I know what liberalism is. But the first time I encountered that it is used so often was when I looked into English-speaking social media sites like Reddit two years ago.
Spoiler
It is not common to know about reddit here, I live in Bratwurstland. I just wanted to join the pigeon subreddit back then.
Bourgeois, bourgeois class consciousness, bourgeois thinking, bourgeois revolution, etc. The same with petty bourgeoisie etc. etc.
I have the complete collected works of Lenin physically available in german. I have the most important writings of Marx and Engels with me, as well as Tito, Thälmann, Karl Liebknecht, Stalin, Trotsky, Plekhanov, even Lykassenko and some more. (I dont just buy writings I like, but also writing I dont like)
Liberalism didn’t come up that often, only when it was actually about liberalism. But the way liberals are often referred to on English-language social media sites, including here, is a bit strange to me.
Idk about other languages that much. I also didn’t encountered this kind of usage of liberal in the russian version of Lenin’s writings. Bourgeois, bourgeois class consciousness, bourgeois thinking, bourgeois revolution, etc. The same with petty bourgeoisie etc. etc.
Maybe there some here who know what I am talking about and can explain it to me.
Edit: Why did Voyager destroyed my formattig many times
Edit2: Thank you all for your engagement. You helped me a lot how to understand it more correctly if I read it from someone using english language .
Liberal, to me, is anyone who supports any part of pro-capitalist ideology and goals, whether it be
Also known originally, as propetarianism/classical-liberalism, a le John Locke and Adam Smith…
neoliberalism/IMF structural adjustment of exploitative debt and cuts of social spending, privatization (post-cold war economic policy)
pro-west regime-change NGOs, gulf-state-esque collaborators, and comprador nation-states (post-cold war foreign policy)
Liberals change and flow, by their material conditions and situation… in fact, libs only occurred as a result of bourgeois (bourgeois now is a historical term to me) classes trying to justify themselves as a whole…
Eg. One liberal in rev. France may support beheading monarchies, while a whig lib or Kerenskyist lib in the U.K or Russia may support the Royalty itself
Idk, bourgeois or translated as “bürgerlich” here is an normal word, nothing historical at all and is still used in marxist discussions. It would be very strange if I start referring to something as “liberal”. If a local comrade says, that the SPD is a bourgeois (bürgerliche) party, I understand it instantly. But liberal would be odd.
Have you ever tried asking the average person if they’ve heard of bourgeoisie… chances are, they’d think you’re a Marxist or someone old-fashioned in their speech…
Liberal and capitalist, in my personal opinion, are more exact descriptions of what we have, as an apologist and economic class… in the Anglophone world…
tidbit
“bourgeois”, to me, has a connotation of the precursor of the capitalist class, being little smol beans living in towns (burghs), during medieval times… literally as a ‘middle’ class
They obviously don’t carry this title anymore, do they
This isn’t a good thing; it’s a result of a concerted effort to make people think Marxism is old and irrelevant.
I really dislike the notion that we should stop using the term ‘bourgeoisie’ just because of the pop notion that it’s an outdated word and that nobody knows how to spell it.
Yes, the English language is constantly evolving and terms fall out of use, but as they do so the language doesn’t just reflect the dominant thought patterns but reinforces them. English has a high chance to remain the most popular global lingua franca even after Western hegemony falls, and the evolution of the language will remain a battle ground.
There is slow progress in people learning that liberalism means liberty for markets and not for people, but most people still think it means liberation of individuals, genders and minorities. The fastest way to ‘liberate’ someone from that error is to get them understanding the class conflict, and the term ‘bourgeoisie’ is still relevant to that.
I already explained it. The german writings of Marx mention something as “bourgeois” by the word “bürgerlich”. It is a total normal german word, it is widley used, like in political context not only in marxist spheres. Look here
Also if you are discussing the character of fascist Germany, do you say then something like:“Fascist Germany was liberal in its core but different in the outside compared to the USA”?
Hmm, not for me tbh. They have precursors ideend. But my understand is mostly like that of Marx and Engels:
Funfact I learned now: Bobo is listened as an abbreviation for bourgeoisie on Wiktionary. I will remember this. Gulagtime for the Bobo.
I stand corrected…
Seems like burgerlich is used to describe center right: non socialists in Germany
Also, Bobo, in my language, is used to describe someone stupid, lmao