It doesn’t have to be religious though. A secular reading can still result in the conclusion that jesus was a socialist. I grew up reading the gospel, and it always appeared to me that jesus went around calling out religious hypocrites, preaching love over hate, telling people to sell their things and give their wealth to the poor, even share everything in common, take care of each other, take care of the poor, sick, disabled, and imprisoned. And ultimately he was executed by the religious establishment for being too radical in their view.

Jesus may have been socialist in his speeches, but Christianity as a religion sure isn’t.

What was call “christianity” today has evolved quite a bit since the times when they were hiding in caves in the desert, practicing in secrecy, because any open support for this radical group of what were essentially communists was enough to be publicly executed. It didn’t start getting co-opted and corrupted until a roman emperor converted and started turning it into a new means of wielding control. Before that, the early christian martyrs were often killed by the entrenched powers-that-be for refusing to disavow what they believed in. If socialists can’t take inspiration from that, then what are we doing?

I’m not saying socialists should be “fans of christianity,” but there’s a difference between christianity as we know it today, and the teachings of christ as laid out in the gospel. I don’t even like christianity anymore, because it’s clear the hypocrites have won the battle for messaging and are the ones controlling the narrative. I don’t believe in god anymore, besides. But that doesn’t stop me from recognizing a socialist jesus when I read the book of matthew.

You’re approaching this from an angle where you seem to think it needs to be religious. It doesn’t.