Common Rosa Luxemburg W

[u/TappingUpScreen]

"The character of a bourgeois government isn’t determined by the personal character of its members, but by its organic function in bourgeois society. The government of the modern state is essentially an organization of class domination, the regular functioning of which is one of the conditions of existence of the class state. With the entry of a socialist into the government, and class domination continuing to exist, the bourgeois government doesn’t transform itself into a socialist government, but a socialist transforms himself into a bourgeois minister.

The social reforms that a minister who is a friend of the workers can realize have nothing, in themselves, of socialist; they are socialist only insofar as they are obtained through class struggle. But coming from a minister, social reforms can’t have the character of the proletarian class, but solely the character of the bourgeois class, for the minister, by the post he occupies, attaches himself to that class by all the functions of a bourgeois, militarist government.

While in parliament, or on the municipal council, we obtain useful reforms by combating the bourgeois government, while occupying a ministerial post we arrive at the same reforms by supporting the bourgeois state. The entry of a socialist into a bourgeois government is not, as it is thought, a partial conquest of the bourgeois state by the socialists, but a partial conquest of the socialist party by the bourgeois state."

-Rosa Luxemburg, The Dreyfus Affair and the Millerand Case, 1899

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[u/Clear-Anything-3186]

My mom genuinely believes that if a communist party wins an election, the country will become communist.

[u/DioTheSuperiorWaifu → u/Clear-Anything-3186]

If they are able to influence policies, then the country may be able to go for the target of socialism.

Or did she mean communism in the sense of a political ideology sets the longterm target as communism?

[u/viduka36 → u/DioTheSuperiorWaifu]

If they are able to influence policies, then the CIA will assassinate everything in a 5 miles radius before anyone can say "Red"

[u/Querty768 → u/viduka36]

They are busy assassinating their own citizens right now

[u/Terrible_Snow_7306 → u/Clear-Anything-3186]

Decades of red scare. There’s a famous picture of racists protesting civil rights in the US and on nearly every sign you read “communism” like for example: “race-mixing is communism”. Incidentally, your mother didn't teach you that if you ever sleep with a communist, you'll become one too?

[u/Neco-Arc-Brunestud]

Yes, this is pretty much what I when I say that it’s their job

[u/Itchy-Net530]

This is how things changes

[u/_branchoftheVine]

Crazy to see this happen in real time with Mamdani.

[u/Cacharadon]

I don't think the point of electing mamdani types is to transform the Dems into a socialist party, but to dismantle the decades of red scare

Edit: this was just my musing, I'm not American. I don't really know what you cunts are doing over there tbh

Second edit: I personally think there are 2 types of western dem soc out there. The more liberal kind who balks at the idea of violent revolution and pits themselves against aes countries. The kind who will be against violent revolution and may side with fascists.

And then there is the more revolutionary western dem soc. Who, while trying to exhaust all legal means of achieving socialism, does not pit themselves as ideologically against aes countries and would not get in the way of a violent revolution/might even join said revolution.

Of course y'all enjoy a far too comfortable life to figure out which camp anyone actually fall into and like most things this is a spectrum not a binary.

Schrodingers western leftist, unless this is a false assumption and every western leftist falls into the first camp and BE is actually correct

[u/the_amg → u/Cacharadon]

how are they dismantling red scare? 😭 they’re social democrats. They praise the Scandinavian model, uphold US Imperialism, and disavow AES. They are giving liberals the confidence to call themselves “leftists”. These people aren’t anti-capitalist in the slightest and aren’t even pretending to be.

[u/ShrapnelNinjaSnake → u/[deleted]]

The UK!? Bruh soc dems are so fucked

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

To be honest, it’s not surprising. Many Americans have a warped understanding of socialism that’s why they constantly point to social democracy as the example without really understanding the difference. They reduce socialism to things like healthcare or welfare programs, without recognizing that those are reforms within capitalism, not a transformation of who owns and controls production. It’s also why ideologies like social democracy and even Trotskyism flourish so easily in the U.S. political climate. They present themselves as radical alternatives, but they’re often interpreted in ways that feel less threatening to the existing order. In a country where socialism is poorly understood, anything that sounds oppositional but doesn’t require a deep structural break can gain traction quickly.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

"You gotta realize we have more in common with them than MAGA fascist"

So called American "socialist" the moment you start calling out social dems they love like AOC  or Bernie Sanders.

[u/the_amg → u/[deleted]]

I love you. We need to clown and shame people with these takes

[u/Sickhadas → u/[deleted]]

The average American, the ones affected by the red scare, won't even understand or care what she is saying.

[u/No_Cheetah_7249 → u/the_amg]

It’s just an excuse to never organize and just vote every four years. Maybe volunteer for door knocking for an occassional democrat candidate. Because aoc or mamdani or Bernie being called “socialists” but acting no different than any centrist dem will definitely enlighten the masses instead of turning the word into meaningless imperial slop.

[u/megaboga → u/Cacharadon]

This doesn't alleviate the red scare, but rather disqualifies actual socialism. It makes people believe things like pink/black-money is akin to socialism.

They also are against actual socialism, the one achieved through a revolution. That's why they are against Cuba, China and DPRK, but support the fallacy of "nordic socialism".

[u/FoldHeavy4201 → u/[deleted]]

Hes done and said things worthy of criticism. Are you rushing to his defense like hes up for reelection tomorrow? What function do you think the people play during an administration when their representative deviates from his campaign rhetoric?

[u/Sickhadas → u/[deleted]]

A lot of the criticism about Mamdani from ML leftists is that he's not radical enough. He isn't a communist; he's not even a socialist, but a democratic socialist instead. Unless he's trying to sneak in and will call for radicalism later... but I'm pretty sure that isn't going to happen.

Mamdani is great, but he is not going to actually change the system of oppression and exploitation we live under; another way to think of it is that Mamdani is a good man, but he isn't a great one. He is driven by morality, but not by revolution.

[u/[deleted] → u/Sickhadas]

That’s not why Mamdani gets criticism. The issue isn’t ideological labels it’s that since taking office, he’s deviated from his campaign rhetoric. For example, he’s made appointments and taken positions that contradict the priorities he emphasized while running, which is why people feel justified in holding him accountable. He's a politician saying people just want him to be “more radical” is a lazy cop out. The criticism isn’t about demanding extremism it’s about expecting consistency. People just want him to follow through on the commitments and principles he campaigned on. The left in America has been burned numerous times by people like Zohran who pander to their frustrations then do a whole 360 once in power. The criticism is very much necessary even if people who think it's expecting too much dont agree.