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Democratic socialism is a term meant to distinguish a form of socialism that falls somewhere between authoritarian and centralized forms of socialism on the one hand and social democracy on the other. The rise of authoritarian socialism in the twentieth century in the Soviet Union and its sphere of influence generated this new distinction. Authoritarian versions of socialism are generally forms of state socialism that are highly centralized, equating state and society, and they employ extensive intervention into, and control of, public and private life, including communications, culture, and social life, in addition to centralized control of the economy.

Democratic socialists reject this authoritarian version of socialism. They contend that socialism is not a transitory state (a dictatorship of the proletariat) to a communist society but rather that it is an autonomous form that requires democracy. The idea of a transitory state was often used to justify undemocratic and even authoritarian measures as required by the initial stages of a state’s transition to communism.

Though democratic socialists reject the revolutionary model and advocate a peaceful transformation to socialism carried out by democratic means, they also reject the social democratic view that capitalist societies can be successfully reformed through extensive state intervention within capitalism. In the view of democratic socialists, capitalism, based on the primacy of private property, generates inherent inequalities of wealth and power and a dominant egoism that are incompatible with the democratic values of freedom, equality, and solidarity. Only a socialist society can fully realize democratic practices. The internal conflicts within capitalism require a transition to socialism. Private property must be superseded by some form of collective ownership.

Origins Of Democratic Socialism

While there have been many utopian proposals, the origins of modern democratic socialism lie largely in a critique of the egoism and inequalities of private property and a belief that a socialist order is feasible. Seventeenth-century English Protestant religious reformer Gerrard Winstanley, founder of the Diggers, is sometimes seen as a founder of democratic socialism. Winstanley held that “the earth is a common treasury” that God gave to all men. Diggers rejected private property and lived a communal lifestyle. Certainly eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s emphasis on equality in the claims of community and his critique of private property were consistent with socialism, though he did not use the term. Early nineteenth-century socialists like Claude-Henri Saint-Simon (the first to use the term socialism), Charles Fourier, and Robert Owen also developed utopian communities based on versions of socialism aiming to cure the ills of industrial society. Another early socialist, French politician Louis Blanc, suggested that the state should supply capital for national workshops run by democratically elected leaders.

The early writings of nineteenth-century German political philosopher Karl Marx have often been considered a source of democratic socialism. Marx argued that “true democracy” requires the supersession of the state and the creation of a condition in which there is no alienation between human beings and society; in this condition, human communal essence and the commonwealth are merged. This is not, however, consistent with most forms of democratic socialism. For the most part, as noted above, democratic socialists rejected Marx’s theory of revolution and his idea that the state could be superseded.

Nineteenth-century British philosopher John Stuart Mill began his intellectual life as a staunch defender of the free market but later came to see himself as a democratic socialist. Mill’s work reflected two main strains of democratic socialism. He took issue with the inequalities of wealth and power created by a private property economy, but he also stressed the need for democratic education and public discussion in a civil society in which political maturity could be achieved.

Mill’s ideas of cooperative economics and representative democracy were a major influence on non-Marxian socialism in England, particularly the Fabian socialists. This group, which included Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, philosopher and historian Bertrand Russell, author H. G. Wells, and political reformers Sidney and Beatrice Webb, advocated cooperative economics and a peaceful transition to socialism. Fabian ideas were incorporated into the Labor Party in England, which advocated nationalization of industry (a task only partially achieved).

Political theorist Eduard Bernstein, who had fled Germany to England to avoid persecution and had extensive contact with British socialists, also looked to recast Marx’s theories. His version of evolutionary socialism took issue with Marx on several counts. First, he thought Marx’s historical materialism had neglected ethical considerations. He also wanted to account for social changes that Marx did not anticipate, such as increasing material comfort. Like other democratic socialists, he thought that democratic institutions could not be created through violent means

Modern Ideals Of Democratic Socialism

In the 1970s and 1980s, following the reforms instituted in Yugoslavia, a number of philosophers known as the praxis group stressed extensive workers’ control and democratic control of production. They employed a Marxist conception of human nature as self-realizing. North Americans like Carol Gould have taken up some elements of this project, stressing extensive democratization of political, social, and economic life, but with a decidedly feminist twist.

In the post-Marxist era, democratic socialists have focused on political arrangements and institutions that are compatible with ideas of equality, autonomy, and equal respect. Liberal ideals and democratic socialism have found some common ground. An early proponent of this type of approach was Canadian political theorist C. B. Macpherson, who fused the ideas of John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx to develop liberal democratic socialism. More recently, Italian political philosopher Norberto Bobbio, working in the tradition of Italian liberal socialism, has gone even further than Macpherson in advocating the combination of liberal democratic ideals and institutions such as constitutionalism, parliamentary government, and a multiparty system with socialism. Belgian political theorist Chantal Mouffe, while accepting Bobbio’s stress on liberal democracy, takes him to task for excessive individualism. She argues that liberal democratic socialism still has to take into account the question of social cohesion. Other notable contributions include John Keane’s work on civil society and David Held’s work on democratic autonomy. Merging the concept of liberalizing institutions with the concept of decentralizing economic self-governance, British sociologist Paul Hirst proposed an “associational democracy.” Hirst’s proposal combined flexible specialization with regional economic regulation and extensive pluralism and self-government.

Other democratic socialists have responded to the issues that arise with a centralized command economy with notions of “market socialism.” This group advocates a market mechanism for prices that can be combined with public ownership and direction by market planners. Regulated in this way, proponents argue, markets do not produce the large-scale inequalities of the capitalist market. For this idea first proposed by Polish economist Oskar Lange in the 1920s, economists and political theorists such as Alec Nove, John Roemer, and David Schweikart are among the major proponents.

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