Question

What is counterargument (sort of counter argument) for Chaning party – Social democracy? Answer with your own words.

Answer 1

Answer :

The counter-argument, that it actually fundamentally changes the structure of capitalism and creates an evolutionary path that will one day transcend it is derided as nonsense because the ruling class will never voluntarily give up its power and social democratic reforms are never more than cosmetic. Truly radical social change is always blocked by the capitalists and their representatives in the state.

The first argument offered against social democracy, i.e. that it “bails out the system” and delays the inevitable crisis is, in my view, simplistic. In fact, the changes wrought by social democracy to capitalism were qualitative to some degree. Crises of capitalism, in any case, rarely favour the Left because people’s instincts during a crisis are conservative rather than revolutionary- nonetheless, as the old system is collapsing revolution becomes inevitable but those forces which seize the revolutionary impetus are, sadly, those best able to exploit people’s fear of change and uncertainty. This is how fascist revolutions are built on conservative ideology. Grand pronouncements about proletarian internationalism usually hit a bum note in a crisis.

Social democracy has not led to socialism anywhere, it’s true- but , then again, neither has revolution. Social democracy is a work in progress, the jury is still out on whether it can takes us beyond capitalism. Whether it can or not though, it has a proven track record of creating decent societies with numerous socialist features. Orthodox Marxists ignore the extent to which democratic empowerment and socialisation, even in limited areas, tames the forces of capital and reembeds it in a social order which cannot simply be reduced to capitalism. In my view, although the Marxists have a point, they are overly blinded by ideology to see how effective social democratic politics can actually be.

Sadly, social democratic parties are falling apart just when we need them the most. Sadly, they mostly lost their way in the 1980’s and 1990′s, got stuck in the Third Way dead end that they still haven’t fully escaped from, and are generally a punch-drunk disoriented mess nowadays. The current state of social democracy makes the Marxist critique look much more convincing but I would still argue that the instincts of classical social democracy remain, in essence, the right ones for our era