Democratic Socialism

Summary

Before the separation of the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, the words Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy were broader, encompassing terms that could be synonymous with Marxism or socialism itself, but that would change, and these terms would develop distinct, commonly accepted definitions.

What the Mensheviks advocated for, pursuing political struggle in Congress through voting for policies that would create socialism, was a similar strategy of socialist movements all throughout Europe.

This page uses Democratic Socialism to describe the current that still treats democratic political struggle as a path toward creating a socialist society.

Timeline

1. 1889

   Second International

   Mass socialist parties coordinate across borders, especially in Europe.

2. 1890s-1910s

   Mass socialist parties emerge

   The German SPD, British Labour Party, and other mass parties win parliamentary seats and build working-class institutions, advancing socialist politics through electoral and union struggle.

3. 1910s-30s

   Labor and socialist parties grow

   Electoral parties, unions, and cooperatives expand socialist politics in parliaments and workplaces.

4. 1945-1950s

   Postwar welfare states

   Social democratic and democratic socialist parties across Western Europe build universal healthcare, public housing, and nationalized industries within parliamentary systems.

5. 1970-73

   Allende's Chile

   Salvador Allende's Popular Unity government attempts a democratic transition to socialism through constitutional means before a U.S.-backed coup overthrows it.

6. 1982

   DSA founded

   The Democratic Socialists of America forms in the United States.

7. 1999-2010s

   Latin American Pink Tide

   Left governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, and elsewhere win elections on democratic socialist and anti-neoliberal platforms.

8. 2015-2020

   U.S. and UK socialist resurgence

   Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn campaigns energize mass left electoral movements and popularize democratic socialist language in the English-speaking world.

9. 2020s

   Municipal and labor campaigns

   Tenant unions, labor drives, and local electoral wins test democratic socialist strategy.

History

The split between Bolshevik and Menshevik strategies, and the rise of Marxism-Leninism as a distinct current, influenced how the remaining electoral-socialist movements came to define themselves. Understanding this history is key to understanding not only what these terms mean, but how they formed and became the more specifically defined concepts they are now.

When the Bolsheviks came up with a new strategy toward socialism that did not fit in those parameters, it became a new thing, leaving the Mensheviks and all the other socialist movements at the time who followed those same strategies to be defined by that same form of struggle that they pursued.

Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy are often confused, and can both simultaneously be represented in one government, as different people within the government will have different ideas on what the goal is.

For example, two senators in the US could both identify as Democratic Socialists, but one could have the intention of actually using their vote toward an end of creating a socialist society, and the other could think the current system is fine, but that welfare reforms and public services are good. Not knowing or caring to be strict in definition, they both identify as "Democratic Socialists."

Social Democracy and Democratic Socialism have continued to have support to this day, and have influenced some countries into developing what is nicknamed a "welfare state," one where citizens have many universal public services and rights, usually including things like free or universal healthcare, free education, and other services that increase quality of life.