Atlas / Comparisons / Classical Marxism vs New Deal Liberalism
Classical Marxism and New Deal Liberalism
Measured distance across six axes
Different families with real common ground. They agree within three points on AU, SC. They diverge by eight points or more on EC, ID, CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | Scientific socialism | New Deal Liberalism | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | −10 | −02 | 8 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | −06 | −02 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +02 | +01 | 1 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +04 | +04 | 0 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| ID · Rule of membership | −09 | 00 | 9 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +08 | −06 | 14 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
Scientific socialism · EC −10
At the floor: abolition of private property in the means of production.
- Programme textThe Manifesto states the theory of the communists in a single sentence: abolition of private property.
New Deal Liberalism · EC −02
Coded −2: public works and social insurance with private ownership intact.
- Documented act or statuteSocial Security 1935, the Wagner Act 1935 and Glass-Steagall 1933 were the principal instruments.
Scientific socialism · ID −09
Coded −9: class rather than nation as the unit of solidarity.
- Programme text'The working men have no country.' The First International organised across borders from 1864.
New Deal Liberalism · ID 00
Coded at zero: universalist in rhetoric, segregated in delivery.
- Documented act or statuteFederal housing policy institutionalised redlining through the 1930s and 1940s.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Classical Marxism
1848–1914 · Germany, Europe
History driven by class struggle; capitalism generates its own gravediggers; proletarian revolution abolishes classes and eventually the state.
New Deal Liberalism
1933–1968 · United States
Save capitalism by regulating it: mass employment, social insurance, collective bargaining, and countercyclical spending.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
Open in the atlas