Social democracy should prevail over individualism

Director of prestigious German institute says that Marx was good sociologist, but not economist

WASHINGTON DC - Alternative Staff

April 2005

Marx was a good sociologist, but a bad economist who should have read Adam Smith more, according to a German expert.

Dieter Dettke, Director of Friedrich Ebert Foundation's Washington Office, told an audience of leftist activists at the Georgetown University in Washington in April, that “the market economy could be corrected but not replaced."

During his panel discussion entitled Social Democracy and Alternatives to Flaming Liberalism and Redneck Republicanism, Dettke recounted the short history of socio-democratic movements in Europe, especially Germnay.

He said that these leftist groups eventually noticed that the economy of the market was an imperative, and that the best alternative to an economy based on corporations is a system based on social welfare and protecting the rights of societies' less privileged classes.

"The economy of the market boomed during the (late American President Ronald) Reagan (1980-1988) days that curtailed the power of labor unions around the world," he said. "But if you think Reagan was harsh on social welfare programs, listen to what former British PM Magi Thatcher had to say when she told an audience that society doesn't exist, only individuals."

Dettke argued that it is not possible to organize society on sheer individualism. There is need to correct the economic process. This is usually achieved by encouraging collective organizations like trade unions and other civil society bodies that promote aggregated interests.

Leftist and rightist parties in Western countries have ruled in alternation, Dettke observed. "Just when we thought that the Christian Democrats would never loose any election, the German Social Democratic Party (SDP) toppled them."

According to the German expert, the dominance of social welfare programs in European countries and its eventual integration into rules and regulations of the European Union, have cost the big European economies some slowing down and stagnation.

"When Poland comes to join the EU, we make the Polish raise their labor standards to match German ones and not vice versa," he said.

Comparing the EU to other regional organizations such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Dettke said that while NAFTA merely offered free trade zones, the EU offered common currency and opens labor markets for all the citizens of the different members.

 He said regional and international cooperation has become imperative due to the surge in globalization. "There are no domestic politics anymore. Issues worldwide have become inter-related and cross-national. Therefore, the concept of national sovereignty should be reconsidered."

Dettke added: "Political parties noticed that in order to be able to survive, they had to adjust. National economic policies are not working even for the US or other nations, given conditions of globalization, and political parties should understand this."

Talking about international and regional organizations, he said that institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have tried hard to elevate poverty in developing countries, "every time they succeed in scoring some positive numbers, birth rates in these countries wipe successes out."

Focusing on American domestic activism, Dettke said that the US House had a single representative who is a Social Democrat, Bernard Sanders, from Vermont, who is labelled as Independent.

He also said that America had several leftist movements. The most prominent of them are the Democratic Socialists of America and the Social Democrats of the USA.

Dettke expressed satisfaction to see a considerable number of social democrat Americans. As a top for activism, he said the best way to spread social democracy was through reaching out other people, trying to educate them on social and political issues.