Toward a Progressive Democracy: Nordic Socialism with Pelle Dragsted

Join us at Village Well Books & Coffee for a conversation with Pelle Dragsted, leader of the Danish political party Enhedslisten, along with Jacobin contributors Ben Burgis and Meagan Day.

The group will discuss Dragsted's recently translated and critically acclaimed Nordic Socialism: The Path Toward a Democratic Economy, and how the United States can learn from progressive reform in Nordic societies.

About the book:

In recent years, the Nordic countries have been the envy of the world for their economic success, institutional stability, and consistently high levels of social happiness. But are they socialist? Pelle Dragsted, a member of the Danish parliament and the leader of the Red-Green Alliance, embraces the charge of socialism. His provocative argument is that capitalism and socialism are not in fact mutually exclusive, and already Nordic economies are hybrids, a mix of decommodified, democratically governed sectors and undemocratic, privately controlled enterprises. The relevant question is the degree to which one dominates the other. Dragsted offers both his diagnosis and his proposed solution, a comprehensive plan for a gradual (re)democratization of the economy.

In Dragsted’s analysis, Denmark and the rest of the Nordic countries are already socialist, but only in part. The dangers come (and here many conservative Americans will disagree) from the unhealthy encroachment of capitalism. His provocative argument is that capitalism and socialism are not in fact mutually exclusive, and already Nordic economies are hybrids, a mix of decommodified, democratically governed sectors and undemocratic, privately controlled enterprises. The relevant question is the degree to which one dominates the other. Currently, undemocratic forces are ascendant, but it need not be so. Dragsted offers both his diagnosis and his proposed solution, a comprehensive plan for a gradual (re)democratization of the economy and a move to fully and firmly embrace, and redefine, “Nordic socialism.”

About the participants:

Pelle Dragsted is the leader of the Enhedslisten party in Denmark and a representative in the Folketing. He is the author of Nordisk Socialisme: På vej mod en demokratisk økonomi, which was first published in Danish to great acclaim.

Ben Burgis is a Jacobin columnist, an adjunct philosophy professor, and the host of the YouTube show and podcast Give Them An Argument. He’s the author of several books, most recently Christopher Hitchens: What He Got Right, How He Went Wrong, and Why He Still Matters.

Meagan Day is a writer and editor focusing on labor issues, economic inequality, and US politics. She is an associate editor at Jacobin. She is the coauthor of Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism.

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