Socialism for Absolute Beginners 

Howdy, friends! I hope you find this video helpful. Remember to send it to your non-socialist friends and family so that we're all on the same page when we're talking about socialism. If you appreciate this kind of content, please consider becoming a patron! It really does keep this channel afloat. You'll also get early access to every video, plus access to our patrons-only Discord server! patreon.com/secondthought

Imagine being told "You deserve healthcare and a democratically managed workplace" and getting angry at that.

The day I stopped hating socialism was the day I learned what socialism is. Coincidentally, the day I stopped loving capitalism was the day I learned what capitalism is.

This is one of the most eye-opening videos for the western world. Most people have no clue what socialism means, so your explanation makes it all the more important! Thank you!! Keep up the great educational work.

Still not entirely sure what it's all about, but from what I can gather from the video: People having a say and do in how their life is run leads to better quality of life. Feels pretty simple and beneficial honestly, why is it shunned so much?

I still can't believe I ended up learning about socialism because I was trying to understand why the suburbs suck and parking minimums are bad. What a pipeline, glad I let it happen.

I cant believe second thought isnt just a disembodied voice echoing from a cloud

To start this out I just want to say I'm constantly sending your videos to friends because the more people that wake up change will happen sooner.

Few years back I was taking some courses for fun at a local community college here in California. At one time the professor asked how many of the students identify as socialists and I eagerly raised my hand, only to realize that I was the only in a class full of young people who audibly scoffed at the idea. It was quite shocking and eye-opening for me. Shocking, because I had assumed young, educated people would be more idealistic. Eye-opening because it made me realize how the propaganda from the red-scare era was still alive in the USA all those generations later. Glad to see channel like this spreading much needed education.

When I was in high school I asked my history teacher to explain what was so bad about socialism. Their answer was "It just is". I remain, to this day, unconvinced.

It's ironic that generally pretty much everyone agrees that countries should be run democratically and that there should be no one dictator. Yet, somehow suddenly it is okay for companies and workplaces to work exactly like that. Why aren't we applying democracy to workplaces as well?

This man is a hero. So brave to put his face out there with this content knowing he's kicking the hornet nest

Another really helpful clip! For anyone who wants a user-friendly guide to how capitalism exploits the workforce, I would suggest reading "A People's Guide to Capitalism" by Hadas Thier. She explains in detail and in an accessible way how the value of our wage is always significantly less than the value we create - and how the system known as capitalism is based on endless expansion, leading to conflict and environmental degradation in the non-stop quest for profits.

Weird thing is my dad says he hates socialism. That socialism ruins countries. I asked him to describe a system that would work in all these failed socialist countries he keeps yammering about. He described roughly what you described as socialism and said it was capitalism. The "anti socialist" in my family is an even bigger socialist than me. Wtf does that tell you?

It means so much that you mention Chile. My family is from Chile and they left during the reign of Pinochet my grandfather was imprisoned and tortured at the national stadium. The horrific coup that ensued in 1973 was a disgusting example of American intervention in other nations.

I happened upon your channel from a different video essay channel and I am so grateful. Trying to start learning more

This is why education and knowledge is so important for the progression of a society. Societies exist because of its people.

I remember there was an accident in my school district where some kids died because the gas tank ignited and prevented them from getting off the bus, a judge told the company that made the busses they needed something to prevent this from happening and gave them a timetable to comply. After looking into the problem they found a mesh cage around the gas tank could help prevent whatever happened and the company that made them for the busses would make the cages and add them to future orders for less than a dollar a bus. The bus company was so outraged they had to comply they waited until the very last day to make the change. The change that would help save children's lives. The change that cost them less than a dollar a bus.

Took me a second to realise that it was you talking, good to see you mate, looking forward to sharing this👌🏻

So basically the common problem with all these systems is people. People corrupt, even those who start out with good intentions seem to end up corrupt when power comes into play

This was a year ago, but I hope that the metrics have turned around, and that you are in a more supported position now. I started watching your videos to understand what the Moderate partyparty was about, and I stuck around to try to understand more about politics in general. I find your messages clear and your delivery clean with just enough personality touched in. Thank you.

1:25 "To have meaningful disagreements you need to know what it is you disagree with" - we gravely need this one in our world!

Chile: "We just made Socialism work!" CIA: "So anyway I started blasting!"

immediately went to see if sources were listed for some of the stats and they were. Good work man.

Amazing video. I always supported socialism but had questions about it, if it would really work or if it’s just utopia. This videos answered all my questions. The mention of what happened in Chile was perfect! Great job!

As someone with social anxiety, much respect for going on camera rather than your standard voice over narration. Quality content as always dude

As a more “advanced” socialist, I really appreciated this video full heartedly. Keeping it simple and using a kind tone really helps people who might have just begun to learn this stuff. I’m certain it would have helped me in my journey. Also, really cool to finally put a face on you, JT. Keep up the good work, comrade.

Thank you for the interesting video. Ive felt these sentiments from time to time, but never actually realized what they led to before I discovered your channel and a few others. Many thanks for the insight👍

My grandparents lived in socialist Romania. They had to wake everytime at 4 A.M. to stay in line for breed. People were starving. Everyone was stealing food from depos. 6 days of work per week, 10 hours per day and working conditions really bad (according to the people living in that period) The idea of socialism trully scares me, because of the storiea I heard from the elders here and somehow I'd feel better to not repeat their mistakes. I heard a lot of such stories from other ex socialist country, and I don't believe that it is just capitalist propaganda, because the ones from Romania certainly are not. Was it just socialism aplied badly? Also, small note: The "no access to medicine or higher learning" only happens in America. In most of the capitalist countries from the entire world, you don't have to pay for medical treatment and most important, higher education is really cheap. Also note: I hate capitalism, but I am also unsure about socialism

While I was in 6th grade, my class learned about South America. There was a line in the textbook that literally said, "Chile's Communist dictatorship was overthrown by a U.S. backed military coup." Our OFFICIAL school textbooks lie about history. "Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable." -George Orwell

The Allende tale has always been heartbreaking for me. How anyone with a functioning brain can hear it and still think that the american empire is anything but vile is beyond me.

Careful, this video oversimplifies socialism and capitalism in an extremely bias manner. It simplifies both concepts so much that key details are left out. If you want a holistic view on both political ideologies, I suggest reading comprehensive books on them.

Just wanted to say a belated Thank You for this video. This gives me a starting point in talking to people about this wonderful idea of Socialism that I'm beginning to dig into wholeheartedly. It gives me a starting point for my own learning and growth as well.

The use of "tactical white guy" was exemplary. It sucks that optics matter as much as they do for what you intend this video to do, but they do, and it's good that you understand that and can use it to our advantage.

Another thing comes to mind about socialism is how “property” is defined. Socialists I knew when I was in college and grad school were against private property rights, which to them meant you didn’t own clothes on your back, your home, your food, your bed, your pets, your books, etc. literally everything in their definition was owned by the government, which is something that I always thought was insane. It’s only over the past few years that I understood those “socialists” confused the difference between private property and personal property. Things like factories, businesses, and real estate are privately owned in a capitalist society, which is what socialists really take aim at. On the other hand, things like your personal property (clothes, food, furniture, personal photos, books, family momentous, etc) are not considered public property by socialists if I understand correctly. Nevertheless, most people my generation are stuck with that misconception because of how socialists have been using language in their communication with non-socialists.

Hey I really liked your video. I really think you did a great job explaining in a easy way what socialism is about. I think i would be cool if you used different lenguages tracks or subtitles so it can reach a wider audience. I offer my self to do it for Spanish if you like

“I can’t wait to finish this raft and escape capitalism!” Said no one ever.

Oh lord imma about to SIIIMMPPPP 🥵

The new format actually feels more honest in a way. 10/10 can't wait for the next one

It's frustrating though, because I always tell people that if this is what they believe, they should start doing it.

I watched the video hoping to learn about socialism but you talked about capitalism more than socialism. The video is greatly produced but i did not get what i was searching for. The title does not do justice. The title says socialism for beginners but the video is more like capitalism bad, socialism good. Again, good work on the video but not the right title for it.

“Tactical white guy deployed!” Lol this was a great video thank you JT

I owe my appreciation for the concept of socialism to my sociology professor. I took every one of his courses he taught at my university because he was so eye opening and thought provoking. If you're out there Dr. Wilson, I appreciate you and your weird hippy ponytail.

I always believed that the fact we have to pay for food and other things we need to survive was inherently violent. I always believed in what socialism represents but I was taught that communism was bad. When I finally learned what communism represents, I started calling myself one.

this was quite insightful. I am an aspiring business owner and have mixed feelings about BOTH socialism and capitalism. but your work here is quite interesting. Great stuff! Keep doing what you do. It's important to learn perspectives we're don't always agree with 100%

it's very important to note that countries like the US and Great Britain grew so large in power not only because of government control but also because of this massive factor that is imperialism.

I bought a couple cheap stocks for Ford and a shareholder’s ‘meeting’ was held, really an email was sent out to all the shareholders about different problems that needed to be voted on and the kind of stuff we voted on was pretty mundane except for ONE: whether or not Ford, as a company, should work toward ensuring none of its products were made through child labor in foreign countries. It was a no brainer, yes we should stop child labor, but what threw me off was the “advisors recommend voting against this proposition”. I mean seriously, what the hell

It’s also interesting to consider whether the rising living standards we’re attributing to capitalism are actually a result of capitalism itself or socialization under capitalism (eg increasing public spending and access to education, health, retirement, disability pensions, housing, social insurance, etc)

Switch comments from top to newest and you will see what people really think

The problem with the ideal view of the 50s and how "capitalism used to work" is that, even then it only did so because of massive exploitation of classes that are just ignored. Immigrant workers, colonial and quasi-colonial systems etc.

When I first asked myself what socialism is, after hearing so much propaganda, I turned to RU-vid. The videos were long and theory based, aka not accessible for me to understand clearly. After finding some videos explaining that in its simplest form (democracy in the workplace) it really started to resonate with me and helped me understand why my working life has been so miserable. This is a great tool for many to digest the basics and help expand their world view!

Thank you so very much for all of your videos. I discovered you recently and love your work.

The background “noise” that gets louder and louder interferes with watching this. Too bad. Seems like a very informative and useful video.

found this video through a QR code sticker on a random table outside the college police building of my college campus. Keep up the good work👍🏻

I am by no means a beginner, but I appreciate that you make this kind of videos. More people should learn about this

I would love to share this video with family and friends but none of them know english! Anyways thanks for this video. It will serve me as a guide to explain socialism. Especially when I encounter people with conservative views who do not read.

One of the main issues in the US is the fact that people get shut down as soon as they try to talk about Socialism to non-Socialists. The government has been braineashing people for way too long to the point where people don't do their research to make a sound conclusion of the topic.

I don't know if this is the first time you've included a talking head shot of yourself in between your expertly selected Storyblocks, but i found it to be an even more enjoyable video than usual. Wonderful job! Now to spam all my group chats and Discord servers with this video link 😇

"Capitalism bad so that must mean socialism good" when you compare capitalism not to actual socialism that has been tried but to some imagenary world where it worked you can make that imagenary world sound like Utopia but that doesn't change the reality of what socialism leads to.

under capitalism people will gradually lose more and more freedom because you spend money to make money and that creates a pretty polarizing effect.

I came to this video with a somewhat open-mind but was mainly skeptic and was ready to spout counterpoint after counterpoint. Then I realized, I agreed with almost everything in the video. I ignorantly thought was a shooting for was a more practical capitalism, with necessitates cared for so society can develop. Come to realize, I wa socialist all along

I’m a patron and watched this the moment it was available. One of the best videos! Give it all the likes, comments, and shares as you can!

There is jothing wrong with socialism as a voluntary arrangement. In a free society any group is free to pool their resources and live comunally, whether they call it a commune, a kibbutz, a monastery, or a family, it's nobody else's business, so long as everyone entered into the association freely, and is free to leave. The problem with socialism is when people with guns come and force everyone to live communally. Its essentially a return to feudalism.

I found out i was a socialist eariler this year in February because of this channel and i wanna thank you for that while i still am young with it im still pround to be one because i believe their can be a better world with socialism but mostly that equlity and more freer society can happen even if i know its not perfect.

I think you showing your face really humanizes the channel in a way that helps to remove the bogeyman aspect of Socialism. Keep up the quality content :)

This is why I always called Capitalism "Corporate-Feudalism" or "Neo-Feudalism". We are still serfs. The only thing that changed were terms, it's all just semantic change.

Excellent video! I'm new to the topic and this was a great way to start

Nailed it. Well presented and summary should include "The Caring/Fairness" angle.

I found your channel about a year ago and it has completely changed my world view. You're an inspiration and I appreciate the work you do! I love the new style; you did a great job lighting your scene! Adding the purple accent light to the background and another one to spill on your shadow side is a nice touch! I love the idea of using the colored light as a fill light which makes the whole image blend together well. The only thing I would suggest is setting up a kicker light on camera right with the fill side. This will define you better from your background as you fall off into darkness a little bit on that side. Other than that small tweak I think you did a great job lighting this scene! Keep up the good work! (Also maybe slide your whole shot camera left a little bit to center yourself on the computer monitor and wall art a little more, it is close though!)

When my friend first sent me this video I came into it with a pretty negative mindset. After watching it I still felt negatively, I didn't want to admit the flaws we have in the current system. I can now say that after studying more about Leftism and Socialism I'm firmly convinced of the benefits Socialism would have for all of us. I came back and watched this video again and it all clicked. I thank you for explaining everything in such a clear and concise way. You've helped me alot in understanding what Socialism means.

I'm a successful plumber who would like to purchase the plumbing company I work for and turn it into a worker run cooperative. Each worker of a certain number of years would be given a share of the company profits (minus the cost of purchasing it in the first place, which would be paid down first) on top of their salary spit evenly regardless their position in the company as well as a voting share in company descisions. I would rather see 15 of us living very well, with bright futures for us and our families then only one of us living high on the hog while the other 14 scrape by. I cant even imagine how high the staff retention rate would be and we would surely attract and retain top talent from the apprentice pool as the thought of being part of something greater than the sum of its parts is very alluring for many of us in the trades (and humanity at large). This is my dream and I'm pretty sure it could work once the kinks get ironed out. Democratic socialism for the win. I cant wait untill the working class emerges from the fog of intense conservative capitalist propaganda and starts to embrace socialism again. The time is ripe for sweeping change. They don't care about us so we have to take what's ours.

3:00 can we just appreciate the effort our cameraman took to go back in time to film the astounding background footage? 💯💯💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

I wish I had had something like this back in my teens. I learned about socialism through a very particular set of events and I might've very easily gone a different route. We should facilitate these resources to people. This video and You're Probably Already a Socialist are essential

The part about the coup in Chile was shocking. This channel makes me rethink so much about politics and history. Thank you for these videos.

Amazing content, Amazing person. Dude I've followed you for some time and I have to say your content needs to be shown in schools.

The example of Chile wasnt full fledge socialism, and it is more a show of social democracy that attempt to give much more rights to the people and more state intervinience to help the economy complex, this is a perfect example of a middle point we should achieve.

I like to reference the native people of the world whose tribes could only grow and survive through mutual aid. That’s basically socialism but socialism is a European concept. Other tribes would just call it being a human and caring for your whole community.

"I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals." ― Albert Einstein, Why Socialism? "The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness." ― Niels Bohr "If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality." ― Stephen Hawking, 2015 Reddit AMA

Appreciate this one JT. Hopefully the people i sent it to actually watch

Most people view socialism as China & North Korea, which are actually capitalist and feudal respectively.

Really dig the integration of the face cam. I love how in audio format this could be exactly the same in feel as your previous videos, and adding in the face cam just makes it that much more engaging. You’re really really good at layering in these additions like inserting in these little bits of humor without fundamentally changing the quality of the content.

I missed this video on Patreon (don't blame me it was a mental health break) so cue my surprise when there's a whole face reveal! I know you've done them in the past but I never actually encountered one before. In any case, I'm hopeful that such a large percentage of Millennials in the USA is favouring socialism and also not cowering in fear when communism is mentioned.

You deserve 10 million subscribers 🙌

Thank you so much for making this video. I've held the views for a good amount of time and I never wanted to say 'Socialist' because it's such a scary word to so many, but this video and other resources made me more comfortable with terminology that can be viewed "extremist" by many

Basically if you see Socialism being Badmouthed so badly by the Far-Right then you know It's more of a Beneficial System that could help Everyone & they're doing their damnest to discredit it at all cost.

This was interesting. My son sent it to me. He believes as you do and is subscribed to your channel. This video created many questions for me. And I plan on finding resources to answer them and create further discussion.

Haiti Cuba, Venezuela Guatamala and the list goes on..

14:36 i have a question, so i know they're both on the left side, but isn't it essentially the main thought behind communism? is there something that differenciate them about this between them? (just wanted to precise that i have nothing against communism, i'm just curious)

Even my parents who grew up in a communist country resenting the military police crackdowns against protest had to admit that the system was better at providing health care, education, and other human needs. As our countries increasingly show that they don't care about these things, and constantly defund budgets for actually improving quality of life while ramping up police and military budgets, I can't help but think that all the propaganda against socialist countries from capitalist ones is just projection. It's time to get more people educated and organized so we can (re)build systems that actually serve human needs instead of just making a line go up. Thanks for another video JT!

"The inability to imagine a world in which things are different is only evidence of a poor imagination, not of the impossibility of change" Rutger Bregman

I would guess that the stability and gains mentioned at min 7:05 were given to the working class due to the need yo compete with the USSR, that is why the capitalists held themselves in check and shared a bit more of their wealth. For the last 30 years it is getting worse as there is nobody to put them in place...

I can’t afford to sponsor u, but I really appreciate this video ! I resonated with so much of what u said!

This video is exactly what I need. I’m a recovering conservative, and I’m slowly moving further and further left but I really don’t know much about it. Beginner stuff like this is really helpful

This is the best, most approachable intro to socialism I've ever seen. Great work as always!

I think a lot about this post I once saw online. I don't remember the exact wording at this point, but it was a response to all the people angry about younger generations supporting the idea of socialism, and said "It's not that I support Socialism, but if you keep classifying more and more basic human rights like food security and affordable healthcare and fair wages as 'socialism', then I guess yes, I'm going to support it." It's not that word itself that is attractive to young people, it's what we're told it would provide. If you called it something else, that would become the thing they support instead. People have used 'socialism' as a term to describe any economic model they don't like (in the same way 'millennial' became the go-to term for 'young people I don't like'); for most people it's just a word at this point.

I really applaud your work on this video, and just your decision to tackle something like this. With such comparatively elementary concept, we sometimes don’t expose the nuances within. Sometimes due to just the dogmatic insecurities and snobbery of our field(s) of thought. Like how we won’t request any clarification on a term, phrase , or concept if it seems like our peers understand the milieu automatically. However, often we don’t seek, nor receive, coherent, cogent layouts of the more foundational terms and concepts because they’re used so frivolously on such a frequent basis. I noticed when I was TA-ing that my 1101 kids taking their required social science core classes would get such a detailed understanding of our lessons, but the older, more advanced students were all over the place. Usually due to their hesitancy to request deeper explanations of what I meant when I’d reference, say, “The Spartacus League” or “The New Left.” Admittedly, I presumed they had been made aware of what those were in the previous semester(s), even though they’d all taken the preliminary courses from different instructors (and occasionally at different schools altogether). It wasn’t at all like the European History freshman or the Foundations Of Western Philosophy freshman who’d nail down everything from the lecture. I was so ashamed when it would be late in the semester and I’d somehow uncover that a truly good and diligent student didn’t grasp the basics of critical theory or the most surface-level definition of “phenomenonolgy” or “teleological.” We hear “socialism/socialist”, “libertarian”, “fascist”, and such so much, and I’m sure tons of bright individuals with drive and vivacity for the world around them have really needed such a poignant, no frills sorta video like the one you made here. This has already been wordier than I’d intended, but I will throw out that I had a couple good avenues to offer those that needed a better core understanding of what socialism means: it can be tempting to grasp it in contrast to what it is most aggressively unlike. Ignore temptations to sacrifice logic, like, deducing if one can comprehend “capitalism”, “socialism” must more or less be what reasonably isn’t “capitalism.” The fallacy is already apparent, no? Of course, such grand dichotomies have their benefits and venue. To really get a nuanced and in-depth grip on it though, line it up with its like-terms first. Delineate what makes one “socialism” and the other “communism”, then analyze them against the something like “capitalism.” I know I rambled a lot, but bravo on the approach and execution of this video, my friend. Cheers.

I stumbled on this channel with the video "Why Would Anyone Work Under Socialism?" And I'm so glad the algorithm slipped this one in for me. You make excellent points and are encouraging people to research things themselves and have thoughtful, meaningful discussion. It warms my heart. Thank you for these videos.

You are doing an incredible work. This is one way to advance the socialist cause. Because when people know what socialism actually is, they support it. That's why it is important to combat the capitalist propaganda and advance the socialist narrative. The masses will support socialism because socialism supports them.

Good video. The ratio of 'bold statements' to supporting evidence or more technical/in-depth explanations is, IMO, a bit off though. There's a lot to unpack in some of what you say, although I am aware it's difficult to do so in 25min. Also, virtually only PROS for socialism and virtually only CONS for capitalism? That's always suspect of strong bias. Still, good production value and informative!

When I was in high school, in my senior class, one of my classmates was actually a registered communist - and this was in 2006. He even worse a pin of the Soviet flag on his letterman jacket. This classmate was one of my best friends in high school, and we have kept in touch since. One of the jokes that he made and I have used since then was that he was one of the three members of the American Communist Party. At the time, I had...something of a better understanding about socialism and communism than most others in my home of central Texas, though it was not really that much better. I had this understanding before I first met my friend, and while he mentioned his political affiliation on occasion, it was pretty much always in jest. Then about ten years later, I started half-jokingly saying, "Well, meet America's fourth communist."👉😏 Then about a year after that, it more-or-less stopped being a joke, though I still keep a humorous tone whenever I say it. Then within a year since I started that, my brother started saying, "Meet America's fifth communist." Then our cousin started saying that she was now the sixth - and she was a cop when she started that. This all occurred *LONG* before I even heard of Second Thought or Yugopnik or Farron Cousins or Beau of the Fifth Column or pretty much all other lefty media. Still, watching and having this video helps.