By: Ddr Štefan Šumah
Originally, social democracy is a political and economic ideology that emerged in the second half of the 19th century. At first, it focused primarily on improving workers’ living conditions and wages, as well as correcting social injustices. Social democracy developed from socialist ideas and originated within the labour movement. Its initial goal was revolutionary change; however, over time, it diverged from its socialist roots and shifted toward a reformist approach that emphasised legal changes and social reforms within the existing system. In this form, it became more acceptable to the broader public. Its key elements are generally considered to be support for the welfare state, trade unionism, progressive taxation, and the equality and rights of individuals.
However, it must be especially emphasised that in true social democracy, the worker came first – the employed person, the person who creates. Social democracy fought for the rights of these people, for equality, for their best possible position in society. Through such efforts, it became more attractive and, as I mentioned earlier, more acceptable to the broader public. But social democracy never attacked capitalism as a system or demanded its destruction; it did not advocate for some crazy regulations of the free market, nor was it against the Church or religion. Especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s, social democracy became strong, even the leading political force in many Western countries (Germany under Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt, earlier in Sweden under Erlander and then Palme; even in France, since World War II, power alternated between socialists – a kind of French social democrats – and centre-right governments). But except in Sweden, they did not go overboard with taxes, social rights, or various new privileges for “underprivileged” groups.
This state, a kind of status quo, lasted until the middle of the second decade of this century, when the seed of woke ideology – which has its genetic roots in cultural Marxism – fell on fertile ground in Europe as well, and social democracy somehow internalised this idea. The rise of “wokeness” coincided with the beginning of mass migration, and suddenly migrants became one of the main political topics. The far left, as well as “quasi-green” parties, became increasingly dangerous competitors to social democracy on the left side of the political spectrum. This triggered a slow shift of social democracy from centre-left further to the left; they increasingly began appealing to “underprivileged” groups, advocating for migrants, demanding higher taxes and increased social spending, and, of course, launching a crusade against humanity’s terrible enemy – CO₂. The fight for better conditions for workers quickly faded into the background. Those who work and create were forgotten by the social democrats, and the spotlight turned to entirely different “underprivileged” groups. Equality of opportunity was replaced by enforced sameness.
And by putting the interests of those who do not work ahead of those who do – despite being a self-proclaimed “workers’” party – they returned to their origins: socialism. As a result, workers, in part due to social democrats, are becoming poorer across Europe. The middle class – once the strong electoral base of social democracy – is slowly disappearing. Social democrats are increasingly drowning among a sea of various leftist parties.
And if we briefly turn to Slovenia, we never truly had a real social democratic party. We never had one. The SD, or the so-called Social Democrats, are merely a group of opportunists (who see the party primarily as a tool for personal survival or enrichment), proud successors of the former Communist Party and beneficiaries of the previous regime. They only talk about workers, using them merely as a tool to achieve their personal goals in the name of social justice. True socialists – not social democrats.
