As we near the conclusion of this series, it is necessary to reiterate the critical relationship between economics and politics—the essence of Marxist political economy. The previous seven articles examined capitalism’s failures, exposing its inefficiencies and ecological destruction while highlighting the transformative potential of democratic planning and public ownership. Now, in these final three articles, we shift decisively toward politics, as theory alone cannot change society. Economics without political power remains abstract; political power without a class-based economic programme collapses into populism and opportunism. Only when analysis and political struggle are united can the working class achieve real power and fundamentally transform society.
Democracy is perhaps the most misused word in political discourse. Under capitalism, it is presented as the highest ideal, yet in practice it is carefully managed to mask systemic exploitation and class domination. Elections are held, parliaments convene, and media outlets praise “public accountability,” but beneath this façade lies the unaltered machinery of capitalist power. To truly understand democracy, we must ask: who holds power, whose interests are served, and who truly decides?
The Illusion of Bourgeois Democracy
Capitalist democracy, or “bourgeois democracy,” is fundamentally constrained by private property and profit. Elections offer formal participation but never allow challenges to capitalist class rule. Parties may differ in rhetoric, but on core issues—ownership of wealth, control of production, imperialist foreign policy, and austerity—they form an unspoken consensus. Governments change, but the capitalist class remains firmly in power, keeping the working majority disenfranchised from meaningful decision-making.
Even mainstream political science recognises this: thinkers like C. Wright Mills and Joseph Schumpeter described modern democracy as elite competition for votes, not genuine popular rule. Real power lies not in parliaments but in boardrooms, banks, and unelected corporate institutions that direct economies and shape policy.
The capitalist media—privately owned and state-funded alike—plays a central role in maintaining this illusion. It manufactures consent, silences dissent, and polices the boundaries of “acceptable” politics. The ongoing genocide in Palestine has torn the mask away. Irish and EU governments, backed by major broadcasters, became mouthpieces for imperialist narratives crafted in Washington, London, Brussels, and Tel Aviv. Despite mass public opposition, state institutions enabled Israel’s onslaught to continue, refusing genuine sanctions or meaningful accountability. Millions now see what Marxists have long argued: the emperor has no clothes.
Socialist Democracy in Theory and Practice
Socialism offers a fundamentally different vision: one in which democracy is not periodic voting but the direct exercise of power by workers and communities themselves. Historically, the Paris Commune of 1871 and the Russian Soviets embodied this principle. Delegates were directly accountable, subject to recall, received no privileges beyond ordinary workers, and made decisions transparently for collective wellbeing—not private profit.
Today, socialist democracy continues in various forms:
- Cuba, despite six decades of imperialist blockade, sustains local popular assemblies and neighbourhood committees that directly shape resource allocation, social policy, and economic planning.
- Vietnam, governed by the Communist Party, embeds trade unions, women’s unions, and youth organisations directly into state decision-making. Structured assemblies and collective councils allow millions to influence development, education, and resource use. This participatory model has driven rapid poverty reduction, universal healthcare, and steady growth while prioritising collective needs over private accumulation.
- Kerala, India, shows that even within a capitalist state, socialist-inspired decentralised planning can empower communities. Millions participate directly in budgeting and development decisions, improving literacy, health, and social infrastructure.
- China, perhaps the most significant contemporary example, practices socialist democracy under its distinctive “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Western critics call it authoritarian, but its democratic structures—mass consultations, workplace councils, and extensive public participation in planning—are real. Millions take part in setting national priorities, shaping economic development, and guiding social transformation. This model is not without contradictions, but it has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, coordinated rapid industrialisation, and spearheaded global renewable energy development.
While these examples differ, they share a defining feature: democracy is continuous, participatory, and rooted in collective control of social and economic life—a reality unimaginable under capitalism.
Why the Ruling Class Fears True Democracy
Socialist democracy is authentic democracy: meaningful, participatory, and economically transformative. Unlike bourgeois democracy, it brings governance into the heart of production, planning, and distribution. Instead of unelected corporate boards dictating social priorities, democratic workers’ councils and community assemblies debate and decide based on human needs and ecological sustainability.
This is precisely what the ruling class fears. A society in which working people consciously organise production and allocate resources would abolish billionaires and private oligarchs altogether. Their political monopoly and economic supremacy would end. Anti-communist propaganda, the demonisation of past socialist states, and the relentless distortion of socialist democracy exist not out of love for freedom, but out of fear of accountability. Critics cite Soviet bureaucracy as proof of authoritarianism, ignoring that its growth arose from civil war, foreign invasion, espionage, a World War and Cold War, but fundamentally having to face the reality of the complexity and scale of pre-digital economic planning. Today, advanced computing, AI, and data analytics make participatory planning vastly more efficient and democratic. The Soviet experience is not an argument against socialist democracy but for refining and advancing it with modern tools.
Democracy, Sovereignty, and Socialism
If we are truly committed to democracy, we must rethink it from the ground up. Real democracy means not just casting a ballot but exercising collective control over the economy—transforming workers from passive voters into active, organised agents of social power.
Capitalism offers only managed democracy: a system designed to protect profit, foreign domination, and elite privilege—not people. Genuine democracy and true sovereignty are inseparable. Without democratic control of production and resources, nations remain dependent on imperialist powers and beholden to international capital.
This transformation will not happen spontaneously. We must consciously organise for socialism, building democratic structures in workplaces, unions, and communities, and reclaiming sovereignty from comprador elites. We must strip away the façade of capitalist democracy to reveal its reality: exploitation, dependency, and elite rule.
The cracks in this system are widening. From mass resistance to war and imperialism to ecological and economic crises, capitalist legitimacy is collapsing—but this alone will not transfer power to the working class.
Socialism, grounded in working-class power, national sovereignty, and collective democratic control of society’s wealth and resources, is not simply a better option—it is the only path forward. The future will be built by an organised, politically conscious working class—sovereign and free—or it will not be built at all.
