What really scares the pro-plutocrats on both sides of the political aisle about...Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, [Bernie] Sanders and other democratic socialists is that they have... an actual vision — the simple idea that it’s up to government to intervene and equalize the playing field between the capital that owns the politicians, the system and the rewards, and the general public toiling to provide those rewards. ~ Krystal Ball
Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
There’s nothing less Democratic than socialism, which always gives rise to tyranny. ~Donald Trump
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals... The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society. ~Albert Einstein
Democratic socialism is the only possible sane and living socialism. ~H. G. Wells
Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy. Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system in America today which is not only grossly unfair but, in many respects, corrupt... ~Bernie Sanders
The definition of Democratic Socialism, to me, again, is the fact that in a modern, moral and wealthy society, no American should be too poor to live... Every working class American...should have access to dignified health care, should actually be able to go see a doctor without going broke. It means you should be able to send your kids to college and trade school if they so choose. And no person should feel... unstable in their access to housing... ~Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Democratic socialism is a political ideology advocating a democratic political system alongside a socialist economic system.

Quotes

B

  • Trump’s dig on socialism means he’s scared, Ocasio-Cortez said... What really scares the pro-plutocrats on both sides of the political aisle about her, [Bernie] Sanders and other democratic socialists is that they have become messengers for a compelling message with an actual vision — the simple idea that it’s up to government to intervene and equalize the playing field between the capital that owns the politicians, the system and the rewards, and the general public toiling to provide those rewards.
  • Democratic Socialism is not a middle way between capitalism and Communism. If it were merely that, it would be doomed to failure from the start. It cannot live by borrowed vitality. Its driving power must derive from its own principles and the energy released by them. It is based on the conviction that free men can use free institutions to solve the social and economic problems of the day, if they are given the chance to do so. [You cannot] inject the principles of ethical Socialism into an economy based upon private greed.
    • Aneurin Bevan, Speech, Blackpool, 29 November 1959. Quoted in Stuart Thomson, The Dictionary of Labour Quotations, Biteback Publishing, 2013.

C

  • The law itself is the instrument of the ruling class; hence it is a logical impossibility for another class to assume power legally.
    • Oliver Cox, Caste, Class, and Race: A Study in Social Dynamics (1948), p. 164
  • The new politics will no longer be molded by the ‘isms’ of capitalism or socialism, but created from self-respect in individuals and nations... Capitalism, in its pure form, is at an end in Europe. It has no future whatsoever. Instead, countries will model their governments on a form of democratic socialism.
    • Benjamin Creme Maitreya’s Mission Volume Two, Share International Foundation (1993)
  • Capitalism without socialism is like a great shark in the waters that will eat up everything in sight, and has no group sense or social responsibility. We need to take the best of both systems and bring them together....a fusion of the best aspects of both. Both are necessary. The sense of justice, brotherhood and social caring... is necessary for the West, but the sense of freedom of the individual in movement, expression and thought is necessary in the East. That is something which will... gradually become the norm in Europe and eventually throughout the world.... not capitalism or communism, but social democracy or democratic socialism with full participation of all peoples in their own government.
    • Benjamin Creme Maitreya’s Mission Volume Two, Share International Foundation (1993)

E

Albert Einstein Why Socialism? (1949)

"Why Socialism? by Albert Einstein" Monthly Review,New York (May 1949)
  • Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being. As a solitary being, he attempts to protect his own existence and that of those who are closest to him, to satisfy his personal desires, and to develop his innate abilities. As a social being, he seeks to gain the recognition and affection of his fellow human beings, to share in their pleasures, to comfort them in their sorrows, and to improve their conditions of life.
  • I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.
  • How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured? Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition.

F

  • Democratic socialism traces its origin to a moral revolt against the inhuman dictatorship which nineteenth century capitalism imposed upon our people, and it has rejected with no less vigour in this century another form of inhuman dictatorship into which Marxism was tragically distorted.
  • Michael Foot, in Gerald Kaufman, Renewal: Labour's Britain in the 1980s (1983), also quoted in Stuart Thomson, The Dictionary of Labour Quotations, Biteback Publishing, 2013.

K

  • Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.
    • Martin Luther King, Jr., May 1965 speech to the Negro American Labor Council, in T. Jackson, From Civil Rights to Human Rights (2009), p. 230
  • Democratic socialism turns out to be an inherently unstable compound, a contradiction in terms. Every social-democratic party, once in power, soon finds itself choosing, at one point after another, between the socialist society it aspires to and the liberal society that lathered [sic] it... [S]ocialist movements end up [in] a society where liberty is the property of the state, and is (or is not) doled out to its citizens along with other contingent 'benefits'.

L

Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few. Where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe. And where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.
    • Clause 4, as redrafted in 1995, from the constitution of the Labour Party in the UK


  • Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.
    • Martin Luther King, Jr., May 1965 speech to the Negro American Labor Council, in T. Jackson, From Civil Rights to Human Rights (2009), p. 230

M

  • An economic analysis of the political institutions of democratic socialism shows that democratic socialism must necessarily fail for political (not economic) reasons even if nobody in authority has ill-intentions or abuses their power.

O

Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism, as I understand it. ~ George Orwell
  • To me, you know, to answer your question, the definition of Democratic Socialism, to me, again, is the fact that in a modern, moral and wealthy society, no American should be too poor to live. And to me that means every working class American in this country should have access to dignified health care, should actually be able to go see a doctor without going broke. It means you should be able to send your kids to college and trade school if they so choose. And no person should feel precarious or unstable in their access to housing as our economy develops.
  • Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it. It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid writing of such subjects.
  • The Spanish war and other events in 1936-7 turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism, as I understand it. It seems to me nonsense, in a period like our own, to think that one can avoid writing of such subjects.

R

  • Let us begin by a definition of Socialism. The definition must consist of two parts, economic and political. The economic part consists in State ownership of ultimate economic power, which involves, as a minimum, land and minerals, capital, banking, credit and foreign trade. The political part requires that the ultimate political power should be democratic.

S

  • We have to talk about democratic socialism as an alternative to unfettered capitalism, where the rich get richer and almost everybody else is getting poorer. I think that’s a message that young people are receptive to, and I think it’s a message that working people are receptive to.
  • Right now, the average worker in America is making, in inflation-accounted-for dollars, and despite a huge increase in technology and worker productivity, exactly the same amount of money that he or she made 43 years ago. That’s incomprehensible.
  • There has been a massive transfer of wealth from the working class of this country to the top 1 percent. And at the end of the day, John—and the media doesn’t talk about it, the corporate media does not talk about it—nobody can defend three families in this country owning more wealth than the bottom half of the American people. Or that 49 percent of all new income today goes to the top 1 percent. That is indefensible. That is outrageous. That is immoral. And I think the American people understand that has got to change...
  • Let me define for you, simply and straightforwardly, what Democratic socialism means to me. It builds on what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said when he fought for guaranteed economic rights for all Americans. And it builds on what Martin Luther King, Jr said in 1968 when he stated that; “This country has socialism for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor.” It builds on the success of many other countries around the world that have done a far better job than we have in protecting the needs of their working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor.
    Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy. Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system in America today which is not only grossly unfair but, in many respects, corrupt.... Wall Street CEOs who help destroy the economy get raises in their salaries. This is what Martin Luther King, Jr. meant by socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for everyone else.
    We should not be providing welfare for corporations, huge tax breaks for the very rich, or trade policies which boost corporate profits as workers lose their jobs. It means that we create a government that works for works for all of us, not just powerful special interests. It means that economic rights must be an essential part of what America stands for.
  • ...what of the many governments in the developing world that still call themselves socialist, particularly one-party states? In many ways, one-party Communist states have shared more in common with past authoritarian capitalist “developmentalist” states — such as late nineteenth-century Prussia and Japan, and postwar South Korea and Taiwan — than with the vision of democratic socialism. These governments prioritized state-led industrialization over democratic rights, particularly those of an independent labor movement.

T

  • I shall not stir multitudes, but may persuade my readers when I say that democratic socialism, not sure of all answers, not promising sudden utopias, is the world's best hope.
  • There’s nothing less Democratic than socialism, which always gives rise to tyranny.
    • Donald Trump, as quoted in Trump: ‘America Will Never Be A Socialist Country’, Daily Wire, February 19 2019

W

  • Make socialists and you will achieve socialism; there is no other way. Democratic socialism is the only possible sane and living socialism. The only possible socialistic state is a state which is understood, upheld, willingly and cheerfully lived, by the great mass of the people.
    • H. G. Wells, "The Faults of the Fabian", (1906), reprinted in Samuel Hynes, The Edwardian Turn of Mind, Random House, 2011.

See also

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