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Reform and revolution was an active area of debate between Western European communists. What made Western European communists lean towards revolution were the b
by sudosysgen 3y ago
Reform and revolution was an active area of debate between Western European communists. What made Western European communists lean towards revolution were the bans on socialist parties by various countries, and the subsequent repression. This convinced many communists that they would simply never be allowed to get elected and transition out of capitalism.
The second thing that ended reformism amongst Western communists was World War 1, which was used as a cudgel against any kind socialism and allowed the state to essentially use wars as a pretext to destroy communist movements and expel antiwar radicals from popular leftwing parties.
And the rest of people didn't want nothing to do with it. The SPD, when it was an explicitly Marxist and revolutionary part in Germany for example, got up to 35% of the vote.
It's after the expulsion from the SPD and the bans on various communist activities that Western European communists were decided on revolution. It wasn't because they were cartoonish bloodlusting villains.
- jacquesm 3y agoGermany != Western Europe.
- DoughnutHole 3y agoGermany is just an example, the sentiments are common to many European countries pre-WWII. The statement that "the rest of the people wanted absolutely nothing to do with it" is true in that most European countries never had majority support for revolutionary socialism. But in many countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) it was a substantial block, in many places on par with support for more moderate socialists/social democrats. Revolutionary socialism is a highly fringe political viewpoint today, but it was much more popular in the inter-war years. It took a long time for people to learn of (and start to believe!) the atrocities that occurred in the revolution in Russia.
- jacquesm 3y agoIt is true that it was much more popular then than it is today. But it still as far as I know never managed to gain more than a small percentage foothold. That doesn't mean that it was insignificant, it doesn't take a whole country to subscribe to something to change the course of history. But revolutionary socialism/communism did not come even close to being able to subvert the democratic process in those countries that already had a majority or coalition rule in place. Though there definitely were recorded attempts in almost every country they all fizzled out.
- sudosysgen 3y agoThe SPD, in the last elections before WW1, for 34.6% of the vote, with an explicitly Marxist and Revolutionary platform. Is that a small percentage?
- jacquesm 3y agoI'll say it again because apparently it didn't land: Germany != Western Europe. Germany had a lot of conditions that made it ripe for a vote like that which did not apply to any of the other nations in Western Europe at that time (or any other time, really).
- sudosysgen 3y agoYou claimed it never managed to gain a foothold. It did. Germany is in Western Europe. It's not the only example, either. What were those conditions in Germany that were so different from every other Western European country?
- sudosysgen 3y agoIn this case it is. Firstly, similar events transpired in other countries, and secondly, the German communist movement was by far the strongest and most influential one until the USSR happened. Secondly, prospects for a smaller country like, say, Belgium turning communist alone are very dim, and so for many smaller countries the plan for communist parties was more or less to wait until Germany or France became communist.