Capitalism and Social Democracy

This is a study of the choices faced by socialist movements as they developed within capitalist societies. Professor Przeworski examines the three principal choices confronted by socialism: whether to work through elections; whether to rely exclusively on the working class; and whether to try to reform or abolish capitalism. He brings to his analysis a number of abstract models of political and economic structure, and illustrates the issues in the context of historical events, tracing the development of socialist strategies since the mid-nineteenth century. Several of the conclusions are novel and provocative. Professor Przeworski argues that economic issues cannot justify a socialist programme, and that the workers had good reasons to struggle for the improvement of capitalism. Therefore, the project of a socialist transformation, and the fight for economic advancement, were separate historical phenomena.

• | Author: Adam Przeworski
• | Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• | Publication Date: Dec 26, 1986
• | Number of Pages: 280 pages
• | Binding: Paperback or Softback
• | ISBN-10: 0521336562
• | ISBN-13: 9780521336567