Possibilism (19TH CENTURY)

Non-revolutionary revision of ‘purist’ socialism.

The argument that immediate gains for the working class by conventional means such as parliamentary politics, tactical voting and trade union negotiation were not a compromise with the existing order, but a preferable alternative to maintaining political purity and consequent political ineffectiveness.

A term originally applied within the late 19th century French Socialist Party.

Source:
David Stafford, From Anarchism to Reformism (London, 1971)

Possibilism, possibilist or possibilistic may refer to:

• Possibilism (geography), a theory of cultural geography
• Possibilism (politics), an 1880s faction of the Federation of the Socialist Workers of France
• Possibilism (philosophy), the metaphysical belief that possible things exist (e.g. modal realism).
• Possibility theory, a framework for reasoning with uncertainty in artificial intelligence
• Possibilism and Possibilists, a somewhat derogatory term for Reformist Socialism and Social democracy
• Libertarian possibilism, an anarchist current that advocates participation in political institutions