Socialism . . . Seriously: A Brief Guide to Surviving the 21st Century (Revised & Updated Edition)

By Danny Katch

A sharp, funny, and engaging introduction to socialist ideas, movements, and solutions for a world in crisis.

Now with 50% more socialism!

Socialism…Seriously is a warm and witty introduction to the radical traditions of protest and politics that stretch from Karl Marx through today’s movements for democracy, equality, and a livable planet. In this thoroughly revised and expanded edition, Danny Katch uses humor and imagination to take an unflinching look at the rising threats posed by climate change, billionaire oligarchs, and the far right—and makes a compelling case that a socialist world is both necessary and possible.

Katch separates the lies spun by capitalism’s defenders from the system’s brutal realities, and is candid about debates and challenges facing the socialist movement today. This book is for people who want to take a deeper look at what socialism is… but maybe not that deep.

Sincere, irreverent, informative, and playful, Socialism… Seriously is a unique and timely contribution to our movements for justice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Haymarket Books
• Release date: Jan 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781642598643

Book preview

1.

ALL IS NOT LOST

B ooks like this often begin by describing just how awful everything has gotten under capitalism. But is that really what you want? Aren’t you already feeling stressed out enough?

Anxiety levels have been steadily rising during this era of unapologetic racism, unrestrained police violence, and unbridled corporate greed—and that was before the COVID pandemic and accelerated pace of fires and floods pushed the public sense of panic to a seeming all-time high. At this point, hearing bad news can be paralyzing. If I start in on you right away with depressing tales of extreme poverty and mass extinctions, I’m afraid you’ll be less likely to take to the streets than crawl under your sheets.

A 2021 survey from the online activist organization Avaaz found that 84 percent of young people around the world were at least somewhat worried about climate change. Almost half were so anxious that it affected their daily life and functioning, with even higher numbers in the poorer countries facing the heaviest impact of rising storms and ocean levels. It used to be that the only people talking about the end of the world were cult leaders, goth kids, and street corner prophets holding signs that read The End Is Nigh. Now we all can get lost for hours staring silently at our phones while doomscrolling—a word that in my childhood would only have existed as the name of that one weird dystopian song on every album in the 1980s, the one written by the drummer after he got high and watched Blade Runner.* In the 2020s, if you want to freak people out, stand on the corner with a sign declaring Everything’s Going to Be Great! Within minutes you’ll be surrounded by news vans, social workers, and a SWAT team.

Brooding over the apocalypse has become the opposite of edgy: it’s Disney. The corporation that once sold us fairy tales about one day marrying Prince Charming now creates precise CGI renderings of interplanetary Armageddon. There is no Circle of Life when every character in Star Wars: Rogue One is vaporized by the world-destroying Death Star, and Thanos destroying half of all life in the universe in Avengers: Infinity War is the grimmest possible realization of the old song It’s a Small World (After All).

When even Disney has gone dark, it’s clear that doom is becoming its own kind of dominant narrative. These movies (some of which are great) connect to our feelings about living in a world under constant threat, but they’ll never seriously explore solutions that might threaten their own revenue streams, which is why we don’t see superheroes vaporizing oil pipelines or SHIELD agents forming a union.

Most of us spend our days marinating in this sense of dread. Whether your preferred strategy for dread is to ignore, obsess, or aggressively deny, chances are you find it hard to think coherently about the underlying issues for much more than thirty seconds. In fact, I don’t think we’re quite ready for it now. So let’s take a quick historical detour, all the way back to 1587 and the so-called Lost Colony of Roanoke. It’s a story you may have heard about another society that was doomed—only it’s a lie. Roanoke was never lost at all. It was found, saved, and adopted by Indigenous neighbors. This is a history with a happy ending, but it’s one that doesn’t promote capitalism and colonialism, and so the guardians of American culture simply erased it, replacing it with a version that ends in disaster and apocalypse. Sound familiar?

* * *

Roanoke was the first English settlement in North America, on the Outer Banks of what is today known as North Carolina. English settlers arrived in 1587 with a belief in their right to claim any land they discovered in the Americas. A hundred years earlier, the pope had granted Spain and Portugal this right—which became known as the Doctrine of Discovery—so they could spread the Christian faith and demonstrate to the clueless Natives who stewarded and honored the land that in fact the Lord meant for His Earth to be conquered, fenced off, and sucked dry of its nutrients and metals.*

The 115 colonists were excited to demonstrate this superior European knowledge of land use but were held back by their stunning lack of actual knowledge of the land. The funder of the Roanoke expedition, Sir Walter Raleigh, thought that on the other side of the Outer Banks was not a giant continent but the Pacific Ocean, which would make Roanoke an excellent pit stop for ships making their way to China. Raleigh also seemed to think the area was home to mythical creatures and fabulous riches, because that’s what the Spanish had once been told by a local Native they kidnapped—not realizing that the poor guy was telling them whatever they wanted to hear so they would eagerly sail back to his home and he could escape, which is exactly what he did.†

The colonists must have been disappointed to find a narrow and scrubby beach that was extremely far from China and lacked a single silver-pooping llama, or whatever weird stuff they were promised by Sir Walter. Like settlers everywhere, they depended on the expertise and goodwill of Indigenous neighbors, so when they mistakenly attacked their Native allies from the nearby island of Croatoan because they thought they were a different group of Indians (facepalm) they considered hostile, they knew they were screwed.

The colonists sent their governor John White back to England to get more supplies and reinforcements. Bad weather and a naval war with Spain delayed White’s return by three years. When he finally arrived, he found Roanoke completely abandoned, with only one silent indication of the colonists’ fate. At the center of the abandoned site was a word, carved into a wooden post: