[Zzlist-deux] Is There Life After Social Democracy?

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A new posting -
Is There Life After Social Democracy?
<http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/2014/12/is-there-life-after-social-democracy.html>
- from Zoltan Zigedy is available at:
http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/


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“*Labour's problems aren't very different from those of other Western
social democratic parties... In this sense we are experiencing not merely a
crisis of the British state but also a general crisis of social democracy”*
(*Labour Vanishes*, Ross McKibbin, *London Review of Books*, November 20,
2014).
 McKibbin's summary assessment of social democracy is both keen and cogent.
Social democracy, the political expression of twentieth-century
anti-Communist reformism, has arrived at a juncture that challenges its
vision as well as its political vitality. In McKibbin's words: “Over the
last twenty or thirty years the great social democratic parties of Germany,
Austria, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand (and now France) have bled
support...” One could add, though in a less dramatic way, the ersatz US
social democratic party, the Democratic Party.
 In a real sense, social democracy drew its energy from its posture as an
alternative to Communism. For various reasons-- fear of change,
anti-Communist demonology, ignorance, imagined self-interest-- many of
those disadvantaged by capitalism took refuge in the tame, gradualist, and
militantly anti-Communist parties claiming space on the left. By advocating
an easy parliamentary approach, charting a cautious, non-confrontational
road, and enveloping the effort with civility, social democratic thinkers
believe they can win popularity and smooth the sharp edges of
capitalism...  *To read more, go to: http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/
<http://zzs-blg.blogspot.com/>*
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