Socialism: Mission Accomplished or Mission Impossible?
Sassoon, Donald
THOSE WHO discuss socialism confront two distinct but not incompatible strategies: the essentialist and the historical. The former, Weber-like, presents socialism as an ideal-type, deduced...
...The historical strategy has the same opening move—selecting organizations and thinkers that identify as socialist...
...But this is misleading...
...Yes, they wanted workers to be as free as possible to organize and use collective action to achieve their demands...
...Consequently, some ideological barriers fell...
...what was absolutely distinctive and unique about their values...
...It was a convincing way to expand the appeal of limited reforms...
...Even in Britain or in the United States—not to mention Germany and Japan—suffrage was nonexistent or severely restricted, freedoms seriously limited, and trade unions banned or subjected to harsh control...
...And all this transformed industrial society...
...Ideology is regarded as an integral part of the history of socialism...
...The commitment of socialists to the state grew as shorter term aims became more significant and end-goals receded into a more distant future...
...Before the war, socialists did not contemplate a planned economy...
...These developments allow us to see the main ideological achievement of modern socialism, but also its failure...
...It is thus much less judgmental than essentialism...
...So the socialism that survives is a distributive force, one that aims at allocating vital resources, such as health, culture, and education, outside of market mechanisms and on the basis of social citizenship...
...They were in fact either quite silent or quite vague when it came to discussing the actual organization of socialism...
...They possessed a set of distinctive symbols...
...In Russia, the argument went, socialists would do the industrializing, or foreigners would (and the country would become a colony), or no one would (and the country would stagnate...
...While the essentialist strategy is overwhelmingly concerned with definition, the historical one is obsessed with change and causality— why do socialists behave as they do...
...The intellectuals were no help...
...These provided the pivotal link between socialism and capitalism and further reduced the importance of the original socialist endgoal...
...For conservatives it was the main means to slow down liberal reform...
...But as capitalism (especially its financial organization) globalized, social democrats and the larger communist parties of the West remained wedded to a national conception of politics, seeking to secure their past achievements (welfare, education, SOCIALISM: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE...
...Social democrats' politics were informed by the values of equality, social solidarity...
...The only condition for socialism's survival is the existence of significant political forces identified with it...
...Unfortunately, this would leave a number of problems unsolved...
...Those same states were forced to manage their respective economies to an unprecedented extent...
...It does not follow that communist authoritarianism was justifiable or inevitable...
...Social democracy, where it existed, was in the forefront of the struggle for democracy and human rights, goading the European liberal parties—then far less democratic— and even the conservative parties— then barely democratic, toward political reforms...
...The main ideological failure of social democracy is, ironically, linked to the basis of its initial practical success: having identified the state as capitalism's principal regulator, social democracy fought successfully to democratize and use it...
...Lenin piously suggested that a postal clerk could run it...
...In contrast, social democracy presumed political democracy, pluralism, and human rights...
...Even there it did so almost by stealth, abetted by an electoral system that works to the significant advantage of the largest party...
...they remained generally opposed to overt cooperation with the other parties...
...Once the concept is constructed, it can be used to assess, to evaluate, and to compare different socialist organizations...
...The point, rather, is that these two forms of twentieth century socialism are, finally, not comparable...
...The lesson of the past, insofar as the past contains any lessons, is that the impetus to transform capitalism into the relatively civilized system that survives in the fortunate countries of the "North" of our planet, has always come from those dissatisfied with the absolute rule of market forces...
...T T HE STRUGGLES for democracy, social wel fare, and the regulation of work gave rise to a fundamental feature of twentieth century socialism: statism...
...It is worth recalling this staunch individualism at a time when socialists are criticized for their fixation on class alone...
...The former exhibited marked authoritarian features, an intolerance of dissent and of pluralism which matched, and in some cases exceeded, capitalist authoritarian regimes...
...It is futile to predict the future of socialism...
...Instead, the state would ensure a system of social protection...
...Either the new revisionism and its intelligent adaptation to the realities of an ever-changing world are exalted or there is bitter denunciation of yet another dastardly betrayal of the old faith...
...For classical European liberalism, the state's purpose was the removal of obstacles to the advance of industrial society...
...Socialist" measures were not the prerogative of socialists...
...In some instances the process co-existed with slavery and genocide (the United States), racism, colonialism, and rigid authoritarianism (for instance in Japan) and one-party rule (for instance, until relatively recently, in Taiwan and South Korea...
...Universal suffrage had become the unquestioned basis of all politics...
...Much depended 58 n DISSENT / Winter 2000 on the relative strength of the two contending classes (capitalists and workers), the wealth of the economy, the power and dominance of landed aristocratic interests, the prevailing political ethos, and the position of the Catholic church...
...Two Socialisms At the beginning of the twentieth century socialists knew that their movement was contingent on capitalist society...
...The definition of the minimum standards of civilized life could not be left to the sphere of civil society, that is, to DISSENT / Winter 2000 n 57 SOCIALISM: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE...
...and the establishment of minimum standards of life...
...Marx thought that a socialist economy would someDISSENT / Winter 2000 n 59 SOCIALISM: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE...
...There were no plans to create a large public sector or to nationalize the economy...
...Massive unemployment seemed to verify the socialist claim that market forces did not naturally lead to equilibrium but rather to chronic instability...
...The death of socialism, like that of feudalism, can only be pro 56 n DISSENT / Winter 2000 claimed when it is no longer a matter of dispute, that is, when there are no socialists left except for the usual cranks, who, along with flat-earthers, may still inspire some anthropological interest...
...Bernstein declared he was not much interested in a socialist society and preferred to fight to improve the worker's conditions under capitalism...
...A longer version of this article will appear in the Journal of Political Ideologies...
...And as long as socialism denotes the political regulation of capitalism, it will live on, frightening some, comforting others, regularly dying and yet reviving, an endless cause of debate and dispute...
...This was the situation Marx and his followers called "formal" equality...
...Almost everyone accepted regulation of the work day...
...Many socialists now think that there is an element of truth in such criticisms...
...Those of us who still call ourselves socialist face a striking difficulty: we need the economic growth and prosperity capitalism can generate, but capitalism does not need us...
...This osmosis was further accelerated by the crisis of 1929...
...The extension of democracy, the institution of the welfare state, and the reduction of the work day were socialist aims and policies, but one could always find similar demands by nonsocialists...
...But some healthy skepticism toward capitalism must animate the practice of socialist reforms...
...social scientists, armed with a neatly repackaged ideal-type, produce books on the new socialism, and make academic publishers happy...
...The contractual relation between capitalist and worker was between individual and individual...
...So in some sense it was no longer possible, if it ever was, to establish a clear and permanent distinction between socialists and nonsocialists...
...Activists, unconsciously Weberian, often proceed in a parallel fashion...
...it had to be detached from the exclusive control of the dominant classes...
...The idea of managing the capitalist economy was firmly installed on the agenda of liberals, conservatives, and socialists alike...
...Liberal, Catholic, and centrist forces accepted the principles of universal suffrage, though in some cases they still excluded women...
...It is as if they have accepted a hegemonic definition of socialism provided by their enemies— a definition that disparages socialism for its alleged illiberalism, statism, anti-individualism, and dogmatism...
...It rested on the recognition that this social group was likely to be the chief champion of social and economic reforms...
...civil rights) within the territorial boundaries of the state...
...The extension of democracy advocated by socialists was based not on class but on individualism...
...Many Marxists thought of socialism as the state of affairs that would succeed capitalism, but they also noticed that the fastest growing capitalist society in the world, the United States, did not have a socialist movement...
...Social democrats (or "socialists," since I shall use the two terms interchangeably) had to manage them...
...For liberals, the state was an instrument with which to attack traditional privileges and local powers, to clear the way for markets...
...They came to power only when the first phase of industrialization was over, unlike the communists, who came to power before...
...THOSE WHO discuss socialism confront two distinct but not incompatible strategies: the essentialist and the historical...
...Powerful trade unions, without a political party, could struggle with employers over the length of the working day, the conditions of work, holiday pay, and so on...
...on the other they stressed SOCIALISM: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE...
...Parties of the democratic left discarded radical anticapitalist rhetoric as they underwent a general process of revision...
...The war changed things and not only for socialists...
...Consistency may enable small sects to survive indefinitely, but it spells certain ruin for parties and movements with hegemonic ambitions...
...This developmental socialism can be viewed as an ideology of modernization...
...Did not the welfare state, for all its compassion, systematically undermine freedom and incentives...
...Voters prefer such renegotiation to be done by political forces that historically have been suspicious if not hostile to the untrammeled markets...
...it was the state that produced legislation favoring entrepreneurs, the aristocracy, and the middle classes...
...and with the exception of Britain, they were anticlerical...
...Socialists were ambivalent about civil society...
...Essentialism does not allow for historical change...
...The state, however, could no longer play its old role...
...It enabled socialists to achieve political power by "capturing the state machine" and thus begin to implement reforms...
...And when, in the 1920s and 1930s, socialists finally entered government, it was always in coalitions with other parties (as in Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, and Spain...
...Socialism becomes what socialists do...
...What Future for Socialism...
...Ironically, this has happened at a time of social democratic electoral success...
...The ill, the unemployed, and the elderly were to be protected by a common fund, centrally administered and financed...
...The collective tax fund (to which the middle classes were expected to contribute disproportionately) or the forcible extraction of contributions from the capitalists could be used to help finance pensions, national insurances, and medical expenses...
...Liberals were no longer so certain that the state that interfered the least was the best...
...So on one hand socialists put forward a realistic program that could appeal to as many people as possible...
...If all citizens were to be of equal worth, they all had to have the vote, had to be treated equally, and had to have the same rights...
...They opposed the enfranchisement of the working class and of women...
...If on the European continent the eight-hour day was won on behalf of all citizens following principles of universal rights, in Britain this gain went to union members...
...The westernizers assumed that the duty of socialists was to accelerate the development of capitalism...
...Universal suffrage, after all, assumes that all individuals have the same worth when voting...
...The real statists, in the nineteenth century, were liberals (in the European sense) and conservatives...
...After the First World War In short, socialists regarded the state in two very different ways—either as an alien force or as machine that could be used for the redistribution of power...
...The achievement lay in preventing untrammeled market capitalism from becoming the dominant ideology in European politics...
...Such capitalism only gained a position of relative hegemony in Margaret Thatcher's Britain...
...it was asked...
...If, however, they abandon control of their identity, history, and traditions, they cannot survive...
...What they did not assume, at least not initially, was that they could manage capitalism over the long run...
...This came to be known as social democracy...
...for rewarding inefficiency and thwarting initiative...
...Once this was achieved, industry, as part of civil society, was to flourish on its own without interference...
...The concept of socialism can march on, rich with new meanings...
...Socialists were far more consistent defenders of individual democratic rights...
...The electoral successes of European social democrats in the late 1990s imply a recognition by voters of the need to renegotiate the conditions of today's assertive global capitalism...
...The former, Weber-like, presents socialism as an ideal-type, deduced from the activities or ideas of those identified as socialists...
...The public sector was expanded throughout Western Europe by socialists in Britain, by Gaullists in France, and by Christian Democrats in Austria and Italy...
...As I have already noted, key reforms demanded by social democracy were now accepted by other political forces...
...Acceptance of the state—not just as a concept, but as a useful coercive tool—came relatively late in the development of socialist thinking...
...Social democrats have ruled only where capitalism was well-established and political democracy was the common property of the main political parties...
...These alternative models, particularly the American one, have a striking capacity to strengthen themselves through crisis...
...The contrast between socialism as development and socialism as capitalist regulation is, of course, far more profound than this...
...It was the state, they argued, that deprived workers of the right to vote...
...They defended electoral systems that allocated votes on the basis of wealth...
...There was, after all, an alternative...
...Kautsky, like most social democrats of the time, believed that such issues could be resolved only when capitalism had fully developed and when the working class had acquired a superior culture and intellect...
...Social democrats often point out that developmental socialism (that is, communism) was never liberal, while social democracy was never dictatorial...
...Throughout the nineteenth century, socialist movements were against the state...
...Throughout Europe they supported upper chambers in the national legislatures in which the upper strata were over-represented or the only people represented...
...Social democratic success in pursuing these aims differed from country to country...
...However, no definition of socialism is required...
...it would be "the administration of things," whatever that means...
...They knew successful policies were likely to be imitated and popular demands taken over by others...
...As we have seen, its real meaning has always been disputed...
...Similarities and differences among them are then highlighted...
...All these would yield obvious benefits for workers and their families, but it also allowed entrepreneurs to pay them less...
...Communists had to develop industrial societies...
...But they also believed that the uneven distribution of power and money within civil society significantly undermined political rights and equality...
...Its final goal was a socialist society, but the immediate aim was to fashion an industrial society in circumstances unlike those of the West...
...Finally, the state had to be thoroughly democratized to accomplish these goals...
...how run itself...
...Though their end-goal was a vaguely defined classless society, their shortterm demands aimed at democratizing capitalist society, regulating the labor market (for instance, establishing the eight-hour work day), and socializing the costs of reproducing labor...
...We now see that capitalist societies can sustain themselves by offering minimal social protections (as in the United States) or by devolving welfare activi ties to civil society—to large firms, families, and social groups (as in Japan...
...agreements between juridically equal parties disguised massive inequality in power...
...The slavophiles imagined that Russia would be able SOCIALISM: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE...
...The passage from premodern to modern society, at least in its initial phase, has seldom been accompanied by democracy and human rights as we would understand them today...
...In any case that goal—as a socialist symbol— had diminishing popular appeal...
...They were also aware that there was only an embryonic socialist party in Britain, the most developed capitalist state in Europe...
...After the Second World War After World War II, social democratic parties emerged as major political contenders in vir 6o n DISSENT / Winter 2000 tually all democratic countries in Western Europe...
...The latter provided much fodder for antisocialists, especially after the experiences of fascism, nazism, and Stalinism...
...He is the author of One Hundred Years of Socialism, which won the Deutscher Prize...
...Welfarism and full employment became state policies...
...Social democrats did not, however, believe that modernization, capitalist development, and productivity were their concern...
...Universal suffrage made the state more receptive to change and more legitimate in principle...
...This was certainly the British case prior to the Second World War...
...Thus their insistence on the final goal was not only part of a recruitment strategy aimed at intellectuals and others with millenarian aspirations...
...Resistance to capitalism's seductions necessitates a social and political movement steeped in a tradition of critical dissent, not ashamed of its past identity, proud of its radical traditions, yet not afraid to innovate and adapt...
...And no predictions can be made...
...They hoped that in power they could control capitalism and eventually replace it...
...T T HE OTHER VARIETY of socialism—my main concern in this essay—can be con ceived as an attempt to regulate capitalism...
...Similarly, when socialists championed the working class, this was not just a matter of Marxist theory...
...Individualism and Collectivism The regulation of capitalism was not part of the original ideology of socialists...
...But it risks a determinist version of events— whatever happened had to happen—and it is useful to remember that within any set of circumstances things can develop differently...
...There was, however, a notable point of consensus: everyone believed that Russia's real problem was modernization...
...In Italy the fascist regime reacted to the crisis by taking over most of the banking system, but limited state intervention became acceptable even in Britain under liberals and conservatives...
...Because it is possible to favor adequate pensions without championing a classless society, adequate pensions were acceptable to liberals and conservatives...
...the dispute was over whether this should be left to the capitalists themselves or to the state...
...Socialists, Liberals, and the State By the early twentieth century some of the short-tem aims of social democracy could be found in some form in the programs of other parties...
...How theory and practice have been modified over time is the central preoccupation of the historical approach...
...They could function as a pressure group and obtain concessions from governing bourgeois parties...
...Socialists were committed to the long-term goal of a postcapitalist society...
...Only capitalism, they thought, could provide the material preconditions for a further advance toward socialism...
...Does not socialist statism pose similar perils...
...This was also the basis for regulating the conditions of work, ranging from health and safety conditions to the length of the work day...
...Communists prevailed in less developed societies, socialists in developed market economies...
...Ironically, the state-owned sectors remained small in the social democratic Nordic lands...
...Words like socialist may not matter much if the substance can be obtained under another guise...
...This last goal is what we now call the welfare state...
...Much of Russia's subsequent history—from war communism to the New Economic Policy, from Stalin's five-year plans to the limited and inadequate economic reforms of the 1960s and 1970s—can be seen as a dispute over the appropriate mix of state and market...
...In the meantime, socialists seem increasingly nervous about the term that defines them, both because of the multiple meanings of socialism, and the inability of socialists to fashion their own dominant meaning for the word...
...Statism, though an inevitable part of (reformist) socialist practice, was not integral to its ideology, to its commitment to a socialist end-goal...
...the arbitrariness of market forces...
...to skip Western-style capitalism...
...The prerequisite was the ability to detach demands from the bigger ideological package (like symbols and language).The link between ideological values and practical policies had to become vague, and thus amenable to renegotiation...
...In this context, reformism triumphed among socialists...
...Both socialists and liberals shared positive assumptions about industrialism, but they differed on the relationship between the political system and industry...
...Those who, at the turn of the century, defended a class conception of democracy were the (middle-class) liberal and conservative parties in Europe...
...Socialists tried to distinguish themselves from what they regarded as a monolithic bourgeois bloc, while the incorporation by antisocialists of socialist demands continued to blur the definition of socialist policies...
...In exchange for agreed-on wages, each worker undertook to perform a specific operation, in specific conditions, and for a specific length of time...
...It is tempting to agree and to leave it at that...
...Still, major differences remained...
...In the meantime, others insist on the old ideal-type, pronounce the revisions incompatible with true socialism, and then declare socialism dead...
...they advanced their demands in more radical ways than their competitors: socialists pursued and explored new forms of struggle (such as the political strike...
...The isolation of socialists from bourgeois parties ended as socialists in France and Germany gave the defense of their state priority over international solidarity...
...In Russia the movement was divided—like the whole of the Russian intelligentsia—between westernizing and Slavophile tendencies...
...Socialists can lose elections and live to fight and win another day...
...They write more books on the death of socialism and make academic publishers happy...
...DISSENT / Winter 2000 n 61...
...Even some on the radical right incorporated demands for social welfare...
...Since it can be endlessly redefined there is no reason why the term cannot be used indefinitely—or at least as long as capitalism carries on...
...When something new turns up—say, a revisionist interpretation— essentialists hoist the ideal-type onto the operating table, remove—if necessary— the bits that no longer fit, and insert the new ones...
...Communism was the consequence...
...DONALD SASSOON teaches European history at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London...
...The prosperity associated with capitalist growth, the establishment of full employment, the protections of the welfare state, and the failures of (and repression in) communist states eliminated much antagonism against capitalism itself...
...This notion came after World War I and established another zone of agreement between social democrats and liberals...
...In the meantime, some of Europe's more agrarian societies, such as Italy and Finland, had fairly strong and electorally successful socialist parties...
...It is hardly surprising that success in reform capitalist societies made socialists reluctant to forgo regulatory institutions: a large public sector, a powerful central bank, a mechanism of exchange control, a complex system of subsidies and regional policies, an intricate mechanism for the control of the labor market...
...The creation of the welfare state entailed socialization of some of the costs of reproduction of the working class...
...Socialists presented themselves as the authentic champions of reforms, while emphasizing that these were not ends in themselves but steps to a qualitatively different society...
...it is what they pursued in practice...
...But socialism is a spent idea if it is conceived as an anticapitalist alternative order where resources are allocated strictly on the basis of need...
...The notion of socialism as a modernizer (the communist guise) able to catch up with capitalist industrial societies has been routed over the last twenty years...
Vol. 47 • January 2000 • No. 1
