The populist left sought to re-democratize democracy, not abolish capitalism

Evidence

In the content and style of their claims, they undoubtedly granted a second lease of life to the antiausterity movement. By connecting the issues of structural inequality and crisis management in Western societies, by going beyond the left vs. right cleavage and trying to mobilize around new axes—the people vs. the oligarchy, the many vs. the few, the 99 percent vs. the 1 percent—they endorsed a populist agenda in response to the state of crisis described above. They were not, as such, antisystem—as the Indignados liked to say, it was rather the system that was anti-them. Unlike many strands of the radical left, they were neither against capitalism nor against representative democracy, except for marginal factions within them. Their objective was rather to re-democratize democracy and re-politicize the economy against the concentration of power in the hands of economic and political elites, responsible for gutting the substance of democracy. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 122

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sharp definition of what distinguishes this populist left from the radical/antisystem left.
• SEED: The ‘system is anti-them’ self-understanding could anchor an essay distinguishing reformist populism from antisystem radicalism.
• XREF: connects to: Left populism arose as an attempted replacement for, not an abolition of, social democracy. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 23; Populism targets oligarchic corruption, not capitalism or democracy itself — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 75; Left populism helped destroy post-politics yet failed to restore mass politics — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 345 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Voters rejected realism, not capitalism itself, in the populist revolts #corroborates (0.85) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2025
• Right-wing populists continue rather than challenge capitalist austerity. #corroborates (0.82) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 43
• Left populism helped destroy post-politics yet failed to restore mass politics #complicates (0.80) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 345
• Capitalist realism’s depoliticising hegemony invited populist fervour to replace it #expands (0.80) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2042
• Neoliberalism seeks a strong state that thwarts democracy, not a weak one #expands (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 155
• Reification is inescapable, so the left should pursue anti-capitalist reification #complicates (0.72) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2077