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this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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Americans want socialism. This is spun as "communism" to distract and distort the argument.
Most Americans definitely do not want socialism. People simply want things to be affordable, and be able to live with the social services we need readily available, and to have the freedom to do what they want. That's not socialism, that's a well functioning democracy with a strong economy.
Tell me a time in history when this existed without FDR's socialism.
And what really is the difference between Socialism and Communism?
Communist and socialist terms have been conflated for a long time.
See https://existentialcomics.com/comic/123 for an illustration.
Communists believe in abolition of capitalism through communist revolution and eventually want to reach a Communist society. Given that such vision has not actually happened yet, Communists often support Actually Existing Socialism (AES).
Socialism is some varying degree in between that and capitalism. On the one hand, there are democratic socialists like Bernie. On the other, there’s also AES countries (e.g. USSR, China).
(P.S. If any other communists see any problems, feel free to correct my mistakes.)
While democratic socialism is a variety of socialism, Bernie isn't really a democratic socialist, but a social democrat. Social democracy is the left of capitalism, which is right of socialism in any form.
Before some moron turns up, Nazism is not socialism.
In general, I find the term "democratic socialism" to be pretty cringe. It's like saying right up front "I'm not like those OTHER socialists!" Socialism is a liberatory project. Socialism is the auto-emancipation of the working class. THAT is what democracy looks like. Rule of the people.
Liberation comes hand in hand with revolution though. Socialism will certainly NOT be very democratic for the people who own vast amounts of real estate, productive machinery, and ~~propaganda~~ media empires. Those people will certainly need to end up on the wrong side of a gun for the project to succeed. The wise ones among them won't force us to pull the trigger.
It will be a hostile take-over. It will be a break from the constitutional order. It will be a break from the "rule of law." When the ruling class starts losing the game, they will flip over the table. All your precious civil liberties will be torn to shreds. Fascism is simply capitalism under crisis.
The Liberals commit themselves to playing by the rules even when the fascists never would. Salvador Allende (the world's first elected Marxist head of state) tried to do this, and in three years it ended in his death and a fascist military dictatorship. There is no room for idealism in revolution. The stakes are very real. You need to crush your enemies by any means necessary. Maybe you don't give Rupert Murdoch the freedom of speech. Maybe you don't respect Jeff Bezos's property rights. Maybe you stuff all the Proud Boys into a mineshaft.
A lot of people whine about authoritarianism in the English speaking left, but the English-speaking left has no power to speak of. Just a bunch of very online sectarians bickering. We run around trying to cancel internet forums which amount to little more than fucking book clubs, as if they were the embodiment of high Stalinism.
I’m gonna leave out utopian communism because it’s not what we’re talking about and isn’t really relevant.
Communists are working toward a classless, stateless society. Viewing the world through the lens of class struggle, they see the state as a tool of class repression and seek to use it to get to that stateless classless society. Its important here to recognize that communists want to use the tools of capitalism to develop the productive forces on the way.
Socialism is worker control of the means of production.
Social democracy is a set of policies enacted by bourgeois societies to keep people from revolting.
Communism entails the collective ownership and administration of all means of production and the absence of social classes, while socialism advocates for worker control over means of production within a democratic society, allowing for some individual ownership and social stratification.
In addition, there are different levels of socialism. "Some" individual ownership turns people off. "The State owns the house I worked so hard to pay off?" You can have full private ownership of your things AND have single-payer health care, top-tier public education, reining in predatory banks, etc. We want to be Norway, not Venezuela.
Your government is directly responsible for Venezuela's instability. Your government's entire foreign policy is destabilizing different parts of the world to float the Dollar as the main currency and you the citizens benefit the most from it, this is why I cringe inwardly when Americans complain of Capitalism's adverse effects, if you enjoyed it while it was good, you must enjoy it while it gets bad.
As a venezuelan, no. What happened and still happens here was the sole responsibility of the socialist party's government and the ultimate reason why I don't trust leftists as they don't own up their failures and just disregard them as "not true socialism"
The government of Venezuela isn't blameless but to think that American sanctions didn't affect the Venezuelan economy are the words of a true partisan. Your kind set up piano wire and beheaded civilians on motor bikes in Venezuela and I find that despicable.
My kind? Thanks for the uncalled xenophobic racism.
Venezuela has been going to shit since the 2000 with Chavez.
Sanctions were stablished from 2015 and only to 7 individuals from the venezuelan government.
Keep your lies up. Maybe you will start believing them.
Lol racism card when I don't even know your ethnicity? I was talking about you being a rich asshole.
You literally jumped to call names on me and accused me of murdering people when you don't even know me. You call me rich as if that means anything, and to top it You justify yourself with ignorance. You don't knowing my ethnicity is the least of the issues here and frankly not knowing things about me is not stopping you from engaging with me in an uncivilized manner.
I find you despicable and a true rich asshole just given your behavior
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Surely enough you are a misogynistic as well.
😄😄😄 I'll give you this you made me laugh. But in all seriousness, stop supporting the killing Venezuelans based on your political beliefs so you can have a lower tax rate. Please. It's just greed and that's a sin.
Are you talking about the leftist venezuelan government murdering civilians openly? If right that are the ones you insanely advocate for.
Not sure where you got that information but the right wing in Venezuela have been begging the USA to overthrow the democratically elected government in Venezuela for a couple decades now. They can't win the elections fair and square so they assassinate politicians and kill Venezuelans during riots. It's all documented on sites like Venezuelanalysis and CommonDreams. There's been a massive propaganda campaign against Venezuela since the late 1990's to try to get Venezuelans to give their resources to US corporations and their rich greedy Venezuelan opposition leaders (often who refuse to participate in elections the EU and other international bodies have called free and fair.)
Lol shows much of what you know but calling an imaginary right wing party in Venezuela even when all of them are open socialists.
The only thing people are begging for is for the socialist venezuelan government to stop murdering civilians left and right.
Oh but I'm sure you have a justification for that too.
I can't tell if you're being disingeneous or not so I'll probably stop engaging but I think Henrique Capriles, Guaido, the US State Department, and that crazy lady who wants the US to assassinate Maduro would disagree with your statement there is no right wing opposition in the country. Which BTW can and do participate in elections. They just pout and incite violence when they don't win.
Repeating something doesn't make it true.
I encourage you to read up on what's happening on Venezuela from multiple news sources. Try Venezuelanalysis.
How about you try living there. As I do and the rest of my family?