Long Live the Revolution!

Cheezy the Wiz

Socialist In A Hurry
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It's November 7, the anniversary on the Gregorian calendar of the bold ending of capitalist rule in Russia, and the beginning of the inexorable tide against that accursed system.


Link to video.

However, since there's no much to talk about with regards to that, we'll make this thread about the results of Election Day two days ago:

http://www.msnbc.com/all/here-come-the-socialists

Socialists made strong showing on election day



It’s a far cry from a revolution, but socialists had a surprisingly strong showing in two city council races on Election Day, November 5. In Seattle, Kshama Sawant picked up 46% of the vote while challenging 15-year Democratic incumbent Richard Conlin. And in Minneapolis, Ty Moore is only 131 votes behind Democratic candidate Alondra Cano.

While Sawant and Moore both trail their opponents, neither race has been officially called. And even if they both lose, they will have received an unusual amount of grassroots and institutional support for two avowedly anti-capitalist candidates running in major American cities. Additionally, they both received major labor union endorsements, and Moore even managed to raise more money than the Democrat in the race.

“This is an indication of how eager people are for real change,” Sawant told msnbc. Both she and Moore ran as members of the Socialist Alternative party, an organization alternatively described as Trotskyist or democratic socialist.

“I think the situation across the country is ripe for this, and our organization Socialist Alternative. What’s unique is our organization took the initiative,” said Moore. “I think in the post-Occupy world, with the political discrediting of most capitalist institutions, including the two major parties, Wall Street, the corporate-owned media—no offense intended—there’s openness to a more bold working class challenge to the two-party system.”

Among the issues Moore campaigned on: A $15 minimum wage, public ownership of Minneapolis utilities, and declaring housing to be a human right. Sawant also focused on low wages and affordable housing as key issues, and was a vociferous supporter of the SeaTac, Wash. referendum that raised that town’s minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Both candidates have a history of grassroots activism outside of the electoral process. Sawant is a member of the teachers union AFT Local 1719, one of six unions to endorse her candidacy. Moore is a cofounder of the anti-foreclosure group Occupy Homes; his campaign was endorsed by the powerful labor organization SEIU Minnesota State Council. Sawant also received the support of a handful of Democratic Party activists under the banner “Democrats for Sawant,” and the endorsement of Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger.

“In fact, we created quite a stir within the labor movement in Seattle and the Democratic Party,” said Sawant. Her campaign says that it managed to raise $110,000 entirely from individual donors.

Bhaskar Sunkara, editor and publisher of the socialist publication Jacobin Magazine, said that a younger generation of voters might be slightly more sympathetic to the socialist cause.

“In general, a lot of young people are demographically a lot less white, a lot of us are first generation or immigrants coming from places where the word has less of a taboo,” he said. “And the Cold War is over.”

In fact, young people between the ages of 18 and 29 have a slightly more favorable view of the word “socialism” than “capitalism,” according to a 2011 Pew Poll. Socialist magazines like Jacobin Magazine and Dissent have developed a small cult following among millennials, and their young editors have popped up in mainstream news outlets like the New York Times.

Even when wielded by Republicans as an epithet, the “s” word, as Sunkara calls it, doesn’t seem to carry as much weight as it used to. In New York, Democrat Bill de Blasio’s campaign was barely affected by repeated accusations that he was a socialist or Communist sympathizer. De Blasio trounced Republican Joe Lhota on Tuesday with a 49% margin of victory.

“In some ways, I think the right wing has done us a favor” by accusing Democrats of being socialists, said Moore.

But Sunkara cautioned against overestimating the meaning of Moore and Sawant’s campaigns, arguing that they probably do not herald “the coming tide of some third-party push.”

“I think if anything, these are just kind of exceptional examples that we can maybe turn into a generalized trend over the course of years,” he said.

“Our campaigns have shown in a couple small areas how the anger at the present system can be translated into an electoral challenge,” said Moore, “but I don’t think it will be only electoral.” He highlighted the recent fast food strikes as an example of crucial non-electoral organizing.

Sawant said she believed campaigns like hers would spread, but “it’s not an automatic thing.”

“Especially young people of color are feeling a deep sense of betrayal,” said Sawant, herself an Indian-born immigrant. “What have they gotten from society? And they are looking for an alternative, something that speaks to them.”

Americans are getting tired of the two parties, of their broken political and economic system, of the racism, the sexism, the bigotry, the injustice, and the auctioning away of our government to private corporate interests. They are exploring other options. We will deliver. We are coming for you.
 
SOCIALISM: it will come to America just as soon as the Hohenzollerns remember the bribes
 
I'm not actually surprised. I mean, why take weak tapwater "vaguely slightly sorta socialism-esque if you look at it sideways and wish really hard" from the Democrats? Just go for the real thing or oppose it. Enough playing around, I say.

I actually disagree with the lady about it not necessarily being a big push. I think the Democrats are trying to be "kinda socialistesque" and might be cannibalized by real socialists really quickly once the political SHTF.

EDIT: The future might see the Democrats in the "center" ( whatever that really means ) holding out against genuine socialists. That might be the new two party split.

FWIW: I'm not a socialist ( I know about my sig and I'm well aware that Orwell was a socialist until the day he died. I don't have to be a socialist to appreciate Orwell's observations. ) Not trying to pick a fight by saying that, OP, but I just wanna make sure I'm not "leading you on."
 
I know about my sig and I'm well aware that Orwell was a socialist until the day he died. I don't have to be a socialist to appreciate Orwell's observations.

Actually, you'd be surprised which figures claim Orwell to be their champion. Hell, I've seen Orwell quotes appear on mises.org and SF.
 
I'm under no illusion that I would see eye to eye with Orwell on a lot of things. I still have immense respect for the man.

EDIT: Anyhow, I'm going to leave this thread before I accidentally get in a huge argument. Please continue on and forget I was here.

Spoiler :
I really don't want to ruin Cheezy's thread since I actually kinda like the Red bastard :)
 
However, Orwell was an anarchist, not a socialist, and not particularly left-wing, either. He liked capitalism well enough to help the British government fight the Soviets post-war.

He was anti-Soviet, and since the British government was moving towards Social Democracy during the early Cold War, it was in many ways simply logical. He was certainly more of a socialist than an anarchist, since he believed a state was necessary to fend of the threats posed by Soviet Communism and Nazism, whiche he despised.
 
The rise of Socialism in America might be hard because the left seems to be more unified than the right. My Conservative friends criticize Bush and Romney often, but my liberal friends are all united in their love for Obama.
 
He was anti-Soviet, and since the British government was moving towards Social Democracy during the early Cold War, it was in many ways simply logical. He was certainly more of a socialist than an anarchist, since he believed a state was necessary to fend of the threats posed by Soviet Communism and Nazism, whiche he despised.

Exactly. Like I said, a bourgeois anarchist. "The state and capitalism are bad, except when they protect us from other people."
 
The rise of Socialism in America might be hard because the left seems to be more unified than the right. My Conservative friends criticize Bush and Romney often, but my liberal friends are all united in their love for Obama.

I disagree. I think the socialists will ( for better or worse ) beat/replace the Dems by actually walking the walk. The Democrats could very well go up like flashpaper if confronted with undiluted socialism. The Democrats like to ( very faintly ) make sort of half-assed pseudo-socialist signals. Hopefully soon they'll have to pay up.
 
I am currently involved in studying the functional role of marxism-leninism in East Germany and from what I have gathered so far it is just staggering how in effect the government took a piss on what Marx was all about. I have no in-depth knowledge of the Soviet Union, so I can not really say that just the same applies to it. But I can detect some heavy parallels, so as someone who in general very much cares about alternatives to capitalism, I find the revolution in Russia more a sad anniversary than anything else.
 
I disagree. I think the socialists will ( for better or worse ) beat the Dems by actually walking the walk. The Democrats could very well go up like flashpaper if confronted with undiluted socialism.

I think that hardcore Socialists could cause trouble for Democrats for a short time, but then die out in a few years.
 
Considering 'Socialist' is a curse-word in the USA, similar to popular usage of 'Fascist' and the very word 'neoliberal', any socialists that will ever gain power in the USA in a foreseeable time will do so while fervently denying they are.
 
Considering 'Socialist' is a curse-word in the USA, similar to popular usage of 'Fascist' and the very word 'neoliberal', any socialists that will ever gain power in the USA in a foreseeable time will do so while fervently denying they are.

That may be true, but it's quickly getting less so.
 
Out with the old accursed system, and in with the new accursed system!
 
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