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I am maybe a socialist/communist, but live in a capitalist society. I feel conflicted (CW: Champagne socialist) (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have always been a leftie, and sympathetic to socialism.

I live in a social democratic nordic country. Capitalism is the economic system.

I have thought that I should act like an economically rational entity, and make good financial decisions. Regardless of my beliefs.

I have bought an apartment with my wife, and we have started invested a significant portion in index funds to prepare for retirement in the future.

We both work ethical jobs that contribute positively to society. This was a requirement for the both of us.

Our rationalisation is that we should not sacrifice our own lives that significantly, but instead be politically active, donate a significant amount of money to the socialist party and educate people. We can contribute to change, but by not participating in the capitalist economy, we will hurt ourselves in the long run, without actually changing anything.

We have no plans of becoming "rich" by our country's standard. But the end goal is living off the pension from the government and our investments in the future.

I just feel that it is a contradictory way of living life, but we at least try to support socialist causes a lot more financially.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Pretty much what the other comment said. Your understanding of socialism seems tainted by rightwing criticisms that misrepresent socialism, communism, etc. I'm not saying this as an insult or anything, you're obviously not a rightwinger, but it's a common issue because almost all of us live in a rightwing system and grow up learning this way.

Participating in capitalism does not make you a bad socialist, it's simply necessary for survival. This is similar to the argument against a country like China, suggesting they aren't really socialist because they participate in the global, capitalist economy. But if they didn't do that, they'd never create the conditions to move forward.

Like yeah you could live in a commune or something, but that doesn't really do anything and honestly seems worse than just living a "normal" life and trying to radicalize people around you. Basically we gotta change more than our own lifestyles and until we are in a position to change the system, there's not much point in trying to figure out how to be a "good socialist" under capitlaism