Democratic socialism

Democratic socialism is a variant of socialism that posits that the latter can be achieved through the democratic process. It is a very broad and at times very nebulous term that is usually counterposed with both ‘authoritarian socialism’ (bottom-up one-party states) and capitalist ideologies in general, and often used interchangeably with social democracy, though adherents often insist there’s a difference (more on that later).

Democratic socialists usually believe that there is enough (though not much) space in the institutions that maintain democratic process to build the case for socialism and often prioritize the development of social welfare programs as the cornerstone of which to build it from, although democratic socialists usually desire to build greater systemic change than creating/restoring a welfare state.

In the United Kingdom, the creation of the welfare state, and in particular the NHS was considered the crown jewel of the post-war Labour government led by Clement Attlee. Likewise, the New Deal reforms under Franklin D. Roosevelt in the US are regarded by American democratic socialists as one of the greatest attempts to resolve social inequality the nation had ever seen (even if FDR was not a democratic socialist).

So far, the current struggle for America’s democratic socialists is the development of a single-payer healthcare system that is only the first step to having a healthcare system like the rest of the developed world. The welfare state finds opposition via a motley of disaster capitalists, libertarians, objectivists and other shysters looking to make a quick buck out of claiming that socialism leads to serfdom, or at least inefficiency. In the US, where people make decisions over whether to go to the hospital or pay the mortgage, this has proven highly successful until recently.

A distinguishing element of democratic socialism from social democracy (the aforementioned social welfarism) is its emphasis on worker ownership and workplace democracy – democratic socialists advocate the creation and development of worker co-operatives and social enterprises with workers’ management. Democratic socialists also believe that private enterprises can be made to act in the public interest with strong regulations, strong unions and tax incentives. In short, according to democratic socialists – the more the working-class own the commanding heights of the economy, the less chance of corporate power destroying our planet for monetary gain (see BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Dow Bhopal disaster, etc.)

Comparison and contrast with social democracy

Democratic socialists have often been called social democrats due to their reliance on the state – usually under liberal democratic systems, in order to implement their policies. This is not without justification. This is also not without a response either: To put it simply, in terms of ideology – while social democrats believe capitalism can be ‘humanized’ eg. made fairer via strong regulations, democratic socialists do not, believe capitalism is inherently oppressive, and seek to eventually go beyond it.

Democratic socialists see welfare capitalism as a means to an end. Social democrats see it as an end of itself – and with the advent of neoliberal globalization – perhaps not even as that, surbordinating itself more and more with capitalist demands. In the end, the emphasis is on the term “socialism”.

A brief list of democratic socialist political parties and organisations

UK Labour Party – United Kingdom

Me25 – Greece

Syriza – Greece

Democratic Socialists of America – United States

Scottish National Party – United Kingdom (Scotland)

Partido Socialisda Unido de Venezuela – Venezuela

African National Congress – South Africa

United Left – Spain

Socialist Alternative – United States

Plaid Cmyru – United Kingdom (Wales)

Partio dos Trabalhadores (Worker’s Party) – Brazil

Movimiento al Socialismo – Bolivia

Sinn Fein – Ireland

National Democratic Party – Canada

 

Democratic socialist leaders

• Clement Attlee – Leader of the UK Labour Party (1935-1955) and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1945-1951)
• Michael Manley – Leader of the People’s National Party in Jamaica and Prime Minister of Jamaica
• Hugo Chavez – Leader of PSUV and President of Venezuela
• Nelson Mandela – Leader of ANC and President of South Africa
• Michael Foot – Leader of the UK Labour Party (1979-1983)
• Bernie Sanders – United States Senator (D-Vermont)
• Lula De Silva – Leader of PT and President of Brazil
• Jeremy Corbyn – Leader of the UK Labour Party (2015-2020)
• Harold Wilson – Leader of the UK Labour Party (1963-1976) and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1964-1970,1974-1976)
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – United States Senator (D-New York)
• Nicolas Maduro – Leader of PSUV (2013-) and President of Venezula (2013-)
• Evo Morales – Leader of MAS (2003-) and President of Bolivia (2006-2019)
• Salvador Allende – Leader of the Socialist Party of Chile and President of Chile (1970-1973)

Democratic socialist activists

• Owen Jones
• Cindy Sheehan
• Naomi Klein
• Martin Luther King
• Andrei Sakharov
• Bayard Rustin
• Barbara Ehrlenlich
• Michael Harrington
• Michael Brooks
• Angela Davis
• Alexander Cockburn
• Cornel West
• Natalie Wynn (possibly)

 

Criticism (and responses)

Aside from right-wing bullshit which claims democracy and socialism are incompatible because “state bureaucracy” or something (nonsense that Hayek, Friedman et al. had been pushing – who themselves are quite happy to shill to and advise bureaucratic and authoritarian neoliberal governments, which is fine if they stand to profit from them), demcratic socialism has come under critiques from the Left – specifically from revolutionary socialists (usually communists and anarchists) in their approach to build socialism via already existing liberal democratic systems – arguing that these systems only exist to give capitalism and ruling class control legitimacy, dubbing them “bourgeois institutions” and charging democratic socialists with “reformism” and “electoralism”.

Moreover,  in spite of the ideological distinctions mentioned above – in practice, there is no strict distinction between social democracy and democratic socialism – revolutionary socialists accuse democratic socialists over arguing over semantics and either not being concerned with going past social capitalism, or reaching a brick wall whenever they do – that is to say – face powerful financial institutions, corporations, and lobbyists for either – either been forced to “play ball” with them for the success of their social programs, or face perpetual warfare with them.

Outside of the West, this has had terrible consequences for countries which decide to challenge transnational corporations, via Western intervention: Usually beginning with smear campaigns making it easy to paint the leaders as authoritarian, or pushing them into heavy-handed measures, until providing military support to a right-wing movement (usually in the military) to overthrow the government to install a more compliant one. This strategem has proven successful in Iran, Congo, Ghana, Chile, Guatemala, Brazil, Bolivia, and others. Revolutionary socialists argue that they are at least honest in their opposition to the state (or at least its current arrangement) and do not seek to appeal to public relations.

Intervention is perfectly possible even in Western regimes as well: The CIA were also so bold as to interfere with British democracy once Attlee got elected. The scope of the social reforms that took place during the Attlee era were blunted thanks to its involvement, thus limiting the scope of British socialism. To this day, the networks established between the US and the UK serve to undermine progressive development. Covert propaganda campagns from outisde and within have been launched to undermine left-wing political leaders should they come close to reaching power (Jeremy Corbyn, Michael Foot, Bernie Sanders) or are already in power amidst tense geopolitical situations (Harold Wilson circa 1975 in the Cold War).

Democratic socialists counter that the democratic institutions, while open to distortion by capitalists, these systems either existed before them, or can function perfectly well without them. By buildng broad, interconnected political movements from different activist bases – class consciousness can develop, and marginalised people can feel invested in the political system. Once the base is strong, it is perfectly possible for large sections of people to support socialism through the ballot box, but defend it outside the ballot box as well. Also, democratic socialists argue that they at least prioritise giving the workers control in the system that other socialist states (of the Marxist-Leninist kind) failed to do – creating a command system controlled by state bureaucrats and maintained through copious state propaganda.

See also:

• Socialism
• Social democracy (its ideological mirror)
• Revolutionary socialism (its counterpart)
• Libertarian socialism
• Guild socialism
• Progressivism
• ‘Libertarian left’
• Electoralism
• State socialism
• Market socialism
• DSINO (Democratic Socialists In Name Only)