Capitalist, Democratic Socialist, Communist - What Does It All Mean?

Michael Smith Self-destruction is not an "excess" of capitalism, it is the very essence of the system. No real socialist can "still" be a capitalist, any more than a feminist can still be a male supremacist. Inasmuch as socialism refers to a worker-controlled society,"democratic socialist" is simply a redundant term. People who call themselves by that name are usually democratic capitalists, which is ultimately a contradictory term, however helpful New Deal style ameliorative measures prove to be. Bolshevism muddied the picture by calling itself socialist when in fact it was state controlled capitalism (the workers were never in control). The best way out of this terminological swamp is to call capitalists "anti-socialists," since the system is anti-social to the core, and anti-capitalists "socialists."