In the absence of genuine revolutionary potential, is there any reason I shouldn't be a reformist?

Working towards reforms does not equal reformism, read Luxemburg.

Only if reforms are seen as a means to an end to raise class consciousness, organize the proletariat, and bring about the material conditions for revolution. If you just want to 'reform' capitalism by temporary alleviating some of the suffering it causes, then you're useless and counterproductive.

Once you mature and understand that the progressive desires of the people ('money out of politics,' public healthcare, etc.) are only truly achievable through revolutionary socialist action, then you will graduate from being a babby succdem into a true Leftist.

Do you really think a revolution cam happen in a against a first world military which are always bastions of conservative and reactionary thought. And before you mention the russian revolution remember that it was full of conscripts in a nation engaged in a massive war.

Even if you win what are you going to do next sieze control of all restaurants, office buildings and other service sector buildings? Your revolutionary fantasy us no longer achievavailable in the 1st world

Based on reality. The Bourgeois class dominates the political system, they will not allow you wipe away their class system. They'll at most let you eek out some concessions to pacify you, but unless you're a petty Social Democrat, this is obviously not satisfactory.

I don't know. All I know is that peaceful reformism will not work and that Social Democracy is terrible.

What do you mean what are we going to do next? We're going to establish the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. We'll develop Socialism, give the means of production over to the workers, and begin to spread the Revolution abroad.

you can pursue reformism and radical change in the meantime

although really the glorification of revolution is laughable

THIS

Fighting for reform must be tactical and critically analyzed. Reformism typically just equates to keeping the same system while pacifying the working class.

Revolution and reform aren't mutually exclusive. There's no reason you shouldn't work towards better and fairer working conditions while advocating for a complete forceful overthrow of the current order.

Social Democracy is still hot trash, but I don't see why working for better material positions should be opposed unless you buy into the accelerationist meme

In after accelerationist posters

SocDem does work. See: Scandinavia

"Imbecile bearing a sack of petitions.
Bearer of petitions justly trampled underfoot by the servants of the State."

...

...

It's literally proven to work. Scandinavian countries are SocDem. Scandinavian countries are all in the top 10 standards of living. Keep LARPing though.

None of them are good enough.

Social Democracy doesn't solve the inherent contradictions in capitalism. It doesn't solve the issues brought about by the class system, wage labor, nor that of the State.

When SocDems can stop being counterproductive, drop their notion of simply softening up capitalism, and can instead turn towards solutions that solve these issues at their root, only then can we forget this childish ideal of SocDem.

...

You mean that place reliant upon European and US imperialism that super-exploits a large amount of the 10% of its labor force which are migrants who are intentionally left in the dark by the unions who don't speak their languages and, since there is no national minimum wage (being left up to the unions), are fucked and are given fake contracts by their employers all the fucking time.

Well the typical response being simply whining "but we made that illegal" exemplifies your ideology pretty well.

And improvements in poverty made by Soc Dems will be rolled back as the crisis deepens.
The major parties are very aware that there are already large amounts of migrant workers who move back and forth between Sweden and Norway in search of jobs during the particularly bad spells of the crisis.

The powerlessness of state ideologues in the face of capital being exemplified quite nicely by Sweden trying to implement a fairly modest tax on financial activity and all the capital just fucking moved over to London, so they had to repeal the taxes:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_financial_transaction_tax
Changes in relations of production cannot be done through the bourgeois state

Oh yeah and the whole "alienation" and "exploitation" thing still being the case for the majority of the population (initiate countdown to the "but muh co-ops!")

Social Democracy certainly has "worked", for crushing real class struggle.

Fuck you