"Modern" European social democracy

by Kimball Cariou

A five-thousand-word essay by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and 
Germany's President Gerhard Schroeder, Europe: The Third Way/Die Neue 
Mitte (The New Centre), was published widely just before voters gave a 
major setback to social democratic parties in last month's European Union 
elections.

"Social democracy has found new acceptance", say Blair and Schroeder, "but 
only because, while retaining its traditional values, it has begun in a 
credible way to renew its ideas and modernise its programmes.

"It has also found new acceptance because it stands not only for social 
justice but also for economic dynamism and the unleashing of creativity and 
innovation.

"The trademark of this approach is the New Centre in Germany and the Third 
Way in the United Kingdom... Most people have long since abandoned the 
world view represented by the dogmas of left and right. Social democrats 
must be able to speak to those people."

The essay claims that social democracy "will never sacrifice" its values of 
"fairness and social justice, liberty and equality of opportunity, 
solidarity and responsibility to others".

But Blair and Schroeder put their main emphasis on "a new economic 
framework, modernised for today, where government does all it can to 
support enterprise but never believes it is a substitute for enterprise".

Never once mentioning the word "capitalism", they call for "a market 
economy, not a market society".

While claiming to take pride in the "historic achievements" of their two 
parties, Blair and Schroeder agree with virtually every accusation hurled 
at the left by right-wing forces.

Social democracy, they say, has been associated with conformity, 
mediocrity, ever higher costs and taxes, excessive public spending, a 
distortion of the balance between the individual and the collective, and 
subordination of the entrepreneurial spirit to universal social safeguards.

Rejecting the socialist concept that the working class creates the wealth 
of society, Blair and Schroeder argue that "the importance of individual 
and business enterprise to the creation of wealth has been undervalued. The 
weaknesses of markets have been overstated and their strengths 
underestimated."

Arguing against "ideological straitjackets", the two leaders say that the 
New Centre and Third Way aim to address "the concerns of people who live 
and cope with societies undergoing rapid change — both winners and 
losers".

In plain words, their impossible goal is to satisfy both the tiny minority 
of wealthy capitalists and the millions of working people suffering through 
the chaos and falling living standards of "globalisation".

How do they propose to square this circle? Cutting through the rhetoric 
about pragmatism and realism, we eventually find some cliches borrowed from 
corporate think tanks.

These include: reducing the public sector, combatting crime and drug abuse, 
promoting a "go-ahead mentality", and training a competent workforce "eager 
and ready to take on new responsibilities".

Ignoring the reality that workers everywhere are increasingly faced with 
corporate attacks on wages, working conditions and social programs, Blair 
and Schroeder call for overcoming "traditional conflicts at the workplace" 
by "rekindling a spirit of community and solidarity (among) all groups in 
society..."

They argue that reduced unemployment is "the best guarantee of a cohesive 
society", i.e. to minimise working class struggles.

Their solution is "a new supply-side agenda for the left" to modernise the 
welfare state.

The "main elements" of this approach include a "robust and competitive 
market framework", further liberalisation of world trade (more MAI-like 
trade agreements), simplified and lower tax rates for both corporations and 
working people, reduced corporate contributions to social security plans, 
higher taxes on "environmental bads", more "Welfare to Work" programs to 
"improve the supply of labour available to employers", education geared to 
the needs of the labour market, and so on.

Overwhelmingly, these policies are intended to benefit big capital, yet 
Blair and Schroeder call their ideas "radical economic change", a plan 
offering Europe "a chance to catch up with the United States".

To push "the politics of the New Centre and the Third Way", the essay 
explains, "the German and British governments have decided to embed their 
existing arrangements for exchanging views on policy development in a 
broader approach".

This is to include a series of ministerial meetings, discussions with 
leaders in other European countries, and the establishment of "a network of 
experts, farsighted thinkers, political fora and discussion meetings ... to 
develop the concept of the New Centre and the Third Way".

No doubt these meetings will offer bureaucrats and right-wing social 
democratic politicians many glorious opportunities to stay in the finest 
hotels and bask in the glow of friendly exchanges with the rich and 
powerful.

But for working people and the unemployed scrambling to survive, the 
prospect of becoming ever more flexible to help corporations boost their 
profits is far less appealing. Social democrats considering the future of 
their parties should keep this in mind when Tony Blair's "model" is 
presented as the way of the future.

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People's Voice Canada