Nothing. Though I’ve certainly seen all of those used as perjoratives occasionally.
I’m more used to the right yelling ‘Communist!’ or at least ‘Socialist!’ when they want to make comparisons to Castro etc. But it’s possible I’m just behind the times on this one.
“Marxist” is the correct pejorative.
Urban Dictionary, which is a terrible cite, defines Leftist as:
A person belonging to the political left and usually identifying with the radical, anti capitalist, or revolutionary sectors of left politics. Includes anarchists, marxists, communists, socialists, and all other explicitly radical left ideologies.
So, while I won’t defend Urban Dictionary as a cite, I will say that that definition comports with my own understanding of “leftist”.
I’m left-wing (progressive, liberal, whatever), but I’m not leftist. The Democratic Party is center-left, but not leftist. Even Bernie Sanders isn’t leftist by that definition, and I would agree that he’s not “leftist”.
As a point of reference, not getting in the slur discussion, in Spanish we say “Partido Demócrata” and never “Partido Democrático”, but, interestingly, DPRK is “República Popular Democrática de Corea”.
To me they’re synonymous [shrug]. And I’m on the left.
But then I don’t consider “Marxist” a pejorative either. I mean as long as they actually are one. No genuine Marxist (and I’ve known many, including family members) hates being referred to as a Marxist. They refer to themselves as Marxists 
.
If you call me a Marxist I’m not going to be offended, I’m going to be amused and a little confused. Because I clearly am not a Marxist. Neither is Barack Obama for that matter.
I’m not at all sure there are any groups that proudly refer to themselves as fascist these days.
I will submit to everyone the term ‘tankie’ as the closest contemporary left-wing equivalent to the right-wing fascist. You’re welcome.
I have no problem with suspending everybody who uses dumb names like that. I’ve probably done it before in a fit of pique, but I have since come around to noticing how it obliterates substantive discussion. Repugnicans, Klinton, Demon-Rats, Rethugnicans, Obummer, every 4th-grade insult that rhymes with “Trump”. Including and especially “tRump”… what do you really think you’re doing there?
Bring out the bipartisan banhammer with extreme prejudice.
Here’s a 2006 New Yorker piece on the slur and its history. Much already-covered ground from this thread, but a reminder that this issue is not new or confined to Extremely Online people.
It’s also, as is usual for Hertzberg, a lovely bit of writing.
What is the name of a certain political party in the United States—not the one which controls the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government but the other one, which doesn’t? The question is a small one, to be sure: a minor irritation, a wee gnat compared to such red-clawed, sharp-toothed horrors as the health-care mess and the budget deficit, to say nothing of Iraq and Lebanon. But it has been around longer than any of them, and, annoyingly, it won’t go away.
Anyhoo, something Hertzberg mentions and I haven’t seen here is the aesthetic component. “Democrat,” with its big fat RAT ending*, is not so pretty when used as an adjective.
Don’t ask me why, ask a poet — but it’s true. “She’s a Democrat” — fine. “I’m sick of funding your Democrat wars” — ugly, and intentionally so.
*which brings to mind this 2000 kerfuffle, where the slur was at least semi-plausibly denied: Gore Campaign Calls 'RAT' Ad 'Bizarre' - ABC News
I can’t believe this thread is still here. Seems like the Mods should take a clear position and then shut it down.
While it is though, I’d like to mention my personal history with the term. Before I had any idea that “rat” was the thing, I used “Democrat” rather than “Democratic”. The reason was that alot of people think that democracy is the be all and end all of fairness in politics. As such, I didn’t like the idea that the other party is the only one that believes in democracy when it applies.
And then 2016-2020 happened, and…
Case in point:
As someone who once accidentally said “Democrat Party” while working phones for the Dems, nah.
Also, I am back! :waves:
I mean, it DID happen.
Welcome back!
I never realized, until this thread, that “democrat party” was a slur. I would have guessed that maybe all the people who seem to have lost their adverbs, are now losing adjectives too.
It is mostly a slur in context. And to many of us, it is no big deal.
Yeah, this is one of those slurs that really just shows someone is ignorant about the left, when it’s used. I had some explicitly Marxist professors in college (they’re the ones who assigned us lots of readings from John Locke and Adam Smith), and I’ve known a few other avowed Marxists over the years, and I still know more than my share of self-identified anarchists, and I have some acquaintances who love to talk about guillotines, and there are a few key points.
First the most power any anarchist has, in my experience, is being in charge of the till at the anarchist bookstore. These are not people with influence on US politics, and the wiser ones realize that.
Second, the ones who talk about guillotines are all talk.
Third, actual Marxists fucking HATE the Democratic Party. Calling Democrats “Marxist” is like calling Evangelicals “Satanist.” It’s just plain ignorant.
Huh. I thought it was the actual name of the party…
What’s in an adjective? ‘Democrat Party’ label on the rise: Columbia Basin Herald
You’re not differentiating between power and influence.
Similar here. Talk itself has influence. (I imagine you probably agree with this, when it’s talk that you disagree with.)
It’s not ignorant. It’s a bit of hyperbole.
No one is intending to convey the message that there’s zero difference between Democrats and hard-core Marxists. Only that they share many attitudes and ideologies, and this may not be apparent to many people who object to these attitudes when expressed forcefully by Marxists but fail to notice when expressed subtly by Democrats.