Trad Socialists represent a distinctive position: genuine commitment to socialist economics combined with traditional or conservative positions on culture and social issues. They believe the left went wrong by abandoning class politics for identity politics, alienating working-class people who should be natural allies in the struggle against capitalism.
This strain draws on older socialist traditions that predated the cultural turn of the 1960s. The labor movement historically included socially conservative workers—religious, patriotic, family-oriented—who supported unions and redistribution without embracing cultural revolution. Trad Socialists argue this coalition was fractured by a left that prioritized cultural liberalism over economic solidarity.
The critique is sharp: identity politics divides workers along race and gender lines that serve elite interests. The sexual revolution destabilized working-class families while wealthy liberals could afford its consequences. Immigration undercuts wages while progressives call border concerns racist. "Woke" politics is a class marker that excludes ordinary people from left movements.
Trad Socialists often admire aspects of mid-20th century social democracy: strong unions, high wages, stable families, and communities with shared moral frameworks. They see contemporary capitalism and contemporary progressivism as twin destroyers of working-class life—one through economic exploitation, the other through cultural dissolution.
At roughly 1% of the population, Trad Socialists are rare and politically homeless. They're too socialist for conservatives, too traditional for progressives. They exist in certain union environments, religious socialist traditions, and online spaces critical of both capitalism and woke culture. Some have become "post-left" or reluctant supporters of populist candidates who speak to economic concerns.