Social democracy in Sweden fell short of its stated goal (I mean, I still do vote for their block [via their V ally party]. The blue/brown block must not get in power). State-owned corporations enshrined classism rather than democratize the workplace. Racism, sexism and ableism were also ever-present. (Thinking of Roma population as one example, and WWII Nazi collaboration as another.)
And, once the right wing winds started blowing early eighties (culminating in Berlin wall falling), the rush towards privatization made everything even worse. Throwing out the few gains we had made racing towards some sorta Hayekian dystopia. Selling out workers’ rights.
But as much as social democracy has sucked in practice…
Imagine an ideology that really aspired to what social democracy once claimed to aspire to. That something that would appeal to me these days. I’m open to (not the same as a champion of) Keynesianism, [MMT][M], other similarly “messy” and “patchy” evolutions of market capitalism.
Such a movement has never existed. Branting put an end to it in 1917. But can their lie be a template for our truth? Can the world they promised and dangled become real? It bugs me when revo stands in the way of good reform and reform stands in the way of good revo. I see it as infighting basically. Some situations are well served by one, others by the other. Don’t let perfect become the enemy of good nor good become the enemy of perfect.