Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

The Hawk's Left Wing

Reason Staff | 5.22.2003 9:18 AM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Good piece by Joshua Micah Marshall on the recent effort by the Social Democrats, USA, a party of pro-war left intellectuals, to make themselves a more prominent political factor. The Social Democrats are actually descended from Eugene Debs' movement; the group split from anti-war socialists during Vietnam. Now, the debate over the response to Islamist terror is reinvigorating the movement.

In Marshall's paraphrase of the group's view, "the just-completed invasion of Iraq was not only compatible with a revived democratic and internationalist center-left, but … any opposition to it was in fact a cardinal error." At a recent DC gathering, for example, one leftist academic criticized Germany's antiwar left for a "lack of complete understanding of armed antifascism." The centerpiece of that gathering was a debate over Paul Berman's book, Terror and Liberalism. Berman (who was there) argues "that the twin 'Muslim totalitarianisms' of radical Islamism and Baathism are not only similar in form but also share a common history" with earlier totalitarianisms.

Social Democrats are not seeking to become a mass movement so much as to exert influence, neocon-style, on Democrats. Marshall speculates that "this could be a movement with as much of a future as a past."

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: Cruel Hoaxes

Reason Staff
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Show Comments (8)

Latest

This Protein Powder Is Made Out of Air and Uses 600 Times Less Water Than Beef

Jeff Luse | From the October 2025 issue

FBI Blunders and Internet Panic: How the Search for Charlie Kirk's Killer Went Off the Rails

Matthew Petti | 9.12.2025 5:14 PM

The Standard for 'Vicious' Speech Trump Laid Out After Kirk's Murder Would Implicate Trump Himself

Jacob Sullum | 9.12.2025 3:45 PM

U.S. Plan To Disarm Hezbollah Is a Diplomatic Dead End

Lora Karch | 9.12.2025 3:31 PM

Lawmakers Want To Shield Kids From AI Chatbots. But Restricting Them Could Cut Off a Mental Health Lifeline.

Jack Nicastro | 9.12.2025 3:15 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2025 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300
Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300
Take Reason's short survey for a chance to win $300