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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2011
The departure of the French Socialists from the government early in 1950, even though they returned in a few months, marked the end of a stage of postwar history in Europe. For the first time since liberation France was governed by a coalition in which the Socialists were no longer represented. At the same time the Socialists were in the opposition in Belgiumand Western Germany as well and limited to little influence upon the Italian and Swiss governments. Austria, Great Britain, and Scandinavia were the only countries in which the Socialists are strongly represented in their governments. Roughly speaking then, Europe is divided into three zones according to the degree of power of democratic socialism: Eastern Europe—bordered on the West by a line running from Trieste to Lübeck—where the democratic Socialist parties have been absorbed by the Communist parties; Northwestern Europe—Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark)—under predominant Socialist influence; and the rest of Continental Europe where the the Socialists are a more or less powerful opposition group. Spain and Portugal in the South and Greece and Turkey in the Southeast are left outside ofthe scope of our study owing to the peculiar and non-democratic structure of these countries.
1 Indeed the mere administration of a sizable enterprise in a German-held country would inevitably create a suspicion of “collaboration” since raw material supplies, etc. could not be obtained without the approval of the occupation forces.
2 An attempt could be made to trace these discussions back to the rapid economic advance since the middle of the “nineties to which business cycle theory refers as the upward branch of a “long cycle” (Kondratieff), as well as to the growth of the socialist movement. Both combined to open great possibilities of social reform. This, however, would go far beyond the limits of this essay.
3 See Sturmthal, Adolf, The Tragedy of European Labor 1918–1939, New York, Columbia UniversityPress, 1943.Google Scholar
4 See in particular, Blum, Léon, For all Mankind, tr. by Pickles, W., New York, Viking Press, 1946Google Scholar; and Sering, Paul, Jenseits des Kapitalismus, Vienna, 1948.Google Scholar
