Champagne socialist

Short description: Pejorative political term

The term references champagne as a symbol of affluence.

Champagne socialist is a political term commonly used in the United Kingdom.[1][2] It is a popular epithet that implies a degree of hypocrisy, and it is closely related to the concept of the liberal elite.[3] The phrase is generally used to describe self-identified anarchists, communists, and socialists whose luxurious lifestyles, metonymically including consumption of champagne, are ostensibly in conflict with their political beliefs. In more inflammatory contexts, it can be exaggerated to describe privileged individuals who express support for any policy or cause at all that addresses economic inequality.

## Contents

* 1 United Kingdom
* 2 Australia and New Zealand
* 3 United States
* 4 Other related terms
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## United Kingdom

British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald

The term has been used by left-wing commentators to criticise centrist views. Some traditional left-wingers regard the first Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald as a "champagne socialist" who betrayed the Labour movement. MacDonald's lavish lifestyle and his mingling with high society is supposed to have been a corrupting influence that led to the end of the Labour Government in 1931 and the eventual formation of the National Government.[2] More recently, the epithet has been levelled at supporters of the New Labour movement which brought Tony Blair to power in 1997.[4]

In an article about Oscar Wilde's 1891 essay "The Soul of Man under Socialism", political commentator Will Self expressed the view that Wilde could be considered an early champagne socialist because of his aesthetic lifestyle and socialist leanings.[5]

The writer and Labour supporter John Mortimer, when accused of being a champagne socialist, said that he preferred to be thought of as "more a Bollinger Bolshevik".[6]

In the fourth series of the British television comedy Absolutely Fabulous, Saffron is offered a job with New Labour. While she is at pains to avoid being seen as a champagne socialist, her grandmother considers the family to be "Bolly Bolsheviks".[7]

The label has also been applied to the Labour politician Geoffrey Robinson MP on account of his large personal fortune.[8][9] Singer Charlotte Church has described herself as a "prosecco socialist",[10] referring to the increasing popularity and lower price range of non-champagne sparkling wines such as prosecco and cava.

In the UK, the term is often used by critics to disparage people with a leftwing political view.[2] This argument claims that the champagne socialist espouses leftist views while enjoying a luxurious lifestyle; one example might include Labour Party supporters who stereotypically live in Inner London and consume highbrow media.

This usage of the term has been criticised by Caitlin Moran as a fallacious argument, because she claims it assumes that only those who are poor can express an opinion about social inequality.[11] Russell Brand made a similar point that the "hypocrisy" accusation serves to shut down discussion of the problem of inequality.[12]

## Australia and New Zealand

In Australia and New Zealand, the variant "Chardonnay socialist" was used, as Chardonnay was seen as a drink of affluent people.[13][14][15] By the late 1990s, chardonnay had become more readily available and generally consumed[15] in Australia; today it is the most dominant white wine variety produced in the country. As a result, the drink's association with elitism has faded.

Staunch Australian right-wingers also used the term to deride those who supported what they considered "middle-class welfare"—government funding for the arts, free tertiary education, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.[16]

## United States

In 2017, Current Affairs ran a lighthearted article featuring a political cartoon of guests at a Marxist gathering dressed in fancy attire and sipping on champagne. The central argument was that conspicuous consumption was not inherently antithetical to leftist values so long as luxuries were shared equally. As the magazine put it, "When we say let them eat cake, we are serious: there must be cake, it must be good cake, and it must be had by all. The reason Marie Antoinette needed beheading was not that she wished cake on the poor, but that she never actually gave them any."[17]

The term appears in Blind Alleys, a 1906 work of fiction by the American author George Cary Eggleston which distinguishes the "beer socialist" who "wants everybody to come down to his low standards of living" and the "champagne socialist" who "wants everybody to be equal on the higher plane that suits him, utterly ignoring the fact that there is not enough champagne, green turtle and truffles to go round".[18]

In a 2022 Reason article, Jason Brennan and Christopher Freiman characterized Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and political commentator Hasan Piker as so-called "champagne socialists." In the article, Brennan and Freiman chide these "socialist figureheads" to "open their wallets before they open their mouths" on the basis that each had supposedly donated little of their personal wealth to causes they support, but had instead called for increased taxes. In the case of Sanders and Piker, Brennan and Freiman criticize their supposedly excessive living arrangements, while Warren is reprehended for donating only a small portion of her net worth to causes she advocates for.[19]

## Other related terms

The term is broadly similar to the American terms "limousine liberal", "Learjet liberal", or "Hollywood liberal", and to idioms in other languages such as the Spanish Izquierda caviar, the Portuguese esquerda caviar, the Indian "Khan Market liberal" (which represents a highly affluent shopping area of South Delhi that is popular among leftists),[20] the French Gauche caviar, the Dutch Salonsocialist (nl), the German Salonbolschewist (de), the Italian Radical chic, the Swedish Rödvinsvänster (sv) (lit. Red vine left), and the Polish kawiorowa lewica (lit. caviar left).[21] In Turkey, Solperen (lit. Lefty) or Cihangir solcusu (tr) (lit. Cihangir leftist) is commonly used, since Cihangir is a high-income neighborhood of Beyoğlu, Istanbul,[22] although şampanya sosyalisti ("champagne socialist")[23] and salon sosyalisti ("salon socialist")[24] are used as well. In Switzerland, Cüpli-Sozialisten (lit. Glass-of-Champagne Socialist) is used.[25][26] Other related terms include "Tuscany faction (de)", "Hampstead liberal", "Gucci socialist", "Gucci communist", "Neiman Marxist", "cashmere communist", and in Ireland, "smoked salmon socialist".[27]

## See also

* Armchair revolutionary
* Baizuo (white left)
* Bobo (socio-economic group)
* Blanquism
* Class traitor
* Do-gooder derogation
* Gauche caviar
* Gutmensch
* Liberal elite
* Limousine liberal
* Regressive left
* Tu quoque

## References

1. ↑ Moore, Matthew; Graham, Sarah (14 July 2010). "Champagne socialists 'not as left-wing as they think they are'". The Telegraph (London, England: Telegraph Media Group). https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7887888/Champagne-socialists-not-as-left-wing-as-they-think-they-are.html.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Rooksby, Ed (16 April 2013). "So what's the problem with champagne socialism?". The Guardian (London, England). https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/16/what-problem-champagne-socialism-francois-hollande.
3. ↑ "Ken Follett: Novel activist". BBC News. London, England: BBC. 3 July 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/817067.stm. "Taking "Champagne socialist" jibes on the chin - "I've always been enthusiastic about Champagne" - the Groucho club member is no fair-weather friend of the party."
4. ↑ Jones, George; Laville, Sandra (3 July 2000). "How Blair's New Labour went flat for champagne socialists" (in en). The Daily Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1346349/How-Blairs-New-Labour-went-flat-for-champagne-socialists.html.
5. ↑ Self, Will (1 May 2015). "Will Self: Oscar Wilde, champagne socialism and why I'm voting Labour". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/may/01/will-self-oscar-wilde-champagne-socialist-voting-labour.
6. ↑ Jones, Ted (15 October 2012) (in en). Florence and Tuscany: A Literary Guide for Travellers. I.B.Tauris. p. 189. ISBN 9780857731272. https://books.google.com/books?id=t6f3AgAAQBAJ&q="champagne socialist"&pg=PA189. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
7. ↑ "Absolutely Fabulous Episode Guide: Parralox". http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/abfab/vault/series4/.
8. ↑ "Robinson: The ultimate champagne socialist". BBC News. 23 December 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/216965.stm.
9. ↑ Sully, Melanie A. (2000). The new politics of Tony Blair. Boulder: Social Science Monographs. p. 75. ISBN 9780880339858.
10. ↑ "'Champagne socialist' Charlotte Church 'more of a prosecco girl'". BBC News. 12 May 2015. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-32708630.
11. ↑ Moran, Caitlin (2016) (in en). Moranifesto. London: Ebury Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0091949044. https://archive.org/details/moranifesto0000mora/page/162/mode/1up?q="only+the+poor".
12. ↑ Brand, Russell (5 November 2013). "Russell Brand: we deserve more from our democratic system". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/05/russell-brand-democratic-system-newsnight. "When I was poor and I complained about inequality people said I was bitter, now I'm rich and I complain about inequality they say I'm a hypocrite. I'm beginning to think they just don't want inequality on the agenda because it is a real problem that needs to be addressed."
13. ↑ "Australian Words: C-G". Australian National Dictionary. Australian National University - Australian National Dictionary Centre. http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/res/aus_words/aewords/aewords_cg.php.
14. ↑ AAP: Australian Associated Press (25 January 2003). "Have a Captain Cook at this new Strine book". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/24/1042911549105.html.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Dale, David (12 November 2003). "Raise a glass to the big white". Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/11/1068329559243.html.
16. ↑ Rolfe, Mark (2007). "Days of Wine and Poseurs: Stereotypes of Class, Consumption & Competition in Democratic Discourse". A Paper Delivered to the Australasian Political Studies Association Annual Conference 24–26 September 2007, Monash University. Monash University. http://arts.monash.edu.au/psi/news-and-events/apsa/refereed-papers/au-nz-politics/rolfe.pdf. "(from pages 24-5) From his first day in parliament as leader in March 1995 until the election, Howard courted the strong public perceptions of Keating arrogance that were evident in party polling. This was the context to the ad hominem of 'chardonnay socialist' that was extended to any Labor speaker and to the whole ALP in an attempt to undermine their ethos through associations with self-indulgence, selfishness and lack of concern for the people. Frequent deployment of these terms by the media provided a further convincing context for this rhetoric. Kim Carr was called a 'Bollinger Bolshevik' by Vanstone (Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates [CPD], Senate, 13 May 1997) and there was 'Chardonnay Cheryl' Kernot, the 'shadow minister for the selfish "me generation" yuppies' with her 'list of hors d'oeuvres for the next caucus radical chic soiree', said Richard Alston (CPD, Senate, 4 March 1998; 23 March 1998; 30 March 1998). She could be seen with Mark Latham, said David Kemp, 'on the patio sipping their wine, complaining about the excesses of capitalism' (CPD, Senate, 22 October 1997)."
17. ↑ "For A Luxury Leftism". Current Affairs. 9 January 2017. https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2017/01/for-a-luxury-leftism.
18. ↑ Eggleston, George Cary (1906). Blind Alleys: A Novel of Nowadays. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard co.. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24178416M/Blind_alleys.
19. ↑ Brennon, Jason; Freiman, Christopher (January 1, 2022). "Against Champagne Socialists" (in en-US). https://reason.com/2022/01/01/against-champagne-socialists/.
20. ↑ Sengopta, Hindol (29 February 2016). "India: The Battle Between Champagne Socialists and Nationalists Who Brunch". https://medium.com/@hindolsengupta/india-the-battle-between-champagne-socialists-and-nationalists-who-brunch-68a03d5333c6.
21. ↑ ""Kawiorowa lewica" traci swoją ironiczną wymowę [OPINIA"]. Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. 2022-11-04. https://gospodarka.dziennik.pl/news/artykuly/8580785,kawiorowa-lewica-bogactwo-bieda.html.
22. ↑ Uğantaş, Damla (31 July 2015). "'Beyaz Kürt' durağı mı? Soldan sağa, ovadan dağa 'Cihangir solcuları' tartışması..." (in tr). T24. https://t24.com.tr/haber/beyaz-kurt-duragi-mi-soldan-saga-ovadan-daga-cihangir-solculari-tartismasi,304650.
23. ↑ "Şampanya sosyalisti olmaktan mutluyum". T24. 2 May 2009. https://t24.com.tr/haber/sampanya-sosyalisti-olmaktan-mutluyum,44926.
24. ↑ "1 Nisan Şakası Değil, Salon Sosyalizmi Elden mi Gidiyor ?" (in tr). Platform Dergisi. 1 April 2022. https://platformdergisi.com/yazi/yazarlar/33709/1-nisan-sakasi-degil-salon-sosyalizmi-elden-mi-gidiyor.
25. ↑ Graf, Michael (2018-03-08). "Cüpli-Sozialismus mit Herz". Tages-Anzeiger. https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/cuepli-sozialismus-mit-herz-134412724684.
26. ↑ Fontana, Katharina (2023-07-21). "«Die Freiheit besteht für die Linken heute darin, zu wählen, ob man L oder G oder B oder T oder Q ist – super, nicht?»". Neue Zürcher Zeitung. https://www.nzz.ch/schweiz/die-freiheit-der-linken-besteht-heute-darin-zu-waehlen-ob-man-l-oder-g-oder-b-oder-t-oder-q-ist-super-nicht-ld.1747781.
27. ↑ "Smoked Salmon Socialists and Others". The Irish Times. 1998-10-28. https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/smoked-salmon-socialists-and-others-1.208162.

## External links

* Dylan Jones: Card-carrying champagne socialists are looking to swap sides - but they want to do it with dignity The Independent
* Champagne socialist at The Free Dictionary

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