The German Social Democratic Party therefore does not fight for new class privileges and class rights, but for the abolition of class rule and of classes themselves, for equal rights and equal obligations for all, without distinction of sex or birth. Starting from these views, it fights not only the exploitation and oppression of wage earners in society today, but every manner of exploitation and oppression, whether directed against a class, party, sex, or race.
—The German Social Democratic Party’s Erfurt Program (1891)
As organized labor lost strength, the Democratic Party turned to professional-class voters to shore up its base.
Throughout the 1990s, Democratic Leadership Council figures launched a campaign to take their ideology global.
Bill Clinton gutted welfare and criminalized the poor, all while funneling more money into the carceral state.
The demise of social democracy shows the precariousness of any project of reform under capitalism.
Has the decline of the mass party caused the decline of democracy itself?
Jeremy Corbyn drew on the historic struggles of the Labour left and new social movements to power his successful party leadership bid.
The Democratic Party has a history of throwing up barriers to working-class organization that Bernie Sanders will find hard to overcome.
Jeremy Corbyn on his surprising rise to the top of the Labour Party and the challenges he now faces.
“In economics, there are two solutions.
Either you are a Leninist.
Or you won’t change anything.”