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A Multi-Tendency Organization The SP describes itself as multi-tendency, with a wide spectrum of opinion and disagreement within its ranks. Perhaps the best way to describe the different tendencies is to take them historically: Marxist/Class Struggle Socialism – In reaction to utopian socialism, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in the turbulent 1840’s formulated a class-oriented socialism, based on the premise that the self-liberation of the working class was necessary for and would lead to socialism. The industrialization of Europe had led to the dominance of a new class, the bourgeoisie, who replaced the feudal aristocracy. Wealth replaced inherited privilege in determining who ruled society. The proletariat, the wage-earning class that represented the vast majority of humanity (or at least of Europe), must replace the bourgeoisie for true democracy and equality to flourish. Marx systematically described the workings and failings of capitalism in Capital, and his other works. While perhaps too optimistic about how short a time it would be before capitalism’s demise, he was prescient in predicting the emergence of monopoly capitalism, the economic situation in which we now find ourselves. In strategizing for revolution, Marx left his followers not a blueprint but a way of looking at history. His view of history is dialectical – history is not static but involves the overcoming of contradictions, the conflict of classes, and the relation of those classes to the means of production. Whatever one’s reaction to Marxism, it is impossible to be a Socialist today and not be influenced by it in some way. Religious Socialism – Both Jewish and Christian socialists find ample justification for their politics in the Bible and the Torah respectively. The leveling of society implied in the Year of Jubilee, the call for social justice by the prophets, the communalism of the early church described in Acts, the continuation of this communalism in the founding of religious orders, and the eschatological expectation of a just Kingdom of God – all demand of the believer participation in the struggle for a just society. This view is being articulated currently Latin American Liberation Theologians, but religious socialists have participated in the Socialist movements from the beginning. There are also a number of other spiritual traditions from which socialists drive their politics, including Native American, African, and ancient matriarchal traditions. Religious socialists may also find themselves in one of the other tendencies. Utopian Socialism – In the early 19th century, various utopian communities were organized. Robert Owen, Saint-Simon, and Fourier are the best known of these reformers. Owen believed that human nature was infinitely malleable, and all that was needed for better world was the proper environment. He astonished British contemporaries by successfully operating a factory on humanitarian principles. Nineteenth century America was a particularly fertile ground for such experiments, which generally took an evolutionary view of change. Cooperative Socialists today, seeking to “build the new society within the shell of the old,” may be seen as descendants of these utopian Socialists. Social Democracy – By World War I, mass socialist parties existed in most countries in Europe. But the failure of those parties to put solidarity above national interest during the war, and the events of the Russian Revolution, resulted in a lasting division in the socialist movement. One faction accepted the leadership of the successful Bolshevik’s in Moscow, formed Communist Parties, and accepted the Leninist approach to party-building (See Leninism Below); the other faction continued as social democratic parties, generally following Edward Berstein’s revision of Marxism to make it evolutionary and gradualistic. The social democratic parties of Western Europe are generally responsible for constructing the welfare state, which proves more security and benefits for the average citizen that the liberals of the U.S. dare to propose. Many Socialists have questions about the abilities of those parties to move beyond the welfare state to socialism. The answer seems to depend on the country. In 1982, the Swedish SDP was voted back into power with a radical platform of a long-term transition to worker ownership of industry; on the other hand, such parties as the West German SDP seem to be successful at managing capitalism rather than providing alternatives. Councilism – The dichotomy between Leninists and social democrats obscures a third tradition that is being rediscovered. An example of this tradition is Rosa Luxemburg, a Polish Marxist who was revolutionary, but critical of the extreme centralism of Lenin’s Russian Party. She outlined a theory of transforming society through a general strike. Councilists or council communists hope to bring about a new society through the decentralized function of workers’ councils (or soviets in the original meaning of the term, free from party domination.) Such councilists are close to syndicalism, the idea that labor unions will be the basic structure of a new society. Socialist Humanism – Drawing upon utopian socialists and the early Marx, socialist humanists generally emphasize what all of humanity have in common rather than class conflicts. Many socialist humanists have been influenced by the nonviolent theory and action of Gandhi. Anarchism – Anarchists usually separate themselves from democratic socialists by their refusal to use the ballot box as a means of struggle, but democratic socialism has much in common with anarchism. One difference is emphasis is that socialists are less likely to lose sight of social responsibilities at the expense of individual rights. The anarchist conception of the abolition of the state has its parallel in Marx’s “withering away of the state.” Perhaps common ground can be found in the Italian anarchist Malatesta’s distinction between government and its state: government picks up the garbage and builds roads and sewers; the state executes, imprisons, and wages war. Gustav Landauer tried in his political writing to reconcile anarchism and socialism. Eclectic Socialism – Many Socialists are primarily activists, not theoreticians, and gladly take what seems useful in different tendencies. What the Socialist Party Believes Economic Democracy Working Class Unity Class Consciousness Internationalism Socialist Feminism A Multi-tendency Organization Defining Democratic Socialism Strategies for Transition to Socialism Tactics/Organizing Socialist Party History - |
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Socialist Party
USA 339 Lafayette St. #303 New York, NY 10012 |