The future of the European left?

Liberté! Egalité! Low-Carbon Economy!

Europe's Social Democrats spent a century building and ruling over the welfare state; now they're out of power. Here's how solidarity can be restored for the 21st century.

Once Ed Miliband's celebrations for winning the leadership of Britain's Labour Party have subsided, he will have to reckon with his party's disastrous election earlier this year, in which Labour received its second-lowest share of the vote since World War II. Perhaps he'll take solace that Labour isn't alone in the doldrums of opposition: Everywhere in Europe, it seems, the moderate left is enduring hard times.

www.foreignpolicy.com...,0

So ATS, what do you think is the cause of this recent decline in support for Social Democratic parties in Europe? What do you think should be done to renew their appeal? Do you believe this is a temporary setback, or is this really the end of European Social Democracy?

We voted out left because they were thieves, widespread corruption everywhere and short-sighted deficit spending like there was no tomorrow. But our left is atypical, its more like national-social democracy, combining both republican policy regarding personal rights with democratic economic policy, to put it in american sense. We do not have standard liberal-left party in Slovakia.

Ignoring problems caused by immigration and abuse of overgrown social system, and rising debts would be major causes in other states IMHO. When you see people on child benefits having 8 children and income greater than you payed to them from your taxes simply for procreating, and if you dare to criticize them you are labeled a racist, that seriously shakes your beliefs in sanity of european left, especially if you see the rising deficits. I consider myself social liberal/libertarian and in America I would probably vote democrats, but this is just too much. What Europe needs now is a big dose of financial conservativism and a little bit of healthy xenophobia and euroskepticism. I am glad Europe voted like it voted

The problem is not so much the Social Democratic parties of Europe in of themselves, its the fact that they have to operate within a system (and the mainstream social-democratic parties support that system) that is not good for the small guys, and every single country on the planet is operating under it, besides Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Zimbabwae and North Korea (and you can see how they have been ostracised)

Its called Neoliberalism and/or laissez faire capitalism




Socialism or neo-liberalism?

Here in england its because labour didnt live up to its promises. Those that claimed to be the economoic equalisers failed to regulate the banking system amd wasted taxes paying rediculus sallarys to council heads and NHS upper managment; directly in contridiction of their supposed ideology. The people wanted a change, any change and ended up jumping out of the fire and into the frying pan. Just my take on the situation

Well, social democratic parties were never "left" parties, they just said so. They were just put there to appease the masses and soak up all the left leaning citizens of their respective countries from "approaching" the iron curtain or simply reinvent communism.

Remember they are all elected, and as the old anarchist saying goes if elections could change anything, they would have been banned.

They never were nor will be left, they were the feel good, play by the book, and dont break any eggs, parties for the middle class, and now this era ends.

Originally posted by LeftWingLarry


Do you believe this is a temporary setback, or is this really the end of European Social Democracy?

This is not a question of believe and it shouldn’t be a question of believe.
By simple observation we can see that the new economical reality dictates new rules, and Europe is not really will be in center of this new post-industrial reality

I think the main problem is that the individual governments of each country don't actually have that much power any-more as a lot of the laws are decided in the European parliament, who tend to act in a very left wing way anyway so anything that counters that is a bonus.

President of Europe "Herman Van Rompuy " have you heard of him? nope me neither, did you vote for him? nope me neither

As much as I hate to agree with UKIP this guy is dead right

Originally posted by Maslo
We voted out left because they were thieves, widespread corruption everywhere and short-sighted deficit spending like there was no tomorrow. But our left is atypical, its more like national-social democracy, combining both republican policy regarding personal rights with democratic economic policy, to put it in american sense. We do not have standard liberal-left party in Slovakia.

Ignoring problems caused by immigration and abuse of overgrown social system, and rising debts would be major causes in other states IMHO. When you see people on child benefits having 8 children and income greater than you payed to them from your taxes simply for procreating, and if you dare to criticize them you are labeled a racist, that seriously shakes your beliefs in sanity of european left, especially if you see the rising deficits. I consider myself social liberal/libertarian and in America I would probably vote democrats, but this is just too much. What Europe needs now is a big dose of financial conservativism and a little bit of healthy xenophobia and euroskepticism.

I am glad Europe voted like it voted

edit on 7/10/10 by Maslo because: (no reason given)

Quoted for truth.
If only the Americas would adopt similar measures, we're going to get screwed by immigration as-well.