In Defense of Utopianism

It is no longer clear whether winning or losing elections is the bigger disaster facing socialists. The British Labour party lost to Margaret Thatcher, Francois Mitterrand’s French Socialist party won unprecedented power, and neither is in especially good shape. When socialists take clear stands on matters as emotional as national security, they risk disaffection and public repudiation, leading to defeat. But when they win, their prospects include strikes by capital so potent that they ...