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138-755: It was a part of the tendency of unification among the workers' parties in Norway. From the Norwegian Labour Party , two splits had occurred: the Social Democratic Labour Party in 1921 and the Communist Party in 1923. The first two had wanted to unify for many years, and the Communist Party also wanted in, in order to not become isolated. In 1926–1927 a committee set up a program which had to be ratified at

276-591: A post-capitalist economic system based on either a market economy combined with workers' self-management or on some form of participatory , decentralized planning of the economy. Marxian socialists argue that social democratic welfare policies cannot resolve the fundamental structural issues of capitalism, such as cyclical fluctuations , exploitation , and alienation . Accordingly, social democratic programs intended to ameliorate living conditions in capitalism, such as unemployment benefits and taxation on profits, creates further contradictions by further limiting

414-566: A post-capitalist order or, in more ethical terms, as a just society, described as representing democratic socialism, without any explicit reference to the economic system or its structure. Parties such as the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Swedish Social Democratic Party describe their goal as developing democratic socialism, with social democracy as the principle of action. In

552-519: A "free basis", which mainly meant that they supported the Communist tactics. They gathered in Idrettens Hus on 29 January 1927. Once there, the 400 formed a deputation, headed by Elias Volan , who was sent to speak at the largest congress. A vote at the largest congress decided that the 400 would not be let in, and thus they went on with a separate congress where Arbeiderklassens Samlingsparti

690-452: A Labour Government in office and Labour pressure in opposition. Against the dogged resistance to change, we should have pitted a stronger will to change. I conclude that a move to the Left is needed". In Origin, Ideology and Transformation of Political Parties: East-Central and Western Europe Compared , Vít Hloušek and Lubomír Kopecek explain how socialist parties have evolved from the 19th to

828-549: A bi-yearly congress, a national council and the Labour group in the Sami parliament. Social democracy Social democracy (often shortened to socdem or SocDem) is a social , economic , and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist , reformist and democratic approach toward achieving socialism. In modern practice, social democracy has taken

966-531: A bomb towards a government building (which was led by the Labour Party). Stoltenberg's initial response to the 22 July attack was well received by the Norwegian public. As he reaffirmed his government's commitment to the values of openness and tolerance in the face of adversity or intolerance his approval rating soared as high as 94%, only to decrease sharply after the 22 July Commission report highlighted

1104-556: A close association with the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), and until the mid-1990s, a dual-membership agreement existed between the two organizations, with LO members automatically holding (indirect) membership in the Labour Party as well. The party had about 200,500 members at its peak in 1950. No records were kept about direct membership or indirect membership figures. The dual-membership clause

1242-426: A failed state, with record unemployment levels and the fact that many young people will not find a job in their lifetime. Social democracy rests on three fundamental features, namely: "(1) parliamentary democracy, (2) an economy partly regulated by the state, and (3) provision of social support to those in need". In practice, social democratic parties have been instrumental in the social-liberal paradigm, lasting from

1380-526: A government-in-exile for the duration of the war. Immediately following the end of the Second World War , the Labour Party emerged victorious from the 1945 Norwegian parliamentary election . For the first time, the party secured an absolute majority in the Storting , taking 76 of 150 seats. Einar Gerhardsen of the Labour Party subsequently formed his first government, and he went on to dominate

1518-409: A gradual or evolutionary path to socialism rather than a revolutionary one. Policies commonly supported are Keynesian and include some degree of regulation over the economy , social insurance schemes, public pension programs, and a gradual expansion of public ownership over major and strategic industries. During the late 20th century, those labels were embraced, contested and rejected due to

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1656-520: A lack of economic security" is linked to the private ownership of the means of production . Social democracy or social democratic remains controversial among socialists. Some define it as representing a Marxist faction and non-communist socialists or the right-wing of socialism during the split with communism . Others have noted its pejorative use among communists and other socialists. According to Lyman Tower Sargent , " socialism refers to social theories rather than to theories oriented to

1794-471: A monthly political magazine, Kontakt , between 1947 and 1954 which was edited by Torolf Elster . From its roots as a radical alternative to the political establishment, the party grew to its current dominance through several eras. The party experienced a split in 1921 caused by a decision made two years earlier to join the Comintern and the Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway was formed. In 1923,

1932-611: A neoliberal form of government have registered relatively poorer results. Similarly, several reports have listed Scandinavian and other social democratic countries as ranking high on indicators such as civil liberties , democracy , press , labour and economic freedoms, peace , and freedom from corruption . Numerous studies and surveys indicate that people live happier lives in countries ruled by social democratic parties than those ruled by neoliberal, centrist, and right-wing governments. Other socialists criticize social democracy because it serves to devise new means to strengthen

2070-606: A policy regime. They call the first classical social democracy or classical socialism , and the latter as competitive socialism , liberal socialism , neo-social democracy , or new social democracy . Many socialist parties in several countries have been, or are called Social Democratic . In the 19th century, social democrat was a broad catch-all for international socialists owing their primary ideological allegiance to Lassalle or Marx, in contrast to those advocating various forms of utopian socialism . Many parties in this era described themselves as Social Democrats , including

2208-596: A prominent profile in the Stoltenberg government, was chosen as new party leader on 14 June 2014. In the 2017 Norwegian parliamentary election , he led the party to a surprise defeat, as Labour fell 3.4 percentage points to 27.4%, and from 55 to 49 seats in the Storting , while the Conservative Party managed to retain a majority along with its smaller centre-right partners. Erna Solberg , Conservative prime minister since 2013, remained in office throughout

2346-564: A revolutionary road to socialism. In the 20th century, the term came to be associated with the positions of the German and Swedish parties. The first advocated revisionist Marxism , while the second advocated a comprehensive welfare state . By the 21st century, parties advocating social democracy include Labour, Left, and some Green parties. Most social democratic parties consider themselves democratic socialists and are categorized as socialists. They continue to reference socialism, either as

2484-404: A socialist form of private property as part of new socialism (although Corfe technically objects to private property as a term to collectively describe property that is not publicly owned as being vague) and rejecting state socialism as a failure. Third Way social democracy was formed in response to what its proponents saw as a crisis in the legitimacy of socialism—especially state socialism—and

2622-458: A strong welfare state , funded through taxes and duties . Since the 1980s, the party has included more of the principles of a social market economy in its policy, allowing for privatisation of state-owned assets and services and reducing income tax progressivity , following the wave of economic liberalisation during the 1980s. During the first Stoltenberg government, the party's policies were inspired by Tony Blair 's New Labour agenda in

2760-426: A swing to the right for the Labour Party under Gro Harlem Brundtland during the 1980s. In 2001 , the party achieved its worst result since 1924 . Between 2005 and 2013 , Labour returned to power after committing to a coalition agreement with other parties in order to form a majority government . Labour entered opposition again after losing nine seats in 2013. The party lost a further six seats in 2017 , yielding

2898-583: A unifying congress. As it happened, there were two unifying congresses in January 1927: one where Labour and Social Democratic Labour united once and for all with support from the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions , and one where Arbeiderklassens Samlingsparti was founded. Behind this party was the Communist Party, who mainly opposed a full unification of the parties, but supported an umbrella model ("the Labour Party model"). Erling Falk and Mot Dag / Arbeideropposisjonen , who had formerly been excluded from

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3036-583: Is conflated either with the pink tide in Latin America, especially with Venezuela, or with communism in the form of Marxist–Leninist socialism as practised in the Soviet Union and other self-declared socialist states . Democratic socialism has been described as representing the left-wing or socialist tradition of the New Deal . The lack of a strong and influential socialist movement in

3174-461: Is defined as one of many socialist traditions . As an international political movement and ideology , it aims to achieve socialism through gradual and democratic means. This definition goes back to the influence of both the reformist socialism of Ferdinand Lassalle and the internationalist revolutionary socialism advanced by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels . Social democracy has undergone various major forms throughout its history. In

3312-442: Is loosely held to be valuable for its emphasis on changing the world for a more just, better future. During the late 19th century and the early 20th century, social democracy was a broad labour movement within socialism that aimed to replace private ownership with social ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange , taking influence from both Marxism and the supporters of Ferdinand Lassalle . By 1868–1869,

3450-408: Is that of advancing those values within a capitalist market economy , as its support for a mixed economy no longer denotes the coexistence between private and public ownership or that between planning and market mechanisms but rather, it represents free markets combined with government intervention and regulations . As a form of reformist democratic socialism , social democracy rejects

3588-416: Is that social democracy aims to strike a balance by advocating for a mixed market economy where capitalism is regulated to address inequalities through social welfare programs and supports private ownership with a strong emphasis on a well-regulated market. In contrast, democratic socialism places greater emphasis on abolishing private property ownership . Nevertheless, the distinction remains blurred and

3726-437: Is that socialists see the welfare state "not merely to provide benefits but to build the foundation for emancipation and self-determination". In the 21st century, a social democratic policy regime may further be distinguished by a support for an increase in welfare policies or an increase in public services . Some distinguish between ideological social democracy as part of the broad socialist movement and social democracy as

3864-916: Is the Workers' Youth League . The party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and the Progressive Alliance . It was formerly member of the Comintern (1919–1923), the International Revolutionary Marxist Centre (1932–1935), the Labour and Socialist International (1938–1940), and the Socialist International (1951–2016). The Labour Party has always been a strong supporter of Norwegian NATO membership and has supported Norway joining

4002-605: Is the Party Congress which is held every two years. The most senior body between these congresses is the National Delegate's Meeting which is made up of the party's Executive Board and two delegates from each of the 19 counties. The Executive Board itself consists of 16 elected members as well as the leadership of the party. The party is headed by a single leader, while the number of deputy leaders has fluctuated between one and two in different periods. As of 2022,

4140-494: Is with a quite different form of society that socialists must now concern themselves. Pre-war anti-capitalism will give us very little help", for a new kind of capitalism required a new kind of socialism. Crosland believed that these features of reformed managerial capitalism were irreversible, but it has been argued within the Labour Party and by others that Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan brought about its reversal in

4278-400: The 1927 Norwegian parliamentary election . In Finnmark and Troms the party fielded as Arbeiderklassens Samlingsparti , in the latter county with Sigurd Simensen as the first candidate. In Hedmark , Oppland , Telemark , Sør-Trøndelag , Nord-Trøndelag , the party fielded as Arbeiderklassens Samlingsparti/Norges Kommunistiske Parti . In Akershus , Buskerud , Hordaland and Nordland

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4416-597: The 1961 election . In 1963, the Kings Bay Affair drove the opposition to table a motion of no-confidence against the Gerhardsen's cabinet; the motion was ultimately successful, and Labour was forced to step down from government for the first time in 28 years. However, the incoming centre-right coalition proved short-lived, and Labour returned to government less than one month later, and remained in office until 1965. The Labour Party later formed government in

4554-649: The 2005 Norwegian parliamentary election . The Labour Party subsequently formed its first ever peace-time coalition government along with the Socialist Left and Centre parties. Their cooperation was dubbed the Red-green coalition , in emulation of similar constellations in Germany. In 2011, the party changed its official name from the Norwegian Labour Party ( Det norske arbeiderparti ) to

4692-522: The Conservative prime minister in the 2013—2021 period. Meanwhile, the Labour Party hit record-low ratings in voting intention polls in late 2022, with a number of polls placing it below the 20%-mark in September 2022. The Labour Party organisation is divided into county- and municipality-level chapters, numbering approximately 2,500 associations in total. Historically, the party has maintained

4830-753: The European Economic Community because it demanded a free-market economy among its members. Public ownership never accounted for more than 15–20% of capital formation , further dropping to 8% in the 1980s and below 5% in the 1990s after the rise of neoliberalism. The collapse of the legitimacy of state socialism and Keynesian interventionism (with the discovery of the phenomenon of stagflation ) has been an issue for social democracy. This has provoked re-thinking of how socialism should be achieved by social democrats, including changing views by social democrats on private property—anti-Third Way social democrats such as Robert Corfe have advocated

4968-583: The European Union during two referendums. During the Cold War , when the party was in government most of the time, the party closely aligned Norway with the United States at the international level and followed an anti-communist policy at the domestic level in the aftermath of the 1948 Kråkerøy speech and culminating in Norway becoming a founding member of NATO in 1949. Founded in 1887,

5106-893: The General German Workers' Association and the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany , which merged to form the Social Democratic Party of Germany , the Social Democratic Federation in Britain, and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party . Social Democrat continued to be used in this context until the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, when Communist came into vogue for individuals and organizations espousing

5244-651: The German Empire between the 1880s and 1890s, when the conservative Chancellor Otto von Bismarck put in place many social welfare proposals initially suggested by the Social Democrats to hinder their electoral success after he instituted the Anti-Socialist Laws , laying the ground of the first modern welfare state . Those policies were dubbed State Socialism by the liberal opposition, but Bismarck later accepted and re-appropriated

5382-791: The Great Depression , economic interventionism and nationalizations became more common worldwide and the post-war consensus until the 1970s saw Keynesian social democratic and mixed economy policies put in place, leading to the post-World War II boom in which the United States, the Soviet Union, the Western European, and East Asian countries experienced unusually high and sustained economic growth , together with full employment . Contrary to early predictions, this period of high economic growth and national development also included many countries that were devastated by

5520-670: The Great Recession in the late 2000s and early 2010s cast doubts on the Washington Consensus , and protests against austerity measures ensued. There was a resurgence of social democratic parties and policies, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom, with the rise of politicians such as Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn , who rejected the Third Way, after the economic recession caused

5658-474: The Labour and Conservative parties, famously dubbed Butskellism . Some social democratic Third Way figures such as Anthony Giddens and Tony Blair , who has described himself as a Christian socialist and a socialist in ethical terms, insist that they are socialists, for they claim to believe in the same values that their anti-Third Way critics do. According to those self-proclaimed social democratic modernizers, Clause IV 's open advocacy of state socialism

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5796-486: The National Health Service and Labour's welfare state development. This social-liberal paradigm represented the post-war consensus and was accepted across the political spectrum by conservatives, liberals and socialists until the 1970s. Similarly, the neoliberal paradigm, which replaced the previous paradigm, was accepted across the mainstream political parties, including social democratic supporters of

5934-602: The Nordic model , and welfare states . Social democracy has been described as the most common form of Western or modern socialism. Amongst social democrats, attitudes towards socialism vary: some retain socialism as a long-term goal, with social democracy being a political and economic democracy supporting a gradualist , reformist , and democratic approach towards achieving socialism. Others view it as an ethical ideal to guide reforms within capitalism. One way social democracy can be distinguished from democratic socialism

6072-567: The Pasokification of many social democratic parties. The United Nations World Happiness Report shows that the happiest nations are concentrated in social democratic nations, especially in Northern Europe, where the Nordic model is applied. This is at times attributed to the success of the social democratic Nordic model in the region, where similar democratic socialist , labourist , and social democratic parties dominated

6210-532: The Russian Revolution , it came to refer to reformist socialists that are opposed to the authoritarian and centralized Soviet model of socialism. In the post-war era, social democrats embraced mixed economies with a predominance of private property and promoted the regulation of capitalism over its replacement with a qualitatively different socialist economic system . Since then, social democracy has been associated with Keynesian economics ,

6348-675: The Storting . The energy crisis was the most important issue for voters. Party leader Jonas Gahr Støre assumed the Norwegian premiership on 14 October 2021, at the helm of a minority coalition with the Centre Party . Soon after assuming power, the new coalition was faced with a series of crises, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent energy price hikes. The government was criticized for its handling of these crises, and by August 2022, Støre had dropped to 31% in preferred prime minister polling, against 49% for Erna Solberg ,

6486-476: The United Kingdom and saw the most widespread privatisation by any government in Norway to that date. The party has frequently been described as increasingly neoliberal since the 1980s, both by political scientists and opponents on the political left . The Labour Party profiles itself as a progressive party that subscribes to co-operation on a national as well as international level. Its youth wing

6624-495: The economic and technological determinism generally characteristic of orthodox Marxism and economic liberalism . By the post- World War II period and its economic consensus and expansion , most social democrats in Europe had abandoned their ideological connection to orthodox Marxism. They shifted their emphasis toward social policy reform as a compromise between capitalism to socialism . According to Michael Harrington ,

6762-406: The oppression of underprivileged groups, eradicating poverty , and upholding universally accessible public services such as child care , education , elderly care , health care , and workers' compensation . Economically, it supports income redistribution and regulating the economy in the public interest . Social democracy has a strong, long-standing connection with trade unions and

6900-409: The political spectrum , and is led by Jonas Gahr Støre . It is the senior party in a minority governing coalition with the Centre Party since 2021, with Støre serving as the current Prime Minister of Norway . The Labour Party is officially committed to social-democratic ideals. Its slogan since the 1930s has been "everyone shall be included" ( alle skal med ) and the party traditionally seeks

7038-459: The 1940s and 1970s, and called such because it was developed by social liberals but implemented by social democrats. Since those policies were mostly implemented by social democrats, social liberalism is sometimes called social democracy . In Britain, the social-liberal Beveridge Report drafted by the Liberal economist William Beveridge influenced the Labour Party 's social policies, such as

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7176-458: The 1970s and 1980s. Although the post-war consensus represented a period where social democracy was "most buoyant", it has been argued that "post-war social democracy had been altogether too confident in its analysis" because "gains which were thought to be permanent turned out to be conditional and as the reservoir of capitalist growth showed signs of drying up". In Socialism Now (1974), Crosland argued that "[m]uch more should have been achieved by

7314-509: The 19th century, it encompassed various non-revolutionary and revolutionary currents of socialism, excluding anarchism . In one of the first scholarly works on European socialism written for an American audience, Richard T. Ely 's 1883 book French and German Socialism in Modern Times , social democrats were characterized as "the extreme wing of the socialists" who were "inclined to lay so much stress on equality of enjoyment, regardless of

7452-411: The 2017—2021 term. In the same year, the Labour Party was targeted by hackers suspected to be from Russia. In 2021, the Labour Party returned to government after eight years in opposition, following the 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election . The party dropped to 48 seats from the 49 it had secured in 2017, but its centre-left coalition secured a landslide victory overall, taking 100 of the 169 seats in

7590-411: The 20th century. In political science, democratic socialism and social democracy are sometimes seen as synonyms, while they are distinguished in journalistic use. Under this democratic socialist definition, social democracy is an ideology seeking to gradually build an alternative socialist economy through the institutions of liberal democracy . Starting in the post-war period, social democracy

7728-467: The 21st century, European social democratic parties represent the centre-left and most are part of the Party of European Socialists , while democratic socialist parties are to their left within the Party of the European Left . Many of those social democratic parties are members of the Socialist International , including several democratic socialist parties, whose Frankfurt Declaration declares

7866-528: The Communists sought to distance themselves from to Social Democracy 's association with reformism. The Communists also sought to distinguish themselves from the socialists that had supported the imperialist Great War and thus betrayed proletarian internationalism . This reformist–revolutionary division culminated in the German Revolution of 1919 , in which the Communists wanted to overthrow

8004-555: The Gaitskellites, nationalization was not essential to achieve all major socialist objectives; public ownership and nationalization were not explicitly rejected but were seen as merely one of numerous useful devices. According to social democratic modernizers like Blair, nationalization policies had become politically unviable by the 1990s. During the Third Way development of social democracy, social democrats adjusted to

8142-728: The German government and establish a soviet republic like Russia, while the Social Democrats wanted to preserve it as what came to be known as the Weimar Republic . Thus social democracy went from a "Marxist revolutionary" doctrine into a form of "moderate parliamentary socialism". The Bolsheviks split from the Second International and created their own separate Communist International (Comintern) in 1919 that sought to rally revolutionary social democrats together for socialist revolution. With this split,

8280-506: The Labour Party ( Arbeiderpartiet ). The party claimed there had been confusion among voters at polling stations because of the difference between the official name and the common use name of Labour Party. The name change caused Arbeiderpartiet to appear on the ballot, eliminating any potential confusion. On 22 July 2011, a terrorist opened fire at the Labour Party's youth camp (ages 13–25), killing 69 people and killing eight more in Oslo with

8418-473: The Labour Party returned to power under Jens Stoltenberg , who became prime minister. However, after a period of intense infighting between Stoltenberg and former prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland , and a turbulent spell in government, the party collapsed to only 24.3% of the vote in the 2001 Norwegian parliamentary election , marking its worst result since 1924. The party returned to the opposition under Stoltenberg's leadership, before later recovering to 32.7% in

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8556-501: The Labour Party, were also behind this policy. Some Communists who wanted a full unification; including Sverre Støstad , Fredrik Monsen and Olav Larssen , were excluded shortly before the congresses. 839 people, whose selection was based on their support of the committee program, travelled to the Labour/Social Democratic congress. About 400 others, of which 159 trade unionists, were selected by different bodies on

8694-563: The Marxist analysis that the creation of socialism is interconnected with the evolution of capitalism. August Bebel , Bernstein, Engels, Wilhelm Liebknecht , Marx, and Carl Wilhelm Tölcke are all considered founders of social democracy in Germany. However, Bernstein and Lassalle, along with labourists and reformists such as Louis Blanc in France, led to the widespread association of social democracy with socialist reformism. While Lassalle

8832-401: The Third Way. This has caused much controversy within the social democratic movement. From the late 19th century until the mid to late 20th century, there was greater public confidence in the idea of a state-managed economy that was a major pillar of communism, and to a substantial degree by conservatives and left-liberals . Aside from anarchists and other libertarian socialists , there

8970-504: The United Kingdom (the latter in the form of the Liberal welfare reforms ), with both socialist and liberal parties adopting those policies. In the United States, the progressive movement , a similar social democratic movement predominantly influenced more by social liberalism than socialism , supported progressive liberals such as Democratic presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt , whose New Freedom and New Deal programmes adopted many social democratic policies. With

9108-487: The United States as representing European social democracy. South Africa has been governed by the African National Congress (ANC), a social democratic party, since 1994. In 2022, The World Economic Forum said that South Africa risks state collapse and identified five major risks facing the country. Former minister Jay Naidoo has said that South Africa is in serious trouble and is showing signs of

9246-497: The United States has been linked to the Red Scare , and any ideology associated with socialism brings social stigma due to its association with authoritarian socialist states . Socialism has been used as a pejorative term by members of the political right to stop the implementation of liberal and progressive policies and proposals and to criticize the public figures trying to implement them. Although Americans may reject

9384-465: The United States, where it is tied to the New Deal . Some democratic socialists who follow social democracy support practical, progressive reforms of capitalism and are more concerned with administrating and humanising it, with socialism relegated to the indefinite future. Other democratic socialists want to go beyond mere meliorist reforms and advocate the systematic transformation of the mode of production from capitalism to socialism . Despite

9522-432: The broader labour movement . It is supportive of measures to foster greater democratic decision-making in the economic sphere , including co-determination , collective bargaining rights for workers, and expanding ownership to employees and other stakeholders . The history of social democracy stretches back to the 19th-century labour movement . Originally a catch-all term for socialists of varying tendencies, after

9660-410: The capitalist system, which conflicts with the socialist goal of replacing capitalism with a socialist system. According to this view, social democracy fails to address the systemic issues inherent in capitalism. The American democratic socialist philosopher David Schweickart contrasts social democracy with democratic socialism by defining the former as an attempt to strengthen the welfare state and

9798-563: The degree of control varying among the proponents of socialism) over the means of production, distribution, and exchange", and "there was agreement that the outcomes of this collective control should be a society that provided social equality and justice, economic protection, and generally a more satisfying life for most people". Socialism became a catch-all term for the critics of capitalism and industrial society. Social democrats are anticapitalists insofar as criticism about "poverty, low wages, unemployment, economic and social inequality, and

9936-475: The early 1930s, Labour abandoned its revolutionary profile and set a reformist course. Labour then returned to government in 1935 and remained in power throughout the Second World War . The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1938 and 1940. When Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940, the Labour-led government and the Norwegian royal family fled to London, whence it led

10074-569: The early 21st centuries. As the number of people in traditional working-class occupations such as factory workers and miners declined, socialists have successfully widened their appeal to the middle class by diluting their ideology; however, there is still continuity between parties such as the SPD, the Labour Party in Britain, and other socialist parties which remain part of the same famille spirituelle , or ideological party family, as outlined by most political scientists. For many social democrats, Marxism

10212-477: The economy and opposes what is seen as inequality and oppression that laissez-faire capitalism causes. In the 21st century, it has become commonplace to define social democracy in reference to Northern and Western European countries, and their model of a welfare state with a corporatist system of collective bargaining . Social democracy has also been used synonymously with the Nordic model . Henning Meyer and Jonathan Rutherford associate social democracy with

10350-600: The economy and retaining significant social regulations. When nationalization of large industries was relatively widespread in the 20th century until the 1970s, it was not uncommon for commentators to describe some European social democracies as democratic socialist states seeking to move their countries toward a socialist economy . In 1956, leading Labour Party politician and British author Anthony Crosland said that capitalism had been abolished in Britain, although others such as Welshman Aneurin Bevan , Minister of Health in

10488-438: The economy that the state could best manage and rejected a mass scale of state ownership as being too burdensome to be manageable. Bernstein was an advocate of Kantian socialism and neo-Kantianism . Although unpopular early on, his views became mainstream after World War I. In The Future of Socialism (1956), Anthony Crosland argued that "traditional capitalism has been reformed and modified almost out of existence, and it

10626-504: The economy, some political commentators stated that during the post-war period, when social democratic parties were in power, countries such as Britain and France were democratic socialist states. The same claim has been applied to Nordic countries with the Nordic model. In the 1980s, the government of President François Mitterrand aimed to expand dirigism and attempted to nationalize all French banks, but this attempt faced opposition from

10764-413: The efficiency of the capitalist system by reducing incentives for capitalists to invest in further production. The welfare state only serves to legitimize and prolong the exploitative and contradiction-laden system of capitalism to society's detriment. Critics of contemporary social democracy, such as Jonas Hinnfors, argue that when social democracy abandoned Marxism , it also abandoned socialism and became

10902-425: The either/or interpretation of capitalism versus socialism. It claims that fostering a progressive evolution of capitalism will gradually result in the evolution of a capitalist economy into a socialist economy. All citizens should be legally entitled to certain social rights: universal access to public services such as education, health care, workers' compensation, and other services, including child care and care for

11040-889: The elderly. Social democrats advocate freedom from discrimination based on differences in ability/disability, age, ethnicity , gender , language, race, religion, sexual orientation , and social class . Later in their lives, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argued that in some countries, workers might be able to achieve their aims through peaceful means. In this sense, Engels argued that socialists were evolutionists, although both Marx and Engels remained committed to social revolution . In developing social democracy, Eduard Bernstein rejected orthodox Marxism 's revolutionary and materialist foundations. Rather than class conflict and socialist revolution , Bernstein's Marxist revisionism reflected that socialism could be achieved through cooperation between people regardless of class. Nonetheless, Bernstein paid deference to Marx, describing him as

11178-592: The emergence of developments within the European left, such as Eurocommunism , the rise of neoliberalism, the fall of the Soviet Union and the Revolutions of 1989 , the Third Way , and the rise of anti-austerity and Occupy movements due to the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the Great Recession , the causes of which have been attributed by some to the neoliberal shift and deregulation economic policies. This latest development contributed to

11316-503: The father of social democracy but declaring that it was necessary to revise Marx's thought in light of changing conditions. Influenced by the gradualist platform favoured by the Fabian movement in Britain, Bernstein advocated a similar evolutionary approach to socialist politics that he termed evolutionary socialism . Evolutionary means include representative democracy and cooperation between people regardless of class. Bernstein accepted

11454-445: The first post-war Labour government and the architect of the National Health Service , disputed the claim. For Crosland and others who supported his views, Britain was a socialist state. According to Bevan, Britain had a socialist National Health Service , which opposed the hedonism of Britain's capitalist society. Although, as in the rest of Europe, the laws of capitalism still operated fully and private enterprise dominated

11592-440: The form of predominantly capitalist economies, with the state regulating the economy in the form of welfare capitalism , economic interventionism , partial public ownership , a robust welfare state , policies promoting social equality , and a more equitable distribution of income . Social democracy maintains a commitment to representative and participatory democracy . Common aims include curbing inequality , eliminating

11730-537: The framework of democratic capitalism . Social democracy currently depicts a chiefly capitalist economy with state economic regulation in the general interest, state provision of welfare services and state redistribution of income and wealth. Social democratic concepts influence the policies of most Western states since World War 2. Social democracy is frequently considered a practical middle course between capitalism and socialism. Social democracy aims to use democratic collective action for promoting freedom and equality in

11868-485: The goal of developing democratic socialism. Others are also part of the Progressive Alliance , founded in 2013 by most contemporary or former member parties of the Socialist International. Social democracy has been seen as a revision of orthodox Marxism , although this has been described as misleading for modern social democracy. Marxist revisionist Eduard Bernstein 's views influenced and laid

12006-499: The government at the national level. During the post-war consensus , this form of social democracy has been a major component of the Nordic model and, to a lesser degree, the West European social market economies . The development of social corporatism began in Norway and Sweden in the 1930s and was consolidated in the 1960s and 1970s. The system was based upon the dual compromise of capital and labour as one component and

12144-399: The gradual abolition of capitalism and social democrats opposed to the Third Way merged into democratic socialism. Although social democracy originated as a revolutionary socialist or communist movement, one distinction between democratic socialism and social democracy is that the former can include revolutionary means. The latter proposes representative democracy under the rule of law as

12282-401: The groundwork for developing post-war social democracy as a policy regime, Labour revisionism , and the neo-revisionism of the Third Way . This definition of social democracy is focused on ethical terms, with the type of socialism advocated being ethical and liberal . Bernstein described socialism and social democracy in particular as organized liberalism; in this sense, liberalism is

12420-421: The idea that the United States has characteristics of a European-style social democracy, it has been argued by some observers that it has a comfortable social safety net , albeit severely underfunded in comparison to other Western countries. It has also been argued that many policies that may be considered socialist are popular but that socialism is not. Others, such as Tony Judt , described modern liberalism in

12558-412: The implementation of market-oriented , monetarist , and neoliberal policies ( privatization , deregulation , free trade , economic globalization , and anti- inflationary fiscal policy , among others), the social democratic welfare state was put in doubt. This caused several social democratic parties to adopt the Third Way , a centrist ideology combining social democracy with neoliberalism; however,

12696-452: The importance of social corporatism to social democracy in his work Economic Democracy: The Politics of a Feasible Socialism (1995). As a welfare state, social democracy is a specific type of welfare state and policy regime described as being universalist, supportive of collective bargaining, and more supportive of public provision of welfare. It is especially associated with the Nordic model. Social democratic policies were first adopted in

12834-406: The individual. Because many communists now call themselves democratic socialists , it is sometimes difficult to know what a political label really means. As a result, social democratic has become a common new label for democratic socialist political parties." As a policy regime, social democracy entails support for a mixed economy and ameliorative measures to benefit the working class within

12972-506: The influence of politicians like Carlo Rosselli in Italy, social democrats began disassociating themselves from orthodox Marxism altogether as represented by Marxism–Leninism , embracing liberal socialism , Keynesianism , and appealing to morality rather than any consistent systematic, scientific , or materialist worldview. Social democracy appealed to communitarian , corporatist , and sometimes nationalist sentiments while rejecting

13110-686: The interests of the people through their representatives' influence, an argument echoed by some socialists in post-war Britain. Advents in economics and observation of the failure of state socialism in the Eastern Bloc countries and the Western world with the crisis and stagflation of the 1970s, combined with the neoliberal rebuke of state interventionism , resulted in socialists re-evaluating and redesigning socialism. Some social democrats have sought to keep what they deem are socialism's core values while changing their position on state involvement in

13248-558: The laggard response time of police cost dozens of lives. In the 2013 Norwegian parliamentary election , the Red-green coalition lost its majority in the Storting , but the Labour Party remained the largest party in the Storting. Jens Stoltenberg, who had served as prime minister for 10 of the past 13 years, remained party leader until he stepped down in 2014 after being appointed Secretary General of NATO . Later, Jonas Gahr Støre ,

13386-473: The largest party in Norway. The party were members of Communist International (Comintern), a communist organisation, between 1918 and 1923. From the establishment of Vort Arbeide in 1884, the party had a growing and notable organisation of newspapers and other press outlets. The party press system eventually resulted in Norsk Arbeiderpresse ( Norwegian Labour Press ). In January 1913,

13524-533: The latter as an alternative economic system to capitalism. According to Schweickart, the democratic socialist critique of social democracy is that capitalism can never be sufficiently humanized and that any attempt to suppress its economic contradictions will only cause them to emerge elsewhere. He gives the example that attempts to reduce unemployment too much would result in inflation, and too much job security would erode labour discipline. In contrast to social democracy's mixed economy , democratic socialists advocate

13662-480: The long history of overlap between the two, with social democracy considered a form of democratic or parliamentary socialism and social democrats calling themselves democratic socialists, democratic socialism is considered a misnomer in the United States. One issue is that social democracy is equated with wealthy countries in the Western world, especially in Northern and Western Europe, while democratic socialism

13800-681: The market and the state as the other. From the 1940s through the 1970s, defining features of social democracy as a policy regime included Keynesian economic policies and industrial agreements to balance the power of capital and labour and the welfare state. This is especially associated with the Swedish Social Democrats . In the 1970s, social corporatism evolved into neo-corporatism , which replaced it. Neo-corporatism has represented an important concept of Third Way social democracy . Social democratic theorist Robin Archer wrote about

13938-433: The neoliberal political climate that had existed since the 1980s. Those social democrats recognized that outspoken opposition to capitalism was politically non-viable and that accepting the powers that be , seeking to challenge free-market and laissez-faire variations of capitalism, was a more immediate concern. The Third Way stands for a modernized social democracy, but the social democracy that remained committed to

14076-791: The only acceptable constitutional form of government. During the Great Recession, Social Democratic parties in Europe increasingly adopted austerity as a policy response to the economic crisis, shifting away from the traditional Keynesian response of deficit spending . According to Björn Bremer, this shift in thinking was due to the influence of supply-side economics on Social Democratic leaders and by electoral motivations whereby Social Democrats wanted to appear economically competent to voters by adopting orthodox fiscal policies. Social democracy has some significant overlap in practical policy positions with democratic socialism, although they are usually distinguished from each other. In Britain,

14214-411: The organization collectively exited the Communist Party. Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party ( Bokmål : Arbeiderpartiet ; Nynorsk : Arbeidarpartiet , A/Ap ; Northern Sami : Bargiidbellodat ), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party ( Norwegian : Det norske Arbeiderparti , DNA ), is a social democratic political party in Norway . It is positioned on the centre-left of

14352-669: The party fielded as Norges Kommunistiske Parti/Arbeiderklassens Samlingsparti . The party then disappeared "in silence" around New Years' 1927–1928. The election was highly unsuccessful for the party. Another reason for its disappearance was that one of their main goals were fulfilled, as the Confederation of Trade Unions at its autumn congress declined to enter the International Federation of Trade Unions . The Communist Party continued on its own, and those who belonged to Mot Dag were party members until 1928, when

14490-547: The party had 24 newspapers and six more newspapers were founded in 1913. The party also had the periodical Det 20de Aarhundre . In 1920, the party had 33 newspapers and 6 semi-affiliated newspapers. The party had its own publishing house, Det norske Arbeiderpartis forlag , succeeded by Tiden Norsk Forlag . In addition to books and pamphlets, Det norske Arbeiderpartis forlag published Maidagen (annual May Day publication), Arbeidets Jul (annual Christmas publication) and Arbeiderkalenderen (calendar). The party also published

14628-566: The party had an absolute majority in the Norwegian Parliament, to date the last time this has happened in the history of Norway. The electoral domination by the Labour Party during the 1960s and early 1970s was initially broken by competition from smaller left-wing parties, primarily from the Socialist People's Party . From the late 1970s, the party started to lose voters due to a rise in right-wing parties, leading to

14766-623: The party leadership is made up of leader Jonas Gahr Støre , who has held the position since 2014, and deputy leader Bjørnar Selnes Skjæran , who was first elected to the position in 2021. The party's youth organisation is the Workers' Youth League , and it maintains a women's wing known as the Labour Party Women's Network. The party participates in elections to the Sami Parliament of Norway , and work related to this has its own organisational structure with seven local groups,

14904-620: The party left the Comintern while a significant minority of its members left the party to form the Communist Party of Norway . In 1927, the Social Democrats were reunited with Labour. Some Communists also joined Labour whereas other Communists tried a failed merger endeavor which culminated in the formation of the Arbeiderklassens Samlingsparti . The same year, Helga Karlsen became the party's first Member of Parliament. In 1928, Christopher Hornsrud formed Labour's first government, but it lasted only two weeks. During

15042-413: The party steadily increased in support until it became the largest party in Norway at the 1927 parliamentary election , a position it has held ever since. That year also saw the consolidation of conflicts surrounding the party during the 1920s following its membership in the Comintern. It first formed a government in 1928 and has led the government for all but sixteen years since 1935. From 1945 to 1961 ,

15180-491: The periods of 1971–1972, 1973–1981, 1986–1989, and 1990–1997. Labour prime ministers in this period included party veterans Oscar Torp , Trygve Bratteli , and Gro Harlem Brundtland , and the party remained the largest in Norway throughout the remainder of the 20th century. In the year 2000, the centre-right coalition led by Kjell Magne Bondevik of the Christian Democrats was toppled in a confidence vote, and

15318-505: The position that socialism should be grounded in ethical and moral arguments and achieved through gradual legislative reform . Bernstein's ideas were initially not well received; his party maintained the position that reforms should be pursued only as a means to an eventual revolution, not as a substitute for it. Yet, Bernstein's ideas would have growing influence, particularly after the First World War. The Russian Revolution

15456-521: The post-war political scene over the following years. Gerhardsen is commonly referred to as Landsfaderen ( Father of the Nation ) and is generally considered one of the principal architects behind the reconstruction of Norway after the Second World War. The period from 1945 has been described as the golden age of the Norwegian Labour Party, and the party retained its parliamentary majority until

15594-447: The predecessor and precursor of socialism, whose restricted view of freedom is to be socialized , while democracy must entail social democracy. For those social democrats, who still describe and see themselves as socialists, socialism is used in ethical or moral terms, representing democracy, egalitarianism, and social justice rather than a specifically socialist economic system. Under this type of definition, social democracy's goal

15732-400: The prediction that the working class was the decisive class with the development of capitalism. In their view, this did not materialize in the aftermath of mass industrialization during World War II. In Britain, the social democratic Gaitskellites emphasized the goals of personal liberty , social welfare , and social equality . The Gaitskellites were part of a political consensus between

15870-692: The primary reason for this was the perspective that viewed the Stalinist-era Soviet Union as having succeeded in usurping the legacy of Marxism and distorting it in propaganda to justify totalitarianism . In its foundation, the Socialist International denounced the Bolshevik-inspired communist movement, "for [it] falsely claims a share in the Socialist tradition". Furthermore, core tenets of Marxism have been regarded by social democrats as having become obsolete, including

16008-525: The prospect of a new socialism was "a chimera, a hopeful invention of Western socialists who had not understood how ' actually existing socialism ' had totally discredited any version of socialism among those who had lived under it". Social democracy influenced the development of social corporatism , a form of economic tripartite corporatism based upon a social partnership between the interests of capital and labour , involving collective bargaining between representatives of employers and labour mediated by

16146-422: The reformists founded the Labour and Socialist International (LSI) in 1923. The LSI had a history of rivalry with the Comintern, with which it competed over the leadership of the international socialist and labour movement. During the 1920s and 1930s, social democracy became dominant in the socialist movement, mainly associated with reformist socialism while communism represented revolutionary socialism. Under

16284-551: The region's political scene and laid the ground for their universal welfare states in the 20th century. The Nordic countries, including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, as well as Greenland and the Faroe Islands, also ranks highest on the metrics of real GDP per capita , economic equality , public health , life expectancy , solidarity , perceived freedom to make life choices , generosity , quality of life , and human development , while countries practising

16422-535: The revised version of Clause IV to the Labour Party Constitution , which was implemented in the 1990s by the New Labour faction led by Tony Blair , affirms a formal commitment to democratic socialism, describing it as a modernized form of social democracy; however, it no longer commits the party to public ownership of industry and in its place advocates "the enterprise of the market and

16560-412: The rigour of competition" along with "high quality public services either owned by the public or accountable to them". Many social democrats "refer to themselves as socialists or democratic socialists", and some such as Blair "use or have used these terms interchangeably". Others argue that "there are clear differences between the three terms, and preferred to describe their own political beliefs by using

16698-551: The rise of politicians, such as Jeremy Corbyn in Britain and Bernie Sanders in the United States, who rejected centrist politicians that supported triangulation within the Labour and Democratic parties. According to both right-wing critics and supporters alike, policies such as universal health care and education are "pure Socialism" because they are opposed to "the hedonism of capitalist society". Because of this overlap, democratic socialism refers to European socialism as represented by social democracy, especially in

16836-442: The rising legitimacy of neoliberalism, especially laissez-faire capitalism. The Third Way's view of the crisis is criticized for being too simplistic. Others have criticized it because with the fall of state socialism, it was possible for "a new kind of 'third way' socialism (combining social ownership with markets and democracy), thereby heralding a revitalization of the social democratic tradition"; however, it has been argued that

16974-580: The second-lowest number of seats since 1924. At the 2021 election , the party lost one seat but the left-wing opposition gained a majority over the political right, with Støre becoming the prime minister and heading a minority government along with the Centre Party. The party was founded in 1887 in Arendal and first ran in elections to the Storting in 1894. It entered the parliament in 1903 and steadily increased its vote until 1927 , when it became

17112-411: The socialism associated with Karl Marx had become the official theoretical basis of the first social democratic party established in Europe, the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany . In the early 20th century, the German social democratic politician Eduard Bernstein rejected orthodox Marxist ideas about the inevitable progression of history and the need for revolution , advancing instead

17250-511: The socioeconomic order in Europe from the post-war period until the early 1990s. Social democratic roots are also observed in Latin America during the early 20th century; this was the case in Uruguay during the two presidential terms of José Batlle y Ordóñez . While the welfare state has been accepted across the political spectrum, particularly by conservatives ( Christian democrats ) and liberals ( social liberals ), one notable difference

17388-478: The term 'social democracy' only". Democratic socialism represents social democracy before the 1970s, when the post-war displacement of Keynesianism by monetarism and neoliberalism caused many social democratic parties to adopt the Third Way ideology, accepting capitalism as the status quo for the time being and redefining socialism in a way that maintains the capitalist structure intact. Like modern social democracy, democratic socialism tends to follow

17526-491: The term. It was a set of social programs implemented in Germany that Bismarck initiated in 1883 as remedial measures to appease the working class and reduce support for socialism and the Social Democrats following earlier attempts to achieve the same objective through Bismarck's Anti-Socialist Laws. This did not prevent the Social Democrats from becoming the biggest party in parliament by 1912. Similar policies were later adopted in most of Western Europe, including France and

17664-540: The terminology and symbolism such as the colour red . How far society should intervene and whether the government, mainly the existing government, is the right vehicle for change are issues of disagreement. As the Historical Dictionary of Socialism summarizes, "there were general criticisms about the social effects of the private ownership and control of capital", "a general view that the solution to these problems lay in some form of collective control (with

17802-440: The two terms are commonly used synonymously. The Third Way is an off-shoot of social democracy which aims to fuse economic liberalism with social democratic economic policies and center-left social policies. It is a reconceptualization of social democracy developed in the 1990s and embraced by some social democratic parties; some analysts have characterized the Third Way as part of the neoliberal movement. Social democracy

17940-442: The value of one's labor, that they might, perhaps, more properly be called communists". In the early 20th century, social democracy came to refer to support for a process of developing society through existing political structures and opposition to revolutionary means, which are often associated with Marxism. Thus whereas in the 19th century, social democracy could be described as "organized Marxism", it became "organized reformism" by

18078-553: The war, such as Japan ( Japanese post-war economic miracle ), West Germany and Austria ( Wirtschaftswunder ), South Korea ( Miracle of the Han River ), France ( Trente Glorieuses ), Italy ( Italian economic miracle ), and Greece ( Greek economic miracle ). With the 1970s energy crisis , the abandonment of both the gold standard and the Bretton Woods system along with Keynesian social democratic, mixed-economy policies and

18216-620: Was a pivotal moment that furthered the division between reformists and revolutionary socialists. Those supporting the October Revolution renamed themselves as Communists while those opposing the Bolsheviks retained the Social Democrat label. While both groups technically shared the goal of a communist society that fully realized the principle of " from each according to his ability, to each according to his need ",

18354-497: Was a reformist state socialist , Bernstein predicted a long-term coexistence of democracy with a mixed economy during the reforming of capitalism into socialism and argued that socialists needed to accept this. This mixed economy would involve public , cooperative , and private enterprises , and it would be necessary for an extended period before private enterprises evolve of their own accord into cooperative enterprises. Bernstein supported state ownership only for certain parts of

18492-575: Was alienating potential middle-class Labour supporters, and nationalization policies had been so thoroughly attacked by neoliberal economists and politicians, including rhetorical comparisons by the right of state-owned industry in the West to that in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, and nationalizations and state socialism became unpopular. Thatcherite Conservatives were adept at condemning state-owned enterprises as economically inefficient. For

18630-477: Was confidence amongst socialists in the concept of state socialism as being the most effective form of socialism. Some early British social democrats in the 19th century and 20th century, such as the Fabians , said that British society was already mostly socialist and that the economy was significantly socialist through government-run enterprises created by conservative and liberal governments which could be run for

18768-519: Was defined as a policy regime advocating the reformation of capitalism to align it with the ethical ideals of social justice . What socialists such as anarchists , communists , social democrats, syndicalists , and some social democratic proponents of the Third Way share in common is history, specifically that they can all be traced back to the individuals, groups, and literature of the First International , and have retained some of

18906-465: Was founded. The party name was chosen on 1 February 1927. The reason why a political party was formed, even though the Communists only wanted a cooperative body, was the nature of Norwegian election laws . Elias Volan was elected chairman, and Emil Stang, Jr. was elected deputy chairman. The party used the newspaper Norges Kommunistblad as a means of communication; for instance the party's by-laws were printed there on 22 February. The party contested

19044-403: Was scrapped in 1995, and that year its membership level fell to just over 72,500 from 128,000 in 1990. In 1997, that figure dropped to 64,000 in 1997. In 2021, the party comprised 45,553 members according to its own official website. Since 2005, the party has maintained a policy requiring full gender parity at every level of organisation above ordinary membership. The supreme body of the party

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