Comments on: Wanted: Capitalism With a Human Face http://theactivist.org/blog/wanted-capitalism-with-a-human-face // Culture. Consciousness. Critical Thought. // Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:43:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Bhaskar http://theactivist.org/blog/wanted-capitalism-with-a-human-face/comment-page-1#comment-74275 Bhaskar Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:19:53 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2165#comment-74275 Can there be a 21st century social democracy within the confines of the nation-state? I don't think so. As much as "red" social dems like to bash them and despite the fact that they failed even on their own terms there is something to say about the Third Way revolution within the social democratic movement. In a globalized, post-Keynesian world, maybe they have to administer the capitalist state as social liberals. There is still the necessity for a safety net and there were significant investments in health and education in Tony Blair's UK or post-reform Sweden, so I guess you could consider this "capitalism with a human face". It's still unsatisfactory. Just like the alienating, bureaucratic, depoliticizing, imperialistic post-New Deal / European social democratic societies were unsatisfactory for so many workers and students. If we really want to build a movement that can change things we'll have to do it on our own terms, not theirs. This means politicization and attempting to reinvigorate a global, emancipatory politics. A long ways away, but its better than trying to fight the 1930s all over again in the 2000s. (Also this survey didn't check the perspectives of Chinese workers. The most important segment of the international working class, a group who has been most active in industrial actions despite state repression and the lack of independent trade unions and one of (?) the fastest growing working classes.) A movement that seeks to eliminate class society is attempting to turn a major feature of human society since the Neolithic "Revolution" on its head. Would we want it to be anything other than a slow, multi-generational, patient struggle with advances and defeats? Can there be a 21st century social democracy within the confines of the nation-state? I don’t think so. As much as “red” social dems like to bash them and despite the fact that they failed even on their own terms there is something to say about the Third Way revolution within the social democratic movement. In a globalized, post-Keynesian world, maybe they have to administer the capitalist state as social liberals. There is still the necessity for a safety net and there were significant investments in health and education in Tony Blair’s UK or post-reform Sweden, so I guess you could consider this “capitalism with a human face”. It’s still unsatisfactory. Just like the alienating, bureaucratic, depoliticizing, imperialistic post-New Deal / European social democratic societies were unsatisfactory for so many workers and students.

If we really want to build a movement that can change things we’ll have to do it on our own terms, not theirs. This means politicization and attempting to reinvigorate a global, emancipatory politics. A long ways away, but its better than trying to fight the 1930s all over again in the 2000s. (Also this survey didn’t check the perspectives of Chinese workers. The most important segment of the international working class, a group who has been most active in industrial actions despite state repression and the lack of independent trade unions and one of (?) the fastest growing working classes.)

A movement that seeks to eliminate class society is attempting to turn a major feature of human society since the Neolithic “Revolution” on its head. Would we want it to be anything other than a slow, multi-generational, patient struggle with advances and defeats?

]]> By: In Defense of Slavoj Zizek | The Activist http://theactivist.org/blog/wanted-capitalism-with-a-human-face/comment-page-1#comment-74272 In Defense of Slavoj Zizek | The Activist Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:21:26 +0000 http://theactivist.org/blog/?p=2165#comment-74272 [...] with a human face” On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it’s clear the bloom has come off the rose of free-market, neoliberal capitalism. According to a recent poll, a solid majority of the [...] [...] with a human face” On the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it’s clear the bloom has come off the rose of free-market, neoliberal capitalism. According to a recent poll, a solid majority of the [...]

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