Abstract Between 1965 and 1980, Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Republican People’s Party) formulated its position as ‘left-of-centre’ in order to claim to represent the subordinate classes. Despite contributing to the radicalisation of organised fractions of workers and peasants to a great extent, its social democratic discourse could not respond to the prolonged hegemonic crisis in the late-1960s and the late-1970s. The left-Kemalist and liberal-conservative approaches, the dominant but opposing perspectives, explained the CHP’s failure with references to the power of foreign capital and the tutelage regime of the Republican state respectively. This paper argues that both perspectives could not adequately understand social democratic welfare state as a particular sociohistorical form of capitalist state whose hegemonic crisis is embedded in class relations. Therefore, it aims to offer a consistent and coherent perspective that is critical of both approaches, and that examines the internal and dynamic relationship among the capitalist state, political parties, hegemony, and social democracy in accordance with class relations. With this aim, it borrows its theoretical and conceptual framework from historical materialism. This paper fundamentally argues that the CHP’s failure stemmed from and concretized the impasses of social democracy regarding its relation to the struggle of subordinate classes. Ozet 1965-1980 yillari arasinda CHP konumunu ‘ortanin solu’ olarak belirleyerek bagimli siniflari temsil ettigini iddia etmistir. Isci ve koylu sinifinin hareketliligine onemli olcude bu sekilde katkida bulunmus olsa da, CHP’nin sosyal demokratik refah devletinin gec-1960’lar ve gec-1970’lerdeki hegemonya krizine bir yanit olamamistir. Iki baskin ancak karsit gorus olan sol-Kemalist ve liberalmuhafazakar yaklasimlar CHP’nin bu basarisizligini sirasiyla yabanci sermayenin gucu veya Cumhuriyet devletinin vesayet rejimi ile aciklamaktadir. Bu makale, sozkonusu yaklasimlarin sosyal demokratik refah devletini, sinif iliskilerinden kaynaklanan hegemonya krizlerinin ickin oldugu kapitalist devletin toplumsal-tarihsel bir bicimi olarak anlayamadigini savunur. Bu nedenle, sozkonusu yaklasimlara elestirel ve kendi icinde tutarli bir yaklasim sunmayi amaclar. Kapitalist devlet, siyasi partiler, hegemonya, ve sosyal demokrasi arasindaki icsel ve devingen iliskiyi sinif iliskileri baglaminda incelemeyi amaclar. Bu amacla, kuramsal ve kavramsal cercevesini tarihsel materyalizmden odunc alarak cizer. Bu makale, temel olarak CHP’nin basarisizliginin sosyal demokrasinin acmazlarindan kaynaklandigini ve bu acmazlari somutlastirdigini bagimli siniflarin mucadelesi uzerinden tartismaktadir.

Author Name: Gönenç UYSAL

URL: View PDF

Keywords: Turkey, CHP, Social Democracy, Class, State.

ISSN: 2564-7733

EISSN: 2587-1625

EOI/DOI:

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