Social+Democracy

=Social Democracy=

Social democracy was a movement that began around 1848 with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. As leaders of many political ideas, Marx and Engels were looking for ways to improve the lives of the working class in Europe. Social democracy was a mid-point between capitalism/democracy and socialism. Instead of using economic means to gain power, the proletariat would use the democratic system that was already in place. By gaining power through the ballot box, members of social democratic parties would be able to change the way the government was run. While capitalism was for private business and socialism for public, social democracy contained some of each. While institutions such as education a military would be controlled by the government, most businesses would still be free to compete at market. Social democracy gained power in many parts of Europe, but especially in Germany and Russia.

Influence of Marx and Engels (Brian "The Marx" Edman) Russian Social Democracy (Elizabeth "Lenin" Bader) German Social Democracy (Marcus "The Party" Leland) Continuation of Social Democracy and Primary Source Discussion (Tony "The Reformer" Campbell)

[|The Erfurt Program of 1891] is a very good primary source example of the intentions of the social democratic movement. After reading it, one will be able to see similarities between the ideals of the social democratic parties from the 19th century and the way many governments are run today.

In the end, people that were pushing for socialism through social democracy were unsatisfied with its goals. They realized that if they wanted such a massive change, the proletariat would have to rise up due to oppression and overthrow the elite aristocracy. But, if social democracy created a system where they had their say, they would never resist and would always be a product of businesses who, in reality, controlled them. Even today there are social democratic parties that front candidates for office around the world, and many governmental systems are run similarly to social democratic ideals. Is the world moving towards socialism?



Bibliography