‘The American left is seeking what they call ‘Social democracy’ and claim it is not ‘democratic socialism’, but everyone knows it is indeed the same ideology. This socialist ideology reflects that of Rousseau’s, who had an abstract idea of society’s restoration towards man’s ‘natural equality,’ but this idea is fundamentally flawed. As Edmund Burke, the prominent British political thinker, wrote in response: “their abstract perfection is their practical defect”.’
Standing on the ground of inexorable social progress, Prohászka views social transformation positively, and even despite his harsh criticism of socialism, he acknowledges its necessity. After all, social democracy serves to achieve social progress that ‘excludes the phraseology of delusive emotions and disturbing social passions,’[vi] which is otherwise so problematic in revolutionary change.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.