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Anthony Giddens (1938-)
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This key thinker argues the existing liberal state should be improved, redistributing and decentralising political power while encouraging greater political participation: -In 'The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy' (1998), he argued that the survival of social democracy required recognition that free-market capitalism had an unmatched capacity to empower individuals economically.
-However, he also argued that capitalism functioned best when there was a strong sense of social cohesion, which neo-liberalism seemed to overlook.
-So a triangulation - reconciling neo-liberalism's view of economics with social democracy's view of society - was required to make centre-left politics relevant in the 21st century. -He accepted that in many respects, post-Fordist capitalism was liberating for individuals - they were now freer than ever to 'self-actualise' and carve out individual identities.
-Yet, those individuals would also find it harder to develop, precisely because society was becoming increasingly amorphous and ill-defined.
-Stripped of the communities that once gave them confidence, human beings were likely to be less sure-footed and more likely to be influenced by both economic and cultural elites.
-So, for him, the great irony was that the 'individualisation' of society might actually result in less individualism.
-He therefore argued that if human nature were to flourish in the 21st century, the state - while retreating from economic management - would have to be more proactive, investing heavily in infrastructure (for example, better public transport and community services) and a modernised system of education, designed to prepare citizens for the knowledge economy (one which physical capacity was less important). -He also found that because globalisation made governments less influential in the economic sphere, it was fitting that Third Way Governments should address other, 'less economic' examples of inequality within society.
-As such, governments like Blair's passed various measures promoting greater racial, gender and sexual equality; the legalisation of civil partnerships for gay couples is one example.
-Blair's government also brought in measures designed to redistribute political influence, such as devolved government and a Human Rights Act.
-For him and other Third Way exponents, these reforms - with their aim of equalising social and political power - were perfectly appropriate to socialism in a modern setting. |
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Anthony Crosland (1918-1977)
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This key thinker argues democratic socialist governments (for example, Labour 1945-1951) prove that the existing state can be used to effect radical, socialist change: -He argued capitalism had been changed forever as a result of economist John Maynard Keynes, whose belief in state-managed capitalism became orthodox in Western Europe after 1945. -Thanks to Keynesian principles, advanced societies could now enjoy permanent economic growth and full employment, without requiring any serious extension of public ownership. -Thanks to constant growth, these societies could enjoy a steady expansion of the welfare state, which, in turn, would diminish inequality and advance socialism. -He argued for a mixed economy which would mainly comprise private enterprise and private ownership, alongside key services and a small number of industries owned by the state, a situation which, for him, had largely been achieved following the 1945-1951 Labour governments. -For him, the future task of socialist governments was not more public ownership but more public spending and better public services. -In his later books, 'The Conservative Enemy' and 'Socialism Now' (1974), he argued for a new form of state education, which would end the segregation of pupils at the age of 11 (through the 11-plus) and create new schools catering for all abilities.
-He believed these comprehensive schools would break down class divisions far more effectively than any extension of public ownership while ensuring all pupils had equality of opportunity.
-He pursued this idea while Secretary of State for Education between 1965 and 1967, initiating a process that made comprehensive education the norm by the time of his death. |
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Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919)
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This key thinker argues the existing capitalist state must be destroyed by revolution, but one arising from strike action - the replacement state should be a genuine democracy, complete with free speech and free elections: -She had little sympathy for Marx's 'historicism' and denied that for revolution to occur, capitalism would have to reach an advanced stage of development, where the proletariat was well developed. -Like Lenin, for her, the unacceptable implication was that less developed countries would have to endure many more decades of oppressive rule, plus all the horrors of a developing capitalist economy, before the salvation of socialism could arrive. -However, she rejected Lenin's claim that revolution could occur only through the planning and leadership of a vanguard elite. -Instead, she envisaged revolution arising 'spontaneously', after class consciousness had gradually been brought about through the proletariat's ongoing battle for progress in the workplace. -Mass strike action would develop spontaneously from this and eventually ignite a much wider revolutionary movement that would overthrow the capitalist state. -Yet she rejected the Marxist-Leninist idea of revolution leading to a dictatorship of the proletariat. -Instead, she advocated the immediate construction of a new democracy, underpinned by common ownership, open debate and elections. -She upheld Marx's internationalism by dismissing Lenin's interest in socialist nationalism, claiming Lenin overlooked the transnational character of both capitalism and proletarian interests. -Socialist revolution, she contended, should be more than a form of national regime change; it should be a revolt against capitalism and nationalism globally - an argument which continues to be made today by groups like the International Socialist League. -Her concerns about nationalism were brought to a head by the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, which she stoutly opposed.
-Disgusted by the SPD's support for the German war effort, she left the party and began organising anti-war demonstrations, certain that the war provided optimum conditions for revolution, while proclaiming that 'the enemy of socialism remains in our own country'. -After the war, she helped establish the German Communist Party (KPD). -Conventional Marxists and Leninists were appalled by her belief that the KPD should contest elections to the post-war German Constituent Assembly, claiming this was a betrayal of Marx's rejection of evolutionary socialism and a heretical compromise with the status quo. -Yet she argued that having a foothold in the existing political system made it easier for communists to convey the case for revolution to proletarian voters. -This argument portended Euro-Communism in the late 20th century and remains popular with modern communist parties in Europe. |
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Marx and Engels
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These key thinkers argue the existing liberal-bourgeois state is a tool of the dominant capitalist class; it must be destroyed by revolution and replaced by a new socialist state: the dictatorship of the proletariat: -They were the first socialist thinkers to explain the centrality of social class.
-They explained that an individual's social class is determined by their status within society's economy.
-They argued that capitalism created 2 conflicted economic classes: the bourgeoisie (in effect the ruling-class, which owned and managed the economy) and the proletariat (in effect, the working-class, which sold its labour to the bourgeoisie in return for wages).
-However, they also argued that class differences were far from harmonious: they involved harsh inequalities of wealth and power and the exploitation of the proletariat.
-For this reason, capitalist societies were also unstable and would eventually be overthrown by a 'historically inevitable' proletariat revolution. -They were the first socialist thinkers to challenge the liberal notion that the state was politically neutral.
-Instead, they argued that the state would always serve the interests of whichever class controlled the economy.
-Consequently, the liberal state was 'merely a committee' for the ruling capitalist class and could therefore never provide an evolutionary road to socialism. -They thus became the first socialist thinkers to explain why revolution was not just inevitable but essential and to describe what should happen once revolution had occurred. -They asserted that, in the wake of revolution, an entirely new state should arise that would govern in the interests of the new, economically dominant class - one they called the dictatorship of the proletariat. -Once this alternative state had cemented socialist values, it would 'wither away' and be replaced by communism: a stateless society involving common ownership and the principle of 'from each according to his ability to each according to his needs' - this would be 'the end of history'. -Such a scenario has never been realised, yet their idea of a dictatorship of the proletariat proved hugely significant, justifying oppressive political systems in post-revolutionary societies such as the Soviet Union and China.
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Beatrice Webb (1858-1943)
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This key thinker argues that if harnessed to universal suffrage, the existing state could be used to effect a gradual transition to socialism: -She believed neither paternalism nor philanthropy was a sustainable solution to the problems of poverty and inequality.
-Poverty and inequality were most likely to be eliminated through vigorous trade unionism and extensive state intervention. -Effective reform tends to be gradual rather than revolutionary. -In her book, 'The Cooperative Movement in Great Britain' (1891), she rejected 'big bang', revolutionary change, arguing that revolutions were 'chaotic, inefficient and counter-productive' and, for that very reason, 'guilty of the same problem besettling capitalism - unpredictability'. -Despairing of capitalism's volatility, she looked forward to a more planned and 'rational' society where 'matters may be resolved sensibly...by rational, educated and civic-minded officials'.
-Thus, the mayhem associated with revolution did not seem the ideal starting point for a bright and orderly future.
-She and other democratic socialists believed, that the extension of the suffrage, from the late 19th century onwards, had facilitated a more orderly, election-based progression towards post-capitalist society.
-In a scenario she and other Fabians dubbed 'the inevitability of gradualism', democratically elected socialist governments would steadily transform society via the existing parliamentary system, gradually replacing a society based on private ownership with one based on common ownership and public control. -Along with her husband Sidney, she became active in the Fabian Society, an organisation committed to evolutionary socialism via reforms made at Westminster.
-She was instrumental in the Fabians' decision to align with the emerging Labour Party and was involved in drafting Clause IV of Labour's 1918 constitution. -Although this committed Labour to 'common ownership' of the British economy, she helped ensure that Labour would pursue this goal via the existing political system. -Between 1905 and 1909, she served on a Royal Commission that examined the state's approach to poverty.
-Her celebrated Minority Report argued that the state should guarantee 'a sufficient nourishment and training when young, a living wage when able-bodied, treatment when sick, and modest but secure livelihood when disabled or aged'.
-Much of this anticipated the Beveridge Report of 1942, which was implemented by a Labour government after 1945.
-Her views on poverty and inequality therefore pre-dated both the agenda of a democratic socialist government and the emergence of a welfare state in the UK. |
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