differing views & tensions

revolutionary socialism overview

• Revolutionary socialism is based on the belief that the state uses its institutions (e.g. parliament, the media) to defend the capitalist interests of the ruling class against the interests of the working classes

• Revolutionary socialists believe that socialism can only be achieved through the full transformation of society and the complete replacement of the existing state with new institutions

  • Revolutionary socialists believe this may involve violence

revolutionary socialism - against humanising capitalism

• Revolutionary socialists argue that trying to humanise capitalism, as social democracy does, still means that inequality and exploitation of the working class will exist in society

  • Revolutionary socialists believe that humanising capitalism undermines the main goal of socialism

advantages of revolutionary socialism

• Revolutionary socialism aims to bring about radical change to a society and can lead to the rapid development of a country

disadvantages of revolutionary socialism

• The end of the Cold War and the collapse of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe demonstrated the limits of revolutionary socialism - these regimes came about through revolutionary socialism

  • The collapse of communism in the soviet Union

  • The collapse of communism in the satellite states of the Eastern Bloc

• Revolutionary socialism has led to the rule of fundamentalist regimes in different countries

social democracy overview

• Social democrats argue for social justice, which means a fairer spread of wealth in society

• Social democrats believe that the capitalist system is reliable at creating wealth but must be reformed because the way it distributes wealth causes inequality

• Social democrats believe that peaceful methods can bring about change, and state intervention through economic and social policies can resolve the inequality caused by capitalism

social democracy - revisionist & evolutionary

• Social democracy is a type of revisionist socialism, meaning that it does not oppose capitalism and believes it is compatible with capitalism

• Social democrats believe in evolutionary socialism, which argues for achieving socialism gradually through existing legal and political systems

policies based on social democracy

• Political parties have had policy programmes based on social democracy which support a mixed economy of state and privately owned businesses, and aim to redistribute wealth through welfare policies to reduce inequality

• Political parties based on social democracy often have Keynesian economic policy which includes spending more money to increase demand during a recession and using tax and interest rates to manage demand during times of economic growth to prevent a recession

advantages of social democracy

• Social democracy works during periods of economic growth and high employment because people’s living standards will be higher and there will be greater tax income which can be used by the government to develop welfare programmes

disadvantages of social democracy

• Social democracy does not work as well during periods of economic decline

  • When there is an economic downturn there is greater unemployment and more demand for welfare services, and at the same time less tax revenue to fund welfare support because fewer people are working and businesses are earning less

• Social democracy lost its electoral support because of the shift to a post-industrial economy which was based on providing services - the shift to a post-industrial economy reduced the size of the working class

third way key features

• The Third Way supports the importance of the market over the state, and so rejects top-down state intervention - the Third Way is in favour of increases in competitiveness and productivity, which result from globalisation

  • New Labour used the private sector to provide public services through Private Finance Initiative schemes and Public-Private Partnerships

• The Third Way believes in the importance of community and moral responsibility

  • New Labour supported communitarian ideas, such as welfare initiatives in the UK

• The Third Way argues for a social model based on harmony and consensus, which is different from traditional socialism - traditional socialism focuses on differences in social class, and inequality

• The Third Way believes in a competition state where the skills and knowledge of the national workforce are developed through social investment, mainly in education

• The aim of social investment is to improve people’s jobs prospects and increase economic growth

  • Tony Blair’s New labour slogan was ‘Education, education, education’

third way - social inclusion

• The Third Way argues for social inclusions, which means people must gain the necessary skills, rights and opportunities to participate fully in society

• The Third Way argues for the importance of equal opportunities and a social system which rewards individuals based on their performance

  • The Third Way states that welfare should be provided to groups of people who are marginalised and actively seek employment

  • Tony Blair referred to the welfare system as providing ‘a hand up, not a handout’

third way - new labour

• New Labour introduced policies that promoted a centre-left, Third Way ideology

  • EX: New Labour did not raise income tax for high earners but instead relied on economic growth and other taxes to fund policies such as the minimum wage and Educational Maintenance Allowance

  • New Labour used the welfare-to-work programme to resolve areas of market failure, introduced policies such as Sure Start and tax credits, accepted by the Social Chapter into UK law and increased spending by the government on public services

advantages of third way

• The Third Way approach promotes social justice and can improve the lives of people in society who are most disadvantaged

• The Third Way promotes a more pragmatic approach to social justice - what matters is what works, rather than sticking to principles even if they don’t create equality

• The Third Way is more attractive to a larger range of voters - middle class voters don’t feel excluded and gain some benefit from social justice reforms, such as social investment in education

disadvantages of the third way

• Socialists argue that Third Way thinking lacks real socialists ideas because it does not commit as much to equality and redistributing wealth in society

  • Under Blair, Labour accepted elements of privatisation, deregulation and market-based reforms, which many argue go against traditional socialist principles

• The election of Jeremy Corbyn in 2015, who strongly opposed the Third Way, shows how the Third Way grew out of favour with many Labour party members

• Labour under Starmer and Burnham have moved away from Corbynism, with some arguing this reflects a partial return to more moderate or pragmatic approaches