[lbo-talk] Liberalism vs socialism

Jim Farmelant farmelantj at juno.com
Wed Jan 25 16:16:58 PST 2006


On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 18:00:56 -0500 "Charles Brown" <cbrown at michiganlegal.org> writes:
> Jim Farmelant :
> *
> However, Charles is correct in noting that this
> usage of the term is largely confined to the US
> and most people outside North America do
> not use the word in that sense.
>
> ^^^^^
> CB: Did I note that ? :>)
>
> I'm trying to think of a liberal in the U.S. who is for socialism
> and ending
> capitalism.

Not too many now a days. But if we look back to the 1930s there were many people in the Democrats who were, at least rhetorically, committed to ending capitalism. The CPUSA threw its support behind FDR in his second term and lots of genuine radicals were staffing the New Deal agencies. Both Paul Sweezy and Harry Magdoff were examples of the kinds of people who attempted to make the New Deal work. In New York, the CPUSA helped to create the Labor Party so that left-leaning voters who were unwilling to cast their ballots for Democrats could still vote for Roosevelt. In the 1930s a common saying was that "Communists were liberals in a hurry."

I would agree that now a days, few liberals can be described as anticapitalist. So in that sense at least, the kind of gap that exists between the American usage of the term "liberal," and the European usage of that term, is much narrower than it used to be, reflecting the shifting of the whole American political spectrum to the right over the last thirty years.


> In the U.S. , the liberals are the Democrats aren't they
> ? Not
> too many Democrats for socialism and for ending capitalism

Not many. But it should be noted that the CPUSA still supports the Democrats and they were a key driving force behind the Anybody But Bush campaign in 2004. But I think that was a great mistake on their part.
>
> In the U.S. ,as I said, it is only rightwing demogogy that labels
> liberals
> as socialists. Liberal big government is socialistic, and the like.
>
> In Canada they have the Liberal Party. The NDP is the social
> democratic
> party.

The Canadian Liberals have certainly moved rightwards over the last couple of decades. Back in Pierre Trudeau's time, the Liberals used to borrow ideas from the NDP and enact them into law, such as they did with national health insurance. Now a days, not unlike US liberals, they are inclined to seek market solutions to problems.


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