Why is Mitchinsons comment that we face either “socialism or barbarism” actually undermine his case?
Mitchinson continues: “As Marx once explained the choice before us is not socialism or the status quo, but socialism or barbarism.” We should point out that it Rosa Luxemburg who is usually associated with this quote. She made her famous comment during the First World War. The start of this war saw the Marxist German Social Democratic Party (and a host of others) vote for war credits in Parliament. This party was a mass workers’ party which aimed to used every means, including elections, to gain reforms for the working class. The net end result of this strategy was the voting for war credits and the support of their state and ruling class in the war — that is, the betrayal of the fundamental principles of socialism. This event did not happen out of the blue. It was the end result of years of working within the bourgeois political system, of using elections (“political activity”) as a means of struggle. The Social Democratic Parties had already been plagued with reformist elements for
Why is Mitchinsons comment that we face either “socialism or barbarism” actually undermine his case?