just following this thread, and I am just enamored by this last tweet

i see this argument crop up time and time again

it's a decades old way of denying that a regime was socialist, while demanding the exact same policies in the present

when things go well:

"the public sector unites the working people! socialism!!"

and when they go wrong:

"the government oppresses us! state capitalism!!"

the differentiating factor in policy? ehh... not much. government nationalization of the means of production... BUT

you see, when it's socialist (and good) our cult... i mean, democratically active workers of the party, are in power things are good.

that other group of working class people who want power and say we are tyrants? oh, those workers are actually fascist sympathizers, you see

the distinction is meant to be arbitrary, it's by design.

you're allowed to cast off all failures as capitalist and successes as socialist, picking and selecting when the state *actually* represents the working classes, and when it's actually evil state capitalist motives

this is why i always preferred anarchist/communist lefties, they're pretty across the board on their distrust in the state

it's the authoritarian leftist sympathizers who you can never trust

@efficient_tax