A primer on socialism for Bernie Sanders supporters
Despite the title, I have to stress that this is a personal statement. Many socialists will probably be critical of it. In the words of Nobel Laureate economist and Fabian socialist Sir Arthur Lewis, “A passion for equality is the one thing that links all socialists; on all others they are divided.” But socialists also share a hope, that society can be rebuilt on a basis of equality and “an order of society based on the principle of association” in the words of Eduard Bernstein, the “revisionist” leader. That said, there are three subgroups of socialists, according to the means by which this rebuilding is to occur:
utopian socialists
revolutionary socialists
social democrats or democratic socialists
“Utopian” socialism should not be dismissed as absurd. Do-it-yourself socialism has had some important successes, and is currently resurgent; but, as Marx said, society has not been rebuilt by “duodecimimo editions of the New Jerusalem.”
Revolutionary socialists, see the transformation they seek as one so sweeping that it cannot be accomplished without the rapid destruction of the old society. Many, though not all, feel that this destruction must be followed by a period of dictatorship.
Democratic socialists (mostly) advocate the rebuilding by a step-by-step process of legislation via the democratic process. This means that democratic socialists are often in alliance with progressive reformers, and are sometimes dismissed by revolutionary socialists as being no more than reformers themselves. Among the advances supported by both progressives and democratic socialists have been universal suffrage, the social safety net, universal health care, labor unions, and regulation of monopolies. With respect to Keynesian economic policies, though, socialists have mixed feelings – bailing out big businesses and paying interest on public debt are subsidies to the billionaire class, but at the same time, the burden of unemployment falls on the working class. To the extent that bailouts and government deficits limit unemployment, democratic socialists have a hard choice. Bernie has pretty much been against them.
Where do we democratic socialists go from here? I don’t think there is a consensus, but I agree with Thomas Piketty that we need a tax on net wealth and I agree also with Lewis that the proceeds should be spent buying up existing corporations and so converting them to public ownership; but I don’t think Bernie goes that far.
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