Socialism - Revisionist socialism - final

Question 1

What does revisionist socialism seek to do?

Answer 1

Reconcile socialism with capitalism.

Question 2

What is revisionist socialism?

Answer 2

The belief that socialism can be achieved without the destruction of capitalism and private property, and without revolutionary upheaval.

Question 3

Who was the earliest classical revisionist?

Answer 3

Eduard Bernstein

Question 4

What is Eduard Bernstein’s seminal work?

Answer 4

Evolutionary Socialism

Question 5

When was Eduard Bernstein’s seminal work published?

Answer 5

1898

Question 6

What did Bernstein observe in his seminal work?

Answer 6

The conditions of the working class was steadily improving under capitalism; there was little evidence that history was unfolding in the way Marx had prescribed.

Question 7

What did Bernstein conclude in his seminal work?

Answer 7

Capitalist economies, overseen by socialist governments, could contain capitalism’s worst features whilst improving the lives of the proletariat.

Question 8

Why did Bernstein believe socialist governments were increasingly likely?

Answer 8

The widening of the franchise to the working-class majority would elect them.

Question 9

What would Bernstein’s version of socialism eliminate?

Answer 9

The need for revolution.

Question 10

Whose views was Eduard Bernstein sympathetic with?

Answer 10

Those of democratic socialists, agreeing with them about the gradual, parliamentary road to socialism.

Question 11

What made Bernstein different to democratic socialists?

Answer 11

He did not share their contempt for capitalism - he believed socialism and capitalism could co-exist with an economy based on private property.

Question 12

Why do fundamentalist socialists believe private property must be abolished for socialism to come about?

Answer 12

Because private property generates inequality, promotes individualism, and leads to oppression and exploitation.

Question 13

Why do fundamentalist socialists believe capitalism must be abolished for socialism to come about?

Answer 13

Because capitalism’s cultural hegemony promoted a false consciousness and that the collapse of capitalism was historically inevitable.

Question 14

What book is considered the key work of post-war social democracy?

Answer 14

Anthony Crosland’s ‘The Future of Socialism’

Question 15

What is Anthony Crosland’s seminal work?

Answer 15

The Future of Socialism

Question 16

When was Anthony Crosland’s seminal work published?

Answer 16

1956

Question 17

What did Anthony Crosland argue for in his seminal work?

Answer 17

He argued that Keynesian economics had created full-employment and steady economic growth, meaning it could be relied upon to create a richer, fairer society.

Question 18

What is Keynesian economics?

Answer 18

The state managing market forces to ensure steady growth and full employment.

Question 19

What did social democrats believe about Keynesian economics?

Answer 19

It would finance steady rises in public spending and thus create greater equality in society.

Question 20

Where did British social democrats like Crosland and European social democrats differ?

Answer 20

On their views on European integration. Crosland and other Labour MPs warned that Keynesian economics required national governments to retain autonomy whereas others like the German SPD favoured European economic union.

Question 21

What is the most recent form of revisionist socialism?

Answer 21

Third Way

Question 22

Who is Third Way socialism associated with?

Answer 22

The governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

Question 23

Who is considered the main author of Third Way socialism?

Answer 23

Anthony Giddens

Question 24

What did Giddens seek to do?

Answer 24

Reconcile social democracy with capitalism and reconcile the task of Labour gaining power with an electorate that was increasingly propertied and individualistic.

Question 25

What did Giddens urge the Left to do?

Answer 25

‘Go with the flow’ of privatisation and market deregulation as this would boost economic growth and therefore boost government tax revenues which could be spent on promoting equality.

Question 26

What was Giddens in favour of that other socialists have not been?

Answer 26

Inequality of outcome.

Question 27

Why was Giddens in favour of inequality of outcome?

Answer 27

He claimed it would promote further economic growth and therefore yield greater tax revenues for the government who could then spend it on promoting equality of opportunity.

Question 28

What would greater inequality of outcome lead to according to Giddens?

Answer 28

Greater equality of opportunity.

Question 29

What did Peter Mandelson say about Third Way socialism?

Answer 29

‘filthy stinking rich…just as long as they pay their taxes.’

Question 30

What did Tony Benn call Third Way socialism?

Answer 30

Paternal conservatism - an effort to make inequality of outcome palatable.

Question 31

What is it about human nature that causes the false consciousness?

Answer 31

The plastic and malleable nature of humanity, meaning only revolution and the destruction of capitalism can remove it.

Question 32

What are the tensions about society within the different strands of socialism?

Answer 32

• Revolutionary socialists - revolution to remove capitalist society.
• Democratic socialists - gradualism leading to no capitalism.
• Revisionists - Society can reformed alongside capitalism.

Question 33

What are the tensions surrounding the state among socialists?

Answer 33

• Marx and orthodox - capitalist state destroyed.

- Democratic and revisionist socialists - state can be reformed rather than abolished.

Question 34

What are the tensions about the economy among different strands of socialism?

Answer 34

• Marxists and orthodox - capitalism and socialism are incompatible.
• Democratic socialists - capitalism is incompatible but can be removed gradually rather than via revolution.
• Revisionist - socialism and capitalism can co-exist.

Question 35

What does revisionism seek to achieve?

Answer 35

Socialism within a capitalist economy - public spending rather than public ownership.

Question 36

Is the abolition of capitalism a means or an end of socialism?

Answer 36

It is the means to an end, not the end itself. The end of socialism and the core of the ideology is a society based on fraternity, cooperation, and equality.