Socialism of the 21st Century - Could it work?

[Helios Corporation]

Get fucked, commie.

[Liriena]

Get fucked, commie.

Not kosher.

Marxist Socialism (as in, the workers taking over the economy and the government) could work. Unfortunately, most modern socialist movements seem to be more on the "social democratic" side of the spectrum, and are more focused on economic interventionism rather than Marx's core beliefs.

Personally, I'd rather see an honest Communist society succeed.

God no, communism of any form would be just as bad as liberalism and capitalism. Communism would only be useful as part of a larger system.

What would be so bad about a communist society?

[Conscentia]

I would define 21st century socialism as the Nordic model.

That's a regulated pre-dominantly capitalist mixed economy, not socialism.

[Conscentia]

Get fucked, commie.

All flames can be extinguished with the application of moderator action.

[Republica Newland]

No. How many times does something have to fail in order for you to understand it doesn't work?

[Republica Newland]

Get fucked, commie.

I like your style.

[Ainin]

I would define 21st century socialism as the Nordic model.

That's a regulated pre-dominantly capitalist mixed economy, not socialism.

I see it more as socialism adapted to a politically viable 21st Century ideology.

[Conscentia]

No. How many times does something have to fail in order for you to understand it doesn't work?

It's failed? When did it fail?

[Mike the Progressive]

Get fucked, commie.

Not kosher.

Right? He should have ended it with "comrade" rather than commie.

[Conscentia]

That's a regulated pre-dominantly capitalist mixed economy, not socialism.

I see it more as socialism adapted to a politically viable 21st Century ideology.

I don't like it when people misuse words.

[The Socialist Scousers]

I have socialist leanings, which is why two of my nations this one and Athetal, are run along socialist/communist lines. I believe it to be a Utopian ideal; altruistic economics in which resources are shared freely between people, progressive socio-cultural and economic systems to improve healthcare, education and prevent crime, the reduction or negation of poverty due to the equal sharing of resources, a free and open Direct Democracy (Probably a Virtual Democracy) ...

Honestly, I would love to live in a world were such a thing is possible. Sadly, I do not live in a perfect world, just this one. Humans are greedy, Humans seek to gain power over each other and use hat power for selfish reasons and I can think of very few examples of Human beings who would act completely selflessly and with compassion in a powerful leadership role.

Which is why I sadly believe that no true socialist/communist society will ever work, not without a massive shift in the priorities and sensibilities of the majority of the Human race.

*Sigh* I guess I've got no choice but to go join The Culture... blasted self-righteous cultural evangelists...

[The Joseon Dynasty]

*Sigh* I guess I've got no choice but to go join The Culture... blasted self-righteous cultural evangelists...

One of us, one of us.

[Yorkopolis]

Marxist Socialism (as in, the workers taking over the economy and the government) could work. Unfortunately, most modern socialist movements seem to be more on the "social democratic" side of the spectrum, and are more focused on economic interventionism rather than Marx's core beliefs.

Personally, I'd rather see an honest Communist society succeed.

God no, communism of any form would be just as bad as liberalism and capitalism. Communism would only be useful as part of a larger system.

How? How can communism, a system so drastically different from capitalism and neoliberalism be "just as bad"? It hasn't even been tried.

Yeah, it's called social democracy.

Social democracy isn't socialism, it is a capitalist pseudo-socialist scam.

Of course it's not, we all know social democracy is fake-lefty. Anyone ever heard of what happened to Wouter Bos, former leader of the "social democratic" Labour Party here in the Netherlands? He went into big business, that's what he did. Nothing socialist about that.

No. How many times does something have to fail in order for you to understand it doesn't work?

Socialism in Venezuela has actually led to a greater GDP and a drastic lowering of poverty all across the board. Tell me how that is "failing" again?

[Conscentia]

God no, communism of any form would be just as bad as liberalism and capitalism. Communism would only be useful as part of a larger system.

How? How can communism, a system so drastically different from capitalism and neoliberalism be "just as bad"? It hasn't even been tried.
[...]

The humans of 200,000 BCE - 195,000 BCE were pretty close, if not living it already.

[Conscentia]

No. How many times does something have to fail in order for you to understand it doesn't work?

Socialism in Venezuela has actually led to a greater GDP and a drastic lowering of poverty all across the board. Tell me how that is "failing" again?

What socialism in Venezuela?

[Mike the Progressive]

Socialism in Venezuela has actually led to a greater GDP and a drastic lowering of poverty all across the board. Tell me how that is "failing" again?

What socialism in Venezuela?

Not to mention, there's also massive food and supply shortages there.

[Conscentia]

What socialism in Venezuela?

Not to mention, there's also massive food and supply shortages there.

Corruption does that.

[The Joseon Dynasty]

Socialism in Venezuela has actually led to a greater GDP and a drastic lowering of poverty all across the board. Tell me how that is "failing" again?

Same happened in North Korea. Let's not extrapolate too much. The question isn't really whether economic indicators improved under nominally socialist governments, but more about the root cause of those changes - whether those policies were sustainable in the long-term, how those policies were financed, how strong the correlation was between those policies and the improvement in living standards, etc. Venezuela's economic position seems much shakier when we begin answering those questions.

Not that the policies themselves weren't useful - I'm not just shitting on socialism here - but sustainability, from what I know of Venezuela's economy, is really the glaring issue when we look at the country, and the economy's responsiveness to fluctuations in the oil market is pretty telling.

[Las Tierras Verdes]

Democratic Socialism is not "21st Century Socialism".

I never said that.

The idea of 21st Century Socialism is simple, to address the problems of Capitalism and 20th Century Socialism(Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, etc.), rejecting 20th Century Socialist ideas like authoritarianism and centralized planning, while trying to work together with other states to stop problems of humanity(Racism, sexism, poverty, etc.), and emphasis' on the need of a truly participative democracy, where Socialist leaders are elected by popular vote, and not be coup d'etat, revolution, violent uprising or succession.

In a way, it's sort of like democratic socialism, and tends to operate on heavily anti-imperialistic motives, like those used by both the USA and the USSR during the Cold War.

Basically, the idea is to solve world problems, and elect leaders instead of asserting influence or starting violent revolutions 'for the people'.

Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, and Evo Morales of Bolivia were all elected democratically, although I wouldn't consider Venezuela as a very good role model.

So, I ask you NSG, do you think Socialism of the 21st Century could work to create a utopian society that past socialist states have failed to produce?

Your definition of socialism is incorrect.

Socialism doesn't have to be authoritarian - you haven't exactly brought anything new to the table. That makes me go "ugh, yet another one of THESE threads".

Yes, I know, I mentioned democratic socialism in the OP.

Well the OP made one post, never defined his terms and then vanished.

I say stick a fork in this one.

Sorry for having a life, I'll try and change that.

Get fucked, commie.

I'm not a commie.

And don't be so prejudiced.

[Euroslavia]

Get fucked, commie.

*** Warned for flaming *** Knock it off.

[Union Of Canadorian Socialists Republic]

Pure Capitalism sucks, pure Socialism (Communism) sucks. Start mixing the pilosophies together, and the results are interesting

[Of the Free Socialist Territories]

Pure Capitalism sucks, pure Socialism (Communism) sucks. Start mixing the pilosophies together, and the results are interesting

Communism is not pure socialism. It's an ideology within socialism.

What do you mean by "mixing the philosophies together"?

[Athetal]

The humans of 200,000 BCE - 195,000 BCE were pretty close, if not living it already.

Technically, that would be 'Primitive Communism' as theorised to have existed by Marx and Engels, and being the start socio-economic system of Humanity in their chronology of socio-economic advancement.

Modern Communism, founded on true Marxist principles and uncorrupted by an authoritarian, power-hungry dictator ala Stalin has never been tried in any serious, large-scale manner.

Smaller communities have successfully utilised a communist-esque system, such as the Kabbutz communities of Israel, though obviously not following Marxist principles.

[Union Of Canadorian Socialists Republic]

Pure Capitalism sucks, pure Socialism (Communism) sucks. Start mixing the pilosophies together, and the results are interesting

Communism is not pure socialism. It's an ideology within socialism.

What do you mean by "mixing the philosophies together"?

"The goal of Socialism is Communism" - Vladimir Lenin

Capitalism and Socialism are together in most nations

[Duvniask]

Communism is not pure socialism. It's an ideology within socialism.

What do you mean by "mixing the philosophies together"?

"The goal of Socialism is Communism" - Vladimir Lenin

Capitalism and Socialism are together in most nations

In what way do you mean?