So when it comes to doing things like opposing imperialism, non-marxist socialists get tripped up because states like Syria, Iran or the DPRK don’t represent their utopia. They then end up flattening the distinctions and say things like, “well the US is bad but so is Assad” and end up repeating US propaganda that justifies imperialist intervention.
This is an excellent point, but I think it misses something important. "Humanist" socialists will agree with Marxist socialists on 95% of things, including all the domestic policies we can work on right now at local levels. Where they (sometimes) disagree is on foreign policy, which is not something the left will realistically be able to change for quite some time.
Right now we have local organizations and local politicians to the left of the Democratic Party doing good things, and both types of socialists are in lockstep on all of that. Meanwhile, even if we had Bernie as president and 500 AOC clones in Congress it would still be an uphill battle to dismantle the military-industrial complex. We're talking about shutting down the entire foreign intelligence apparatus and starting from scratch, dramatically scaling down the size of the military, closing dozens of military bases around the world, trying to figure out how to exit all the conflicts we're in without fucking things up even worse, etc. The biggest point of contention between Marxist and "humanist" socialists is so far out of reach right now it makes no sense to let it get in the way.
And if your idea of socialism is based in liberal ideas like individual rights and representative democracy, then don’t freak out about being called a lib, just defend your position.
By the same tolken, maybe Marxist socialists shouldn't be antagonizing other types of socialists by calling them libs -- just make your case.
This is an excellent point, but I think it misses something important. "Humanist" socialists will agree with Marxist socialists on 95% of things, including all the domestic policies we can work on right now at local levels. Where they (sometimes) disagree is on foreign policy, which is not something the left will realistically be able to change for quite some time.
Right now we have local organizations and local politicians to the left of the Democratic Party doing good things, and both types of socialists are in lockstep on all of that. Meanwhile, even if we had Bernie as president and 500 AOC clones in Congress it would still be an uphill battle to dismantle the military-industrial complex. We're talking about shutting down the entire foreign intelligence apparatus and starting from scratch, dramatically scaling down the size of the military, closing dozens of military bases around the world, trying to figure out how to exit all the conflicts we're in without fucking things up even worse, etc. The biggest point of contention between Marxist and "humanist" socialists is so far out of reach right now it makes no sense to let it get in the way.
By the same tolken, maybe Marxist socialists shouldn't be antagonizing other types of socialists by calling them libs -- just make your case.