ARGUMENT: The World After Capitalism    Explanation by Abdul Basit  

THE WORLD AFTER CAPITALISM

The future depends on a social democracy that doesn’t reshape  be or go beyond the
capitalism but transcends it.  range or limits of (something abstract,
a political and
BY BHASKAR SUNKARA  economic theory of social organization
which advocates that the means of
It shouldn’t be surprising that, in 2020, we’re still talking about  production, distribution, and exchange
should be owned or regulated by the
socialism.  After  all,  in  much  of  the  world,  just  40  years  ago  if  community as a whole.
someone  had  a  political  identification,  it  was  probably  as  a  1.(1906–82), Soviet
socialist  of  one  kind  or  another. Maybe they  were  third‐world  statesman; general secretary of the
Communist Party of the former Soviet
nationalists looking for a pathway to development for their long‐
Union 1966–82; president 1977–82;
oppressed homelands. Or defenders of the Leonid Brezhnev‐era  an economic and
“actually existing socialism” of the Soviet Union and its satellites.  political system in which a country's trade
Or  maybe  they  were  social  democrats—no  longer  seeking  a  and industry are controlled by private
owners for profit, rather than by the state.
socialism  after  capitalism  but  committed  to  creating  a  Nordic‐
system which features a
style “functional socialism” within it.  blend of capitalist economics with socialist
values, 
The  past  three  decades  haven’t  been  kind  to  any  of  these 
restore (something old,
socialisms.  State  socialism  suddenly  collapsed;  Soviet  leader 
the practice of
Mikhail  Gorbachev’s  attempts  to  renovate  the  system  only  persuading someone to do something by
undermined the coercion that held it together. The fate of social  using force or threats.

democracy  in  Europe  wasn’t  so  dramatic:  It  ground  to  a  halt  bring or come to an
abrupt stop. 
rather than imploding. Post‐war social democracy had relied on 
collapse or cause to
economic  expansion—a  boon  to  both  capitalists  and  socialists  collapse violently inwards.
alike—but when growth started to slow over the last decades,  a thing that is helpful
and  the  wage  demands  of  emboldened  workers  made  deeper  or beneficial. 
inroads into company profits, business owners rebelled against  give (someone) the
courage or confidence to do something
the model. 
or to behave in a certain way.
progress; an advance.
 ARGUMENT: The World After Capitalism    Explanation by Abdul Basit  
 

 
relating to or
believing in the principle that all people
Mainstream social democracy responded to this crisis by halting 
are equal and deserve equal rights and
its egalitarian advance and merely defending existing gains.  opportunities. 
a forward movement.
Eventually it settled for tying mildly redistributive measures to 
in a mild manner, in
neoliberal  economic  orthodoxy.  And  as  for  the  heirs  of  particular without anger or severity.
nationalists like Jamaica’s Michael Manley and Tanzania’s Julius  used
Nyerere, they made a more radical U‐turn, accepting neoliberal  to describe an action that
is intended to share money more fairly be
dictums from the  International Monetary Fund and seeking  to  tween rich and poor people:
attract foreign investment by any means.  favoring policies that
promote free-market capitalism,
  deregulation, and reduction in
government spending.
But popular ideas don’t die so easily. In the decades after 1917,  authorized or
socialists went from fringe organizers to masters of much of the  generally accepted theory, doctrine, or
practice. 
world. The British historian Eric Hobsbawm said there had been 
a formal
nothing like it since Islam’s rapid advance in the seventh century.  pronouncement from an authoritative
And  whatever  it  was  that  morally  compelled  people  to  seek  a  source. 
radically different world in those days has not disappeared.  not part of the
mainstream; unconventional, peripheral, or
  extreme. 
the product or
Most  important,  there  is  still  plenty  of  material  injustice  to  offspring of a person or place (used to
spawn new generations of socialists. Millions of people die every  express distaste or disgust).

year of preventable diseases. Many more spend their lives mired  cause to become

stuck in mud. 
in  poverty.  Even  where  capitalist  development  has  been 
linked or connected
successful on its own terms, mass abundance is coupled with the  in a pair or pairs.
unmet basic needs of the most vulnerable. There is no starker   susceptible to
example  than the  United States—the richest society in history  physical or emotional attack or harm, in
danger 
but also one where more than half a million people are homeless 
severe or bare in
and 1 in 8 families battle hunger.  appearance or outline.
 ARGUMENT: The World After Capitalism    Explanation by Abdul Basit  
 

 
Indeed, inequality is not an accidental by product of capitalism—
which  divides  those  who  own  private  property  through  which 
goods and services are produced from the rest, who have to put  be based on or
grounded in; depend on.
themselves at the owners’ mercy to survive—it is at the core of 
the  system.  Capitalist  wealth  creation  may  not  be  a  zero‐sum 
game,  but  the  struggle  between  bosses  and  workers  over  each participant's gain
or loss of utility is exactly balanced by the
autonomy  and  power  on  the  shop  floor  is.  And  far  from  losses or gains of the utility of the other 
dissipating,  the  contradictions  at  the  heart  of  capitalism  have   
become only more apparent over the last few decades.  squander or fritter
away (money, energy, or resources
  a combination of
statements, ideas, or features of a
  situation that are opposed to one
another. 
  clearly visible or
understood; obvious
 
in the process of
coming into being or becoming
In  the  1970s,  an  emergent  neoliberalism  curbed  inflation  and  prominent. 
restored profitability for the high‐income countries of the global  The North–South
north—but  only  through  a  vicious  offensive  against  workers.  divide is a socio-economic and political
Since then, real wages have stagnated, debt has soared, and the  division of countries.

prospects for younger generations—still expecting to live better  deliberately cruel or

violent. 
lives  than  their  parents—have  become  bleak.  In  the  United 
of water or air) cease
States  and  United  Kingdom,  as  in  other  post‐industrial  to flow or move; become stagnant.
economies across Europe, increased flexibility for employers has  fly or rise high in the
meant increased uncertainty for workers.  air. 
likelihood of some
  future event occurring.
(of an area of land)
  lacking vegetation, bare, exposed
 ARGUMENT: The World After Capitalism    Explanation by Abdul Basit  
 

 
Enter,  or  re‐enter,  socialism. The  resurgent  popularity  of  the  increasing or reviving
after a period of little activity, popularity,
term  “socialism”  is  perhaps  a  fluke—it  is  language  that  the  or occurrence 
movement’s  standard‐bearers,  Jeremy  Corbyn  in  the  United  an unlikely chance
Kingdom and Bernie Sanders in the United States, have long used  occurrence, especially a surprising piece of
and are now making mainstream. They offer demands that are  luck. 

within  the  wheelhouse  of  social  democracy:  calls  for  an  one who bears a
standard or banner. One who holds flag or
expansion of social services such as government job creation and  represents  
action  on  climate  change.  But  Corbyn  and  Sanders  represent  a part of a boat or
something  far  different  from  modern  social  democracy.  ship serving as a shelter for the person at
the wheel 
Whereas social democracy in Europe spent the last few decades 
morphing  into  a  tool  to  suppress  class  conflict  in  favour  of  change smoothly
from one image to another by small
friendly  arrangements  among  business,  labour,  and  the  state,  gradual steps 
Corbyn, Sanders, and their peers encourage a renewal of class  a person of the same
antagonism from below.  age, status, or ability as another specified
person, fellows or friends
  active hostility or
opposition. 
For  Sanders,  for  example,  the  very  path  to  change  is  through 
confrontation  with  elites.  His  movement  is  about  creating  a  a hostile or
argumentative meeting or situation
“political revolution” to get what is rightfully the people’s from  between opposing parties.
“millionaires and billionaires.” His rhetoric is one of polarization  the art of effective or
along  class  lines,  and  his  campaign  strategy  is  to  remobilize  persuasive speaking or writing, especially
working‐class voters. Similarly, for Corbyn it’s a social movement  the use of figures of speech and other
compositional techniques.
of “the many” against “the few.” Only this sort of politics, both 
division into two
men  believe,  can  create  an  environment  where  a  new  reform  sharply contrasting groups or sets of
program can once again be enacted.  opinions or beliefs
make (a bill or other
proposal) law 
 ARGUMENT: The World After Capitalism    Explanation by Abdul Basit  
 

But what’s so socialist about this program, and what’s to prevent 
it from running into the same crisis that the social democrats of 
the 1970s retreated in the face off?  withdraw from enemy
forces as a result of their superior power
The first question is easier to answer than the second. Beyond  or after a defeat.
to confront, fight, or
the  means—class  struggle  rhetoric  and  democratic  mass  compete against each other as
mobilization—that Sanders and Corbyn pursue, they propose an  opponents 
expansion of social goods in an era when welfare states around  the art of effective or
persuasive speaking or writing,
the world are in retreat. Sanders appears intent on starting with 
continue or proceed
nationalizing a reviled health insurance industry worth a trillion  along 
dollars. Even more identifiably socialist are aspects of his 2020  withdraw from enemy
presidential  campaign  platform  and  parallel  plans  pushed  by  forces as a result of their superior power
Corbyn’s Labour Party to expand the cooperative sector, create  or after a defeat.

community‐owned  enterprises,  and  give  employees  shares  in  criticize in an abusive

or angrily insulting manner.
the companies they work for. 
able to be recognized;
distinguishable. 
The  answer  to  the  second  question  lies  in  imagining  a  social 
democracy  that  doesn’t  just  try  to  reshape  capitalism  in  the 
interests  of  workers  but  seeks  to  permanently  restructure 
economic relations. 
The  social  democratic  compromise,  where  wealth  is 
redistributed  but  ownership  is  left  untouched,  is  inherently  in a permanent,
essential, or characteristic way.
unstable. 
Such  a  system  would  mean  attempting  to  transfer  not  just 
wealth but also power away from private capitalists to a revived  restore to life or
consciousness. 
workers’ movement. This would be a difficult undertaking. Any 
governing  democratic socialist,  no  matter  their intentions,  will 
always find it easier to move to the right than to the left. On one 
side, they find guarantees of stability from powerful political and 
 ARGUMENT: The World After Capitalism    Explanation by Abdul Basit  
 

economic  interests,  while  on  the  other  side  are  capital  strikes 
and stubborn resistance. Today, even more so than in the 20th  having or showing
dogged determination not to change
century,  socialists  face  not  only  the  problem  of  how  to  win  one's attitude or position on something
power but the problem of how to fend off capital’s attempt to  to defend oneself
undermine their program once in government. Reflecting on his  against 
years in the Harold Wilson and James Callaghan governments of 
the 1960s and 1970s, the former British Labour parliamentarian 
Tony  Benn  highlighted  the  mundane  coercion  that  came  with  lacking interest or
excitement; dull.
power: Do what vested interests want, and they’ll make you look 
the practice of
good; try to pursue your own agenda, and they’ll make your life  persuading someone to do something by
impossible.  using force or threats
a personal stake or
In  other  words,  the  social  democratic  compromise,  where  involvement in an undertaking or state of
wealth  is  redistributed  but  ownership  is  left  untouched,  is  affairs, especially one with an expectation
of financial gain.
inherently unstable. It faces challenges in two directions. Capital 
seeks  to  control  it  from  the  outset,  but  if  initial  reforms  are 
successful,  workers  have  more  leverage  to  strike,  and  the 
increased  bargaining  power  of  labour  can  make  unsustainable  a personal stake or
involvement in an undertaking or state of
inroads  into  businesses’  profitability—something  that  will  affairs, especially one with an expectation
provoke economic crisis and the likely return to programs that  of financial gain.
can ensure a more favourable business environment.  progress; an advance.

Indeed, the welfare states of the 1960s and 1970s didn’t placate  make (someone) less

angry or hostile.
workers; they made them bolder. Transitional policies such as a 
federal jobs guarantee proposed by Sanders and others could do 
the same in our own time. A true socialist agenda thus needs to 
figure out a way to advance rather than retreat in the face of that 
instability—and  not  just  for  ideological  reasons  but  to  deprive  deny (a person or
place) the possession or use of
capitalists of their ability to withhold investment and roll back  something. 
reforms. 
 ARGUMENT: The World After Capitalism    Explanation by Abdul Basit  
 

It is unclear to what extent such an agenda is possible in an era 
when capital has been internationalized, economic growth rates 
have slowed in the most developed countries, and automation 
threatens remaining bastions of working‐class strength. But it is  a projecting part of a
fortification built at an angle to the line of
clear  that  unless  socialists  want  to  re‐create  the  social  a wall, so as to allow defensive fire in
democratic  arc  of  the  20th  century  (from  steady  advance  to  several directions
steady retreat), the focus from the outset must be on ownership  luminous electrical
and increasing labour’s control over investment.  discharge between two electrodes or other
points 
So what could socialism look like in the 21st century? It might 
mean a major extension of social and economic rights—a state 
that  provides  more  than  protection  from  destitution  but 
positively  guarantees  housing,  health  care,  child  care,  and 
education—and  public  ownership  of  natural  monopolies  and 
financial institutions. These would exist alongside a competitive, 
market‐driven  sphere  where  private  capitalist  ownership  is 
replaced  with  worker  ownership.  That  is,  workers  would  elect 
their  own  management  and  have  both  moral  and  financial 
incentives  to  be  productive  by  being  real  stakeholders  who  a thing that motivates
or encourages one to do something.
would  receive  a  share  of  firm  profits  rather  than  fixed  wages. 
Such  shifts  would  represent  the  starting  point  for  modernity’s  the quality or
condition of being modern.
first truly democratic and socialist society. 
But whatever the precise model of socialism after capitalism is, 
it should  be  simple and require  no  massive  changes in  human 
consciousness. It must be driven by a serious attempt to avoid 
what has failed in the past—the stifling of political pluralism and  making one feel
constrained or oppressed
civil  rights  in  state  socialist  regimes,  as  well  as  the  economic 
problems  of  central  planning.  Instead,  it  should  take 
experiments that have succeeded—universal social services and 
 ARGUMENT: The World After Capitalism    Explanation by Abdul Basit  
 

worker‐owned cooperatives—and build a social system around 
them  in  its  drive  toward  the  long‐deferred  Enlightenment 
promise of liberty, equality, and fraternity.  group of people
sharing a common profession or interests.
This article appears in the Winter 2020 print issue. 
Bhaskar  Sunkara is  the  founding  editor  and  publisher  of Jacobin and  the  author 
of The  Socialist  Manifesto:  The  Case  for  Radical  Politics  in  an  Era  of  Extreme 
Inequality. Twitter: @sunraysunray