July 22, 2005
Socialist advance and the necessity of alliance with liberation and
independence movements
By Stephen Gowans
Near the end of his life, in the mid-90s, political scientist Ralph
Miliband, a socialist, wrote with unbridled optimism about the
possibilities of a peaceful, parliamentary, transition to socialism (1).
Socialism, he believed, was a way of correcting the imbalances that allow
those who own and control economic life to dominate political life. Under a
socialist government, the commanding heights of the economy major
enterprises, transportation, communication, critical resources, and the
banks -- would be owned publicly, denying the previous owners the wealth
and influence they used to monopolize the state and political process.
In Milibands view, if a new socialist government built upon capitalist
parliamentary forms, a flatter distribution of wealth and public control
over major economic assets would make political decision-making more
democratic. Indeed, socialism would be an extension of the democratic
project that had set down roots in Western industrialized countries, but
had never been allowed to flower. By nationalizing major industries and
redistributing income, everyone would become more or less equal, and would
have an equal say in the political life of the country. Instead of the
democracy of capitalism, stunted by the grossly unequal distribution of
wealth, income and opportunity, you would have the robust democracy of
socialism, guaranteed by the public ownership of major industries and the
redistributive policies of a socialist government.
Like a number of socialists, and even many Communists, Miliband seemed to
be guided more by wishful thinking, even hope, than hard analysis of how
his vision of socialism might be brought to reality. He had an almost
Pollyannish devotion to the idea that socialism would one day prevail with
a minimum of mess, not by violence, but legally, peacefully, through the
ballot box - an evolution, not revolution.
Continued ... http://gowans.blogspot.com/
