Most books by Ha-joon Chang, especially 23 things they don’t tell you about capitalism. Fun fact, Ha-joon Chang isn’t a Marxist, he’s a liberal, but his writing is still critical enough of capitalism that South Korea banned his books.

Anything on prolewiki’s library are good reads as well.

For a broad look at the evolution modes of productions and how capitalism came to be there is this 60s textbook from the soviet academy of science, there even are a series of videos following the textbook by the finish bolshevik that is pretty good.

Every death by Dutch capitalism (death from the slave trade, Colonialism/Colonial wars (Oceania, Africa, …), …)

plus

Every death by British empire’s capitalism (Irish genocide, Bengal famine, Slave trade, Colonialism/Colonial wars (India, Africa, North America, South east Asia, Oceania, Middle east, …) , Opium wars, Massacres against independence movements (India, …), …)

plus

Every death by French capitalism (Colonialism/colonial wars (North America, Caribbeans, Africa, South east Asia, …), Slave trade, Massacres against independence movements (Algeria, Haiti, …), …)

plus

Every death by Belgian capitalism (Colonialism/Colonial wars (Congo, …), Slave trade, Massacres against independence movements, …)

plus

Every death by United States’ capitalism (Colonialism/Colonial wars (Cuba, Hawaii, Philipines, North America, …), Massacres against independence movements (South east Asia, Oceania, Cuba, …), Slave trade, …)

plus

Every death by German capitalism (Nama and Herero genocide, Holocaust, Slave trade, …)

plus

Every death caused by preventable starvation, lack of access to water, healthcare.

List very much non-exhaustive.

If you add it all up you easily get over 1 Billion.

They can’t see your comment, they’re from .world

Hello. First of all, I want to congratulate you for putting in the effort of actually coming here to see for yourself instead of taking what you heard at face value, it may not sound like much but it is rare enough to be noteworthy. To be actively challenging your current worldview by looking for alternative ones, especially on political and economical matters, isn’t something a lot of peoples ever do, and it is a great sign of open mindedness and intelligence in my opinion.

I will now respond to your questions and affirmation point by point.

I understand how capitalism works, and I have doubts that it is a sustainable system for society long term, but social democracy has been a good way of keeping capitalism in-check in Norway. So even if capitalism is not ideal, it is in theory possible to tax the rich more and keep the whole thing going in the future. I also understand the exploitation and the extraction of surplus value, rent seeking etc.

There are a few things you need to know about social democracy that it’s proponents never talk about, more often because they don’t know either than to intentionally hide information.

Social democracy in Europe really got going after ww2 as a concession to the working class. The reason the European capitalists allowed this concession is because, on one hand, after ww2 communism was wildly popular in Europe, the French communist party for example was the most popular political party at the time, which meant that there was a great risk of revolutions happening all across the continent, but on the other hand, the fascists had just been beaten to the curb, they were grazing walls and not ready to come out in public again anytime soon, so the capitalists couldn’t use the fascists to crush the communists the way they had between the 2 world wars (the Nazis and Italian fascists both took power after successfully crushing ongoing communist revolutions in their respective countries).

Since the capitalists couldn’t crush the growing worker movements, yet didn’t want to lose everything in a revolution, they decided on a temporary compromise. They would give the working class some social benefits (paid for mainly by neo-colonial exploitation of “former” colonies via import taxes and various means of resources theft) in order to calm the growing revolutionary sentiment.

This is a first thing that is very important to understand because the implied narrative of social democrats is that Europe got all these nice social benefits simply by voting for the right peoples. This is false. The capitalists allowed us social democracy because they were scared shitless that if they didn’t, one day we would break down their doors armed with torches and pitchforks and drag them all to the guillotines. In other words, the idea that you can get social democracy by voting for Bernie Sanders (or whoever represent the social democrat faction in your country) is false, just straight up completely false, the capitalists only let social democracy happen when there is a real threat of revolution but the capitalists have been too weakened by whatever factors to fight against one.

The second thing you need to understand about social democracy is that social democracy is, and I cannot stress this enough, always a temporary concession. It never ever stays long term. They let us have it when they are scared and defenseless, but as soon as the threat of revolution is passed, they start slowly but surely taking it all away. You know how there are always massive protests going on in Europe to the point you hear about it all the way in the US? That’s why! All over Europe, the capitalists are slowly taking social benefits away, privatizing public enterprises, de-funding schools, hospitals, etc… That’s what we have been constantly protesting against for decades.

So no, social democracy isn’t keeping capitalism in check, and was never meant to. Social democracy is to keep us in check.

As for taxing the rich and all that. Just the fact the under capitalism, governments are made of billionaires and peoples bribed by billionaires should be enough to dispel any notion that they would ever let such a thing get passed unless under pressure of a potential revolution.

What I am interested in learning is how society would operate and function under socialism / communism. More about the differences. Preferably from less dry sources than The Capital from Marx. Where can I learn more? Preferably a bit entertaining.

I can recommend a few videos:

The Future of Socialism

How Democracy Works in Cuba

Why We Need Socialism

Socialism is just better, scientifically

“Socialism always fails” is a stupid argument

Why Do Poor Countries Stay Poor? (Unequal Exchange and Imperialism)

Is Vietnam socialist?

DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM - how Socialists make decisions!

LAND REFORM in Vietnam

How can China be socialist if it has a stock market? Understanding the Chinese economy

People Really Liked Socialism, Actually

Here is a playlist about the history of modes of productions and class struggle based on a textbook:

Guide to Marxist Economics

A series of 3 videos about how capitalists used the Nazis to crush the german revolution:

The Betrayal Of The German Revolution | Part I

The Betrayal Of The German Revolution | Part II

The Betrayal Of The German Revolution | Part III

If you prefer books, you can check out the Library on prolewiki

There are plenty more things you can check out. If you go on Hexbear or Lemmygrad and search for things on there or post to ask for things to read or watch, you’ll find plenty. Btw, your account seems to be on the .world instance, this instance defederated both Hexbear and Lemmygrad so you won’t be able to use your current account to interact with them, I suggest you make an account on lemmy.ml so that you can.