein can be seen as the major theorist of revisionism. He believed that social democracy should not Early socialism was developed further by egalitarian thinkers in pursue revolution, but should press for reforms in order to improve France and Britain, but its classical theoretical basis was provided by conditions for the working class. The term ‘reformism’ is therefore the work of a German, Karl Marx. Socialism is therefore a French- usually applied to the more practical aspects of revisionism, with a British-German creation, and for many years was confined to Europe, strong emphasis on those reforms which would be achieved through and primarily Western Europe. This was where industrialization had the existing democratic process, i.e. in parliament. now taken hold and it was here that there was now a social group whose members were entirely dependent on their own labour to sup- The First World War formed a turning point within socialism, in more port themselves. ways than one. Previously, the general view even within the socialist movement was that the working class need not concern themselves In the classical Marxist ideology, the capitalist society would eventu- with disputes between national states. Workers faced exactly the ally collapse and the working class (the ‘proletariat’) would seize same problems no matter where they were, and should show soli- power, then establishing a true socialist society. There would be true darity with each other across national borders. Indeed, it was equality, and the means of production would no longer be in private believed that this international solidarity could – and would – prevent hands, but would be communal (i.e. state) property. There would no a major armed conflict. This was not the case, and once hostilities longer be any exploitation of one man by another. had broken out, the socialists did support the national war effort, albeit sometimes grudgingly. After the First World War, and in some countries even before, the gen- REVISIONISM AND REFORMISM eral acceptance of Reformism within the workers’ movement had prompted the communists to form their own breakaway parties. They Originally, this socialism was a united movement, with no division rejected the policies of reform, small steps and the acceptance of par- between social democrats and communists. Gradually, however, a liamentary democracy. They continued to believe in the overthrow of difference of opinion emerged with regard to whether socialists the established order through revolution and in the subsequent ‘dic- should further the interests of their supporters by making use of the tatorship of the proletariat’ (a term used by Marx). 4 5 NATIONAL DIFFERENCES over the past fifteen years. Today, the social democrats regularly form part of the government of almost all European countries, and in a Aside from this general development, the socialist or social demo- number of cases are the sole party in office. cratic parties in the various European countries continued to develop along very different lines. In Great Britain, for example, the Labour A complete account of the development of social democracy in the Party was more or less an offshoot of the existing trade union move- various European countries is beyond the scope of this article. Suffice ment. The unions founded the Labour Party in order to ensure that it to say that there were indeed marked differences, which were their members’ interests were represented at the political level, and apparent in terms of rhetoric, use of symbols, the terminology of offi- they continued to exert considerable power and influence within the cial policy statements, etc. One relevant factor was that the political Labour Party until very recently. competition, and particularly communism, made use of the terms In other countries, socialist parties developed before the trade union and concepts which derive from the common past, before the split movement, or did so more or less independently of it. Only later did between social democracy and communism. The official name of the any close relationship develop. In southern Europe, socialism found Soviet Union, for example, was ‘the Union of Socialist Soviet it very difficult to gain a foothold, experiencing fierce competition Republics. The French Parti Socialiste gladly calls itself socialist, not from the extreme left of anarchism or communism in many cases. By least because the French communists adopted the name Parti contrast, social democrats began to assume governmental responsi- Communiste Francais, thus making the difference between them clear. bility in a number of northern European countries (Great Britain and In other countries, the term ‘social democracy’ is preferred: the Germany, for example) soon after the First World War. Swedish social German SPD is the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands. The democrats were involved in several governments before going on to British Labour Party eschews both terms, but does describe itself as hold continuous power from 1932 to 1976. ‘socialist’. Nevertheless, all three parties are members of the European PES, a name which is construed variously as Party of In Eastern Europe, the situation was, of course, very different. Social European Socialists and Party of European Social Democrats. Both democrat parties were active between the wars and did indeed take names are now official. In general, one could contend that the term part in government in some countries (e.g. Czechoslovakia), but fol- ‘socialist’ sounds

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