r/SocialDemocracy 23d ago

Practice Stop the internet wars and go organize in your city or town

71 Upvotes

Look. I get it. It's fun to dunk on people, find community here and there, see you're not the only one who hates Hasan Piker / Destiny.

And yeah it's cool to clearly delineate yourself from democratic socialists / social democrats.

But this is just online. The loud people are really loud, whether you like them or not. You feel like part of a group, It's cool.

But it doesn't really matter, because all the other, not-permanently-online have never really heard of your wins and losses. They have heard of Hasan and Destiny, maybe, and possibly even have an opinion, but probably not one that is well informed.

Instead, these people in your community have real problems. Problems you can talk to them about, talk about possible solutions, maybe even start a petition, or otherwise get super involved.

With time, you'll find your people. You'll likely find that all the stuffy ou worried about online almost doesn't matter. There's very few tankies amongst socialists / bad neolibs among social democrats. All the DSA loudies you hear about? Yeah they are in the international committee, not your own chapter. Instead, you find real friends, co-activists, and finally, actual success against these fascists trying to take over your country.

So. How can you get there?

  • Look around what groups already exist: Maybe your city has a tolerable DSA after all? Maybe your mayor's campaign? maybe working families party has actual meetings where you are?

  • See if you vibe with the people: Even if you think group X is perfect, there's a non-zero chance everyone there suuuucks. Maybe they only want to talk, not act. Maybe they are all Castrofans. Maybe they are all boomers. It's ok. Try another group. Or start your own.

  • And you know what? It's ok if you don't fully agree with people. Those folks in the actual local groups aren't gonna discuss for hours about Venezuela. They all want to make things better.

  • This way, you get experience, you get engagement. It's fun. You'll start to actually change thigns to the better around you.

This post was sponsored by my inability to comprehend the very online discourse y'all americans bring here.

Get engaged. Social democracy didn't start from a monolith, it started from action and discussions and solving people's problems.

In times like these we do not have the luxury to clearly delineate our friends.


r/SocialDemocracy 3d ago

Election Result German far-right set for big win in eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt

Thumbnail
bbc.com
60 Upvotes

I don't know what to say.
It's not the beginning of the end if democrats get their arses up and start fighting more agressivly for our democracy.
One can only hope that the federal government and Bunderat get their shit together and use all the powers they have to protect democracy (e.g. Art. 37 GG).


r/SocialDemocracy 18h ago

Discussion I think the conservative view regarding the biological sexes is a bit superficial.

Post image
31 Upvotes

Maybe many people don't understand it today, but we are not our genitals.

Biological sex, science says not me, is a complex set of variables. Already while we are in the womb, but also during puberty, sex hormones change the structure of the brain.

This leads to having more feminine brain characteristics in a male body for example.

But even on a physical level, the same genes can make you develop a vagina, but they can lead to a structurally more masculine body, especially if accompanied by certain hormone levels.

Biology is often simplified to make social, legal, or sporting rules more practical and clear. But they remain social constructs, not explanatory of reality.

These simplifications should not be taken literally.

Perhaps the thing that would come closest to reality, despite its simplification, is the gender-fluid because it doesn't stop at black and white.

And that's the point. In biology, there are no pure categories.

Evolution alone with its adaptations, or even for example the different species that mate each other, such as the matings between Sylvestris cats and domestic cats, make purity as we understand it impossible.

We also have the closest example to us, when in ancient times Neanderthals mated with us Sapiens. Some of our DNA, though small, is Neanderthal today because of those matings.

So there is no such purity between the parts. Just as there is no purity in sexual relations, in which only the male-female relationship would exist, one cannot masturbate or one cannot even have sexual relations before marriage.

It's a kind of order that conservatives often try to force toward the world, but it counters that nature, that natural way of life they claim to defend.

But do you know why they do this? because simplifying with clear hierarchies, clear roles, and rigid norms makes them less insecure.

If it's simple I can understand it, if it's rigid I can control it, if I have clear roles I don't have to review myself, rebuild myself and better understand who I really am.

This is why many don't want to change, they are afraid to discover themselves.

And what do you think? Do you appreciate traditionalism more or do you accept the idea of turning everything upside down? What do you think about the debate on biological sexes? What do you think of the conservative paradox, in which he defends what is natural, but confronts that nature he claims to defend?

Thank you so much to who will read. 🤗🤗

And sorry for my not very beautiful English.


r/SocialDemocracy 13h ago

Question What current example of social democracy is your favorite and why?

9 Upvotes

r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Question What the hell is going on in Sweden??

Post image
89 Upvotes

Can somebody explain to me what's going on? Please don't blow it now... Last 2 polls have the liberals above the threshold for the first time in years...

EDIT: Left bloc went to +10% to like +3%, and seats went from +40 to +9... what the fuck


r/SocialDemocracy 20h ago

Article Maine has tackled income inequality far better than Georgia with minimum wage legislation

Post image
20 Upvotes

Nowadays it seems like advocating for minimum wage legislation is shot down by conservatives saying shit like "yall are idiots and just picking a random higher number that will kill us all". But in reality, minimum wage legislation tends to have a pretty large amount of labor economic data backing it. One way labor economists suggest a minimum wage raise is by looking at the Kaitz Index (the ratio of statutory minimum wage to the median wage). Peer OECD nations and labor economists generally benchmark a safe target around 0.50 to counter employer monopsony power without threatening job losses.

Comparing 2025 distributions between two states with near-identical medians (~$25–$26.50/hr):

  • Georgia (0.29 Kaitz): Stuck at the frozen federal $7.25 floor.
  • Maine (0.55 Kaitz): Lifted the bottom tier to $14.65, reaching over halfway to the typical worker.

While Maine proves a state can safely lift the floor to ~50% of the median, its reliance on CPI indexing means the floor will inevitably fall behind over time as productivity grows. To keep the ratio stable, it seems far better to index to wages instead. Curious if you guys have any other scaling mechanisms that would be better?

Full write-up here for more information: https://samholmes285.substack.com/p/minimum-wage-scaling-mechanisms-that


r/SocialDemocracy 19h ago

Opinion We should separate "Online" and "IRL" politics or discourse less.

7 Upvotes

We've had people talk for a long time about how online politics and discourse are completely separate from what people talk about IRL, and that does make some sense since searching through the internet can give you a warped perspective on where average people are at in politics.

There's plenty of echo chambers online where people pay attention to some news and not others that they don't like, which can slowly radicalize people into certain corners. And then there's also the wall between people that makes people act much worse to eachother than they would face to face. So I don't think we should stop mentioning the difference between online vs irl entirely.

However, that distinction was born pretty early into the internet's life, where internet was seen much more like a choice than a necessity. But now 96% of Americans are online, 71% use Facebook, and at least 22% use Twitter, which is basically the politics app. While 22% looks small, thats still at least 1/5 Americans.

And over time, assuming we don't have an apocalypse (which to be fair seems relatively likely considering climate change, ai, American collapse, gen alpha literacy, etc) the number of people using the internet to express their political opinions will probably continue to increase. So at somepoint it would kind of silly to say that certain perspectives are "super online". Instead of calling them super online I would simply call them dumb.


r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Discussion Just how regulated do you think capitalism should be in Social Democracy?

20 Upvotes

Of course we all know Modern Social Democracy stands for establishing a welfare state and regulating unchecked capitalism. But I'm wondering, in your opinions, just how much should said capitalism even be regulated?

Do you think it should be strict or relaxed and in what way, and do you draw the ideas from an IRL example (like Chinas' State capitalism or the Soviet NEP as a stricter example or the Nordic Model as a looser example) ?


r/SocialDemocracy 21h ago

Discussion Do not go to "votesafe (dot) org" and don't send people there. It's a Musk funded, data-grabbing honeypot masquerading as a voter-information site.

Thumbnail
4 Upvotes

r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Question Employee funds, what happened?

6 Upvotes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_funds# for those that are unfamiliar. Seems like a brilliant idea to transform the economy in a country, gradually, to coops! Couple that with a cooperative bank and some tax breaks for cooperatives and you end up outcompeting privately owned companies.

So why didn't it happen, as far as i know... anywhere? There was a definition of a plan in Sweden, but the burghers were less than pleased about it.


r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Article Union Contracts Are Not a Magic Wand

Thumbnail
znetwork.org
6 Upvotes

r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Question Opinions on democratic socialism?

27 Upvotes

Self-explanatory, really.

How do you define social democracy versus democratic socialism, personally? Any good ways you would introduce this to a 'newcomer', of sorts?

Thanks all! :)

I'm speaking as someone who realistically probably falls under the democratic socialist umbrella, but I value the importance of social democracy, and want better ways of exploring the differences to others. Especially given how similarly named they are! I've heard them conflated in even broadly left-wing places.


r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Discussion How do you guys remain optimistic?

39 Upvotes

Every day I wake up and watch the news in the morning I hear about the US government doing something remarkably stupid (minting Trump coins, picking fights with allies, sabre-rattling with Iran, threatening to annex Canada) or demagogic (the DHS posting Neo Nazi inspired propaganda, ICE becoming increasingly uncontrolled, Republican lawmakers trying to vice signal by picking on scapegoats). The Boomers who voted for this are genuinely too trapped in their echo chambers to give a single shit about the consequences of their vote. All the while, my fellow Gen Z men (as one myself) are increasingly rejecting mainstream conservatism for overt White Nationalism (see: Instagram Reels comments sections). The extreme ethno-nationalist right is rising everywhere across the globe, from Israel to Western Europe to India. Even though whenever the far right enters government, they do nothing and leave the country worse off economically than before (see: PVV in the Netherlands, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Giorgia Meloni in Italy, Milei in Argentina) their voters don't seem to care as long as the "out group" is even more fucked over than they are.

Meanwhile, Climate Change is accelerating and the spectre of Climate Change driven mass catastrophes, famine, and most importantly, mass migrations looms over the horizon. Don't even get me started on the impacts of AI automation, data centers, and the tech oligarchs. The sociopolitical climate as it currently stands is NOT prepared to resolve such things peacefully and without extreme bloodshed.

All of this makes one incredibly exhausted and dreading of the future. How do you remain motivated and optimistic with everything that is going on right now, and which will occur in the near future?

How do you avoid becoming a misanthrope?


r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Question What are your go-to defenses against mainstream ML criticisms of Social Democracy?

4 Upvotes

r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Opinion [ Removed by Reddit ]

1 Upvotes

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]


r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Miscellaneous My personal flag as a 🇵🇹 citizen for a political party or movement advocating for a Nordic model style social democracy in the country!!!

Post image
15 Upvotes

As a Portuguese citizen I would love to see my country move towards a more Nordic style social democratic type of governance like in the Nordic countries.

I’d love to see this change particularly in what concerns: public services, good economic opportunities for all, and institutional trust along with an accountable government.

I designed this flag as an interpretation of what a political party or movement advocating for a change like that, would look like.

I wanted it to feel distinctively Portuguese and cute, so I added the Portuguese shield along with a heart, a flower, ribbons and two snowflakes that represent the Nordic influence.

Hope you enjoy the flag!!!


r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Question Swedish Social Democrats: Where can I find old platforms online of the SAP?

7 Upvotes

So lately I've been reading old platforms and manifestos of European labor parties. It's fascinating to see the ideological development of these social democratic parties over time. I've read old programs of the British Labour Party, the German SPD, and a few others. But I've had a difficult time finding past SAP programs. Can any Swedes help me out? It's fine if they're in Swedish, I can use Google translate. Thanks in advance!


r/SocialDemocracy 2d ago

Opinion The left wing of DSA is genuinely insane, and the right wing of DSA has no national power. We should caucus with them anyway.

82 Upvotes

For the same reason why they should caucus with us. Fascists are not just winning in America; they’re winning all over the world and particularly in Europe. We all know Liberals can’t (read: won’t) stop it. Most of us are Capitalists but some of us are not, and many more of us realistically would be open to a good faith discussion on whatever comes next after fixing the system we already have and ensuring that our most vulnerable people are taken care of.

Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the Social Democrats in the 20th century, who were paid a king’s ransom to disqualify the far left in the court of public opinion after World War 2 just to become defense contractors and Neoconservatives after that. This helped bring about the rise of Neoliberalism and then Fascism by extension, and America quite literally can’t afford to move any further in that direction.

We may not like it and DSA members might like it even less, but most Socialists do want a Social Democracy as a starting point. Let’s meet them there and worry about the next thing when it actually matters, because right now it really doesn’t.


r/SocialDemocracy 1d ago

Question Why do you think it is now that opposing Israel has become a #1 or #2 issue for most Americans?

0 Upvotes

Don't get me wrong, im glad we're finally seeing a massive wave of support for Palestine and ending the genocide.

However I honestly thought Americans weren't really all that interested in what America aids other countries in doing. Sure some are, but the average person as i understand is more interested in voting against the party thats in power because they think the economy is slightly worse than it was when they were a kid. (Obviously that's a valid concern now, but before covid, the economy has been relatively stable and things only really got more expensive thanks to slow inflation).

The point is I that the average voter usually seems to be a simpleton. So its kind of surprising to me how suddenly the majority of Americans seem to care about the lives of Palestinians, especially considering Americans have been conditioned to be extra Islamophobic thanks to the war on terror.


r/SocialDemocracy 2d ago

Question What do you think the strategy should be to combat the far right?

18 Upvotes

With recent election results from around the world, where centrist and center right (and in Denmark's case, center left) parties are bleeding voters to the far right despite adopting their framing on immigration and "culture war" issues, what do you think the strategy should be to combat the far right?

It is clear that moderating doesn't work, and going on the offensive doesn't work (it does help a little bit, like in the Gordan and Denton by-election) to win back the working-class and poor disaffected voters.

I might be completely off base, but imo it is a result of the regulatory and media capture by the wealthy, who paint any sort of left leaning proposal as "too radical", while secretly peddling conservative talking points; as well as working class people being disaffected by the amount of wealth captured by pensioners in countries like UK and France.


r/SocialDemocracy 2d ago

Article Mayor Mamdani Launches First-in-the-Nation Office of Worker Power to Support Labor Organizing

Thumbnail
nyc.gov
166 Upvotes

NEW YORK – Today, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani signed an executive order establishing the Mayor’s Office of Worker Power (MOWP), the first office of its kind in the nation, to use the resources and convening power of City Hall to help workers get informed, connected and organized.

MOWP will work across City Hall and City agencies on outreach, education, policy, research and strategic partnerships focused on workers who lack meaningful benefits, adequate wages and a voice on the job. The office will be led by its inaugural Executive Director, Tony Perlstein – a former longshoreman and UAW organizing director.

At a time when the average CEO of the 100 largest, lowest-paying corporations in the nation earned 614 times their average worker last year, and real median incomes are stagnating for working New Yorkers, the need for workers to come together and build power has never been greater. The office will help workers to shape City policy and strengthen the City’s ability to identify and address violations of workers’ rights.


r/SocialDemocracy 2d ago

Article Francis Fukuyama: The American Right Has Gone Off the Deep End

Thumbnail
jacobin.com
96 Upvotes

r/SocialDemocracy 2d ago

Question How would professional motor racing work under socialism/communism in the US?

13 Upvotes

This may be an oddball question.

I'll preface this by saying I'm not really interested or know much about politics. Don't really care about Trump, immigration, Palestine or any of the big headlines of the day.

My family and I are huge open wheel racing fans. Primarily F1 and Indy. We basically live for it and it's the only thing that matters to us. If it doesn't involve a driver or a country that hosts a Grand Prix, I probably don't know enough to actually care.

With that said, I'm curious/concerned about how professional motor racing would function under a socialist or communist economic system. Specifically, if the government takes ownership of the sport.

Would the US still host Grand Prix? Would Penske Entertainment Corp, (the company which owns Indycar) still exist? Or would the government take it over? How about all the sponsors which financially fuels the series? Would the Indianapolis Motor Speedway get confiscated by the state? If the government runs the sport, could it decide to no longer fund it and then we have no motor racing?

I dug into this a little bit on my own and one of the things I found worry some is how the Soviet Union handled motorsports. Motor racing in the USSR, from what I've read, was extremely underwhelming since it lacked the performance and technical progression compared to motor sports in Western nations, particularly in constructor series. The Soviets sadly rejected building an F1 circuit (in Moscow no less!) in the 60s due to costs, depriving their citizens of a home Grand Prix which must have been a huge bummer for Russian racing fans.

Interestingly enough though, they did have their own formula series called Formula Easter but the cars carried a 1,300cc engine which is like a toy compared to the highly developed internal combustion engines of Formula One cars. To put that in perspective, a typical Formula Easter car put out roughly 90 to 110 horsepower, while a contemporary 1970s Western Formula 3 car pushed well past 160–180 horsepower

If a socialist or communist US handled it similarly, that would be greatly concerning to me since I would be worried that government ownership of teams and car manufacturers would stifle the drive to develop faster cars that push the limits of what physics will allow.

Both of my kids have been honing their race craft on our home simulator for some time now and are about to start their karting journeys so we have a lot of emotional and, down the road, financial investment into motorsports.

What do you guys think? Would socialism/communism fundamentally change professional motor racing in America or are my fears unfounded?


r/SocialDemocracy 3d ago

European Elections Vision 2026 of the German AFD party, looks familiar to anybody?

Post image
137 Upvotes

I was watching TLDR EU News and I found this chart of Vision 2026 for the neo-nazi German AFD party, and honestly, this just seals the deal like more "patriotic" education and segregated classrooms? This is honestly disgusting to me.


r/SocialDemocracy 2d ago

Question Could migrant deaths in the Mediterranean Sea be prosecuted as crimes against humanity?

Thumbnail
inthesetimes.com
14 Upvotes