The Fate of European Socialism

...It added to this error its failure to anticipate all the various strategies and forces in a developing society, by which undue power would be checked, neutralized and made responsible...

...The traditional suspicions of capitalist America and the loss of the eastern part of Germany, with its heavy Socialist majorities, may have contributed to its impotence...

...If we return for a moment to the European scene, it is significant that the democratic ground has been shared, and dominance on that ground has been won, by another political force which is as incomprehensible to the eyes of Americans as the Socialist movement...

...Bevanism" in foreign affairs was based upon the suspicion of the working classes that "capitalism" in general and American capitalism in particular, was inclined to war...

...and the political debate between the parties never seriously challenges the basic policies of the welfare state...

...Yet, in the course of history, this private and essentially arbitrary power was changed not so much by law as by a challenging social force, the rising, and now established, labor movement...

...The "speedup" seemed too heartless and the "layoffs" so capricious...

...They have consistently stood for European integration...

...Experience and pragmatic wisdom had triumphed everywhere in Western civilization over doctrinaire positions...

...This bit of nationalization was, for various reasons, so inevitable that the whole nation agreed with the policy...

...The greatest achievement of the Labor government was, however, the establishment of the basic policies of the "welfare state" which have become the standard of justice in every modern nation, and which the Tory opposition never threatened when it returned to power...

...but it is certainly symbolic of the pragmatic approach to the issues of justice in a technical civilization...

...THE FATE OF EUROPEAN SOCIALISM What seemed an irresistible tide ten years ago is now largely dissipated By Reinhold Niebuhr The recent victory of Eden's Government over its Labor opposition in the British election was its second triumph in less than five years, and seems to indicate a steady trend of political opinion, not only in Britain, but in Europe generally...

...It must be observed that European Socialism in general, and British Socialism in particular, had long since disavowed the Marxist revolutionary creed...

...Bevanism," however, meant more than either domestic or foreign policy...

...A consideration of the fate of British and European Socialism would be incomplete without reference to the part which "Bevanism" contributed to the defeat of Labor...

...European Socialism was thoroughly democratic and the taunt of the conservatives that Communism was merely "socialism in a hurry" was never true...

...that is, it should not be private in law when its power is no longer private in fact...

...Nevertheless, the Catholic parties have been, on the whole, creative and their record disproves the American prejudice that Catholicism everywhere would like to construct governments after the pattern of Spain...

...The labor movement alone is not responsible for all the shifts in the equilibria of power by which relative justice has been established...

...The fight between clerical and anti-clerical opinion on the school question in France has weakened the democratic cause...

...The social facts prompted me to coin a slogan which seemed very telling to me at that time, though it would not convince me now...

...The social facts proved that this was a false promise and that the disparities of power in the field of industry would also make for inequalities of privilege and for insecurities for the workers...

...It was not to be trusted in an age of the hydrogen bomb...

...It was the expression of the residual social resentment of the working classes in a society in which the perfection of political democracy was developed against the historical background of an ancient feudal social structure and the inevitable class snobbishness of a feudal order...

...With the defeat of the Labor party in Britain, what seemed to be the tide of Socialism in Europe at the end of the war has receded...

...It may be that there is no place in a modern democracy except for thoroughly pragmatic political forces which seek for justice with a full recognition of the contingencies of history, which invalidate all inflexible political programs...

...Only a Labor government could have "tightened the belt" of an impoverished nation without special resentment...

...But, meanwhile, Labor itself, with the exception of the miners, was not at all certain that nationalization was a cure-all...

...Only the Labor government would have been willing to liquidate the British Empire and thus save the cause of democracy, particularly in India...

...One item in our current history will vividly illustrate the triumph of pragmatic policy over doctrinaire positions, which characterizes the whole history of Western democracy...

...The victory of Labor after the war proved providential to British democracy in many ways...

...But the pattern on the rest of the continent was not very dissimilar...

...for the Socialist parties everywhere were undoubtedly the vehicles of the modern democratic impulse to place economic life in the service of human welfare, and to resist the pretensions of the "privileged" classes who believed, or professed to believe, that the economic process would, if left alone, guarantee justice...

...In the case of France, the MRP or Catholic party was too consistent in its projection of the "European Defense Community" and lost popular support because its internationalism did not correspond to French national sentiments...

...It mitigated the social resentments which were the basis of its political power and established a sense of justice and security which undermined its own political hold...

...German Socialism never was able to challenge the liberal Catholic party under the leadership of Adenauer, and involved itself in nationalistic aberrations and neutralist illusions, despite its abhorrence of Communism...

...as modern nations moved toward the ultimate in social control, they offered the opposing parties a chance to advocate a loosening of controls in the interest of encouraging initiative...

...In fact, Labor, like our own Democratic party, laid the foundation for its electoral failure by its success in the field of social policy...

...Socialism embodied a passion for social justice, but it committed the error of assuming that ownership was the only source of power in economic life...

...It was true, however, that Socialism believed sincerely in the socialization of industrial property...

...Its first triumph in Britain was on a platform which placed the nationalization of the coal mines in the forefront of its program...

...Anglo-Saxon democracy has been blessed by the absence of political parties with basic religious sources of cohesion...

...This is the rather dispiriting record of what was once a very promising movement...

...The principle of socialization had ceased to be attractive even to the workingman...

...a rather romantic imperialist, would certainly not have done it...

...In Italy, the Socialist party became divided on the issue of Communism, one part of the party under Pietro Nenni becoming captive to the Communists...

...Private property," I said, "should no longer be private when it is no longer private...

...The difference between British and French policy makes the difference between the political realities of India and Indo-China, where the tardiness of the French in yielding to nationalist aspirations has given Communism its greatest victory...

...In this, as in other instances, history proves that "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophies...

...In Italy, the Catholic party includes everything from monarchism to the fellow-traveling new Italian President, Giovanni Gronchi...

...It was this absence of social resentment in the social equalitarianism of our nation, with its advancing frontier and its expanding economy, which prevented Socialism from becoming a political force in our country...

...At any rate, whatever the causes, the Labor party lost the election and probably would have lost even if it had not been divided by the issue of Bevanism...

...It was the great and irresponsible power of the Ford Motor Company of two decades ago which persuaded the present writer to embrace the socialist creed...

...It was significant that most of the great trade unions were opposed to Bevan...

...The only saving aspect of this history is that the Socialist movement contributed much to democratic justice before, at least in Britain, it contributed to its ultimate failure by its first success...

...The fact that socialism should have been such a creative force in Western democracy and should nevertheless, in its traditional form, be a spent force in current history, is instructive both about the quality of history and about the ability of a free society, with its competing political forces, to come to terms with historical contingencies...

...It was possible to correct its errors and to appropriate the truth embodied in its impulses only by the political dialogue and conflict which is possible in a free society...

...I refer to the liberal Catholic parties of West Germany, France, Holland and Italy...

...Churchill, who is...

...Thus the political distance has narrowed in Britain, as in every major industrial nation...

...These parties tend to cover the whole spectrum of political and economic opinion...

...Whatever may be the weaknesses and virtues of the Catholic parties, they have been more pragmatic in both domestic and foreign policy than European Socialism and have proved themselves to be the agents of a democratic strength...

...That victory was supposed to herald the triumph of socialism in the whole of Europe...

...This is democratic pragmatism at its best...

...It was never rescinded by the opposition when it came to power...

...and President Eisenhower's ultimate acceptance of this suggestion (perhaps with an eye on the British election) made nonsense of this suspicion and may have finally discredited the old Marxist charge that capitalists are bent upon war...

...This has been the ironic fate of all the "progressive" parties in Western democracy...

...or was...

...But evidently there was not enough residual social resentment in the British situation to give Bevanism political prestige at this stage of history...

...Not even our Republicans, who stand considerably to the right of the British Tories, challenge these policies...

...Churchill's sincere desire for peace and his constant demands for a conference "at the summit...

...Socialism may be a spent force for this reason, though its objectives are far from being discredited goals...

...Labor's defeat is in striking contrast to its triumph after the war, when it captivated the people with its promise of "fair shares for all," expressed the conscience of a whole nation, and was able to defeat the greatest hero of Britain's "finest hour," Winston Churchill...

...Religiously-oriented politics is certainly no unmixed blessing...

...These affronted the conscience of every modern nation, and gave the Socialists their hold on industrial workers...

...In France, the Socialist party is completely lacking in dy namie and has no effective relation to the working class...

...Bevanism in domestic policy consisted of an insistence upon a more rigorous application of socialist principles on the assumption that a more rigorous policy of nationalization would generate more justice...

...My doctrinaire idealism did not anticipate this historical development so characteristic of the whole course of Western history...

...They are much more likely to be prudential pacifists, more intent on balancing the budget and cutting taxes than on military adventure...

...The new contract negotiated by the Ford Motor Company and the United Automobile Workers, taking the first step toward an "annual wage," is a product of a very responsible type of collective bargaining, with both sides revealing their sense of responsibility...