Hendrik de Man and Social Democracy

'Thought-provoking and lucid, this engaging book is a timely new analysis of the influence of Hendrik de Man on the development of interwar social democracy in Europe.'

-Heather Jones, University College London, UK

'A fluently written and deeply-researched assessment of one of the most influential socialist thinkers of the twentieth century. Milani writes authoritatively and with an extraordinary command of the sources. He tells the story not just of a major (albeit flawed) leader, but of the entire European socialist movement across a pivotal period.'

-David Stevenson, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

The book investigates the intellectual and political trajectory of the Belgian theorist Hendrik de Man (1885-1953) by examining the impact that his works and activism had on Western European social democracy between the two world wars. Based on multinational archival research, the book highlights how the idea of economic planning became part of a wider effort to address an ideological crisis within the socialist movement and revitalise the latter amidst the Great Depression. A heavily controversial figure also because of his subsequent involvement in Belgian wartime collaboration, de Man played a pivotal role in challenging traditional Marxist assumptions about the role of the state under capitalism and in promoting transnational exchanges between unorthodox social democrats across Europe. Starting from de Man's experience in World War I, the book analyses his departure from Marxism, his elaboration of an alternative social democratic paradigm, his entry in Belgian politics as well as the reception of his thought in France and Britain.

1 Introduction: A Man and a Movement. - 2 Flawed Giant: European Social Democracy before 1914. - 3 Shockwaves: Hendrik de Man and the Legacy of the Great War. - 4 Turning the Old House Upside Down: Hendrik de Man and Zur Psychologie des Sozialismus. - 5 Breakthrough: Hendrik de Man and the Genesis of the Plan. - 6 Fire and Ashes: The Fight for the Labour Plan in Belgium. - 7 Clash of Visions: The Belgian Labour Plan in France. - 8 Roads not Taken: The Belgian Labour Plan in Britain. - 9 Delusions of Grandeur: De Man in Power. - 10 Conclusion: Hendrik de Man and Post-War Social Democracy. -