Socialism: Past and Future

344 Pages·1989·343.918 MB·English

by  Michael Harrington

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I n this major new work, one of America’s leading
thinkers of the democratic Left argues convincingly
that socialist renewal is the only hope for progress
and freedom in the twenty-first century. A new
civilization is already in the making, Harrington
maintains, one of increasing automation and un-
precedented international interdependence. Old
frontiers are crumbling around the world as huge
multinational companies, often in collaboration
with their respective governments, already engage
in global planning. The costs of this transformation
are borne not only by the Third World but also by the
new poor and precarious middle classes of the so-
called advanced nations.
Tracing two centuries of socialist history — and
emphasizing the difference between true socialist
liberalism and the pseudosocialisms such as Com-
munism and National Socialism with which it is
often confused — Harrington shows that despite
all its flaws and failures the basic principles are
sound. Because it places human values before doc-
trinaire political or blindly monetary consider-
ations, it may also well be, Harrington says, our
only hope for the future.
If that seems a radical proposition, one need only
look around at the increasingly irresponsible, wan-
ton assaults on both nature and humankind in the
past few decades and wonder whether the political
systems currently in place are the answer to the
world’s problems and needs: the thinning ozone
layer; horrendously destructive oil spills; the widen-
ing gap between rich and poor, “North” and
“South,” literate and illiterate; the ungoverned
arms race; the new poverties even in the advanced
nations. All these must give us pause as we race
toward the twenty-first century.
Michael Harrington is an idealist, but he is also a
pragmatist and realist. In this book he confronts,
and deals forthrightly with, the complex contradic-
tions between socialist promise and practice
throughout history. In following the often circuitous
path of socialism over the past century, Harrington
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Socialism: Past and Future
ALSO BY MICHAEL HARRINGTON
The Other America
The Retail Clerks
The Accidental Century
Toward a Democratic Left
Socialism
Fragments of the Century
Twilight of Capitalism
The Vast Majority
Decade of Decision
The Next America
The Politics at God’s Funeral:
The Spiritual Crisis of Western Civilization
The New American Poverty
Taking Sides: The Education of a Militant Mind
The Next Left: The History of a Future
The Long-Distance Runner: An Autobiography
S O C I A L I S M
PAST and FUTURE
Michael Harrington
Arcade Publishing - New York
Little, Brown and Company
COPYRIGHT © 1989 BY MICHAEL HARRINGTON
All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without permission in writing from
the publisher, except by a reviewer who may
quote brief passages in a review.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Harrington, Michael, 1928-
Socialism : past and future / by Michael Harrington.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-55970-000-9
1. Soci—a Floriecasstming . 2. Socia—l Hiisstomry . 3. Twentieth
century — Forecasts. I. Title.
HX44.H35 1989
335'.001'12 — dce20 89-6555
CIP
Published in the United States by
Arcade Publishing, Inc., New York,
a Little, Brown company
2) BY 0 Bea s ee 2
FG
Designed by Virginia Evans
Published simultaneously in Canada by
Little, Brown & Company (Canada) Limited
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA