c/politics · by FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works · 60d

Gen-Z socialism, from Zohran to Zack and beyond. The world’s leftists are embracing a new set of economic ideas

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/06/04/gen-z-socialism-from-zohran-to-zack-and-beyond

218 points · 42 comments · view on lemmy.world

42 Comments

homes@piefed.world · 53 pts · 60d (11 replies)

From Gen-X, i’m here with you kids

FWIW: I still consider myself a kid 😁

orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 18 pts · 60d (7 replies)

X gonna give it to ya. (Same here, just being silly.)

homes@piefed.world · 7 pts · 60d (6 replies)

Oh, was i not silly enough for ya kitten?

😛

orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 60d (5 replies)

meow? (is that the right answer?)

homes@piefed.world · 6 pts · 59d (4 replies)

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 59d (3 replies)

You’re not supposed to smoke it.

Wait.

I’m pretty sure you are. But not all at once!

homes@piefed.world · 2 pts · 59d (2 replies)

I do believe the instructions were to “eat me“ or “drink me“

Had Alice smoked either, I’m quite positive that the adventures she had had would have been a lot more… “explosively colorful”

I happen to know that from “experience”

I decided to get to New a new roommate in 2012 in this manner by welcoming him with some 1990s era acid.

He’s still lost somewhere in Prospect Park

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 59d

Sure, but the cat was always smoking a hookah.

Bahnd@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 60d (2 replies)

Noone ever truely grows up. Some people are just better at hiding it (or choose not to).

homes@piefed.world · 4 pts · 59d

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 59d

I never met a mud puddle. I don’t want to jump in. With both feet.

the_abecedarian@piefed.social · 50 pts · 59d (10 replies)

this article is so stupid.

The new socialists thus want the state to dictate the prices of many goods and services, especially essentials such as food and rent. Where money is required it will come, almost exclusively, by squeezing the very wealthiest. It is a form of retail politics that appeals not to notions of the common good, as in prior waves of socialism, but to people’s narrow self-interest. Lower my rent! Cut my bills! Give me free buses! Protect my job! The solutions are naive, and often unworkable. But the message is so simple, and so attractive, that this Gen-Z socialism is gaining adherents across the democratic world.

None of that is socialism. it's social democracy (aka gentler capitalism) at best. lower rent, lower bills, free buses, and job protections are not "selfish", they apply to everyone.

jtrek@startrek.website · 13 pts · 59d (1 reply)

Whoever wrote that quoted bit is an asshole and fool.

homes@piefed.world · 8 pts · 59d

“Tool of the capitalist state” was the first phrase that jumped to mind. “Enemy of the people.” was another.

“Fuck that person” was what I settled upon

red_tomato@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 59d

people’s narrow self-interest

As opposed to what? The ultra wealthy’s narrow self- interest?

BottleBoardBakon@lemmy.ml · 6 pts · 59d

Aren't all of those things the common good? It is not my, my, my... It is our, our, our.

FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 59d

I agree, yet another economist L

homes@piefed.world · 3 pts · 59d

Fuck that article so much.

TheDingNoiseInToolSongs@eviltoast.org · 2 pts · 59d (1 reply)

We had this in Germany and it worked, until they invented "new social democracy" which is just no social democracy.

the_abecedarian@piefed.social · 2 pts · 59d

social democracy's inherent weakness is that it's still capitalism, so capital is always trying to undermine it

aesthelete@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 59d

It is a form of retail politics that appeals not to notions of the common good, as in prior waves of socialism, but to people’s narrow self-interest.

And what form of retail politics predicated it? Oh that's right, a type of politics for the narrow self-interests of <1% of the country. Lower my taxes! Cut me a tax break for my private jet! Give me a bail out! Protect my company!

Schmoo@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 59d

It's an Economist article. They write from the perspective of capital owners. Of course they're going to belittle socialist ideas, because they present a threat to their wealth. If they were smart they would support social democracy in order to preserve the capitalist system, but American capitalists are arrogant and shortsighted.

frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io · 45 pts · 60d (2 replies)

New? Many of these things are employed in smarter countries because we know they work. We've just been dismantling social safety nets and wasting money on state sponsored violence instead, so we're decades behind everyone else and act surprised that socialist fundamentals help with social problems tied to biased capitalism.

chahn.chris@piefed.social · 8 pts · 59d (1 reply)

Hey don’t forget about state sponsored bail outs for business owners!

The socialism is good if it’s for the ruling class!

halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 5 pts · 59d

Privatize the profits, Socialize the losses.

RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 59d

CarpalTunnelButt@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 60d (7 replies)

Is Zohran GenZ or millennial?

marxismtomorrow@lemmy.today · 15 pts · 59d (1 reply)

Zohran's pretty clear into millennial territory at 35, but I think the article is referring to his primary voter base which showed a massive jump of under-30s compared to pretty much every other candidate in recent history.

PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 59d

Anyone who is in their 30s and early 40s is a millennial at this moment. Us old ass Gen Zers are pushing 30 now lol.

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 59d (3 replies)

Or leftist? I thought he was DemSoc.

Lasherz12@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 59d (2 replies)

Isn't the term leftist encompassing both socialist and democratic socialists, including communism and Marxism? I also associate it with humanism.

SGforce@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 59d (1 reply)

Anything left of liberal

halcyoncmdr@piefed.social · 5 pts · 59d

In the US, it's anyone left of fascist now.

homes@piefed.world · 2 pts · 59d

Keep doing the right thing, and nobody will care