Democratic Socialism

A modern reformist current openly opposed to Marxism proclaimed by the Social Democratic Party, and evolved from Social Democracy. It arose in the aftermath of World War I and became widely prevalent in a number of developed capitalist countries in Western Europe after the World War II. Its chief representatives were Laski, MacDonald, Attlee, Strachey in England.

The ideological origins of democratic socialism can be traced back to Proudhonism, Bakuninism, Lassalleanism, trade unionism, especially Bernsteinism and Fabianism. In 1899, in his book The Premises of Socialism and the Tasks of the Social Democracy (published in English as Evolutionary Socialism), Bernstein put forth the concept of “democratic socialism” for the first time. After the October Revolution, some theorists of the right wing of the Social Democratic Party used the idea of social democracy to contend against communism and Leninism, and attacked Lenin’s theory and practice of violent revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat. They flaunted their social-democratic belief in democracy to highlight that Leninism and the Soviet regime were authoritarian and undemocratic.

In the aftermath of the, the British Labor Party and the right-wing leading groups of socialist parties in other countries convened the Inaugural Conference of the Socialist International in Frankfurt, Germany, in June 1951, at which the declaration entitled Aims and Tasks of Democratic Socialism was adopted, which clearly put forward “democratic socialism” as their program of struggle and openly confronted scientific socialism: (1) In terms of guiding ideology, democratic socialism denied the guiding role of Marxism and proclaimed “pluralism” and ideological “neutrality”. (2) Politically, they opposed proletarian democracy and the dictatorship of the proletariat and considered socialist states to be “despotic”, “dictatorial” and heartless “fascist” states which abolished individuality. They preached that the goal of democratic socialism is to build a society of democracy, freedom, equality, human rights and justice in which “free men work together as equals”. They opposed the social revolution led by Marxism, revered the bourgeois outlook on democracy, and advocated the government by multiple political parties. They held that the development of the productive forces brought about by the proliferation of the scientific and technological revolution will bring about a tremendous change in the social and class structure of capitalism, with the consequent disappearance of the antagonism between capital and labor, and that the socialist revolution will no longer have an actual basis, and that therefore “the socialist movement is at best nothing more than a reformist movement”. (3) Economically, democratic socialism advocated the establishment of a mixed economy based on market economy. They did not consider public property in all means of production as a prerequisite, opposed Marx’s economic goal of “expropriation of the expropriators”, advocated introducing state intervention, and gradually expanding nationalized enterprises, local public enterprises, and workers' joint-stock capital or collective joint-stock funds on the basis of the preservation of private property, and resolutely opposed the abolition of private property, holding that it will lead to great social unrest and “totalitarianism”. They advocated establishing a comprehensive welfare state. They advocated tax reform, the expansion of citizens' economic rights and social welfare, the improvement of living and working conditions, the reduction of working hours, the introduction of extensive medical care, the comprehensive development of the pension and insurance systems, and the introduction of free education, etc. (4) In terms of value outlook, democratic socialism held that socialism was the realization of human reason and ethical principles. They opposed the historical necessity that capitalism will inevitably be replaced by socialism as demonstrated by Marxism, and held that the superiority of socialist moral principles must be proven from the principle of justice, and under socialist moral principles, they emphasized that all men could enjoy equal rights to freedom in all spheres of life through solidarity and social organization.

Under the guise of socialism, democratic socialism opposed scientific socialism, causing their theory to be mired in contradictions. Neither fully negating Marxism nor fully affirming capitalism, they advocate a middle path which is essentially anti-communist. Democratic socialism is an opportunist, reformist and revisionist ideology.

In terms of ideology, democratic socialism is not a school of Marxism, but an anti-Marxist bourgeois current; as regards social system, it is not a model of socialism, but a capitalist system making a number of ameliorations; as regards its historical role, it is a tool to prolong the life span of capitalism in the capitalist countries, acting as a doctor at the sickbed of capitalism, and in socialist countries, it serves as a bridge for the transition from socialism to capitalism.

See Social Democracy on p. 477.