> It seems that younger people have no references and understanding of political concepts. Corbyn had full-on socialist policies in the Labour manifesto of the time but simply because he used terms like "coop" they seem to have been missed by some...
Social democratic and labour parties are, at least were openly socialist at least until the 1990s. UK Labour party is part of the Party of European Socialists and an observing member of Socialist International. Most social democratic parties were "Bernsteinian" with the explicit goal of democratic transition into socialism. Coops have been promoted by both left and right.
At least with a bit longer reference span democratic socialism is not radical or far-left in the European context.
Yes back to the socialist roots, indeed.
> Coops have been promoted by both left and right.
The "coop" in Corbyn's Labour manifesto were effectively "soviets" as the proposal was to nationalise companies and hand control to the workers by turning them into "coops". This was not "mildly social-democratic"...
The proposal was to (re)nationalize some infrastructure sectors like energy grid, water, rail and mail. Nationalizing these is a very popular policy. There was also proposals for multiple stakeholder boards in these companies, including some worker representation. Worker representation in company boards, including large private companies, is mandatory in e.g. Germany. Calling this as establishing effectively soviets is quite a take.
The separate "right to own" proposal was an option for workers to buy the company in case of it being sold or dissolved. Similar laws exist in e.g. Italy and in some US states. There was also a proposal for public financing for worker coops, which is also in place in many countries.
He argued for some national control of some infrastructure, going nowhere as far as the most successful social democratic parties in Europe, and even not as far as some conservative parties.
E.g in Norway, the conservatives, about 4 parties to the right of the Norwegian Labour Party, not that many years ago argued a blocking minority stake of over 1/3 of the largest bank was a strategic goal for the state.
I that light, the Corbyn labour manifestos were only mildly left wing.
State ownership of some key infrastructure is popular even by a majority conservative voters.