Social democracy in the imperial core is to the *right* of the global status quo, because it depends on imperialism, neocolonialism, and unequal exchange. The USSR, on the other hand, supported anti-imperialist and decolonial movements materially, and set up a socialist economy. Being able to both establish and maintain socialism is a necessary first step for anything that can be considered left, because it's the only leftism that's actually *real.* No, socialism isn't fascism, and equating the two is a form of Holocaust trivialization with ties to [Double Genocide Theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_genocide_theory). >To place Russian communism on the same moral level with Nazi fascism, because both are totalitarian, is, at best, superficial, in the worse case it is fascism. He who insists on this equality may be a democrat; in truth and in his heart, he is already a fascist, and will surely fight fascism with insincerity and appearance, but with complete hatred only communism. - [Thomas Mann](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann)