The Illusion of Social Democracy

White Privilege, Panic Attacks and Con Artists

Morning Comrades.

With the ever accelerating end of the pretend democracy at play here in the West, too many of the usual snake oil salesmen, from politicians to the Dumb & Dumber Brigade of Podcasters and Content Producers are fretting for their privileges, inherent to their Class under Capitalism. Predictable as they are, a consensus is trying to be build around the possibility of reform, be that in the US or here in Europe, a reformist project that utilises the immense wealth fostered out of the Global South which allowed a post WW2 Europe, and to a certain degree, the US, to create a social democratic system, that in reality, provided a logical support structure any society should have. Vital in this conversation is the not only the question, but for which class, but furthemore for what race and gender. Let us not forget that in the heartland of Western Social Democracy, Western Germany of the 1950s-1970s, women weren’t allowed to open a bank account without the permission of their husband until 1977. One year before I was born.

Social democracy is not a viable alternative to capitalism. It is a tempting prospect, but ultimately suffers from violent contradictions that cannot be sustained. Social democracy tries to establish a compromise between capitalism, and socialist demands for fair wages, good public services, and environmental protections. But the latter represents a real problem for capital. It increases input prices, and increases workers’ bargaining power, and makes capital accumulation very difficult to achieve. One way to resolve this tension is to abandon capital accumulation and transition to a post-capitalist economy where production is democratically organised around human well-being and ecology- in other words, socialism.

With that premise, let’s dig into the contradictions and ultimate failure of Social Democracy and additionally we are going to play out argumentatively whether or not Social Democracy can be a path towards Socialism or not.