Has there been any discussion among socialists about how minority opinions would or would not be protected under socialism? I am concerned specifically about minority opinions within the proletariat; obviously a dictatorship of the proletariat is not interested in protecting the opinions of (former) capitalists who want to restore capitalism. The closest thing I could find was the Jacobin article “Democratic Socialists Want to Fight for Minority Rights, Not Suppress Them” (https://jacobinmag.com/2018/08/democratic-socialism-minority-rights-friedersdorf-the-atlantic/), which is primarily a polemic against the libertarian idea that capitalism protects minorities, but ever so briefly touches on my particular question:
“Democratic socialism requires protected rights. We believe that individual rights are intrinsic to democracy itself. Without freedom of assembly, freedom to communicate and express one’s own opinions, freedom to form associations and groups, we would not have a democracy. Such rights have to be safeguarded regardless of the majority view.” Is the issue of minority rights within the proletariat (in the broader sense of minority opinions, not just ethnic/gender/sexual, etc. minorities) ever discussed in socialist circles? If not, is that because the rough idea quoted above is simply accepted and taken for granted by most socialists? Or is it that the question is considered irrelevant until socialism can actually be achieved? -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#4934): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/4934 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/79277664/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
