Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The Ne...
Really feels like he’s confusing social democrats and socialists. Or he’s confusing the fact that socialists within electoralism are generally only advocating as far as social democracy because it’s the furthest left position they can advocate for in the conditions they have. What they actually want is much more than what they’re advocating for.
tbf it gets a bit muddied here in Europe because the revolutionary parties join coalitions with socdems and demsocs and end up some kind of mish mash of less-radical DSA types while still calling themselves marxists. The “new labour” wave coincided with the fall of the USSR, the tactical retreat into capitalism of Deng/Jiang era China and reflected a spent and hopeless western left, no longer even able to maintain control of their own parties and losing them to neolib third way diet fascists.
Really feels like he’s confusing social democrats and socialists.
He probably doesn’t see it as confusion he’s said this type of stuff several times, he’s referred to the socialist party in portugal, which is the local center-left social-democratic social-liberal governing party, as “socialists” when discussing “european socialism” and electoral politics plenty of times.
And to a degree it’s true that some people INSIDE these parties do believe they are socialists and that they’re doing socialism but I don’t think any of these parties actual leaderships have cared about transitioning for decades
Either way he’s right that these parties don’t really demand nationalization on principle like parties to their left do.
It’s interesting that Wolff says “in western europe socialists do not demand the nationalisation and socialisation of enterprises”, claiming only communists want that. This is not my experience in the UK. The people that know what socialism is, want it.
Eh, u missed context here. He is saying they want to nationalise railways etc but not abolish private property.
It’s interesting that Wolff says “in western europe socialists do not demand the nationalisation and socialisation of enterprises”, claiming only communists want that. This is not my experience in the UK. The people that know what socialism is, want it.
Really feels like he’s confusing social democrats and socialists. Or he’s confusing the fact that socialists within electoralism are generally only advocating as far as social democracy because it’s the furthest left position they can advocate for in the conditions they have. What they actually want is much more than what they’re advocating for.
tbf it gets a bit muddied here in Europe because the revolutionary parties join coalitions with socdems and demsocs and end up some kind of mish mash of less-radical DSA types while still calling themselves marxists. The “new labour” wave coincided with the fall of the USSR, the tactical retreat into capitalism of Deng/Jiang era China and reflected a spent and hopeless western left, no longer even able to maintain control of their own parties and losing them to neolib third way diet fascists.
He probably doesn’t see it as confusion he’s said this type of stuff several times, he’s referred to the socialist party in portugal, which is the local center-left social-democratic social-liberal governing party, as “socialists” when discussing “european socialism” and electoral politics plenty of times. And to a degree it’s true that some people INSIDE these parties do believe they are socialists and that they’re doing socialism but I don’t think any of these parties actual leaderships have cared about transitioning for decades
Either way he’s right that these parties don’t really demand nationalization on principle like parties to their left do.
Wanting and even advocating are not demanding. But I can’t speak for the conditions in the UK.
The socialists I know though are a lot more into electorial progressivism than global revolution.
Eh, u missed context here. He is saying they want to nationalise railways etc but not abolish private property.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: