TWE do revolutionary and social democrats agree

P1: AGREE-  SOCIETY: Collectivism, Common humanity, Common ownership, equality of outcome

• Revolutionary socialists such as Marx and Engels argue that social equality must be created to encourage cooperation. Social democrats recognise that capitalism can have long term damaging effects on society and agree that society should be naturally cooperative and based on principles of common ownership

• This is to prevent the problem of individualism and greed as a result of capitalism 

• Similarly Social democrats/ evolutionary socialists recognise that if social conditions consist of considerable inequality, this will lead to resentment and a lack of co-operation showing that collectivism is undermined- hence Webb's support for welfare reform to improve society and thus human behaviour

• Revolutionary socialists- Marx advocated for greater social equality- equality of outcome within society a necessary feature to improve social justice- spoke of the harmonious state of society- all promoting an ideal about society for the future

• Social democrats: look forward to a society free from irrational prejudices and conflicts, providing equality of opportunity through the ballot box- Webb

P2: AGREE- CAPITALISM: Dialectic, historical materialism, inequality, stifles human nature

• Marx see capitalism as the system which prevents the individuals from achieving their true potential as it is diverse and restrictive. The state is integral to this system of oppression as the bourgeoisie use it as a tool to maintain their position and status. As the proletariat will never be able to have any influence within this system the whole thing has to be abolished through revolution.  

• Luxemburg is in agreement and also sees capitalism as a system which is inherently oppressive and must be removed through a violent revolution between the 2 classes.  

• Reformist and Third Way socialists also agree that capitalism needs to have changes made to it due to its inherent defects. Crosland believed that it will be ran by technocrats. Technocrats have no political allegiance and run the company for the company’s benefit which benefits all. E.g. nationalised industries’. A mixed economy of nationalised industries is the way to run the system

 

P3: DISAGREE- MEANS BY WHICH TO IMPROVE SOCIETY/ ACHIEVE A SOCIALIST STATE + LEVEL OF EQUALITY

equality of opportunity v outcome, revolution- violent and leaderless- reduce class conflict,

• Revolutionary socialists: the destruction of all state instiutions and the replacement with something else- believe in historical materialism that those in charge of the economic base dictate the culture of the time and believe in the dialectic that inequality will lead to conflict

• Believe that the state will wither away leading to the temporary dictatorship of the proletariat

• Socialist democrats: believe in gradualness, believe the state should be used make gradual social reforms- Marx firmly rejected because ballot box marginalised many people and so couldn't be used. Webb argued that the route was the ballot box- outnumber the bourgeoise

• Revolutionary socialists such as Marx and Engels fully embrace the idea. With Marxist ideology being strongly egalitarian and endorsing the notion of absolute social equality. This is because they believe that inequality is due to unequal treatment by society not by innate differences in ability among individuals

• Marx "from each according to his ability to each according to his needs  all in society should gain equal satisfaction for their needs as it is only fair. Marxists believe that equality should be implemented to the full extent to battle the inequality capitalism creates

• In contrast, social democrats endorse equality of outcome to a more limited extent their primary aim is to remove absolute poverty and if this can be achieved then a certain level of inequality can be tolerated. Unlike Marxists, social democrats feel relative equality rather than absolute equality is sufficient because capitalism is no longer a system of oppression as Crosland argues

P4: DISAGREE- THE EXTENT TO WHICH CAPITALISM NEEDS REFORMING- dialectic- class conflict, class consciousness,

• Marx sees Capitalism and the State as inextricably entwined, the latter is a tool of the bourgeoisie to ensure that the capitalist system retains its primacy. This system is inherently oppressive and the only solution to the problem of capitalism is for it to be abolished. For revolutionaries like Marx and Luxemburg this is inevitable as capitalism has within it the seeds of its own destruction. Capitalism is a breeding ground for the class struggle which leads to working class discontent growing and culminates in a spontaneous revolution.  

• Luxemburg refines this by saying that the state is a tool of oppression (like Marx said), capitalism itself will be destroyed as markets will be saturated and capitalism will implode when there are no markets left to sell too.  

• However, other reformist socialists disagree with this and argue that capitalism is able to evolve and is not a monolithic system. Crosland in particular disagreed with the Marxist interpretation arguing that the state and capitalism are not bad things, but instead we need both and do not want to get rid of it as the profits of capitalism are needed to fund things such as the NHS and the welfare state.  Argue that capitalism can benefit individuals if reformed correctly, argue for a mixed economy with Keynesian economic policy