Corruption Tints Red
18th September 2025
A clue to what is happening to socialist parties across the West can be found in the choice of Sócrates to lead Portugal’s Socialist Party (PS). Whereas most PMs rise to the position after leading an important ministry or a major city, José Sócrates’s highest office had been that of minister of the environment for all of two years.
How is it that none of the relevant state ministers in previous socialist governments was ready to step into the role of party leader and PM? How is it that an inconsequential environment minister becomes the only alternative available?
The reality is that the most reputed names amongst the socialists chose not to pursue leadership. The very reluctance is the clue to the reason why: socialism was spent. Economically, socialism had been discredited by the communist experiences throughout the world; at times providing real world empirical counterfactuals within the same nation, such as was the case in Korea or Germany. Culturally, the sexual revolution having been won and counter culture reigning supreme, ‘progress’ could only possibly be furthered by delving into more extreme causes. Whether instinctively or fully cognizant, mainstream socialist higher-ups sensed that the future of socialism would have to become increasingly extremist and populist, by necessity.