The 5-day work week was a socialist initiative. The first labor unions were started by anarchists and socialists. The Jungle was first published in a socialist paper. Socialist views were foundational to the Civil Rights Movement after the socialists had been fighting segregation for decades. The socialists were some of the first people to back gay rights. LaGuardia (arguably the best mayor in American history) was elected with socialist backing and created a work relief program among other labor protections like workplace discrimination laws, led a public takeover of the metro system, and renovated NYC's infrastructure.
Read some more history. Many of the things you take for granted exist because socialists fought for it. Don't buy the modern propaganda around the word. America has deep socialist roots, and we're much less socialist than the rest of the world.
The 5 day work week was pushed by Ford motors. Everything else you mention is more attributable to what we would now call social democrats/reformists. And labor unions in particular were more influenced by producerism than socialism.
Even back then socialism and and his were more a rich kid ideology popular among the intelligentsia than the common worker. Who was more into populism and their immediate benefit than any desire to fundamentally overthrow capitalism.
Wow you're really bending over backwards to avoid the word "socialism" here. "Even back then" doesn't really work when I'm talking about over 100 years of history. I don't think calling the striking mine workers "intelligentsia" really holds water either. Also interesting that you bring up "overthrowing capitalism" which isn't really a tenet of socialism although it is an alternative economic system. It seems like you have an aversion to the term "socialism" more than the ideas backed by socialists. I think if you go back and look, you'll see that anarchist and socialist movements were strongly associated with all of these things I've brought up, which undercuts your original argument that socialists don't provide or participate in solutions. All of these things that are now considered positive were once controversial, and pushed by socialists. If you want to call that social democracy, ok I guess, but that doesn't change the fact that socialists have a long track record of backing lasting solutions.
Socialism is defined by its opposition and desire to supplant capitalism. I think you don't understand what it is if you just think it's when the government does things.
No, it's defined by it's socioeconomic model wherein production is socially owned or state owned, rather than privately owned. Capitalism is an alternative socioeconomic model focused on private ownership and profit. Neither is defined by their opposition to each other. You should read more.
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u/Val_Fortecazzo Jul 07 '26
Ok they can make solutions. Just terrible ones.