Reformism

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Reformism is a trend advocating the

political or religious establishment - as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution.[1]

Within the

socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can eventually lead to fundamental changes in a society's political and economic systems. Reformism as a political tendency and hypothesis of social change grew out of opposition to revolutionary socialism, which contends that revolutionary upheaval is a necessary precondition for the structural changes necessary to transform a capitalist system into a qualitatively different socialist system. Responding to a pejorative conception of reformism as non-transformational, philosopher André Gorz conceived non-reformist reform in 1987 to prioritize human needs over capitalist needs.[2]

As a political doctrine,

centre-right or pragmatic reform, which instead aims to safeguard and permeate the status quo by preventing fundamental structural changes to it. Leftist reformism posits that an accumulation of reforms can eventually lead to the emergence of entirely different economic and political systems than those of present-day capitalism and bureaucracy.[3]

Religious reformism has variously affected (for example) Judaism,[4][5] Christianity[6] and Islam[7] since time immemorial, sometimes occasioning heresies, sectarian schisms and entirely new denominations.

Overview

There are two types of reformism. One has no intention of bringing about socialism or fundamental economic change to society and is used to oppose such structural changes. The other is based on the assumption that while reforms are not socialist in themselves, they can help rally supporters to the cause of revolution by popularizing the cause of socialism to the working class.[8]

The debate on the ability of

social democratic reformism to lead to a socialist transformation of society is over a century old. Reformism is criticized for being paradoxical as it seeks to overcome the existing economic system of capitalism while trying to improve the conditions of capitalism, thereby making it appear more tolerable to society. According to Rosa Luxemburg, capitalism is not overthrown, "but is on the contrary strengthened by the development of social reforms".[9] In a similar vein, Stan Parker of the Socialist Party of Great Britain argues that reforms are a diversion of energy for socialists and are limited because they must adhere to the logic of capitalism.[8]

French social theorist

economic interventions.[10]

In modern times, some reformists are seen as

centre-left.[12]

Socialism

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None of the initial figures that founded modern socialism in the early 19th century, such as the

utopian socialists Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, and Robert Owen were revolutionary.[13] Instead these thinkers believed they could convince the governments and ruling classes in England and France to adopt their schemes through persuasion.[13]
In 1875, the
social democrat in Germany. His "revisionism" was quickly targeted by revolutionary socialists, with Rosa Luxemburg condemning Bernstein's evolutionary socialism in her 1900 essay Social Reform or Revolution? and by orthodox Marxists such as Karl Kautsky, who condemned its theories in his 1909 work Road to Power.[14][15]

While Luxemburg died in the

social reform.[16]

After

communists aligned with the Soviet Union continued to consider the SPD to be the real enemy in Germany even after the Nazi Party had gotten into power.[17]

The term was applied to elements within the British

Marxist reformism
associated with Bernstein and the SPD as initially the Fabians had explicitly rejected orthodox Marxism.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Reformism". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved 26 December 2019. [Reformism is] a doctrine or movement advocating reform, esp[ecially] political or religious reform, rather than abolition.
  2. ISBN 9780814318164
    .
  3. ^ Blackledge, Paul (4 July 2013). "Left reformism, the state and the problem of socialist politics today". International Socialist Journal (139). Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  4. ^ For example: Fensham, F. Charles (24 February 1983). "Historical Background". The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 7.
    ISBN 9781467422987
    . Retrieved 29 January 2024. One may envisage the events according to the traditional view as follows. Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 458 with the sole aim — and by order of the Persian king — to promulgate a religious reform. [...] Presumably, after his reforms Ezra returned to Susa. [...] During Nehemiah's twelve-year stay in Jerusalem Ezra returned and supported Nehemiah's attempts to carry through his reforms. [...] the temple had been rebuilt, the wall of Jerusalem restored, the cultic activities properly organized, and the purity of the religion preserved.
  5. ^ Monroe, Lauren A. S. (1 June 2011). "Herem Ideology and the politics of Destruction: Josiah's Reform in Deuteronomistic Perspective". Josiah's Reform and the Dynamics of Defilement: Israelite Rites of Violence and the Making of a Biblical Text. New York: Oxford University Press.
    ISBN 9780199775361
    . Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  6. ^ Not just in the shape of
    Reformed Church, but also due to Luther, Wesley and sundry others - see Reformation as well as Counter-Reformation
    .
  7. ^ Haddad, Mohamed (28 February 2021). Muslim Reformism - A Critical History: Is Islamic Religious Reform Possible?. Volume 11 of Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations. Springer International Publishing.
    ISBN 9783030367763
    . Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  8. ^ a b Parker, Stan (March 2002). "Reformism – or socialism?". Socialist Standard. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  9. ^ Hallas, Duncan (January 1973). "Do We Support Reformist Demands?". Controversy: Do We Support Reformist Demands?. International Socialism. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  10. ^ Clifton, Lois (November 2011). "Do we need reform of revolution?". Socialist Review. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Reform Party of Canada". The Canadian Encyclopedia. 7 February 2006. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  12. ^ Dowson, Ross (13 January 2006). "The Socialist Vanguard and the New Democratic Party – The NDP is a reformist party". Marxists Internet Archive. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  13. ^ a b Sydney Frank Markham (1930). A History of Socialism. A. & C. Black, Limited. pp. 20–21.
  14. ^ Luxemburg, Rosa (1900). Social Reform Or Revolution?.
  15. ISBN 9781105626593
    .
  16. ISBN 9780521817998
    .
  17. The God That Failed
    (10th ed.). Bantam Matrix. pp. 41–42.

External links
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