Okay so before you post your Jewish nigger succdem memes at me, hear me out, I may be cooking here.
Over the past 150 years, much of the left has been convinced that the only way to actually establish socialism is through violent revolution. The only way to really bring about a "dictatorship of the proletariat" or a "federation of anarchist communes" or whatever the ideal is, is to take up arms, start a civil war, and shoot enough people until we come out on top. And sure, historically that's been the case. The Bolsheviks had to fight a full ass civil war because the anti-communist elements of the Russian army decided they would rather fight and die than live under communism. In the few cases where Marxists were elected to power such as with Allende they ended up overthrown by the military or succumb to liberalism. If one simply looks at what was then it seems obvious that the answer is violent revolution, and yet perhaps this is not the only path.
Let's look at the recent electoral victories against neo-fascists which nonetheless have the backing of the working classes. Hungary, Brazil, Serbia, and as of last night America. Obviously plenty of liberals were involved in these victories, but it cannot be denied that the proletariat have been supportive of them, and we cannot simply discard the will of the proletariat just because it's not revolutionary enough for our liking. And rather than chimp out and start a civil war, the fascists have either fled or meekly caved, abandoning their tough talk of killing libtards at the first sign of trouble. The fact of the matter is that unlike the fascists of yesteryear, our current fascists are abject cowards who fold the moment they get serious pushback. And if they fold that easily, perhaps armed insurrection is not strictly necessary.
This is by no means a call to embrace liberalism or social democracy, or to preserve the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. Rather this thread exists to postulate that perhaps, maybe, could using the existing institutions and electoralism to reform a state into a dictatorship of the proletariat work? Could Lassalle be vindicated in the grim dark future of the 21st century? Would it be worth it if it means fewer lives lost? What obstacles might we face with these methods and how might we overcome them while still nominally adhering to the principles of liberal democracy? I think that in this day and age this is a conversation worth having, and that we should reexamine how effective militant revolutionary rhetoric actually is