Topic
Social Democracy and its Critics
Instructions
Read:
- “pdf”: Miliband, Ralph and Liebman, Marcel, ‘Beyond Social Democracy’, in The Socialist Register, Vol 22, 1985/86: Social Democracy and After
- “docx”: Crosland, Anthony, The Future of Socialism, Jonathan Cape, 1956. Read ‘The Transfer of Economic Power’ From Part One: The Transformation of Capitalism
Write 400 words on Social Democracy and its critics – Reforming capitalism and the limits to reform. This will deal with the debates between Crossland and Miliband.
Answer Preview
Crosland, in his book “Future of Socialism”, has criticized Marxism belief which has been the root of many socialist that unregulated business class will lead to unbalanced wealth distribution, poverty and famine because of exploitation. However, Crosland (1982) proves that economy grew in capitalist led governments mainly in British. He further argues that good governance will automatically lead to reduced influence of capitalism without permanently nationalizing all private Companies. Crosland says that overtime, ardent capitalist lost their power through a series of events: starting from the government through policies, nationalization of industries that produce common goods and services. Also lost to labor groups and trade unions and their aspiration of improving services and modernizing their sector. Crosland point of view was that capitalism power was on decline hence strong socialism was not essential but develop a way of moderating it.
Word Count: 450