Incremental Socialism via Bernie Sanders’ Populism

With Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic presidential nomination race according to polls (and the first primary), there’s a set of questions voters should be asking:

• Is Sanders a genuine socialist masking his ideology with incrementalism? or
• Is Sanders simply using the label “democratic socialist” to appeal to a populist moment? or
• Does Sanders have no idea what socialism truly means?

If Sanders is a genuine Democratic Socialist of America style socialist, then we should recognize that incrementalism is part of the official DSA strategy. Otherwise, Sanders is knowingly misleading voters, mostly the young voters with a positive view of socialism. If either of these first two options is true, Sanders deserves some disdain for cynically manipulating voters.

If Paul Krugman is correct, however, then Sanders is simply confused and doesn’t understand socialism. I find that pretty difficult to believe. Sanders knowingly honeymooned in the Soviet Union and embraced the socialist dictatorships of Cuba and Venezuela. Plus, if Sanders doesn’t know what socialism is, why should he be president?

Falsely claiming to be a socialist, as I’ve written before on Socialists without Socialism, annoys Jacobin writers and faithful members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Politicians, pundits, educators, and others should use the term socialist properly, the Jacobins and DSA members rightly argue. As NPR explained in 2018, Democratic Socialists of America are anti-capitalists. They are revolutionaries. And… they so endorse Bernie Sanders as a group.

I’m not generalizing. Read what an actual DSA activists and writer states:

Democratic socialism, explained by a democratic socialist
It’s not just New Deal liberalism.

By Meagan Day Aug 1, 2018, 12:50pm EDT

I’m a staff writer at the socialist magazine Jacobin and a member of DSA, and here’s the truth: In the long run, democratic socialists want to end capitalism. And we want to do that by pursuing a reform agenda today in an effort to revive a politics focused on class hierarchy and inequality in the United States. The eventual goal is to transform the world to promote everyone’s needs rather than to produce massive profits for a small handful of citizens.

Pooling society’s resources to meet people’s basic needs is a tenet of social democracy, one that’s been advocated domestically by much of the labor movement and many of its political supporters among New Deal and post-New Deal liberals. This is a vision we share. But we also want more than FDR did. A robust welfare state in an economy that’s still organized around capitalists’ profits can mitigate the worst inequalities for a while, but it’s at best a temporary truce between bosses and workers — and one that the former will look to scrap as soon as they can.

[…]

Of course, even socializing a whole industry like medicine wouldn’t automatically lead to the socializing of others. But through the process of the campaign, democratic socialists want to build into the popular consciousness an awareness that the market is not capable of meeting society’s needs. This sets us up for other fights, whether something defensive such as stopping school privatization or something proactive such as nationalizing energy companies.

There above reveals the incrementalism that many traditional Marxists embrace. Recall that Karl Marx himself suggested socialism and communism were evolutionary stages of human society, not the result of revolution. We slowly evolve — there’s a “scientific” analysis of history that leads Marxists to believe socialism follows capitalism.

Bernie Sanders surely knows Marx and materialism. I believe Sanders is smart, and is honest when he describes himself as a socialist. He likely believes his proposals are incremental steps towards anti-capitalism or post-capitalism.

Paul Krugman takes the generous view of Sanders’ socialism — it’s all just an act of sorts. I’m sorry, but if Sanders is merely “branding” himself, that’s horribly cynical. It’s more charitable to believe Sanders is telling the truth: he is a socialist and knows what the term means.

Krugman writes:

Paul Krugman: Bernie isn’t a Socialist; He Plays One on TV

The thing is, Bernie Sanders isn’t actually a socialist in any normal sense of the term. He doesn’t want to nationalize our major industries and replace markets with central planning; he has expressed admiration, not for Venezuela, but for Denmark. He’s basically what Europeans would call a social democrat — and social democracies like Denmark are, in fact, quite nice places to live, with societies that are, if anything, freer than our own.

So why does Sanders call himself a socialist? I’d say that it’s mainly about personal branding, with a dash of glee at shocking the bourgeoisie. And this self-indulgence did no harm as long as he was just a senator from a very liberal state.

If you are not a socialist, don’t call yourself a socialist. That’s something most of us call “lying.” That’s not branding. That’s something more manipulative and more troubling.

Once elected, what would Sanders do? Well, probably not much because even most Democrats in the House and Senate aren’t going to embrace anti-capitalist proposals. Or, maybe Sanders would manage incremental change and fulfill the DSA hopes for him.

Krugman isn’t alone in assuming Sanders merely misuses the term socialist. See the March 2016 article on The Atlantic website:

Bernie Is Not a Socialist and America Is Not Capitalist
Scandinavia is, by one measure, a freer market than the United States.

Marian Tupy
March 1, 2016

As someone who grew up under socialism and is still, barely, in his 30s, I hope to relate a few ideas to the young people who are “feeling the Bern.” First, Sanders is not a socialist, but a social democrat. Second, the United States does not have a strictly capitalist economy, but a mixed one. As such, it combines a high level of private ownership of capital and the means of production with relatively onerous regulation and taxation. Third, to the extent that what anti-capitalist Sanders supporters really want is a Scandinavian-style social democracy, with its high level of wealth redistribution and income equality, they should consider that even some of the most socially democratic countries on earth are, in one crucial way, more capitalist than the United States.

Sanders and many of his supporters point to Europe, particularly the Nordic nations, as exemplars of what he wants for the United States. I don’t believe him. The Nordic nations are more capitalist, less “socialist” and less regulated than the United States. I’m sorry, but countries rated as “free markets” by the Heritage Foundation are not socialist utopias. They are capitalist nations with welfare safety nets.

Charles Lane: Democrats Use Nordic Nations as Models of Socialism… Incorrectly

Drawing on data from the World Bank, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and other reputable sources, the report shows that five nations — Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands — protect property rights somewhat more aggressively than the United States, on average; exercise less control over private enterprise; permit greater concentration in the banking sector; and distribute a smaller share of their total income to workers.

It strikes me as strange that we are expected to ignore the words and phrases chosen by someone considered the most “authentic” candidate for president this cycle. Let’s take Bernie Sanders at his own word: he’s a socialist. That recasts these discussions about what he wants. His plans? They are steps towards something more complete, the post-capitalist United States.

Bernie says it. Let’s accept it. He’s a socialist.