Democratic socialism became a buzzword on the internet during the US Presidential election, thanks to one man – Bernie Sanders.
Socialism, which till then, was a taboo and an ugly word in American politics, suddenly seemed to be acceptable during the TV debates between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, the two front-runners for the Democratic party nominee.
Bernie Sanders, for the first time, presented a clear alternative to Democratic party politics by describing himself as a ‘democratic socialist’. Not only did he use this term widely in his election campaign, he took the opportunity to explain himself and what he meant by democratic socialism. Although he couldn’t crack the democratic party nomination, he gave Hillary Clinton a run for her money, without any corporate might behind him – solely because the people, especially the youth, voted for him in large numbers.
Perhaps if he would have won the nomination, it would have been a different ballgame together, and maybe, he could have even defeated Trump!
Another example is that of Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party who has brought back hard Left politics into the once neo-liberal framework of Tony Blair’s Labour government. In Britain’s recent snap polls, Theresa May got a real scare where she was almost voted out, and the Labour Party increased its vote share to above 40%. Again, like in the case of Bernie Sanders, the youth rallied behind Corbyn, and his talk of socialism and anti-austerity won the hearts and minds of the young British folk.
Decline Of The Communist Left
Communism and communist parties have receded, worldwide. Except China, where the CPC is still the ruling party and can balance between increasing aspirations on one end, and growing inequalities on the other (thanks to dynamic leadership of Deng Xiaoping earlier and now Xi Jinping and the new theories like ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’, communist parties in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas are either already irrelevant or moving fast towards irrelevance.
Look at India, where once the CPI(M) and the CPI used to be the dominant parties after the Congress and the BJP, and even influenced the formation of central governments. In Bengal, Kerala, Tripura and other states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu, where they had a significant presence, they have now been marginalised, except in Kerala. Or take a look at Europe, the birthplace of Marxism, where the Italian Communist Party or the French Communist Party used to be dominant players, but have now transformed into democratic socialist or social democratic parties, after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Why is this happening? My analysis is simple. Today’s youth does not understand or even care about the politics of class struggle or resentment. Today’s youth cares about the politics of aspiration, and who offers this – the Right or the Left. Communist politics has failed to acknowledge this in India, Europe and elsewhere. They are stuck with the same jargon of class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Most of the leadership of these parties are in the hands of the old people, and they are not able to come out of the nostalgia of the Soviet Era. The youth is barely joining these parties except from university campuses like the JNU or Jadavpur University in India, which is a very small number compared to the vast mass of engineering colleges or medical colleges or universities with new courses like event management, hotel management, tourism etc.
The biggest irony is that Marxism talks of the ‘concrete analysis of concrete conditions’ and changing as per these concrete conditions. But Communists refuse to change, sticking on to Marxism like a religious book like the Bible or Quran.
Communists Need To Understand Where Marx Was Right And Where He Was Wrong
This was said by Bernstein, the head of Second International and German Social democratic party. Marx was right in his analysis of capitalism, which leads to a huge concentration of wealth in few powerful big business houses and consequently leading to imperialism.
But he was wrong in thinking that the conditions of the working class will keep deteriorating. On the contrary, the conditions of the working class people have improved, and millions can be said to have come out of poverty due to the advent of the knowledge and service economy like IT, pharma, tourism, fitness and nutrition etc.
The working and middle classes are part of this revolution. They have been able to improve their standards of living as demonstrated in developed countries like US and in Europe – and also in developing nations like China and India. Without opening up the economy, there would have been no way to provide lakhs of jobs to the youth. Marx had not envisioned this. And neither do the communists understand this change today, or are ready to adapt it. Hence, they are looking down the barrel and are in no position to give help the Left move in a new direction.
Democratic Socialism: A New Lease Of Life To The Left, And The Way Forward
The need of the hour is to acknowledge that capitalism has big issues regarding income inequality, wealth distribution, environmental issues, agriculture distress and job losses. But the way forward is not revolution but evolution. This is exactly how I would define democratic socialism – the evolutionary path from capitalism to socialism.
The Left and the Centre-Left parties need to work within the framework of capitalism and neo-liberalism to work towards a welfare state model like the Nordic model of Scandinavian countries. What these countries have achieved for their citizens is fantastic – and in my view, that’s the biggest success story of the Left in its entire history. That is why Bernie Sanders wanted the US to implement some of these policies like taxing the super rich, creating a fund for education and health, reducing tuition fees, etc. It is a pity that Americans will need to wait for the end of Trump’s madness and right-wing policies to see if leaders like Bernie or others can once again come up from within the Democratic party framework to challenge the status quo.
Key Policy Direction Points For The Democratic Socialists
- Tax the super rich and use that money for public education and healthcare.
- Build the public infrastructure and invest in public sector manufacturing capabilities which will create huge job opportunities.
- Encourage and stimulate small- and medium-size businesses to grow, which will create huge employment and not just focus on big business.
- Bring innovation, technology and new impetus into agriculture so that it becomes profitable and a viable alternative for the people to pursue.
- Promote progressive values using films, theatre, books, art etc. to bring back Left politics into the imagination of youth again, who have been disillusioned by 20th-century communism.
The success of leaders like Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party in Britain or Alexis Tsipras of Syriza in Greece will decide the course of democratic socialism in Europe. One thing is clear – there can be a different phenomenon in different countries. We could have socialists from within the mainstream Centre-Left parties like Corbyn (in the Labour in Britain) or SPD (in Germany) or Bernie Sanders (from the Democrats in the US) or Rahul Gandhi (from the Indian National Congress in India) leading these parties and charting a course towards democratic socialism.
On the other hand, we may also see a totally new phenomenon like Syriza in Greece or Podemos in Spain challenging these Centre-Left parties and producing new alternatives altogether. Whichever way this works, it is these Centre-Left and New-Left parties which hold the key to the future of Left politics, and definitely not the communists.
The Indian National Congress And Rahul Gandhi
In India, all eyes are on the Indian National Congress, the grand old party, to see how it transforms itself into a modern Centre-Left party. Congress in its recent plenary session announced a “rich tax” on the top 1 % to help the poor, and this was music to ears for all Leftists in India.
Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are the vision behind this decision. This shows that Rahul Gandhi has a strong Left of Centre inclination and he focuses on steering the Congress towards this direction. He has often spoken in speeches about empowering small and medium businesses and not just focusing on big business alone. He has spoken about improving and increasing the GDP % for the public health and education sectors in India.
The Gandhi family has always steered Congress to the Left – whether it be Nehru or Indira or Sonia or Rahul Gandhi. The Congress alone is the hope for any kind of democratic socialism to be ushered into Indian politics. With Rahul Gandhi taking over the mantle of Congress, it is very clear that he will pit Congress as a clear Centre-Left alternative to the right-wing politics of BJP and Modi.
Furthermore, Congress is perhaps the only pan-Indian national party which can act as a magnet for all other regional players like the TMC, NC, DMK, CPI, CPI(M), NCP, SP, BSP etc. There are also prominent Left leaders like Sitaram Yechury, D Raja in the communist parties, and there are students and activists like Kanhaiya Kumar, Shehla Rashid, Jignesh Mevani, etc.
We also have prominent leftist intellectuals like Prof Irfan Habib, Prof Prabhat Patnaik etc., who all need to come together and work closely with the Congress to strengthen it and also move it further to Left-of-Centre.
Hence, a UPA III government under the Congress and Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and a common minimum program with the Left parties and other regional players is the only alternative which can bring about democratic socialism in India. Let us hope they can get their act together in the 2019 elections and turn the wheels of Indian politics to the Left which is currently eroding under the right-wing offensive of Modi!