What Is Socialism?

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

I think socialism is about making sure that the core necessities of life, food, housing, education, and so on are guaranteed to everyone. And I think that's a minimum requirement of socialism. The idea that we have intrinsic value can only truly come to light in a society in which there are certain collective or social guarantees. So if we think that democracy is a good thing, why do we allow our workplaces to be run in autocratic ways?

Bhaskar Sunkara is a democratic socialist, political writer, founding editor of Jacobin, president of The Nation, and author of The Socialist Manifesto. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– House of Macadamias: https://houseofmacadamias.com/lex and use code LEX to get 20% of your first order
– Linode: https://linode.com/lex to get $100 free credit
– Onnit: https://lexfridman.com/onnit to get up to 10% off
– InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off
– ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod to get 3 months free

EPISODE LINKS:
Bhaskar’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sunraysunray
Jacobin: https://jacobin.com
Jacobin’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/jacobin
The Nation: https://thenation.com
The Socialist Manifesto (book): https://amzn.to/3hKpt2p

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman
YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips

SUPPORT & CONNECT:
– Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast
– Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman
– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman

OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(13:24) – Socialism
(31:54) – Communism
(58:31) – Class struggle
(1:09:33) – Quality of life
(1:17:29) – Unions
(1:29:57) – Corruption
(1:43:15) – Freedom of speech
(1:51:38) – War
(1:59:24) – Karl Marx
(2:13:03) – Socialist vision
(2:18:28) – AI and socialism
(2:23:26) – Socialist policies
(2:48:45) – Billionaires
(2:54:43) – Bernie Sanders
(3:05:10) – AOC
(3:17:11) – 2024 presidential election
(3:22:05) – China
(3:31:06) – Jacobin
(3:38:35) – The Socialist Manifesto
(3:45:55) – Advice for young people
(3:49:28) – Meaning of life