**Social Democracy** (commonly called **Democratic Socialism**, also
known as **Welfare Capitalism**, **Welfare Statism** or **Liberal
Socialism**) is the idea that society should still be organized
according to the following principles:

  - [Representative democracy](Representative_Democracy "wikilink")
  - [Liberal](Liberalism "wikilink") notions of
    [freedom](freedom "wikilink") (ie [freedom of
    speech](Free_Speech "wikilink"), assembly, press, movement, work and
    so on)
  - [Capitalist](Capitalism "wikilink") economics
  - Heavy [taxes](Taxation "wikilink") and limited
    [nationalization](nationalization "wikilink") of industry to pay for
    a large [welfare state](Welfare_State "wikilink")
  - Regulations and [laws](Law "wikilink") that protect [trade
    unions](Trade_Unions "wikilink"), [individual
    workers](Working_Class "wikilink"), consumers and [the
    environment](Environmentalism "wikilink")

Although Social Democracy's support for the state and capitalism will
cause an obvious conflict with libertarian socialists, there is a great
deal of division over whether or not to support it. Figures like [Noam
Chomsky](Noam_Chomsky "wikilink") have argued for limited support in
order to win temporary gains in [class
struggle.](Class_Struggle "wikilink") Whilst others (like [Peter
Gelderloos](Peter_Gelderloos "wikilink") and [Colin
Ward](Colin_Ward "wikilink")) have argued that it only harms the working
class and takes the energy out of class struggle and only sets the stage
for further repression of the working class.

## History

### Origins

Social Democracy began in the early 1860s as a tendency within the
[International Workingmen's
Association](International_Workingmen's_Association "wikilink") led by
theorists who rejected [Marx](Karl_Marx "wikilink") and
[Bakunin's](Mikhail_Bakunin "wikilink") idea of a violent
[revolution](revolution "wikilink") and instead advocating for the
formation of [political parties](Political_Party "wikilink") and the
winning of reforms to improve the standing of the [working
class](Working_Class "wikilink").

### Split from Socialism

### Gaining Power

### Dominance in the First World

Following World War II and until the 1970s,

### Repression in the Third World

### Decline

Beginning in the 1970s, the [ruling class](Ruling_Class "wikilink")
became increasingly anxious about a '[crisis of
democracy](Crisis_of_Democracy "wikilink")' within much of the first
world, as

The major exception to this has been Latin America, where in response to
numerous social upheavels and revolutions (the [Zapatista
Revolution](Zapatista_Revolution "wikilink"), [Bolivian Water
War](Bolivian_Water_War "wikilink") and
[Argentinazo](Argentinazo "wikilink"), just to name a few) led to a
string of social democrats and socialists being elected to lead
[states](State_\(Polity\) "wikilink") in an event known as the [Pink
Tide](Pink_Tide "wikilink") throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.
These governments successfully reduced poverty in massive waves, had
secured greater rights for minorities and By the mid-2010s, most of
these states had been hit by major [economic
crashes](Capitalist_Crisis "wikilink") or its politicians had become
seduced by corruption, leading to a surge in support for right-wing and
fascist candidates across Latin America known as the [blue or brown
tide](Blue_Tide "wikilink").\[1\]

### Collapse

### Potential Resurgence

Support for social democracy is growing across most of the population
within first world countries.

## Criticisms

According to socialists ([libertarian](Libertarian_Socialism "wikilink")
and [authoritarian](Authoritarian_Socialism "wikilink")), social
democracy can be criticised on numerous grounds:

  - Social democracy creates a narrative where support for political
    parties in the most practical method to achieve change in the world,
    despite social democracy historically depending on the existence of
    large and strong [trade unions](Trade_Unions "wikilink") willing to
    carry out [strikes](Strike "wikilink").
  - Social democracy is simply a new method to strengthen capitalism and
    neutralize working class resistance, upon sufficient neutralization
    of the [working class](Working_Class "wikilink"), social democracy
    will be [destroyed](Austerity "wikilink") in order to increase
    profits for the [ruling class](Ruling_Class "wikilink")
  - Attempts to reduce [unemployment](unemployment "wikilink") without
    providing [workers'
    self-management](Workers'_Self-Management "wikilink") will result in
    increased inflation and [prices](Price "wikilink") on commodities
    (which is what happened in the 1970s economic crisis which justified
    [neoliberalism](neoliberalism "wikilink"))
  - Social democracy cannot resolve the fundamental problems of
    capitalism, such as [environmental destruction](Ecocide "wikilink"),
    economic crashes, [alienation](alienation "wikilink") and
    inefficiency.

## References

<references />

1.  [Wikipedia](Wikipedia "wikilink") -
    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_tide>