Capitalist Basics
Classical Marxism
Socialism: Communism and Social Democracy
Bernie and Mamdani
100

Tools, resources, and infrastructure needed to produce goods and services

The means of production

100

Core value that most fundamentally separates socialism from both liberalism and conservatism

Equality

100

Fundamental difference between communism and social democracy

Whether or not capitalism needs to be abolished

100

Right now, private developers only build housing when they expect this

Rising rent/rising profits

200

Under capitalism, society is divided into two classes. What are they called?

Owners and workers, buourgeoisie and proletariat, white and blue collar, etc.

200

Under capitalism, workers are cut off from the outcomes of their labor, the work process, and other workers

Alienation

200

A blend of public and private ownership

Mixed economy

200

Bernie uses this word to describe the wealthy elite class that Zohran's campaign is fighting against

Oligarchs

300

This economist argued that capitalism can be saved by government deficit spending during downturns and government saving turn good times

John Maynard Keynes

300

Workers always produce more value than they are paid

Surplus value

300

Instead of the classless, stateless society Marx predicted, the Bolshevik revolution produced this type of government.

One-party authoritarian state, dictatorship of the proletariat

300

NYC cannot raise most taxes without permission from this level of government

The state of New York

400

The term for the idea that improving your own skills and education makes you more valuable in the market or capitalism's incentive to invest in yourself.

Human capital

400

Marx's theory that material and economic conditions structure law, politics, and culture

Historical materialism

400

According to the AI Socialism article, the harms of AI (addictive design, energy use, job disruption) stem from this, not from 'spooky' AI itself.

Capitalism

400

Two things the mayor of New York City can do without approval from the state of New York.

Zoning decisions, regulate wages and working conditions, make buses free, change how city streets are used, congestion pricing (maybe).

500

The idea that people pursuing their own self-interests will end up benefiting society

The invisible hand

500

Marx's stages of history, in order

Primitive Communism, Slavery, Feudalism, Capitalism, Socialism/Social democracy, Communism

500

According to Eskow's article, AI large language models can't ethically be privately owned because they were built from this.

Everyone's online data/collective human activity

500

Bernie Sanders says he is qualified to speak about Mamdani's election because he held this position for eight years

Mayor of Burlington, Vermont