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As a European I find it interesting how Americans have started to completely misusing the term 'socialism' especially over the last couple of years. Even those

As a European I find it interesting how Americans have started to completely misusing the term 'socialism' especially over the last couple of years. Even those who don't fit the die-hard right-wing profile seem to have started calling any kind of social welfare 'socialsm' without realising what actual socialism looks like.

seszett 13y ago
To me, what's surprising is the contrary: that people call communism "socialism". While here in France, our Socialist Party (in power right now) has always been far from communism. It feels strange to me to call social welfare anything other than socialism. Maybe it's just a case of French socialisme and English socialism being false friends.
- this_user 13y ago
  That's a good point and there seem to exist different understandings of the term in different countries. I do wonder where this comes from. In Germany Sozialismus is always understood in the marxist sense and it is furthermore inseperable from the political system of the German Democratic Republic. I am not privy to the finer points of the French Socialist's political agenda, but from my understanding they roughly resemble our Social Democrats.
- oblio 13y ago
  It's because most communist parties in the Eastern Block were initially (or even always) called socialist parties. And many Eastern Block countries were named "socialist republics". Heck, U S S R.
  - epsylon 13y ago
    Well, North Korea (and many other dictatorships) are technically "democratic republics"... Doesn't mean that they are.
    - oblio 13y ago
      True, and so were all the socialist regimes I mentioned. But after tens of years of propaganda by the communists, the name tends to stick. After the fall of communism, it sticks in a bad way: socialism = communism. I think that the best people to ask are those that lived under "socialist" regimes (I'm one of them). If I ask almost anybody I know that lived under a socialist regime, they'll probably say the same. Maybe theoretically socialism is a different thing, but practically it really isn't for a lot of people.
eli_gottlieb 13y ago
We're not misusing it. We support socialism. Social democracy is just the first step. Today increased budget for food stamps, tomorrow the world, that sort of thing.

seszett 13y ago

To me, what's surprising is the contrary: that people call communism "socialism". While here in France, our Socialist Party (in power right now) has always been far from communism. It feels strange to me to call social welfare anything other than socialism. Maybe it's just a case of French socialisme and English socialism being false friends.

this_user 13y ago
That's a good point and there seem to exist different understandings of the term in different countries. I do wonder where this comes from. In Germany Sozialismus is always understood in the marxist sense and it is furthermore inseperable from the political system of the German Democratic Republic. I am not privy to the finer points of the French Socialist's political agenda, but from my understanding they roughly resemble our Social Democrats.
oblio 13y ago
It's because most communist parties in the Eastern Block were initially (or even always) called socialist parties. And many Eastern Block countries were named "socialist republics". Heck, U S S R.
- epsylon 13y ago
  Well, North Korea (and many other dictatorships) are technically "democratic republics"... Doesn't mean that they are.
  - oblio 13y ago
    True, and so were all the socialist regimes I mentioned. But after tens of years of propaganda by the communists, the name tends to stick. After the fall of communism, it sticks in a bad way: socialism = communism. I think that the best people to ask are those that lived under "socialist" regimes (I'm one of them). If I ask almost anybody I know that lived under a socialist regime, they'll probably say the same. Maybe theoretically socialism is a different thing, but practically it really isn't for a lot of people.

eli_gottlieb 13y ago

We're not misusing it. We support socialism. Social democracy is just the first step. Today increased budget for food stamps, tomorrow the world, that sort of thing.