Liberal socialism

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This article is about the political philosophy that incorporates liberal principles with socialism. For the socialist anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarian philosophy, see Libertarian socialism. For the variety of liberalism that endorses a regulated market economy and the expansion of civil and political rights, see Social liberalism.

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Liberal socialism is a

capital goods.[3][4]

Liberal socialism has been particularly prominent in British and Italian politics.

centralised models of socialism that he thought might discourage competition and creativity, but he argued that representation is essential in a free government and democracy could not subsist if economic opportunities were not well distributed, therefore conceiving democracy not just as a form of representative government, but as an entire social organisation.[7] While some socialists have been hostile to liberalism, accused of "providing an ideological cover for the depredation of capitalism", it has been pointed out that "the goals of liberalism are not so different from those of the socialists", although this similarity in goals has been described as being deceptive due to the different meanings liberalism and socialism give to liberty, equality and solidarity.[8] In a modern context, liberal socialism is sometimes used interchangeably with modern social liberalism[a] or social democracy.[9]

Influences

Principles that can be described as liberal socialist are based on the works of

radical, socialist and anarchist economists and philosophers such as Roberto Ardigò,[10] Eduard Bernstein,[11] Henry Charles Carey,[12] G. D. H. Cole,[11] Jean Hippolyte Colins de Ham [fr],[13] John Dewey,[11] Eugen Dühring,[12] François Huet [fr],[13] John Stuart Mill,[11] William Ogilvie of Pittensear,[14] Thomas Paine,[15] Karl Polanyi,[16] Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,[17] Carlo Rosselli,[11] Thomas Spence,[14] Herbert Spencer[18] and Léon Walras.[19] Other important liberal socialist figures include Norberto Bobbio,[20] Guido Calogero [it],[21] Anthony Crosland,[22] Piero Gobetti,[23] Theodor Hertzka,[12] Leonard Hobhouse,[22] Oszkár Jászi,[24] Josef Macek [cz],[14] Chantal Mouffe,[11] Franz Oppenheimer,[25] John Rawls[26] and R. H. Tawney.[27] As an alternative social ideal, liberal socialism may be regarded as a synthesis of the ideas of Karl Marx (a socialist) and John Rawls (a liberal).[28] Although not liberal socialist, the conception of land by economists and philosophers such as Henry George[12] and Adam Smith[29]
also influenced the liberal socialist tradition.

Theory

See also: Democratic socialism

Liberal socialism opposes

physiocrats, among others.[16]

Ethical socialism

Main article: Ethical socialism
R. H. Tawney, founder of ethical socialism

Ethical socialism is a variant of liberal socialism developed by

guild-socialist values.[33]

It emphasises the need for a morally conscious economy based upon the principles of service, cooperation and

public education and public housing.[35]

Tawney advocated nationalisation of strategic industries and services.

property rights of the few" that were preventing the ownership of property by the many.[37]

Country by country

Argentina

Leandro N. Alem, founder of liberal socialism in Argentina's politics and head of the Revolution of the Park

During the

Década Infame in the 1930s as part of the Radical Civic Union or the Socialist Party.[38]

Ingenieros' work has diffused all over Latin America.[39] In the 2003 Argentine general election, Ricardo López Murphy (who has declared himself a liberal socialist in the tradition of Alem and Juan Bautista Alberdi) ended third with 16.3 per cent of the popular vote.[40] Contemporary Argentine liberal socialists include Mario Bunge,[41] Carlos Fayt and Juan José Sebreli.[42]

Belgium

Chantal Mouffe is a prominent Belgian advocate of liberal socialism.[43] She describes liberal socialism as follows:

To deepen and enrich the pluralist conquests of liberal democracy, the articulation between political liberalism and individualism must be broken, to make possible a new approach to individuality that restores its social nature without reducing it to a simple component of an organic whole. This is where the socialist tradition of thought might still have something to contribute to the democratic project and herein lies the promise of a liberal socialism.[43]

United Kingdom

John Stuart Mill

socialist
views

The main classical liberal English thinker John Stuart Mill's early economic philosophy was one of free markets. However, he accepted interventions in the economy. He also accepted the principle of legislative intervention for the purpose of animal welfare.[44] Mill originally believed that equality of taxation meant equality of sacrifice and that progressive taxation penalised those who worked harder and saved more and therefore was a "mild form of robbery".[45]

Given an equal tax rate regardless of income, Mill agreed that inheritance should be taxed. A utilitarian society would agree that everyone should be equal one way or another. Therefore, receiving inheritance would put one ahead of society unless taxed on the inheritance. Those who donate should consider and choose carefully where their money goes—some charities are more deserving than others. Public charities boards such as a government (i.e. social welfare) will disburse the money equally. However, a private charity board like a church would disburse the monies fairly to those who are in more need than others.[46][page needed]

Mill later altered his views toward a more socialist bent, adding chapters to his Principles of Political Economy in defence of a socialist outlook and defending some socialist causes.[47] Within this revised work, he also made the radical proposal that the whole wage system be abolished in favour of a co-operative wage system.[48] Nonetheless, some of his views on the idea of flat taxation remained,[49] albeit altered in the third edition of the Principles of Political Economy to reflect a concern for differentiating restrictions on unearned incomes which he favoured; and those on earned incomes which he did not favour.[50]

In the case of

Principles of Economics. As Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations had during an earlier period, Mill's Principles of Economy dominated economics teaching and was one of the most widely read of all books on economics in the period.[51]

In later editions of Principles of Political Economy, Mill would argue that "as far as economic theory was concerned, there is nothing in principle in economic theory that precludes an economic order based on socialist policies".

worker cooperatives,[53]
writing:

The form of association, however, which if mankind continue to improve, must be expected in the end to predominate, is not that which can exist between a capitalist as chief, and work-people without a voice in the management, but the association of the labourers themselves on terms of equality, collectively owning the capital with which they carry on their operations, and working under managers elected and removable by themselves.[54]

Ethical socialism in Britain

Liberal socialism has exercised influence in British politics, especially in the variant known as ethical socialism.[55] Ethical socialism is an important ideology of the Labour Party. Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee supported the ideology, which played a large role in his party's policies during the postwar 1940s.[56] Half a century after Attlee's tenure, Tony Blair, another Labour Prime Minister, also described himself as an adherent of ethical socialism, which for him embodies the values of "social justice, the equal worth of each citizen, equality of opportunity, community".[57] Influenced by Attlee and John Macmurray (who himself was influenced by Green),[58] Blair has defined the ideology in similar terms as earlier adherents—with an emphasis on the common good, rights and responsibilities as well as support of an organic society in which individuals flourish through cooperation.[58] Blair argued that Labour ran into problems in the 1960s and 1970s when it abandoned ethical socialism and that its recovery required a return to the values promoted by the Attlee government.[5] However, Blair's critics (both inside and outside Labour) have accused him of completely abandoning socialism in favour of capitalism.[59]

France

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, 19th-century anarchist and socialist advocate of mutualism

While Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was a revolutionary, his social revolution did not mean civil war or violent upheaval, but rather the transformation of society. This transformation was essentially moral in nature and demanded the highest ethics from those who sought change. It was monetary reform, combined with organizing a credit bank and workers associations, that Proudhon proposed to use as a lever to bring about the organization of society along new lines.[60] Proudhon's ethical socialism has been described as part of the liberal socialist tradition which is for egalitarianism and free markets, with Proudhon taking "a commitment to narrow down the sphere of activity of the state".[61] James Boyle quoted Proudhon as stating that socialism is "every aspiration towards the amelioration of society" and then admitting that "we are all socialists" under this definition.[62]

Proudhon was a supporter of both

free association by creating industrial democracy, a system where workplaces would be "handed over to democratically organised workers' associations. [...] We want these associations to be models for agriculture, industry and trade, the pioneering core of that vast federation of companies and societies woven into the common cloth of the democratic social Republic."[64] Under mutualism, workers would no longer sell their labour to a capitalist but rather work for themselves in cooperatives like the Mill's idea. Proudhon urged "workers to form themselves into democratic societies, with equal conditions for all members, on pain of a relapse into feudalism". This would result in "[c]apitalistic and proprietary exploitation, stopped everywhere, the wage system abolished, equal and just exchange guaranteed".[65]

Robert Graham noted that "Proudhon's market socialism is indissolubly linked to his notions of industrial democracy and workers' self-management".[66] In his in-depth analysis of this aspect of Proudhon's ideas, K. Steven Vincent noted that "Proudhon consistently advanced a program of industrial democracy which would return control and direction of the economy to the workers".[67] For Proudhon, "strong workers' associations [...] would enable the workers to determine jointly by election how the enterprise was to be directed and operated on a day-to-day basis".[68]

Germany

Chancellor of West Germany
(1969–1974)

An early version of liberal socialism was developed in Germany by

German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, who said the following: "As long as I live, I will not forget Franz Oppenheimer! I will be as happy if the social market economy—as perfect or imperfect as it might be—continues to bear witness to the work, to the intellectual stance of the ideas and teachings of Franz Oppenheimer."[69]

In the 1930s, the

Nazi regime in 1933, the SPD acted in exile through the Sopade. In 1934, the Sopade began to publish material that indicated that the SPD was turning towards liberal socialism.[70]

Curt Heyer [de], a prominent proponent of liberal socialism within the Sopade, declared that Sopade represented the tradition of Weimar Republic social democracy (a form of liberal democratic socialism) and declared that Sopade's held true to its mandate of traditional liberal principles combined with the political realism of socialism.[71] After the restoration of democracy in West Germany, the SPD's Godesberg Program in 1959 eliminated the party's remaining Marxist policies. The SPD then became officially based upon liberal socialism (German: freiheitlicher Sozialismus).[72] West German Chancellor Willy Brandt has been identified as a liberal socialist.[73]

Hungary

In 1919, the Hungarian politician

Bolshevik revolution during which he specifically denounced the Marxist worldview shortly after the collapse of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, calling his views "Anti-Marx". His criticism of orthodox Marxism was centered on its mechanical, value-free and amoral methodology.[75] He argued that "[i]n no small measure, the present terrible, bewildering world crisis is a consequence of Marxism's mechanical Communism and amoral nihilism. New formulas of spirit, freedom and solidarity have to be found".[75] [1]

Jászi promoted a form of co-operative socialism that included liberal principles of freedom, voluntarism and decentralization.[74] He counterpoised this ideal version of socialism with the then-existing political system in the Soviet Union, which he identified as based upon dictatorial and militarist perils, statism and a crippled economic order where competition and quality are disregarded.[76]

Jászi's views on socialism and especially his works justifying the denouncement of

Bolshevik communism came back into Hungarian public interest in the 1980s when copies of his manuscripts were discovered and were smuggled into Hungary that was then under communist party-rule.[76]
Another famous Hungarian politician, Bibó Istvan was a profilic and unique liberal socialist - writer too. Especially after the II. World War (and the fall of the 1956's Revolution) wrote essays from this viewpont. Was unique in the sense, that he had accept the political systems, but remained a follower of liberal and socialist ideas. Therefore he wanted to reconcile them in his works.[77] He felt, that the marxism and the socialist's tool are (and must be) the road to the goals and ideals of the liberalism. ("kisember szocializmus", "kispolgár szocializmus": "little people's socialism" (as white and blue collar worker/lower middle class socialism), "petite bourgeoisie socialism")[78]

Italy

Carlo Rosselli, Italian proponent of liberal socialism

Going back to Italian revolutionaries and socialists such as Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini,[79] Italian socialist Carlo Rosselli was inspired by the definition of socialism by the founder of social democracy, Eduard Bernstein, who defined socialism as "organised liberalism". Rosselli expanded on Bernstein's arguments by developing his notion of liberal socialism (Italian: socialismo liberale).[80] In 1925, Rosselli defined the ideology in his work of the same name in which he supported the type of socialist economy defined by socialist economist Werner Sombart in Der modern Kapitalismus (1908) that envisaged a new modern mixed economy that included both public and private property, limited economic competition and increased economic cooperation.[3]

While appreciating principles of liberalism as an ideology that emphasised liberation, Rosselli was deeply disappointed with liberalism as a system that he described as having been used by the bourgeoisie to support their privileges while neglecting the liberation components of liberalism as an ideology and thus viewed conventional liberalism as a system that had merely become an ideology of "bourgeois capitalism".[81] At the same time, Rosselli appreciated socialism as an ideology, but he was also deeply disappointed with conventional socialism as a system.[82]

In response to his disappointment with conventional socialism in practice, Rosselli declared: "The recent experiences, all the experiences of the past thirty years, have hopelessly condemned the primitive programs of the socialists. State socialism especially—collectivist, centralising socialism—has been defeated".[82] Rosselli's liberal socialism was partly based upon his study and admiration of British political themes of the Fabian Society and John Stuart Mill (he was able to read the English versions of Mill's work On Liberty prior to its availability in Italian that began in 1925). His admiration of British socialism increased after his visit to the United Kingdom in 1923 where he met George Drumgoole Coleman, R. H. Tawney and other members of the Fabian Society.[83]

An important component of Italian liberal socialism developed by Rosselli was its

Fascist regime in Italy.[85] Ferruccio Parri—who later became Prime Minister of Italy—and Sandro Pertini—who later became President of Italy—were among Giustizia e Libertà's leaders.[81] Giustizia e Libertà was committed to militant action to fight the Fascist regime and it saw Benito Mussolini as a ruthless murderer who himself deserved to be killed as punishment.[86] Various early schemes were designed by the movement in the 1930s to assassinate Mussolini, including one dramatic plan of using an aircraft to drop a bomb on Piazza Venezia where Mussolini resided.[84] Rosselli was also a prominent member of the liberal-socialist Action Party.[87]

Sandro Pertini, President of Italy (1978–1985)

After Rosselli's death, liberal socialism was developed in Italian political thought by Guido Calogero [it].[21] Unlike Rosselli, Calogero considered the ideology as a unique ideology called liberalsocialism (Italian: liberalsocialismo) that was separate from existing liberal and socialist ideologies.[21] Calogero created the "First Manifesto of Liberalsocialism" in 1940[88] that stated the following:

At the basis of liberalsocialism stands the concept of the substantial unity and identity of ideal reason, which supports and justifies socialism in its demand for justice as much as it does liberalism in its demand for liberty. This ideal reason coincides with that same ethical principle to whose rule humanity and civilization, both past and future, must always measure up. This is the principle by which we recognize the personhood of others in contrast to our own person and assign to each of them a right to own their own.[88]

After World War II, Ferruccio Parri of the liberal socialist Action Party briefly served as Prime Minister of Italy in 1945.[89] In 1978, liberal socialist Sandro Pertini of the Italian Socialist Party was elected President of Italy in 1978 and served as President until 1985.[90]

Brazil

Main article: Lulism
Chamber of Deputies
in 1989

social liberal' approach that gradually resolves the gap between the rich and the poor in a market-oriented way.[92][full citation needed][93][full citation needed
]

Iran

Main articles:
Social Democratic Party (Persia) and Iran Party
See also: Socialism in Iran

In 1904 or 1905, the

labour rights
discussions.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Some regions, including the United States and South Korea, strictly distinguish between social liberalism and liberal socialism due to antipathy to "socialism", but there are quite a few cases that have been used as synonyms in Europe, Latin America, and many other regions during the Cold War.

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Gaus & Kukathas 2004, p. 420.
  2. ^ Rosselli 1994, p. 85–88.
  3. ^ a b Pugliese 1999, p. 99.
  4. ^ Thompson 2006, pp. 60–61
  5. ^ a b c Bastow & Martin 2003, p. 72.
  6. ^ Miller 2003, pp. 213–238.
  7. ^ Brilhante & Rocha 2010, pp. 17–27.
  8. ^ Boyd & Harrison 2003, pp. 220–222; Anton & Schmitt 2012, pp. 3–4.
  9. ISBN 978-0-429-87705-6
    . Liberal Socialism was Keynes's particular version of social democracy.
  10. ^ Rosselli 1994, p. 51.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Baum 2007, p. 101.
  12. ^ a b c d Dale 2016, pp. 49–53.
  13. ^ a b Fried 2004, p. 66.
  14. ^ a b c Doležalová 2018, pp. 95–96.
  15. ^ Kates 1989.
  16. ^ a b c Dale 2016, p. 61.
  17. ^ Canto-Sperber 2004; Dale 2016, pp. 49–53.
  18. ^ Rosselli 1994, p. 51; Weinstein 1998; Offer 2000, p. 137; Dale 2016, pp. 49–53; Bobbio 2014, p. 6.
  19. ^ Cirillo 1980, p. 295; Fried 2004, p. 66; Potier 2011, p. 114; De Buen 2019; Mueller 2020.
  20. ^ Davidson 1995; Baum 2007, p. 101.
  21. ^ a b c Bresser-Pereira 2004, p. 84.
  22. ^ a b White 1999, p. 166.
  23. ^ Bresser-Pereira 2004, p. 104.
  24. ^ Litván 2006, p. 125; Dale 2016, pp. 49–53.
  25. ^ Repp 2000, p. 238; Dale 2016, pp. 49–53; Doležalová 2018, p. 95.
  26. ^ Davidson 1995; Kerr 2017.
  27. ^ Dale 2016.
  28. ^ Hunt 2015, p. 112–113.
  29. ^ Brown 2007, p. 237; Dale 2016, pp. 49–53.
  30. ^ Dearlove & Saunders 2000, p. 427.
  31. ^ a b Thompson 2006, p. 52.
  32. ^ a b Thompson 2006, pp. 60–61.
  33. ^ Thompson 2006, pp. 52, 58, 60.
  34. ^ a b c Thompson 2006, p. 58.
  35. ^ Thompson 2006, pp. 58–59.
  36. ^ a b Thompson 2006, p. 59.
  37. ^ Carter 2003, p. 35.
  38. ^ Rodríguez Braun 2019.
  39. ^ Morales Brito 2014, pp. 115–118.
  40. ^ Rey 2003.
  41. ^ Bunge 2016, pp. 345–347; Kary 2019, pp. 513–534.
  42. ^ Rey 2003; García 2018.
  43. ^ a b Coperías-Aguilar 2000, p. 39.
  44. ^ Linzey 2002; Morris 2002.
  45. ^ Pellerin 2009.
  46. ^ Strasser 1991.
  47. ^ Bentham & Mill 2004, p. 11.
  48. ^ Wilson 2007; Hill 2020, p. 52.
  49. ^ Wilson 2007.
  50. ^ Mill 1852. The passage about flat taxation was altered by the author in this edition which is acknowledged in this edition's footnote 8: "This sentence replaced in the 3rd ed. a sentence of the original: "It is partial taxation, which is a mild form of robbery."
  51. ^ Ekelund & Hébert 1997, p. 172.
  52. ^ Wilson 2007; Baum 2007.
  53. ^ Schwartz 2012, p. 219.
  54. ^ Mill 1848.
  55. ^ Dearlove & Saunders 2000, p. 427; Thompson 2006, p. 52.
  56. ^ Howell 2006, pp. 130–132.
  57. ^ Jackson & Tansey 2008, p. 97.
  58. ^ a b Carter 2003, pp. 189–190.
  59. ^ Elliott, Faucher-King & Le Galès 2010, p. 18.
  60. ^ Canto-Sperber 2004.
  61. ^ Dale 2016, p. 49.
  62. ^ Boyle 1912, p. 35; Gray 1963, p. 490.
  63. ^ Crowder 1991, pp. 85–86; Proudhon 2011, p. 91; Hargreaves 2019, pp. 90–91.
  64. ^ Guérin 2006, p. 62.
  65. ^ Proudhon 1989, pp. 277–281.
  66. ^ Proudhon 1989, p. xxxii.
  67. ^ Vincent 1984, p. 156.
  68. ^ Vincent 1984, p. 230.
  69. ^ a b Repp 2000, p. 238.
  70. ^ Edinger 1956, p. 215.
  71. ^ Edinger 1956, pp. 219–220.
  72. ^ Orlow 2000, p. 108.
  73. ^ Bronner 1999, p. 104.
  74. ^ a b c Litván 2006, p. 125.
  75. ^ a b Litván 2006, p. 199.
  76. ^ a b Litván 2006, p. 200.
  77. ^ Bibó, István. "A kapitalista liberalizmus és a szocializmus-kommunizmus állítólagos kibékíthetetlen ellentéte".
  78. ^ https://epa.oszk.hu/01200/01273/00060/pdf/EPA01273_vilagossag_tavasz-nyar_291-302.pdf
  79. ^ Rosselli 1994.
  80. ^ Rosselli 1994; Steger 2006, p. 146.
  81. ^ a b Pugliese 1999, p. 51.
  82. ^ a b Pugliese 1999, p. 53.
  83. ^ Pugliese 1999, pp. 59–60.
  84. ^ a b c Dombroski 2001, p. 122.
  85. ^ Wilkinson 1981, p. 224.
  86. ^ Di Scala 1996, p. 87.
  87. ^ Bastow & Martin 2003, p. 74.
  88. ^ a b Bastow & Martin 2003, p. 84.
  89. ^ Pugliese 1999, pp. 59–60, 236.
  90. ^ Pugliese 1999, p. 236.
  91. ^ Grenwille ed. 2010, p. 702.
  92. ^ Sandbrook ed. 2014, p. 155.
  93. ^ Peña ed. 2016, p. 240.
  94. ^ a b c d Afary 1998, p. 286–288.
  95. ^ Cronin 2013, p. 252.
  96. ^ Ettehadieh 1992, p. 199–202.
  97. ^ Abrahamian 1982, p. 190.
  98. ^ Abrahamian 2013, p. 50.
  99. ^ Azimi 2008, p. 127.
  100. ^ Gheissari & Nasr 2006, p. 48.
  101. ^ Siavoshi 1990, p. 71.

Bibliography

Further reading

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