Bringing Capital Back In, or Social Democracy Reconsidered: Employer Power, Cross-Class Alliances, and Centralization of Industrial Relations in Denmark and Sweden

1991 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 513-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Swenson
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The World ◽  
Industrial Conflict ◽  
The Right

The political domination of Social Democrats in Denmark and Sweden beginning in the 1930s was stabilized by the absence of intense opposition by capital to reformist programs aggressively opposed by business and the Right elsewhere in the world. This quiescence was not a symptom of weakness or dependency; rather, it was a product of a class-intersecting, cross-class alliance behind institutions of centralized industrial relations that served mutual interests of sectoral groupings dominating both union and employer confederations. Well-organized and militant, and backed by Social Democrats, employers in the two countries used offensive multi-industry lockouts to force centralization on reluctant unions. Analysis of these cross-class alliances and their pay-distributional objectives is used to challenge a widely held view that centralization and Social Democratic electoral strength are sources of power against capital. It also occasions a reassessment of conventional understandings of farmer-labor coalitions and the decline of industrial conflict in Scandinavia in the 1930s. According to the alternative view presented here, capital was included rather than excluded from these cross-class alliances, and industrial conflict subsided dramatically in part because employers achieved politically what they had previously tried to achieve with the lockout.

Crisis and Retrenchment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Retallack
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
The Right

This chapter begins by examining the violent street protests in 1905 in favor of suffrage reform in Saxony. At this time, the authority of Saxony’s state ministry reached a new low, and opponents of Social Democracy were forced to temporize even as they considered which suffrage reform proposals to adopt. Then the culture of working-class protest is examined from the perspective of Social Democracy’s new confidence and bourgeois fears of “the rabble.” This chapter’s second section examines the setback suffered by Social Democrats in the Reichstag election of 1907, and the lessons they and their enemies learned. This section examines the reasons for Social Democratic losses in Saxony, which included a new willingness on the Right to undertake the hard labor of grass-roots agitation. Yet the Right still sought to slow or halt Germany’s political democratization.

scholarly journals SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY IN THE VIEWS OF S. PETLIURA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20th CENTURY

2021 ◽  
pp. 62-65
Author(s):  
N. Semashko
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Party Building ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right ◽  
Sharp Criticism

The article considers the peculiarities of the social-democratic views of the prominent statesman Simon Vasilyevich Petliura in the period 1902-1917, that is, at the stage of forming his political worldview. The role of S. Petliura as one of the leading ideologues of the Ukrainian social democracy of the beginning of the XX century is determined. The attitude of S. Petliura to the Russian variants of marxism is analyzed, his views on European social democracy, the main issues of development of the Ukrainian people, and solving them through the prism of socialist ideas. His views on party building are studied, relations between the Ukrainian Social Democratic Workers 'Party and the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party. The key positions of the Russian Social Democrats have been identified, which became the subject of sharp criticism of S. Petliura. It turned out that Simon Petliura was a supporter of the European version of Social Democracy, in particular on the issue of the right of nations to selfdetermination. S. Petliura entered into a sharp controversy with representatives of the Russian Social-Democracy, argued the falsity of their views on non-recognition of the right of the Ukrainian people to autonomy, appealing to the works of Karl Kautsky. S. Petliura did not share the centralizing policy of the Russian Marxists regarding party building, defending the right of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Workers' Party to an independent organizational structure. Socialist ideology in views S. Petliura was dominant, but had bright national features. The key stages of formation of the worldview of the figure are determined. The transformation of its ideological foundations is determined.

Nazistowski mord na Żydach w prasie polskich komunistów (1942–1944).

2006 ◽  
pp. 54-75
Author(s):  
Klaus Peter Friedrich
Keyword(s):  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
Polish Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Right

Facing the decisive struggle between Nazism and Soviet communism for dominance in Europe, in 1942/43 Polish communists sojourning in the USSR espoused anti-German concepts of the political right. Their aim was an ethnic Polish ‘national communism’. Meanwhile, the Polish Workers’ Party in the occupied country advocated a maximum intensification of civilian resistance and partisan struggle. In this context, commentaries on the Nazi judeocide were an important element in their endeavors to influence the prevailing mood in the country: The underground communist press often pointed to the fate of the murdered Jews as a warning in order to make it clear to the Polish population where a deficient lack of resistance could lead. However, an agreed, unconditional Polish and Jewish armed resistance did not come about. At the same time, the communist press constantly expanded its demagogic confrontation with Polish “reactionaries” and accused them of shared responsibility for the Nazi murder of the Jews, while the Polish government (in London) was attacked for its failure. This antagonism was intensified in the fierce dispute between the Polish and Soviet governments after the rift which followed revelations about the Katyn massacre. Now the communist propaganda image of the enemy came to the fore in respect to the government and its representatives in occupied Poland. It viewed the government-in-exile as being allied with the “reactionaries,” indifferent to the murder of the Jews, and thus acting ultimately on behalf of Nazi German policy. The communists denounced the real and supposed antisemitism of their adversaries more and more bluntly. In view of their political isolation, they coupled them together, in an undifferentiated manner, extending from the right-wing radical ONR to the social democrats and the other parties represented in the underground parliament loyal to the London based Polish government. Thereby communist propaganda tried to discredit their opponents and to justify the need for a new start in a post-war Poland whose fate should be shaped by the revolutionary left. They were thus paving the way for the ultimate communist takeover

Managing Decentralization: The Strategy of Institutional Differentiation in German Industrial Relations

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Schroeder ◽  
Rainer Weinert
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Collective Bargaining Agreement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Process Of Change ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Institutional Differentiation ◽  
The Welfare State

The approach of the new millennium appears to signal the demiseof traditional models of social organization. The political core ofthis process of change—the restructuring of the welfare state—andthe related crisis of the industrywide collective bargaining agreementhave been subjects of much debate. For some years now inspecialist literature, this debate has been conducted between theproponents of a neo-liberal (minimally regulated) welfare state andthe supporters of a social democratic model (highly regulated). Thealternatives are variously expressed as “exit vs. voice,” “comparativeausterity vs. progressive competitiveness,” or “deregulation vs.cooperative re-regulation.”

The Politics of Banking and Social Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aled Davies
Keyword(s):  
Banking System ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Industrial Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Political Demand

This chapter concerns the politics of managing the domestic banking system in post-war Britain. It examines the pressures brought to bear on the post-war settlement in banking during the 1960s and 1970s—in particular, the growth of new credit creating institutions and the political demand for more competition between banks. This undermined the social democratic model for managing credit established since the war. The chapter focuses in particular on how the Labour Party attempted in the 1970s to produce a banking system that was competitive, efficient, and able to channel credit to the struggling industrial economy.

Czech Social Democracy and its “cohabitation” with the Communist Party: The story of a neglected affair

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lubomír Kopeček ◽  
Pavel Pšeja
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Social Democratic Party ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Unsuccessful Attempt ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Relationship

This article attempts to analyze developments within the Czech Left after 1989. Primarily, the authors focus on two questions: (1) How did the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) achieve its dominance of the Left? (2)What is the relationship between the Social Democrats and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM)? We conclude that the unsuccessful attempt to move the KSČM towards a moderate leftist identity opened up a space in which the Social Democrats could thrive, at the same time gradually assuming a pragmatic approach towards the Communists. Moreover, the ability of Miloš Zeman, the leader of the Social Democrats, to build a clear non-Communist Left alternative to the hegemony of the Right during the 1990s was also very important.

The German Elections of 1928

1928 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 698-705
Author(s):  
James K. Pollock
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
The Political ◽  
City Councils ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Methods ◽  
Political Consolidation ◽  
National Socialists ◽  
The Right ◽  
Intensive Work

The elections which were held throughout Germany on May 20, 1928, are of considerable interest and importance not only to Germany but also to the rest of the world. These elections, to be sure, did not have the dramatic interest which attended the Reichstag elections of December, 1924. But they deserve attention for a number of reasons: first, because they are the first elections to be held in the Reich under what may be called normal conditions; second, because elections for five Landtags and several city councils were held at the same time; and third, because the elections gave a further test, and supplied additional evidence of the operation, of the German system of proportional representation.Despite the intensive work of the political parties, the people were not aroused to much enthusiasm during the campaign. The old Reichstag was dissolved before Easter, but not until the last week of the campaign could one detect any excitement. Never before had the electors been bombarded with so much printed matter, posters, and, last but not least, loud-speakers and films. All the modern methods of appealing to the voters were tried by the numerous political parties. There were lacking, however, the overpowering issues and the battlecries which were so effective in 1924. Parades, demonstrations, meetings, and all the rest were carried through successfully on the whole, but they were quite dull and uninteresting. Only the two extreme parties, the National Socialists or Hitlerites on the right, and the Communists on the left, could appear enthusiastic. Nevertheless, the lack of what the Germans call a “grosse Parole” and the lack of excitement are not to be deplored; their absence probably indicates progress toward social and political consolidation.

Social Democrats I

Just Property ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 108-137
Author(s):  
Christopher Pierson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Functional Property ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Press ◽  
British Case ◽  
Further Development

This chapter begins with a brief discussion of what we mean by social democracy. I explore the origins of a distinctively social democratic view in mid-nineteenth century Europe, above all through the work of Louis Blanc and Ferdinand Lassalle. I plot its further development, above all in the context of German social democracy and the work of Bernstein, Kautsky, Luxemburg, and Jaurès. I turn to the British case to consider the further development of these ideas in the interwar period, above all in changing views of nationalization, planning, taxation, and ‘functional property’. Key thinkers in this process include Tawney, Jay, and Keynes. The earliest social democrats had very clear views about the need to socialize the ownership of property. Later social democrats, under the press of a politics that was electorally feasible, sought to fudge the hard questions on property.

Social democracy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Miller
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Practical Politics ◽  
Post War ◽  
Distribution Of Income

The idea of social democracy is now used to describe a society the economy of which is predominantly capitalist, but where the state acts to regulate the economy in the general interest, provides welfare services outside of it and attempts to alter the distribution of income and wealth in the name of social justice. Originally ’social democracy’ was more or less equivalent to ’socialism’. But since the mid-twentieth century, those who think of themselves as social democrats have come to believe that the old opposition between capitalism and socialism is outmoded; many of the values upheld by earlier socialists can be promoted by reforming capitalism rather than abolishing it. Although it bases itself on values like democracy and social justice, social democracy cannot really be described as a political philosophy: there is no systematic statement or great text that can be pointed to as a definitive account of social democratic ideals. In practical politics, however, social democratic ideas have been very influential, guiding the policies of most Western states in the post-war world.

scholarly journals Democracy, Enlightenment, and Revolution: Cantonese Marxists and Chinese Social Democracy, 1920–1922

Modern China ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 009770042095477
Author(s):  
Xuduo Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Social Democracy ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Federalist ◽  
May Fourth ◽  
On The Road ◽  
The Masses

This article discusses two different attitudes toward elections and democracy among the early Chinese communists. It argues that apart from some communist leaders in Shanghai who saw nothing of value in participating in elections, there were members of the party who favored social democracy. Two Cantonese Marxists, Chen Gongbo and Tan Pingshan, heavily influenced by German social democrats, especially Karl Kautsky, attached great importance to elections and “the enlightenment of the masses” on the road to communism. This led them to oppose their comrades in Shanghai, and to support the federalist self-government movement advocated by Chen Jiongming. After 1922, this rift between communists in Guangzhou and Shanghai grew into a serious intra-party conflict. Eventually, the Cantonese social democratic approach was politically discredited and largely forgotten. Exploring this Cantonese approach will clarify the connection and tension between democracy, enlightenment, and socialism in May Fourth China.

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