That’s because they were authoritarian, not socialist. Just like the Nazis called themselves socialist, despite being obviously authoritarian. Same way that American fascists love to co-opt and redefine words like “liberty, freedom, grooming,” etc.
This guy refuses to engage with the fact that the Zapatistas exist, an anarchist region with at least 300,000 people living under it, and also that Revolutionary Spain existed, an extremely successful example of anarchism in practice which resisted Nazi Germany better than any democratic nation in mainland Europe. I have pointed them out to him a few times now and he just keeps ignoring it, like an NPC in Westworld. It’s more comfortable to deny reality when it lets you go on believing your existing beliefs. Admitting that you’re wrong is hard.
That’s because they were authoritarian, not socialist. Just like the Nazis called themselves socialist, despite being obviously authoritarian. Same way that American fascists love to co-opt and redefine words like “liberty, freedom, grooming,” etc.
Socialism is authoritarian. There has never existed an example of a Socialist regime that wasn’t.
This guy refuses to engage with the fact that the Zapatistas exist, an anarchist region with at least 300,000 people living under it, and also that Revolutionary Spain existed, an extremely successful example of anarchism in practice which resisted Nazi Germany better than any democratic nation in mainland Europe. I have pointed them out to him a few times now and he just keeps ignoring it, like an NPC in Westworld. It’s more comfortable to deny reality when it lets you go on believing your existing beliefs. Admitting that you’re wrong is hard.