Tag archive for ‘Solidarity’
Squalid Isolation – Social Cohesion, Quality of Life and Losing the Ties that Bind
A few weeks ago I called on social democracy to come to terms with the fact that many of its voters are not on loan to other parties, but for the most part gone for good. One of the key problems behind this, I argued, is that the traditional bases of all mass parties are [...]
The need for a new Socialist Politics
Are social democrats capable of responding to the opportunities for renewed support for socialism that are offered by the present crisis?
Social democrats have lost ground in Europe during the last few years. The SPD fell to a historical low in the Germany federal election last year, French socialists have been in decline since the last [...]
A Social-Democratic Moment?
Hard work is needed to translate the general social-democratic consensus into a real movement for change.
Social democracy is facing a challenge. Social democrats are clear that this ought to be a social-democratic moment. But for this to be the case it remains necessary to convince broad public and electoral coalitions.
The case for social-democratic values is [...]
The Next Left: Lessons from the Past, Challenges for the Future
New thinking is needed to enable social democrats to overcome their divisions and begin to work together.
The Treaty of Maastricht of 1992 marks an historical moment: a Community based on economic principles transformed itself into a politically and socially aware European Union. Following on from this, the leading political families established europarties, and during the [...]
Desperately seeking Social Democracy
Social democracy needs to redefine itself, and in particular it needs to separate itself from right-wing ideas.
What is left of social democracy?
Regrets, and a feeling of revolt. Regrets because we have failed to reconcile values, a political vision and effective practices of power. Doubts appeared a decade ago, but today it is no longer a [...]
Reinventing the Notion of Equality
It is time to rebuild the consensus for equality that was destroyed by neoliberal hegemony.
The social-democratic contracts adopted throughout the West in the aftermath of the thirty years of war and depression of the first half of the twentieth century implied that public policies would henceforth be geared towards establishing and consolidating a society [...]
Practical And Modest Striving
Achieving attainable goals is more convincing that proclaiming great visions.
It seems that Europe has always been at a turning point. Our current status quo appears ominous because of the financial crisis and the fall of social-democratic governments throughout Europe. But in reality there never was a ‘golden age’ for social democracy, and it is unlikely [...]
No Freedom Without Solidarity!
Do you remember the moment when communism fell in Eastern Europe? Most people will recall the dramatic events in Berlin in November 1989. Perhaps they will remember the overthrow of Ceaucescu in Romania or when Yeltsin defeated the coup in Moscow two years later. Yet communism ended here, in Poland, when twenty years ago the [...]
