"@historickomodo submission: “Salvador Allende didn’t die for this shit.”
For newbies playing along at home, this #meme circulates all over the place on #liberal pages, and it’s filled with #contradictory pieces of #ideology. Firstly, one can’t really be a #capitalist and a #socialist at the same time – if you support capitalist #ownership over the means of #production, then you support capitalism; if you support #democratic ownership over the means of production, where people have a say in the #institutions and #activities they contribute to, then you support socialism. I don’t know how to make it more succinct than that. Also, #communism is the post-scarcity natural conclusion of socialism, a #stateless/ #moneyless/ #classless #society where #socially-operated #property is held in common and #people “contribute according to their #abilities and receive according to their #needs”; #statelessness is a #fundamental aspect of the ideology, ergo a #totalitarian #government “forcing everybody to be exactly equal” is not communism.
Secondly, channeling government power to curb capitalism’s self-destructive excesses is merely Keynesian #welfare capitalism or Scandinavian social democracy, both of which try to use the state to mitigate structural tension within the parameters of the system (and all-too-often to wither away class consciousness and pushes for actual socialist change).
Thirdly and lastly, “the #economy and society being run democratically to meet #human needs rather than #profit for a #greedy few” is literally socialism. Capitalism by definition will always have a tiny class of owners pulling the #economic and #political strings; as long as they own the means of production and accrue profit off the backs of the #laboring class, they will always, always have disproportionate power in society. Such is the #nature of class relations – throughout history, laboring classes have produced the things society needs while ruling classes have sat and accrued the most #wealth. If labor produces all, why not have a society democratically run by #laborers?"
