Revisionism - A Social Democratic Critique

In his highly influential work The Future of Socialism (1956), Anthony Crosland put forward a detailed social democratic critique of Beatrice Webb’s earlier form of revisionist socialism (democratic socialism) which he considered to be too austere, managerialist, centralizing and bureaucratic.

He famously described Webb’s approach as ‘Total abstinence and a good filing system’, adding that they ‘are not now the right signposts to the socialist utopia. Or at least, if they are, some of us will fall by the wayside.’ His main points were (1) the nationalization and public ownership favoured by Webb were outdated because post-war capitalism had fundamentally changed, making it possible to dispense with class conflict and pursue equality within a capitalist society (2) a mixed economy run along Keynesian lines should take precedence over state control because the former would allow business to thrive, thereby generating the taxation revenue to fund a redistributive welfare state and promote social justice and equality of opportunity (3) Webb’s collectively-minded utilitarian approach to socialism would compromise the freedom of the individual and personal initiative (4) Webb’s ‘grey’ top-down bureaucratic vision of socialism was too uniform; a ‘good’ society needed to have ‘more open-air cafes, brighter … streets at night, later closing hours for public houses, more local repertory theatres … brighter and cleaner eating houses, more riverside cafes, more pleasure gardens … more murals and pictures in public places, better designs for furniture and pottery and women’s clothes, statues in the centre of new housing estates, better-designed new street lamps and telephone kiosks and so on ad infinitum.’ In essence, Crosland argued that Webb’s democratic socialism was fundamentally unsuited to the changed circumstances and demands of post-war Britain.