Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
    • Reason TV
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • Just Asking Questions
    • Free Media
    • The Reason Interview
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Print Subscription
    • 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

Video Shows Federal Agents Arresting a Chicago Journalist. They Now Say She Threw Objects at Their Vehicle.

C.J. Ciaramella | 10.10.2025 5:20 PM

This Indiana City Doesn't Have To Pay an Innocent Mom $16,000 After Police Wrecked Her Home, Court Rules

Billy Binion | 10.10.2025 5:05 PM

Trump Won't Invoke the Insurrection Act—As Long As He Can Use the National Guard However He Wants

Jacob Sullum | 10.10.2025 4:55 PM

The Trump Administration Begins 'Substantial' Layoffs of Federal Workers

Christian Britschgi | 10.10.2025 4:15 PM

Trump's Case Against Letitia James Looks a Lot Like the Case She Brought Against Him

Joe Lancaster | 10.10.2025 3:35 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