What we have facing us today is greater, and equal to, anything that humankind has faced before. I need not spell it out as we all have many of these things on our mind, but the fact of the matter is simple: Capitalism is killing the planet. But yet, so many of our "new ideas" to fix this problem are, in fact, old repetitions of the same old...
It is not enough to say this system is bad, it has become too easy to simply state the obvious, too many organizations from the non-profit complex to the State itself has acknowledged these facts - that poverty is increasing, along with child mortality, drug overdoses, suicide, pollution, apathy, and anxiety - this cannot be all we have to say. Similarly, it is not enough to be "anti-Capitalist" with some vague idea of what else we can do. We need concrete steps, material analysis, social investigation, and a real understanding of our reality. More than this, we need to use our understanding of reality to guide the other steps, towards a scientific approach to eradicating this exploitative and oppressive society.
This means we have to not only study the past Capitalism that existed during its early stages, not only the ideas of its "founders" (slaveowners and colonialists alike), but also, we have to study its practices, developments, and advancements in order to concretely say what needs to be done. We can't just talk about "Change", we need to talk about Socialism. Why? Because Socialism, along with some nationalist/national liberationist struggles, have guided the most revolutionary projects of human history, In Cuba, China, Vietnam, the Soviet Union, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and elsewhere, there have been examples of the advancements that formerly colonized and oppressed people can and will make when tasked with doing so, even if for the first time in human history. Such advancements include, free housing, free healthcare, free education (up to PhDs in some cases), free or cheap transporation, living wages, and even other things like dance halls, clubs, theatres, parks, gardens, cultural centers, community groups, and paid vacations! Not only history, but current struggles as well, show that the initiative towards real material and practical change for the benefit of the people cannot come under Capitalism, it must come under Socialism.
Not because I have said so, not because they've said so, but because Capitalism has made it so.
A system based on the sole ownership of private property, factories, resources, labor, corporations, banks, and governments, cannot be the same system expected to redistribute wealth, land, resources, and other necessities like jobs, housing, or healthcare. This system is run by a conscious, organized Ruling Class: the Capitalist and Imperialist class.
They are not some illuminati, they are the Ruling Class. They own everything from the factories to the media to the schools to the military, all the way down to our very "democracy" is owned, controlled, and dictated by the Capitalists. This is evident in the way in which policies, politicians, and actions by the government or private industries always tend to take more money from the pockets of folks like you and me and gives it to the rich in tax breaks, subsidies, etc., not the other way around. If this were a truly "equal", "democratic" system, it would be the opposite. If this were a truly "free" society, we would not have homelessness, poverty, drug abuse, incarceration, and death rates of such high magnitude.
If we were in charge, we wouldn't let this happen. But we're not in charge!
That's why Socialism is necessary, and why it must be understood. Because until we recognize that this system, Capitalism-Imperialism, has been set up by, for, and for the protection of the same folks who owned the slaves, genocided the indigenous and stole their land, who today incarcerate 25% of the world's prison population and control over 800 military installations, along with a massive percentile of global (unequal) exchange (held primarily in US Dollars, for the moment). It is the same people who killed Malcolm, MLK, Fred Hampton, Huey P, the Rosenbergs, and countless others along the way through police killings, starvation, war, disease, illiteracy, and above all, exploitation and poverty.
Can it really be expected that these people would create, allow, or sustain a government, economy, or society that was or could be made into something for the benefit of the masses? No, this is a Slave-Owner's System.
Socialism, unlike Capitalism, has many iterations whereby the actual foundation of a nation-state, constitution, policy, and the whole political system is based on the needs of the people. Of course, nowhere in the world is this perfect. Socialists, Communists, and others have, do, and will make mistakes - the difference being you would see a Fidel Castro, or a Daniel Ortega, a Maurice Bishop, Ho Chi Minh, Vladimir Lenin, or others of their like, apologize, take credibility, self-critique, and move forward with the lessons learned and the people behind them. This you would never see in a Capitalist society, because what would they have to apologize for? The US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, all its founding documents, bodies, and government officials have and did recognize one thing above all: Private Property.
Socialists are by definition against the ownership of private property for the accumulation of profits and wealth, because it allows and necessitates a creation of an immensely smaller and smaller group of folks who own and control everything. Yet on this point there is an uncommonly annoying trope of that Communists and Socialists are against ALL property except State-Owned Property, but don't worry, you can keep your things...Private property is property for the intention of creating and reaping a profit. I don't know how much of a profit you can turn with your toothbrush, but all I'm saying is this: You can keep your shit, as long as it's not for taking advantage of others!
Socialism is also a system whereby the most oppressed, the most vulnerable, by beginning to organize themselves in unions, neighborhood councils, committees, women's federations, homeless groups, and especially on an anti-imperialist foundation, block by block, they build a movement of people to change their patterns, behaviors, ideals, principles, and most of all, political structures.
They struggle on issues such as Women's Rights, LGBTQ+ Rights, Worker's Rights, Land Rights, and what folks like Fidel Castro called the "Rights of Humanity", such as food, housing, healthcare, education, culture, and most of all, control over our collective destinies. These are all needed in order to build a system that reflects our needs.
This can only be done together, and it can't be done through mix-matched ideals, tropes, or vague notions of what sort of "cool things" we could do. We need to combat Imperialism! We need to fight Fascism! We need to eradicate poverty and all its affects! And most of all, we need to crush the dictatorship of Capitalism, and of Capitalists, who for years have raped the Earth and Her People for all they are worth, body, mind and soul, for trillions, in numbers we are unable to account for - money, property, land, and loss of life.
But this reality need not be the one we resign ourselves too, a new reality can be built by the understanding of this one, and the revolutionary history of the past. Do not stop there! We need to be creative, resilient, and militant! Starting from the grassroots, going from there, building a movement, parties, organizations, and other groups to actual combat the forces of oppression on their own terms, by any means deemed necessary.
Take your time to understand what is going on around you.
Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions about anything.
Don't stop studying, listening, and meeting new people. Organize yourselves, wherever you are and however you can.
Start from where you are at and go from there, but don't stop there.
Don't stop at some vague idea of "change", understand that there is a reason why so many around the world have chosen this system - Socialism - under different names, circumstances, and forms, to build their new tomorrow. It is because Socialism works. Whether you like it or not, Socialism is able to do what Capitalism cannot, at the very least, give power to those who formerly have been systematically kept out of it.
But again, do not stop there. Fight not only for survival, but for an end to exploitation of human by human, to racism, to sexism, and to Imperialism, Fascism, and all its hideous iterations.
Learn all you can about the reality around you, from history and the present, with an open mind and no pre-conceived notions. Seek to understand. No study, no right to speak! All power to the People!