Here Comes Bourgeois Socialism -- Again

Details: Published on Sunday, 26 April 2020 23:58; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2074 ... April 27, 2020
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Here Comes Bourgeois Socialism -- Again

Dimitris Fasfalis

What should we think of the recent praise of "the welfare state" and public services coming from different voices among the ruling classes in the world? Their conversion is as sudden as miraculous; they recall much better the holy history of the apostles than the secular history of societies.

The Financial Times editorial of April 3rd, entitled "Virus lays bare the frailty of the social contract," offers an exemplary case. It says:

"Radical reforms -- reversing the prevailing policy direction of the last four decades -- will need to be put on the table. Governments will have to accept a more active role in the economy. They must see public services as investments rather than liabilities, and look for ways to make labour markets less insecure. Redistribution will again be on the agenda; the privileges of the elderly and wealthy in question. Policies until recently considered eccentric, such as basic income and wealth taxes, will have to be in the mix."