Gorbachov's Housecleaning (original) (raw)
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This essay traces the development of the phrase "democratic socialism" from the early nineteenth century to the present, especially in relation to "social democracy" and "communism." These meanings have changed over time, with democratic socialism and social democracy indicating the opposite of what they meant a century ago when social democracy was the more and democratic socialism the less radical position. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the decline of the post-World War II socialdemocratic compromise created space for a radical democratic socialism to flourish in our time. Twenty-first-century democratic socialism seeks to democratize the workplace and reorient the state, against the power of the organized capitalist class, to serve the needs of the many rather than the desires of the few.
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Any serious treatment of the renewal of socialism today must begin with capitalism's creative destruction of the bases of all social existence. Since the late 1980s, the world has been engulfed in an epoch of catastrophe capitalism, manifested today in the convergence of (1) the planetary ecological crisis, (2) the global epidemiological crisis, and (3) the unending world economic crisis. Added to this are the main features of today's "empire of chaos," including the extreme system of imperialist exploitation unleashed by global commodity chains; the demise of the relatively stable liberal-democratic state with the rise of neoliberalism and neofascism; and the emergence of a new age of global hegemonic instability accompanied by increased dangers of unlimited war.
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North Meridian Review, 2019
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LuXemburg, 2020
Do you want socialism and the future? How can we still talk about socialism in these dystopian times? And how to fall silent upon this? Capitalism is devouring our future—while the crises of our time are literally heating up, it appears that their resolution is all the more absent. Furious ecological destruction, escalating military conflicts, the rise of the radical right as well as the private appropriation of social wealth are putting the future into question. Planetary boundaries and tipping points are already reached, narrowing the temporal horizon for left-wing alternatives. More and more people are realizing that we are running headlong into catastrophe if we do not radically transform the economy and society quickly—Fridays for Future and the global climate strikes symbolize this. Right now, it's easier to imagine the end of the world than an end to capitalism (Frederic Jameson). Thoroughgoing and radical alternatives (system change) are increasingly being called for—and more often. Young people are beginning to connect the future to a socialist vision, especially in the US and in Great Britain. Socialism is even being fought over again in Germany, where there is a strong anti-communist tradition. What does a SOCIALISM FOR FUTURE, a socio-ecological revolution, a green socialism look like? How does it connect the various desires of the many? What does a policy that creates hope and brings real change look like? What is to be done and where do we begin? Socialism should first of all be obvious, self-evident, a matter of course... but it is also about producing exemplary, concrete social conflicts while lampooning the propertied classes' whine when little is taken from them. And moreover, there are a good many ideas and proposals: The Green New Deal put forward by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders being the most prominent. The neoliberal mantra "There is no Alternative" was turned into its opposite: There is no longer an alternative to radical transformation. Or according to Véronica Gago: socialism means taking care of the future. With contributions from: With contribution by Étienne Balibar, Mario Candeias, Alex Demirović, Verónica Gago, Sarah Leonard and Ingar Solty
Draft encyclopedia entry on socialism.