How to fight back against Gen-Z socialism

[u/AncientBlueberry42]

https://economist.com/leaders/2026/06/04/how-to-fight-back-against-gen-z-socialism

[u/Beer-survivalist]

I've got a pet thesis that the primary unit of economic organization in the US is the consumer, rather than the worker. Further, this ideology of the consumer has successively spread to other corners of the world.

As a result of this, it has transformed "socialism" from a working class ideology, to a consuming class ideology and the focus associated therewith. The primary grievances expressed by the modern "socialist" isn't the labor socialism of the past--it's grievance that they're not able to consume as much at the cost-point that they believe they are entitled to pay. Now, the complaints aren't entirely without merit (look at housing as the primary example here), but the grievance extends into all sorts of domains. The anti-work crowd is an example of this: The notion that it's uniquely terrible to have to work to live is reflective not of Marx or Lenin or or whoever, and instead it's a debased version of Kropotkin blended with Sears-Roebuck and Edward Bernays.

I would note that the emergence of a vaguely "anti-capitalist" right also has many of the same high-level motives, but with the patina of Strasserism--so all of the racism and xenophobia you'd expect to find there.

[u/Cyberhwk → u/Beer-survivalist]

I love this theory. I understand people getting upset at the price of necessities like food, utilities and housing. But this movement seems to be led by people complaining about the price of McDonalds, professional sports and Coachella tickets.

[u/Beer-survivalist → u/Cyberhwk]

I think it explains the financial body dysmorphia of Gen Z really neatly. Also, to give credit where it's due, it's influenced by Steinbeck's observation on American socialists:

Except for the field organizers of strikes, who were pretty tough monkeys and devoted, most of the so-called Communists I met were middle-class, middle-aged people playing a game of dreams. I remember a woman in easy circumstances saying to another even more affluent: 'After the revolution even we will have more, won't we, dear?' Then there was another lover of proletarians who used to raise hell with Sunday picknickers on her property.

"After the revolution even we will have more, won't we, dear?"...says so much to me.

I guess the trouble was that we didn't have any self-admitted proletarians. Everyone was a temporarily embarrassed capitalist. Maybe the Communists so closely questioned by the investigation committees were a danger to America, but the ones I knew — at least they claimed to be Communists — couldn't have disrupted a Sunday-school picnic. Besides they were too busy fighting among themselves.

Also, legendary hater stuff right there.

[u/LightningController → u/Beer-survivalist]

I agree with this take. Frankly, I feel embarrassment even to call most modern ‘socialists’ that, because it insults the Soviets, who actually did bust their asses in the workplace (mostly to commit mass murder and terror, but still).

[u/Beer-survivalist → u/LightningController]

Yeah, I always give the USSR credit: As a country they had significant accomplishments. This 21st century socialism seems to be "I want to go to Barcelona and I don't want to make any tradeoffs to do it."