Sanders

Bernie Sanders is not a socialist.

Socialism has a meaning, it has a program, it has an end goal.

For a politician or party to be socialist its ultimate aim must be democratic control of the economy. There can be differences over the exact program, the means to reach this goal, or the proper timeline; however, this must be the overarching principle of any socialist.

Bernie Sanders in not a socialist, democratic or otherwise.

Bernie Sanders does not believe in the collapse of capitalism.

Bernie Sanders does not endorse seizing the means of production.

Bernie Sanders does not want the state to control the flow of capital.

Then what is Bernie Sanders? He is a social democrat. He believes the worst impulses of capitalism must be controlled, and capital regulated. He wants to erect a welfare state similar to those in Scandinavia. He wishes for more democratic control of the government.

While these are all laudable goals, they do not fundamentally challenge capitalism as an economic theory. Nor do they truly change the class structure in the United States.

In many ways Sanders follows inverts the trajectory of the social democratic parties in Europe. When they were founded the major social democratic parties of Western Europe were avowedly socialist. Slowly, as they gained political power in the years following the two world wars, this position shifted to the modern social democratic parties we see in Europe today. They no longer advocate democratic control of the economy and capital, but merely seek to limit capitalist destruction. In the worst cases, such as France, they are fully subordinated to capitalist control.

Sanders wishes to alter this trajectory for the Democratic Party in the United States. He seeks to take a social democratic party that has been thoroughly corrupted by capitalists and begin to bend it back towards advocacy on behalf of the working class.

Whether this will work remains to be seen.