Political Theory

H04(b) - Class, Workers, and Socialism

Date: Jun 12 | Time: 01:45pm to 03:15pm | Location: UQAM, Pavillon Paul-Gérin-Lajoie (N), 1205 St-Denis, room/classroom N-4050

Chair/Président/Présidente : Philip-Emmanuel Aubry (McGill University)

The Sword and the Trowel: Councils Democracy and the Rule of the Poor: Amir Fleischmann (University of Michigan)
Abstract: From Plato to James Madison, democracy was associated with the threat of the rule of the poor, the abolition of property, and creation of material equality. There is a growing literature that is returning to poor as the essential democratic subject. My paper asks the question of how the rule of the poor can be institutionalized. By exploring the notion of council democracy, I explain how it enables the poor to rule in a sustained way and what is necessary for that rule to be established in the first place. I argue that workers’ councils foster identification based on exclusion from power and property, while emphasizing the many’s capacity for transformational self-rule, thereby subjectifying the poor as a political force. Contrary to existing literature, this paper emphasizes the pivotal role of political parties in establishing and sustaining workers' councils. I further argue that council democracy emphasizes the connection between the two ways concentrated wealth translates into political power, in both formal institutions and workplaces. This connection has been under-theorized and helps clarify why square movements and neighbourhood councils, to which some council democrats turn as the 21st century expression of this tradition, are insufficient. Council democracy highlights the way that democracy is the product of struggle and that coercive action, whereby the majority assert their sectional interest, is a key feature of democratic movements that seek to break up the entrenched power of oligarchy.

The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism: Matthew McManus (University of Michigan)
Abstract: A paper discussing the key arguments of my forthcoming book "The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism" for Routledge Press (2024). It will discuss the key figures making up the traditional of liberal-socialist political theory, as well as summarizing the core components of the the tradition as framed in the book. Namely: a commitment to methodological collectivisms, a developmental over acquisitive ethics, and a commitment to egalitarian economic policy while retaining liberal political institutions.

From Fraternalism 1.0 to Fraternalism 2.0: Transformations and Tensions in Social Democratic Thought in English-speaking Countries from 1880 to 2022: David McGrane (University of Saskatchewan)
Abstract: This paper examines 709 texts of 120 social democratic ideologues in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States. These ideologues include prominent politicians, journalists, trade union leaders, and preachers who shaped the history of social democracy in these countries. I argue that their texts define social democracy as the pursuit of the fraternal society, that is, a society that functions like a family and adheres to three basic fraternalistic principles: interdependency, co-operation, and altruism. I also argue that an important shift in social democratic thinking about fraternity in these English-speaking countries occurred in the late 20th century and early 2lst that I characterize as the transformation from Fraternalism 1.0. to Fraternalism 2.0. Whereas Fraternalism 1.0. concentrated exclusively on the material well-being of white working-class males, Fraternalism 2.0. focuses more improving the material well-being of and recognizing a greater status for women, racialized minorities, and the natural environment. The paper ends by exploring how the clash between Fraternalism 1.0. and Fraternalism 2.0. is creating significant, and perhaps unresolvable, tensions in contemporary social democratic ideology in the English-speaking world.