Making Socialists
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I know those who took part in the poll most likely have not a clue on what socialism is or what socialists stand for but, for me, it proves that there is an audience for us who we must somehow reach out to.
https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Left-turn-ahead.pdf
Regardless of the vague understanding that they may hold, the idea of socialism resonates.
Of 2,000 people aged between 16 and 34 in the UK, polled between February and March 2021:
67 per cent say they would like to live in a socialist economic system.
75 per cent agree with the assertion that climate change is a specifically capitalist problem.
78 per cent blame capitalism for Britain’s housing crisis.
72 per cent support the (re-)nationalisation of various industries such as energy, water and the railways.
72 per cent believe that private sector involvement would put the NHS at risk.
75 per cent agree with the statement that ‘socialism is a good idea, but it has failed in the past because it has been badly done’.
Young people associate ‘socialism’ predominantly with positive terms, such as ‘workers’, ‘public’, ‘equal’ and ‘fair’. Very few associate it with ‘failure’ and virtually nobody associates it with Venezuela.
Capitalism is predominantly associated with terms such as ‘exploitative’, ‘unfair’, ‘the rich’ and ‘corporations’.
Supporters of the market economy often dismiss support for left-wing ideas as a phase young people have always gone through. But capitalists can no longer reassure themselves that the young will “grow out of it”. This polling finds little difference in attitudes between Millennial and Gen Z: where it does exist, it indicates Zoomers will “grow into it” rather than Millennials “out”.
“These results show that “Millennial Socialism” is not just a social media hype, and it was not just a passing fad which ended with Jeremy Corbyn’s resignation. Nor is it simply a replay of the student radicalism of the 1960s. This is a long-term shift in attitudes, which is not going to go away on its own…”
It is now our task in the SPGB to develop approaches that educates and informs the younger generation much better than we have been doing. A lot easier said than done. But at least we now know we could have interested and receptive listeners.
I think we discussed this before on another thread (one of those on the Labour Party, I think). There’s also an article about it in next month’s Socialist Standard out here online on Sunday but already on its way to subscribers to the paper version.
I think the Socialist Party and the WSM are doing what they can do in order to spread the concept of socialism, and it has been doing it for more than 100 years, but most peoples around the world prefer reformism.
Most of those groups the only thing that they are doing is distorting the minds of the young peoples and throwing trash on top of the real concept of socialism, the DSA is becoming a political front of the Democratic Party which is a capitalist political party
I think there is another topic thread devoted to changing attitudes towards socialism in the USA, but can’t locate right now
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/aug/26/big-scary-s-word-socialism-documentary-film
Whatever they call socialism ( social democratic reforms ) is going to take place with the new infrastructure bill approved by the US House of Representatives. ( Similar to FDR New Deal except for the high percentage of taxation ) Another ironic situation is that most people in the USA ( including the Afro American ) voted for Joe Biden instead of Bernie Sanders but most of the measures approved in that bill were proposed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. They were the same measures and programs that he promoted during his presidential campaign
Robert Reich served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration. He is now a Professor of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/08/27/only-real-socialism-us-corporate-welfare
“Republicans in Congress rail about how the Democrats’ agenda is chock-full of scary “socialist” policies. We do have socialism in this country—but it’s not Democrats’ policies. The real socialism is corporate welfare…It’s more socialism for the rich, harsh capitalism for the rest.”
He doesn’t clarify what socialism really is but muddies definition it by inferring it is government largesse.
They never do their homework, they are always reading comics books. The new popular term is corporate socialism and socialism for the rich, therefore, we can see how distorted socialism is. They continue closing libraries and bookstores
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