Social Democracy, USA, On Facebook

There is a Facebook group with over 3,000 viewers called “Social Democrats USA — Socialist Party USA.” I joined it a few months ago, then began complaining because some spam from an African “Christian” grifter kept popping up. Somebody made me an administrator and I bounced the grifter ASAP. I am also going to clear out any MAGA bullshit. Otherwise most posts come from fewer than half a dozen people. I would like to liven the page up, by which I mean get more dialog to supplement the “OMG!” posts, usually just links, about how awful Trump is.

To kick things off, I’d like to talk about what social-democracy means. For me it is synonymous with democratic socialism. A thing about either term is that it means whatever you want it to mean. There is no high-falutin’ organization dictating a mandatory line. In any case, the terms’ various meanings bracket where the best politics are these days.

There is an organization called Democratic Socialists of America (‘DSA’). It was formed out of the remains of the 60s student movement and a few old-timers. I’ve been a member, not active, mostly a fly on the wall. Now we 60s kids are the old-timers.

As far as activism goes, there are no DSA people near where I live in suburban/rural Virginia. I devote my limited energies to helping Democratic campaigns. In Virginia, there isn’t much scope at present for explicitly socialist politics. I do live in a liberal county, one of the few in the state. Mostly what I do is write.

DSA membership exploded thanks to the Bernie Sanders campaigns, but in recent years DSA has been drifting away from its roots in democratic socialism. Many younger folks who campaigned for Bernie feel burned by the Democratic Party establishment and have become entranced by visions of Lenin and the Russian revolution. I think that’s foolish.

Truth be told, there is no meaningful “Socialist Party” any longer in the U.S. Its best days are long behind it. DSA is important because it is the only substantial organization dedicated to the study of Marxism and the promotion of socialism. Marx still has a lot to offer. He also provokes delusions, so a proper sorting out is necessary. I try to explore that on this substack.

A theme that keeps popping up in the history of social-democracy or socialism is that the disagreements over immediate priorities are less heated than those over more abstract ideologies. For instance, more people would endorse “Medicare For All” than a British-style national health service, and more would support incremental expansion of existing Medicare, as Bernie Sanders has proposed, than Medicare For All. More still would defend existing Medicare from cuts. The upshot is that there is less to argue about when it comes to practical politics. Social-democracy and democratic socialism are synonymous, as far as political practice goes.

There used to be a slogan that animated the anti-war movement in the 60s: “There is no way to peace, peace is the way.” I would borrow that now, in the form of “There is no way to democratic socialism. Democratic socialism is the way.” This is the tradition that we need to recover, which got off the ground in Europe before the first world war. It means rejecting theories of economic catastrophe leading to armed insurrection by the working class and focusing on constructive, incremental reform. We’ve had a lot of that in the U.S., and more is possible.

At present, the most widespread sentiment is to block the rise of MAGA authoritarianism, sometimes described as “fascism.” Whatever you want to call it, blocking authoritarianism of the type we are being subjected to now is prerequisite to any sort of worthwhile reform. That means helping the Democratic Party win back the House of Representatives next year.

Whether you want to call yourself a social-democrat, democratic socialist, progressive, or just a liberal, resisting Trump at the “Hands-Off” rallies and following the “anti-oligarchy” tour of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are the biggest things now. I assume if you follow the Facebook page, that’s where you are as well. There is more to do than voting, though voting is essential. We also need to get out of the house, network with people locally, stay busy.

I see a lot of Facebook posts, usually just links, that are little more than exercises in one-upmanship and pleas for attention. Everything is worse than you thought (look at me!). We need to keep our eye on the ball. Ignore distractions, cranks peddling nonsense to get clicks and make money. Our weapon is organization. Use it while it’s still available.