Hearing this episode made it sound like the high time of social-democratic/socialist governments in Western Europe was the immediate aftermath of WW II. While this is correct for most Scandinavian countries, it is certainly not the case for the biggest countries in continental Europe. The SPD (Social Democratic Party) led the federal government in Germany only from 1969 onward and in France Mitterrand won the Presidency only in 1981. In Italy neither a social-democratic/socialist or communist party ever governed at national level until the 1980s.
This does not mean that the decades after '45 can't be described as social democratic period, but in large parts of (Western) Europe those policies where implemented by center-right governments - surely through pressure stemming from the labor movement and in contrast to the US also through strong social democratic parties - albeit very often in opposition.
Another point is the imO false description of why and when the German SPD abandoned socialism as a goal. While it is unquestionable that many social democrats died during the Nazi-rule hardly any Western SPD member fled to the East/GDR - in fact it was the other way round that many Eastern SPD members fled to the West after the SPD was forced to unite with the KPD (Communist Party) in East-Germany.
The process of the SPD abandoning socialism as a goal starts as early as during WW I when the USPD (Independent SPD) splits from the party and later merges into the KPD in its majority. The path of the SPD turining away form socialism as a concrete goal continues during the Weimar Republic and eventually culminates in changing their party program in 1959 rejecting the aim to replace capitalism with them a few years later entering the federal government for the first time since the 1930s.
Professor Chibber's explanation of how the economy works—i.e., that the investor class runs the system—and his historical overview of the evolution from social democratic to neoliberal orders is the Rosetta Stone of economic understanding. Why this is not taught in high school and college as political economy, so that everyone understands how things work, must be corrected. If knowledge is power, truth is empowerment.
Hearing this episode made it sound like the high time of social-democratic/socialist governments in Western Europe was the immediate aftermath of WW II. While this is correct for most Scandinavian countries, it is certainly not the case for the biggest countries in continental Europe. The SPD (Social Democratic Party) led the federal government in Germany only from 1969 onward and in France Mitterrand won the Presidency only in 1981. In Italy neither a social-democratic/socialist or communist party ever governed at national level until the 1980s.
This does not mean that the decades after '45 can't be described as social democratic period, but in large parts of (Western) Europe those policies where implemented by center-right governments - surely through pressure stemming from the labor movement and in contrast to the US also through strong social democratic parties - albeit very often in opposition.
Another point is the imO false description of why and when the German SPD abandoned socialism as a goal. While it is unquestionable that many social democrats died during the Nazi-rule hardly any Western SPD member fled to the East/GDR - in fact it was the other way round that many Eastern SPD members fled to the West after the SPD was forced to unite with the KPD (Communist Party) in East-Germany.
The process of the SPD abandoning socialism as a goal starts as early as during WW I when the USPD (Independent SPD) splits from the party and later merges into the KPD in its majority. The path of the SPD turining away form socialism as a concrete goal continues during the Weimar Republic and eventually culminates in changing their party program in 1959 rejecting the aim to replace capitalism with them a few years later entering the federal government for the first time since the 1930s.
Greetings from Europe!
Professor Chibber's explanation of how the economy works—i.e., that the investor class runs the system—and his historical overview of the evolution from social democratic to neoliberal orders is the Rosetta Stone of economic understanding. Why this is not taught in high school and college as political economy, so that everyone understands how things work, must be corrected. If knowledge is power, truth is empowerment.