The Primacy of Politics
A book I have recently really enjoyed is Sheri Berman’s The Primacy of Politics, and so I wanted to put down a few scattered thoughts.
The Primacy of Politics is a history of ideas and ideologies, with particular focus on the emergence and coming-of-age of social democracy in the 20th century; arguing that the achievements of social democracy are often underplayed and misunderstood. Social democracy, Berman claims, has had a huge influence over postwar European politics in particular; even if it has not always been overseen by social democrats themselves. The book is also fascinating as it shows that current arguments on the left are echoes of political developments from over a hundred years ago.
Berman takes us back to the start of the 20th century, where many nascent left-wing parties were following fairly orthodox Marxist paths. Certain leftist politicians — chief amongst them Eduard Bernstein — began to argue against critical doctrinal points, leading to furious disavowals and splits, but also allowing social democrats to move out of Marxism’s shadow in order to begin establishing their own ideological basis.
What were the breaks from Marxism? First, social democrats rejected Marxist historical materialism, seeing it as a call to passivity; if the future is pre-ordained, and capitalism is destined to collapse, why bother to participate in politics in the meantime? Bernstein disagreed that capitalism’s demise was inevitable in any case — he noted that capitalism was instead becoming more complex and adaptable. Instead, social democrats believed in the power of doing politics, of persuasion, of making improvements in the here and now. There are no guarantees of a future utopia if we only sit and wait; we must go and make it happen.
Second, social democrats recoiled from the idea that politics must be a class struggle. Jean Jaurès, a French social democrat in the early 1900s, believed that socialism should not simply speak to a narrow faction of society, but that it should contain “an impassioned moral appeal, a new and more perfect expression of man’s eternal thirst for justice, unity and brotherly love”. Politics should appeal to all humanity, and left-wingers must focus not just on workers but any group genuinely committed to positive change.
Social democrats have historically been far more supportive of joining governing coalitions with parties not of the left than revolutionary socialists, again helping to drive wedges between those who foster co-operation and those who seek struggle and conflict.
Another dividing line is how international allegiances are drawn. Historically, Marxists embraced the idea of a worldwide proletariat; one single global class struggle. In more recent times, the far left have sought to ally with the rulers of any state calling themselves socialist, regardless of the scale of human rights abuses they unleash on their populace. Social democrats, on the other hand, believe in nationhood and community, and on an international level are keenest to work with and support other liberal democracies. Social democrats understand NATO to be an organisation of international solidarity; the far left perceive it as a bastion of capitalist imperialism.
So social democrats believe the future is not fixed to follow a certain path, and we believe in cross-class co-operation and consensus. It is easy to see from here some of the undercurrents and tensions continuing to fracture the left even today.
For a start, social democrats are disinclined to support an all-or-nothing, scorched earth politics which treats other parties not as opponents but as enemies. We recognise our opponents’ humanity; we know we are all humans and citizens before we are political actors.
We do not believe there is a “right side of history” to appeal to in order to win an argument; we believe that we need to argue for what we believe is the right thing, and that nothing is guaranteed — the arc of the moral universe isn’t going to bend towards justice on its own.
Social democrats are reformers, not revolutionaries, and so in principle we instinctively support and defend our political system, our constitution, our courts, our free press and our democracy. We do not believe in tearing the whole system down and starting again, and this can sometimes be a weak point for social democrats; we can appear less radical and exciting than those who argue for revolutionary change. More importantly, we can lose sight of our values to technocracy if we are not careful; as reformers, we social democrats have a tendency towards wonkishness. If we think the argument is only who can run the system most effectively, we can easily fall into bland managerialism, and we always need to ensure our values are front and centre.
All of this goes some way to explaining the unrest that social democrats feel about the Corbyn project, and in many ways it is the same tug-of-war the left has been having for over a century.
Considering social democracy in this light also helps explain why so many Labour members and representatives are so reluctant to make the jump across to the Liberal Democrats. To a casual observer it appears as though there is a great deal of overlap between the moderate strands of Labour and the Lib Dems, but this neglects the fact that the underpinning ideologies are very different; one rooted in support for the commonweal, the other in an assertion of individual rights (although it is worth noting that this is also a fault line within the Liberal Democrats too). For concrete examples, note that Lib Dems opposed Labour’s smoking ban and have always been antagonistic to all women shortlists. These are causes which social democrats have been able to support, because of our acknowledgement of, and focus on, systemic and structural drivers behind societal problems, and our interest in the greater good.
Berman’s book shows that social democrats have a great story to tell, but also that we are very bad at explaining who we are and what we believe. Too often social democracy is seen as a mushy middle ground between Marxism and liberal capitalism. The Primacy of Politics reminds us that social democracy is a clear ideology with a proud and successful history, and one which remains relevant today as the best hope for a future of solidarity and compassion.
