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Jun 22, 2022 20 tweets 7 min read Read on X
#THREAD

The foreign/non-dom billionaire-owned UK "news" media exists to protect & prioritise the interests of a handful of greedy, cruel, & grotesquely wealthy elites against #SocialDemocracy. But don't take my word for it, listen to Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse & Albert Einstein: ImageImage
But what is 'social democracy'?

If you listened to representatives of the UK Govt, the right-wing UK media, or any of the usual 'outrage porn' culture war extremists, you'd think it was some kind of Marxist plot against humanity, because that's what voters are told to believe. Image
In reality, social democracy is the most successful, fair, & sensible political ideology to have come to prominence in the twentieth century, resulting in a sensible 'mixed economy', improvements in quality of life, & the reduction of wealth & opportunity #inequalities. Image
Social democracy is characterised as a political ideology that originally advocated a peaceful evolutionary transition of society from capitalism to socialism using established political processes, although this formulation has been significantly modified over the last century.
In the second half of the 20th century, following the the Wall St crash, the Nazi regime & WWII, there emerged a moderate version of the doctrine, generally espousing state regulation, rather than state ownership of the means of production, & extensive social welfare programs. Image
Based on 19th-century socialism & the tenets of Marx & Engels, while social democracy does share common ideological roots with communism, it opposes & fiercely eschews its militancy, authoritarianism, & totalitarianism - characterising social democracy as communism is absurd.
Social democracy was originally known as revisionism because it represented a change in basic Marxist doctrine, primarily in the former’s repudiation of the use of revolution to establish a socialist society. Image
The social democratic movement grew out of the efforts of August Bebel & Wilhelm Liebknecht who cofounded the Social Democratic Workers’ Party in 1869, which merged with the General German Workers’ Union in 1875 to form what became known as the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Bebel imbued social democracy with the belief that socialism must be installed through lawful means rather than by force.

After the election of two Social Democrats in 1871, the party grew in political strength until in 1912 it became the largest single party in voting strength.
The success of the Social Democratic Party in Germany encouraged the spread of social democracy to other countries in Europe, including Britain.

The growth of German social democracy owed much to the influence of the German political theorist Eduard Bernstein. Image
Bernstein challenged the Marxist orthodoxy that capitalism was doomed, pointing out that capitalism was overcoming many of its weaknesses, such as unemployment, overproduction, & to some extent, the inequitable distribution of wealth.
Furthermore, ownership of industry was becoming more widely diffused, rather than more concentrated in the hands of the few.

Whereas Marx had declared that the subjugation of the working class would inevitably culminate in socialist revolution, Bernstein disagreed.
Bernstein argued that success for socialism depended not on the continued & intensifying misery of the working class, but rather on eliminating that misery, noting that social conditions were improving, & that with universal suffrage the working class could establish socialism. Image
Despite fierce opposition from the press baron brothers Alfred & Harold Harmsworth, to both universal suffrage & the Liberal's plans to bring in a welfare state based on the German model, Britain's Liberal Party won a landslide victory in the 1906.

The violence of the Russian Revolution of 1917 & its aftermath precipitated the final schism between the social democratic parties & the communist parties.

After WWII, social democratic parties came to power in many western European nations eg West Germany, Sweden, & Britain. Image
The western European social democratic parties - in Britain Clement Attlee's transformative @UKLabour Party - laid the foundations for a much fairer & much more equal society by introducing radical modern European social welfare programs, including in Britain, our amazing #NHS. Image
With its ascendancy, social democracy changed gradually, most notably in West Germany. These changes generally reflected a moderation of the 19th-century socialist doctrine of wholesale nationalisation of business & industry, leading to a functional & effective 'mixed economy'.
Although the principles of the various social democratic parties began to diverge somewhat, certain common fundamental principles emerged: in addition to abandoning violence & revolution as tools of social change, social democracy took a stand in opposition to totalitarianism.
The Marxist view of democracy as a “bourgeois” facade for class rule was abandoned, & democracy was proclaimed essential for socialist ideals. Social democracy adopted the goal of state regulation of business & industry as sufficient to further economic growth & equitable income. Image
Social democracy delivers fairer societies, & better-informed, happier citizens, & is still dominant across much of western Europe - as it was in the UK & USA until the 1980s, since when, power & wealth has again become concentrated in the hands of elites.

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More from @docrussjackson

Mar 25
🧵 Online #Incel communities foster misogyny, resentment & extremism, which have led to multiple murderous attacks in the US & UK, motivated by hatred toward women.

Their echo chambers also amplify mental health issues like isolation & anger, radicalizing vulnerable men & boys. Image
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Mar 19
#THREAD

When is a “think tank” not a think tank?

A 🧵 about how spurious and inflammatory claims, based on unevidenced cherry-picked data, are passed off as truth by partisan private limited companies and used as a weapon to divide voters and to scapegoat and demonise migrants. Image
At 1.32pm on Monday 10th March, The Telegraph published the claim that based on “the first data analysis of its kind. Data from the Ministry of Justice, obtained under freedom of information laws,” shows that “Foreigners [are] convicted of nearly a quarter of sex crimes.” Image
Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, said the figures were “shocking.”

Shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, said: “Not only is mass migration making us poorer, but this data proves it’s also making us dramatically less safe.”

A Govt spokesman did not dispute the figures. Image
Read 40 tweets
Mar 17
🧵

Democracy is under attack. As with the US, Italy is 1 of 5 European Govts undermining the rule of law ‘in nearly all aspects’, with changes to the judiciary & a “heavy intolerance to media criticism”, fueling Europe’s deepening “democratic recession”.

theguardian.com/world/2025/mar…
A report by Civil Liberties Union for Europe said Italy was one of five “dismantlers” – with Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania & Slovakia – that “intentionally undermine the rule of law in nearly all aspects”.

Hungary has long been an “electoral autocracy.”

theguardian.com/world/2022/sep…
“Europe’s democratic recession has deepened.”

The report highlights judicial systems subject to political manipulation, weak law enforcement against corruption, overuse of fast-track legislative procedures, harassment of journalists & growing restrictions on peaceful protests.
Read 16 tweets
Mar 14
🧵

Many of Britain's most vocal 'anti-establishment' voices attended some of the most expensive schools on earth.

These broken boys masquerade as 'anti-elite' while serving the interests of the ultrarich by turning working class people against each other using 'Divide & Rule'. Image
Moscow born Konstantin Vadimovich Kisin came to the UK aged 11 & was sent to Clifton College boarding school (current fees: up to £18,360/term).

He recently said about Rishi Sunak "He’s a brown Hindu; how is he English?" He's a regular speaker at Paul Marshall's ARC conference. Image
Rupert James Graham Lowe was sent to Radley College, an all-boys independent boarding school (current fees: up to £19,200/term).

Lowe worked in the City of London for companies such as Morgan Grenfell, Deutsche Bank and Barings Bank. Image
Read 13 tweets
Feb 28
🧵

Jacob Rees-Mogg's dad's 1997 book was originally called The Sovereign Individual: *How to Survive & Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State*😱

It predicted “cybercurrency,” the decline of nation-states & the ascendance of a “cognitive elite” who would rule the world.
My own summary is above, but journalist @gilduran76 - of the brilliant #FrameLab - has now written his own summary, review and interpretation of it, which I reproduce with a few links and commentary, below.

Access his original (25 February) article here:

thenerdreich.com/the-sovereign-…
To fully understand Silicon Valley’s project to destroy democracy, read 'The Sovereign Individual: How to Survive and Thrive During the Collapse of the Welfare State.'

In 1999, it was rebranded as 'The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age.' Image
Read 39 tweets
Feb 17
#THREAD

Life was demonstrably worse in the 1979 than it is today.

Zymunt Bauman calls this yearning for an imagined past, ‘retrotopia’, in which the ‘Volk’ (the ‘simple folk’, who Reform UK claim to represent) are constructed as homogenous, Christian, white, & ‘indigenous’. Image
Life was demonstrably inferior in the 1970s compared to today for almost everyone in England.

Life expectancy in the UK in 1980 was 71 for men and 77 for women. By 2019, life expectancy at birth in England had increased to 79 years for men & 83.5 for women.
1. Economic Hardship

In 1979, the UK economy was struggling with high inflation, unemployment, and a budget deficit. This eroded purchasing power, making essentials like food, clothing, and housing more expensive relative to wages. "Stagflation" was a significant problem. Image
Read 40 tweets

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