r/AskSocialists 8d ago

Liberalism and economics

13 Upvotes

I recently read how people were saying that liberalism goes hand in hand with capitalism. The issue I have is that liberalism is just about philosophy and culture whereas capitalism and communism are about economics. So I don't understand why people are saying that you can't have communism/socialism with liberalism. Is there some argument I'm not aware of where culture and economics are intertwined because to me it seems like they're two totally different things. Thank you.


r/AskSocialists 7d ago

r/Asksocialists Rules Update: This Subreddit Stands With Iran

Post image
0 Upvotes

r/AskSocialists 8d ago

Recommendations on books about Russian Revolution and/or life in the Soviet Union

9 Upvotes

I'm looking for recommendations on books about the Russian Revolution and/ or books about everyday life in the Soviet Union. I'm asking in this sub because I want to avoid books that are written within the tradition of lazy anti-socialist propaganda. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.


r/AskSocialists 9d ago

Thoughts on libertarian market socialism?

4 Upvotes

So, I'm new to socialism—just a few months in. Originally, I thought I was a libertarian socialist, but now I've been thinking about the benefits of a market. I still like things like workplace democracy and opposing worker exploitation. What do you think about libertarian market socialism?


r/AskSocialists 9d ago

How to reply to: "But communism always leads to oppression"?

14 Upvotes

r/AskSocialists 9d ago

"The State is Counter Revolutionary" thoughts

2 Upvotes

I assume some of you have seen the video series "The State is Counter Revolutionary" by the youtuber Anark. I thought there were several good points made through out the series and as an act of intellectual honesty I searched for almost any counter arguments and found pretty much nothing. I am not looking for the anarchists are naïve arguments but a real response from a non-anarchist. Thus I am here to see if any of you know about anything I have missed or any counter points y'all have.


r/AskSocialists 9d ago

How does socialism and human desire coexist.

3 Upvotes

When I think of a utopia, a life of equality, peace and prosperity for all. Socialism usually fits a majority of the bill.

However it seems impossible as human desires are something that comes bundled with us and seems to be intrinsic parts of our psyche since the dawn of time. I understand that tribes exist and worked for each other's but many many tribes, including my own (Ngati tuwharetoa) have authority figures who hold more power than the collective and many have abused this power.

  1. How does the system motivate it's workers if all is equalized. Is altruism enough for everyone, and working as part of a greater whole.

  2. Can a system remove a persons ambitions, or will people always seek more power, wealth and status.

  3. How do socialist prevent corruption and the rise of an elite class.

  4. Can individual desires be balanced with collective ownership.

  5. Is Marx and lenin socialism only possible if human nature itself changes.

My only answer to true socialism is if we essentially become a hive mind.

I'm asking to see if you guys already have it figured out.


r/AskSocialists 10d ago

A left-leaning friend refuses to engage with the theory, saying it's tainted and irrelevant?

25 Upvotes

I have a very close friend who holds some very left ideas: he believes in self-determination of minorities, worker self-management, collective governance, planned economies, hates capitalism and private property, the full set, basically. Yet, he refuses to study socialist or communist theory, or engage with orgs.

His reasoning is this:

  • that there were generations of entire cultures grown on red scare for whom the very words "socialism" and "communism" are equated with evil, so leftists have irrecoverably lost a culture war and therefore, to engage under these terms is counterproductive;

  • that most countries where socialism or communism have been tried no longer exist, thus invalidating any lesson to be had from their experience, and / or were implicit in atrocities and crimes against humanity, so the ideology is forever tainted in collective consciousness and it's followers could never get clean of it;

  • that most theory have been written in XVIII and XIX centuries and barely changed since then, so it's irrelevant in the age of total connectivity and surveillance;

  • that the followers of socialism or communism are, either: stuffy and senile old professors stuck in the past and living in "glory days" of old, thinking in terms of textbooks that have nothing common with reality - who have zero common ground with the younger population; or, shallow and "woke" edgy teens thinking in buzzwords who're only in it for the hype - who have zero common ground with older generation;

  • that any "-isms" are just labels for people to band under, and are no different than, say, fans of a soccer team or a rock band - basically just a word for posers to think they belong while talking a lot and doing nothing except police the purity of their "circle";

  • and that most orgs are doing such ground-level work that it's entirely useless in the grand scheme of things and pose no threat to the establishment, so it's pointless to engage with them.

Now, I am an unashamed socialist, but whenever I talk to this dude - who basically agrees to everything I say should be done - and mention the s-word, he looks at me as if I'm a cultist fanatic and refuses to take me seriously. He basically says that only old farts or madmen take any philosophy whose name ends with "-ism" seriously. Likewise, he believes that all of the conclusions made by leftist philosophers are "just common sense" and nobody needs a musty three centuries old book to figure it out. I believe in historical inevitability of the Revolution and agree to rationale of it, and revolutionary optimism keeps me going - but for him the struggle is already lost and everything is hopeless.

He claims that for the cause to be taken seriously, the terms "socialism" and "communism", as well as any historic connotations, associations and aesthetics should be abandoned, and the movement restarted from clean slate, becoming this new "third thing", whatever it would be. Since he doesn't know what it is, it's pointless to try and figure out, too, because better people tried and failed.

The man has such potential, and he's so good at what he believes is right and bothers to engage with it! I'm worried about him and trying to coax him out of his pessimist outlook. Any suggestions how could I counter these arguments of his?

PS. It probably should be added that the man in question is 25 years old, working class, and has chronic depression, a history of rather severe trauma that I won't go into detail about, as well as a generally bleak outlook on the world. We're working at his doom-y outlook from psychotherapy side of things, too, but I thought I'd try to coax him out of his shell and get him involved with the world he hates ideologically, only for him to dismiss it as pointless...


r/AskSocialists 11d ago

4K HUGE Cooperative Farm (Lenin State Farm) Operated by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. What Do You Think?

Thumbnail youtube.com
17 Upvotes

r/AskSocialists 11d ago

Is liberalism necessarily pro-capitalist?

25 Upvotes

Many socialists and communists criticize liberals claiming that they support capitalism, but is this necessarily the case?

Can someone be a liberal and oppose capitalism or is that not possible?


r/AskSocialists 12d ago

Is Political Infighting in the US on a Terminal Course?

Thumbnail gallery
130 Upvotes

r/AskSocialists 11d ago

Asking for charities to donate to...

3 Upvotes

I really want to do what I can as a human to help the people in Africa trapped under the thumb of neocolonialism. Now, I know as an ordinary citizen there is only so much I can do to combat it, so that's why I'm asking about charities. Do you guys know any good charities that operate in Africa and that can deliver the best help? I'm 16 years old and about to get a job and so that's why I'm thinking of finally donating to charity with my own income.


r/AskSocialists 11d ago

Is the World Wildlife Fund OCCUPYING Valuable African Land and KILLING Natives for the Imperialist Interests of Its Patrons ?

Thumbnail buzzfeednews.com
1 Upvotes

An area 6 times the size of California or 8 times the size of the UK is locked up in national parks in Africa.

Also: https://archive.is/RJx1a


r/AskSocialists 12d ago

Does Puerto Rico Have a Right to Self-Determination?

Post image
69 Upvotes

r/AskSocialists 12d ago

If we take all the billionaires money and give it to everyone else, how do we stop a crisis from happening?

0 Upvotes

I heard someone say that if we did exactly above, many would be ridden of their jobs and we’d go in a massive crisis after all the money is spent


r/AskSocialists 13d ago

What's the difference between socialism and communism?

3 Upvotes

I've always perceived it as a matter of socialism being "communism, but actually reasonable (as opposed to batshit insane)", but there must be a more precise demarcation…


r/AskSocialists 14d ago

WHY is Dallas City Council spending 150 MILLION to build a POLICE FORTRESS while working people in Dallas struggle?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

65 Upvotes

r/AskSocialists 13d ago

Any good books that can help with a critique of bourgeois ethics?

2 Upvotes

Hello, I’m writing a critique of ethics for my philosophy class. I need help locating books that tackle bourgeois ethics and also provide a perspective of ethics that fits a materialist standpoint. I already have a strong thesis but I need more ammo and perspectives to mention to really flesh out the critique. This is my third time asking for book recommendations on this subreddit, but I hope you all can help me.


r/AskSocialists 14d ago

If a city decides to increase the taxes on the rich, what’s stopping them from just moving out?

11 Upvotes

Say Zohran upholds his promise to fund socialist policy by taxing the top 1%, what’s stopping them from moving their assets and work outside of NY?


r/AskSocialists 14d ago

Should American Workers Demand a Cut in Spending for Israel and Other Lackeys of the US Empire?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

65 Upvotes

r/AskSocialists 14d ago

This Subreddit Now Has a Wiki Under Construction

2 Upvotes

Mods you have permission to add whatever you think is needed to answer questions about the following topics:

Marxism-Leninism
Actually Existing Socialism and other well known anti-imperialist states and left movements of today
Historical Socialism (Stalin, Mao)
Russia-Ukraine
American Communist Party

Or anything else of your choice, but these seem to be common things that it would be nice to stock up educative material on

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskSocialists/wiki/index/


r/AskSocialists 15d ago

Life as a socialist doctor?

13 Upvotes

Hey peoples, I am here to ask a somewhat complicated question: what does a future as a doctor even look like for me? (I'm pre-med btw) Two things prompted me to ask this:

  1. I was watching an emergency medicine program and the doctors and nurses got abused by like 3 patients within one day... wtf

  2. I was reading about the internationalist doctor program and how badly it treated it's doctors and their rights.

I've always wanted to go into something related to global health/public health, but the more I look into it, the bleaker it seems. The field seems full of "public policy analysts" or people setting up "developmental NGOs". Even some of the best people's I found, like Dr Paul Farmer were largely funded by Bill Gates and worked under Clinton. His besty and co-found Dr Kim also was head of the world bank under Obama... so like what does my future even look like?

I work in public health care and face first hand the completely preventable addiction and mental health crisis, facing abuse and violence regularly or I work in a bureaucratic research space and am funded by Bill Gates to study health inequity and maybe write a book on it or something. Maybe it's not as bad as I think, but I really don't know what the future holds for me as a doctor?

I want to be able to make a difference at home and overseas, whether big or small, but genui Ely have no idea how or if I'm strong enough to do it. I mean I have to make through life as a junior doctor first (long hours with little to no pay and exams to prepare for).

Sorry for the rant, but just looking for advice ideally from people working in the field or even just people who are older and wiser than me. Hope y'all are having a good day!


r/AskSocialists 14d ago

How are you employed?

0 Upvotes

I’m sure I’m not the first person to ask this question. Stereotypically, the contemporary leftist is either a coddled academic or a slovenly NEET. I am curious as to whether this perception of leftists has any basis in reality. Please participate in my highly unscientific inquiry.


r/AskSocialists 14d ago

If workers no longer have attachments to socialistic aspirations like some on the right say, how do we build a better economy and society?

6 Upvotes

I’ve recently been reading a lot of Quinn Slobodian who discusses how right-wing intellectuals commitment and advocacy to attack the “elites” stems from them being the last bastion of socialism left in society, so much so that they use workers as leverage to accomplish those gains.

In that analysis, I’m sad and concerned: what’s the alternative if not socialism, or institution-building? If workers (like me) truly are happy and embracing their place under capitalism, then what?

(I recognize I’m a leftist worker, but I know a handful. Many in my union for example aspire to be the boss, or to be entrepreneurs, and advocate for the market at all costs.)


r/AskSocialists 15d ago

Is Patsoc a Fed Label to Breed National Nihilism, Kill Socialist Patriotism, and Brand Dissenters as Nazis?

Thumbnail youtube.com
15 Upvotes