The European welfare state is built upon the exploitation of the global south and has historically always led to fascist dictatorahips when this system of exploitation eventually collapses in on itself.
The meme is about how socialdemocrats entire ideology is built upon “reforming” capitalism by implementing a welfare state to more evenly spread the profits of the super exploitation of the periphery. When those profits dry up so too does the welfare state which inevitably pushes them right or left to deal with the heightened contradictions. The meme is pointing out the unfortunate pattern of it almost always ending in a rightward shift (due to many factors). (It is also possibly a reference to the SPD and how them unleashing the freikorps on the KPD directly helped bring Hitler to power)
socialdemocrats entire ideology is built upon “reforming” capitalism by implementing a welfare state to more evenly spread the profits of the super exploitation of the periphery.
Technically, it’s built on the idea that a socialist society can be/should be reached gradually by participating in parliamentary liberal political system instead of overthrowing liberal society and implementing a “dictatorship of the proletariat”.
At least that was what the original debate was about (“reform vs revolution”) that split the left apart. Since then, most social democrats have completely moved away from the idea of reaching a socialist society anytime soon (for various reasons).
The meme is pointing out the unfortunate pattern of it almost always ending in a rightward shift
The meme is clearly pointing out that “social democracy enjoyers” turn into fascists/Nazis once the economy declines. Or, if we keep OP’s caption in mind, the idea that social democrats are actually fascists “wearing a mask”.
directly helped bring Hitler to power
What helped Hitler seize power was not just the actions/inactions of the socdems and the economic collapse, but the deep split of the left overall, the ineffective political system and the relentless infighting to the point were socdems and communists saw eachother as equivalent or even a bigger threat than the fascists.
socialdemocrats entire ideology is built upon “reforming” capitalism by implementing a welfare state to more evenly spread the profits of the super exploitation of the periphery.
when put like this, social democracy is really the peak of “half of slaveowners should be women!” ideology lol
Thank you for breaking this down. Would it be fair to say that social democracy on a national scale can still be imperialist but social democracy on a global scale would actually be a good thing? I guess when I see social democracy equated with fascism it leaves me wondering what is actually the better path.
No. Social democracy needs superprofits from the periphery to fund the core. Capitalism requires exploitation to function. If every nation is the core, who gets exploited? The surplus value does not exist. When accumulation slows, the bourgeoisie abandons reform. They choose fascism to protect property. The SPD proved this when they sided with reactionaries against workers. Reformism tries to manage a system built on violence. It cannot work globally because the economic base forbids it. The only path is revolution. Seize the means of production. End the imperialist chain.
Democratic socialism. I know it sounds a little bit ridiculous because the names are so similar, but the key difference is social democrats are fundamentally capitalists, while democratic socialists believe that capitalism will inevitably always lead to what we’ve got now. We know we have the resources to house everyone, clothe everyone, feed and educate everyone on earth. The only reason we don’t is because it’s not profitable for a handful of billionaires. Democratic socialists believe that everyone born on earth has the same rights to what the earth has to offer, and that we could give all of us a reasonable quality of life if resources were managed in a way that benefits the most people and not just the shareholders.
Obviously there’s a lot more to it, and I’m fully expecting a reply to this that starts with Well actually… but that’s the 10 second version from someone who doesn’t claim to be an expert.
Instead of well actuallying it, I would like to ask: how? How do you get these resources to be managed “better.” How do we go from where we are now to what you have stated?
As I said, I’m not an expert, but this guy has some really good ideas and his channel is definitely worth a look. A good starting point would be to look at the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark), as they are the closest in practice to this kind of system and consistently have the best quality of life and happiness among their citizens.
Lots of reasons. Democratic socialism doesn’t eliminate private ownership the way communism does, people can still get rich, own companies, and buy jet skis, but they can’t take a successful company that hundreds of people have helped build and centred their lives around and hand control of it to their unqualified, arrogant, spoiled children to run into the ground, among other things. Here’s a decent basic summary:
*Democratic socialism combines political democracy with public, cooperative or state ownership of key industries while maintaining elections, civil liberties and pluralism. It seeks to reduce inequality and ensure that wealth and power serve the public good through taxation, regulation and social programs.
Communism, rooted in Marxist theory, envisions a classless, stateless society where all property is collectively owned. In practice, communist states have often used centralized, one-party government control to pursue those aims.* (edit: don’t know why italics isn’t working)
Democratic socialism doesn’t eliminate private ownership the way communism does, people can still get rich, own companies, and buy jet skis
No, you’re describing social democracy.
Democratic socialism combines political democracy with public, cooperative or state ownership of key industries while maintaining elections, civil liberties and pluralism.
I’m getting a little lost - you said both “social democracy” and “democratic socialism” there. I just want to be sure that was intentional? I’m still a little unclear what the better system’s rules are. I don’t mean to be ungrateful for the explanation, but this section in particular didn’t clear anything up for me:
people can still get rich, own companies, and buy jet skis, but they can’t take a successful company that hundreds of people have helped build and centred their lives around and hand control of it to their unqualified, arrogant, spoiled children to run into the ground
So… okay, but how is this codified in law? No inheriting?
You’re right, apologies, I fucked up there. Changed it to democratic socialism (still not an expert!).
At the most basic level, employees at a workplace would elect their management, rather than management being chosen by the business owner/s.
I posted this link to another comment, it’s from a guy who runs a really good youtube channel that’s definitely worth checking out. I know being asked to watch a video sucks, but he explains it a million times better than I can.
I think multi-line italics isn’t a thing. Although you may actually want to prefix the lines with > to make it into a quote like the first line of this comment.
What does this even mean? do you think that welfare is fascist?
Social democracy is the left wing of fascism.
The European welfare state is built upon the exploitation of the global south and has historically always led to fascist dictatorahips when this system of exploitation eventually collapses in on itself.
The meme is about how socialdemocrats entire ideology is built upon “reforming” capitalism by implementing a welfare state to more evenly spread the profits of the super exploitation of the periphery. When those profits dry up so too does the welfare state which inevitably pushes them right or left to deal with the heightened contradictions. The meme is pointing out the unfortunate pattern of it almost always ending in a rightward shift (due to many factors). (It is also possibly a reference to the SPD and how them unleashing the freikorps on the KPD directly helped bring Hitler to power)
Technically, it’s built on the idea that a socialist society can be/should be reached gradually by participating in parliamentary liberal political system instead of overthrowing liberal society and implementing a “dictatorship of the proletariat”.
At least that was what the original debate was about (“reform vs revolution”) that split the left apart. Since then, most social democrats have completely moved away from the idea of reaching a socialist society anytime soon (for various reasons).
The meme is clearly pointing out that “social democracy enjoyers” turn into fascists/Nazis once the economy declines. Or, if we keep OP’s caption in mind, the idea that social democrats are actually fascists “wearing a mask”.
What helped Hitler seize power was not just the actions/inactions of the socdems and the economic collapse, but the deep split of the left overall, the ineffective political system and the relentless infighting to the point were socdems and communists saw eachother as equivalent or even a bigger threat than the fascists.
when put like this, social democracy is really the peak of “half of slaveowners should be women!” ideology lol
Thank you for breaking this down. Would it be fair to say that social democracy on a national scale can still be imperialist but social democracy on a global scale would actually be a good thing? I guess when I see social democracy equated with fascism it leaves me wondering what is actually the better path.
No. Social democracy needs superprofits from the periphery to fund the core. Capitalism requires exploitation to function. If every nation is the core, who gets exploited? The surplus value does not exist. When accumulation slows, the bourgeoisie abandons reform. They choose fascism to protect property. The SPD proved this when they sided with reactionaries against workers. Reformism tries to manage a system built on violence. It cannot work globally because the economic base forbids it. The only path is revolution. Seize the means of production. End the imperialist chain.
But there are social democratic parties in developing countries.
Democratic socialism. I know it sounds a little bit ridiculous because the names are so similar, but the key difference is social democrats are fundamentally capitalists, while democratic socialists believe that capitalism will inevitably always lead to what we’ve got now. We know we have the resources to house everyone, clothe everyone, feed and educate everyone on earth. The only reason we don’t is because it’s not profitable for a handful of billionaires. Democratic socialists believe that everyone born on earth has the same rights to what the earth has to offer, and that we could give all of us a reasonable quality of life if resources were managed in a way that benefits the most people and not just the shareholders.
Obviously there’s a lot more to it, and I’m fully expecting a reply to this that starts with Well actually… but that’s the 10 second version from someone who doesn’t claim to be an expert.
Instead of well actuallying it, I would like to ask: how? How do you get these resources to be managed “better.” How do we go from where we are now to what you have stated?
As I said, I’m not an expert, but this guy has some really good ideas and his channel is definitely worth a look. A good starting point would be to look at the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark), as they are the closest in practice to this kind of system and consistently have the best quality of life and happiness among their citizens.
https://youtu.be/fpKsygbNLT4
“I’m not a social democrat, I’m I democratic socialist, look at these social democrat countries I support!”
Could you please try a little harder
They also entirely fund their system through super exploitation of the periphery.
They are social democrats though
Any reason not to just throw out these terms and talk about it as capitalism vs communism?
Lots of reasons. Democratic socialism doesn’t eliminate private ownership the way communism does, people can still get rich, own companies, and buy jet skis, but they can’t take a successful company that hundreds of people have helped build and centred their lives around and hand control of it to their unqualified, arrogant, spoiled children to run into the ground, among other things. Here’s a decent basic summary:
*Democratic socialism combines political democracy with public, cooperative or state ownership of key industries while maintaining elections, civil liberties and pluralism. It seeks to reduce inequality and ensure that wealth and power serve the public good through taxation, regulation and social programs.
Communism, rooted in Marxist theory, envisions a classless, stateless society where all property is collectively owned. In practice, communist states have often used centralized, one-party government control to pursue those aims.* (edit: don’t know why italics isn’t working)
From https://www.newscoopnd.org/socialism-communism/
No, you’re describing social democracy.
No, that’s socialism
I’m getting a little lost - you said both “social democracy” and “democratic socialism” there. I just want to be sure that was intentional? I’m still a little unclear what the better system’s rules are. I don’t mean to be ungrateful for the explanation, but this section in particular didn’t clear anything up for me:
So… okay, but how is this codified in law? No inheriting?
They’re using the terms wrong, don’t worry that you can’t follow; they’re not being consistent
You’re right, apologies, I fucked up there. Changed it to democratic socialism (still not an expert!).
At the most basic level, employees at a workplace would elect their management, rather than management being chosen by the business owner/s.
I posted this link to another comment, it’s from a guy who runs a really good youtube channel that’s definitely worth checking out. I know being asked to watch a video sucks, but he explains it a million times better than I can.
https://youtu.be/fpKsygbNLT4
Thank you. I am interested to learn more.
I think multi-line italics isn’t a thing. Although you may actually want to prefix the lines with > to make it into a quote like the first line of this comment.
Can you even read lol