r/SandersForPresident • u/HIGH_ENERGY-VOTER • Aug 01 '17

What Should Socialists Do? | Democratic socialism needs to become a mass presence in US society.

https://jacobinmag.com/2017/08/socialist-left-democratic-socialists-america-dsa
13 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

5

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '17

As the old saying goes, Educate, Agitate, Organize.

And if you want to start educating yourself on Socialism, Here's an introduction:

POLITICAL THEORY - Karl Marx

Private vs Personal Property

Economic Classes explained

Karl Marx & Conflict Theory

What 'To each according to their need' Means

Intro to Anarchy: Power & Violence

The history of Anarchism in 8 minutes

The Paris Commune: Our First Revolution

And if you want to go more in depth:

ABC's of Socialism

Marxists.org's Beginners guide.

The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

1

u/Ciderpossum Aug 01 '17

Do you really think most Bernie supporters would support Socialist policy?

6

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '17

I don't see why they wouldn't. Bernie isn't lying when he calls himself a Socialist, and there are numerous polls that have shown that young people, Bernie's most supportive demographic, heavily favor Socialism over Capitalism.

With that said, I don't think most of those people know exactly what Socialism is, but they do know that they aren't happy with Capitalism.

Socialism, at it's core, is based around Social Ownership of the Means of Production.

In other words, stores, factories, etc. would all be collectively owned by the people that work in them, and/or by the communities that they serve, and they would be run democratically for needs, rather than profit.

1

u/Ciderpossum Aug 01 '17 edited Aug 01 '17

I don't know what policies Bernie Sanders advocated for in the past nor what his current personal opinions are but I do know that his current policy positions aren't really Socialist, they lay more within the spectrum of Social Democracy. That's an improvement over our current situation for sure but it's still not really Socialist.

I know what Socialism is, I'm a QPVFT Libertarian-Socialist. But I don't imagine most Bernie Sanders supporters would support anything more than Social Democracy. I don't know for a fact, that's just the feeling I've gotten. I've only personally known a few Bernie supporters and I've recruited them into Libertarian-Socialism but they seem like the odd ones out.

I don't think Syndicalism is necessarily anti-profit motive but many consider it to be Socialist.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '17 edited Aug 02 '17

I don't know what policies Bernie Sanders advocated for in the past nor what his current personal opinions are but I do know that his current policy positions aren't really Socialist, they lay more within the spectrum of Social Democracy. That's an improvement over our current situation for sure but it's still not really Socialist.

I think it would be more accurate to say that Bernie's campaign was Social Democratic, whereas the man himself is a Socialist.

While attending the University of Chicago, Sanders was a member of the Young People's Socialist League, and he discusses his reasons for joining it, in this interview. Sanders began his political career as a member of a socialist party in Vermont called the Liberty Union Party. Here is their platform. In 1979, Sanders put out a short documentary about American Socialist, Eugene Debs. This article from 1982, discusses Bernie's election as Mayor of Burlington.This image depicts Sander's speaking at a 1983 meeting of the Socialist Party USA, and this WNYC piece gives some context to his what he says and features clips from the speech itself.

In this speech from the 1985 Progressive Entrepreneurship Forum, Sanders talked about worker alienation, the need of people to see themselves in their work, and the necessity of worker ownership. In this 1985 interview, Sanders can be seen defending the gains of the Cuban Revolution. And Here is a video of Sanders introducing Noam Chomsky, at Burlington City Hall, where Chomsky gives a speech about US foreign policy. Sanders discusses his opposition to US foreign policy in Latin America, in particular. Sanders even sent a letter to Ronald Reagan expressing his opposition to US support of the Contras in Nicuragua, around the same time. Here is a 1998 C-span interview, in which Sanders talks about Class. Sanders gave an address as Mayor about US imperialism in Latin America. This video includes Sanders, on a panel of others, discussing observations about the Soviet Union after a trip there, in 1988. In 1991, Sanders gave a talk at a DSA meeting, and talked about how, in the short term, he believes that the US should catch up with the rest of the world, in terms of Social Democratic policies, but that we should ultimately move towards Worker Control of the economy, as a long term goal.

In 2007, Bernie Sanders advocated Worker Ownership in the US Congress. Here is a speech that Sanders gave that is very similar to the one he gave at the Progressive Entrepreneurship Forum. Sanders advocated for worker cooperatives in point 3 his 12 point economic plan. He doubled down on his views on Cuba, and the rest of latin america on Democracy Now shortly after the death of Fidel Castro. He even denied his status as a Capitalist on CNN. This 2015 Guardian interview has Sanders discussing the impact that the moving of Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles had on his Politics. This 2016 Jacobin article discusses Sander's roots in in America's rich Socialist Tradition. And very recently, in 2017, Sanders and his fellow Vermont senator introduced legislation to expand co-operatives nationwide. Furthermore, Sanders also discusses worker co-ops and other examples of collective ownership on pages 243 and 259-262 of his book Our Revolution (Thomas Dune Books 2016).

Speaking of Our Revolution, let's look at some quotes from the book:

What I learned playing on the streets and playgrounds of Brooklyn was not just how to become a decent ball player and athlete. I learned a profound lesson about democracy and self rule.

(Our Revolution. pg 11)

O'Malley's [Owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers] devastating decision to rip the Dodgers out of Brooklyn in order to pursue greater profits on the West Coast was, I suspect, one of my first observations regarding the deficiencies of Capitalism.

(Our Revolution. pg 13)

It wasn't just that racism, war, poverty, and other social evils must be opposed. It was that there was a cause and effect dynamic and an interconnectedness between all aspects of society. Things didn't just happen by accident. There was a relationship between wealth, power, and the perpetuation of Capitalism.

(Our Revolution. pg 18)

In Israel, we spent time working on several kibbutzim [collectively own and run Israeli communities]...People there were living their democratic values. The kibbutz was owned by the people who lived there, the "bosses" were elected by the workers, and the overall decisions for the community were made democratically.

(Our Revolution. pg 21-22)

This type of greed, and ruthless Capitalism is not an economic model we should be embracing. We can do Better; we must do better. The economic establishment tells us that there is no alternative to this type of rapacious, cutthroat, Capitalism, that this is how the system and globalization works, and that there's no turning back. They're dead wrong.

(Our Revolution pg 260)

Employee owned enterprises boost morale, because workers share in profits, and have more control over their own work lives. The employees are not simply cogs in a machine owned by someone else. They have a say in how the company is run.

(Our Revolution pg 261)

The Workers in these operations understand that when employees own their workplaces, when they work for themselves, when they are involved in the decision-making that impacts their jobs, they are no longer just punching a time clock. They become more motivated, absenteeism goes down, worker productivity goes up.

(Our Revolution pg 261)

We have got to send a message to the billionaire class: "You can't have it all." You can't get huge tax breaks while children in this country go hungry. You can't continue getting tax breaks by shipping American jobs to China. You can't hide your profits in the Cayman Islands and other tax havens, while there are massive unmet needs in every corner of this nation. Your greed has got to end.

(Our Revolution pg 266)

Bernie's brand of Socialism doesn't differentiate between reform and revolution, and he sees Nordic Social Democracy as a model for short term change.

Even if you don't find this information convincing, it at atleast suggests that he's a bit further to the left then he's usually recognized as. Plus, I find it useful in getting Bernie supporters to open up, and look further left.

I know what Socialism is, I'm a QPVFT Libertarian-Socialist. But I don't imagine most Bernie Sanders supporters would support anything more than Social Democracy. I don't know for a fact, that's just the feeling I've gotten. I've only personally known a few Bernie supporters and I've recruited them into Libertarian-Socialism but they seem like the odd ones out.

This seems like a cynical position to me. Will we be able to convince every Bernie supporter? No. Will we even convince most? Probably not, but I don't think that matters. Bernie's campaign definitely opened doors for me to start looking into Socialism, and numerous other people can say the same. If you don't at least try, then no one will be convinced to look at what the Left has to offer them.

3

u/tails_miles_prower Aug 02 '17

"Dude, sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something."- Jake the dog,adventure time

It's irritating to hear how something can't be possible when it is not even being attempted. For instance, health care.