r/Socialism_101

Does anyone on here have a net worth over, lets say over $500k? If so, what makes you still support socialism and/or socialist policies? I ask because I am curious about the perspectives of those who may support socialism, despite being successful within the realm of capitalism.

Edited for clarity based on initial responses: This question is directed more towards those who work for a company and is also not an executive.

Second edit: Thanks to everyone for the responses. I appreciate the productive discourse.

The election results have put a right-wing American lackey the son of the corrupt Bolsonaro in the lead. It's not the final result, as both candidates [Lula and Flavio Bolsonaro] are going to a runoff, but disappointment has set in for me.

Latin Americans keep switching from leftist to right-wing authoritarians, and when right wing leaders mess up big time, they go back to electing leftist candidates.

This is happening even though Brazilians know how the US turned Venezuela and Argentina into client states. Now watch Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Alex Karp turn Brazil into a surveillance authoritarian state like the US. Brazil had once chance to push back against American imperialism and they lost it !

Recently i have seen some people critize the idea of "he who does not work shall not eat" from Lenin's State And Revolution and claiming that the USSR put the homeless and those leading "parasitic" lifestyles into either camps or prison. Is this even true? and if so, surely the definition of "parasitic" can change depending on the whims of the state and lead to oppression, no?

I’m studying historical practices that attempted to decommodify labor.

I’ll also learn through AI and other sources, but I’d really appreciate it if people here could point me toward relevant historical examples, books, papers, or discussions that I might otherwise miss.

I have a lot of secondary questions like how would my managers job change? Do we get paid the same? How would it vary between leninism or traditional marxism, or democratic socialism. Would the state take over? Would people lose their jobs? Would I get to own stocks in the company I work at or would the stock market be abolished all together? I see a lot of private contractors come through, would they still exist with the government commissioning them, or would they become full time employees? Thank you for any answers!

Something that is more actionable and applicable to modern states.

I've been calling myself a socialist for a long while now, but I feel I may align more with communism. However, I'm somewhat reluctant to actually call myself a communist because of both fears of how people would think of me and general lack of proper education on it.

I will admit I don't know as much as I probably should about things like the USSR, Stalin, ect. Something I am confused about tho is how people talk about communism, more specifically communism in the USSR? I've seen people say that communism worked in the USSR, but then I'll see people say that there hasn't been a truly communist state.

I have been getting information, both from other communists and from educating myself. The way I currently understand things like the USSR (take this with a grain of salt bc I am NOT confident in this at all and could be 100% wrong) is that leaders like Stalin became authoritarians or dictators. However, I've gotten feedback from someone that this is the result of Red Scare propaganda, and that while he (and other leaders) may have MIRRORED dictatorships, they weren't ACTUALLY dictators.

In terms of things like the famine, I have recently learned that this was majorly from both Nazi and US intervention (ik there was a plan by the Nazis specifically to cause starvation in the USSR but I cannot remember the name).

One thing that concerns me is that I've seen people say things like the gulags were good? Unless I just don't know enough about them and have a completely skewed view on them.

I have some resources already I'm reading for info, but if anyone has any advice on unlearning Red Scare propaganda, as well as other resources, that would be great :}

hello! i generally agree with Marx's critique on idealism and his historical materialism as a whole, but im only starting out with learning. whenever i try to search for critical discussions though i often get the same 5 articles. are there any contemporary critical discussions of historical materialism & marx and engels' critique of idealism? what should i be looking into to learn further? and are there any criticisms or "negative" discussions, papers, viewpoints etc on this topic too?

thank you!! i have so many questions but am finding it hard to kinda DIY this knowledge with no external support!