Democratic socialism just means you believe in democratically governed socialism, not that you think you can just vote capitalism into socialism. There's both reformist and revolutionary democratic socialists. I both believe in democracy and also see that the only way to overturn capitalism (at least in the US) would be through revolution. All the democratic part means is that they're opposed to monarchies or dictatorships.
No. That's incorrect. Democratic socialism is always and has always been an opposite to revolutionary socialism. Read some goddamned books. ALL forms of socialism are democratic, essentially by definition, but certainly by historical precedent. The only undemocratic "socialist" movements have been fascist movements using socialist aesthetics.
Are you saying that you can have undemocratic socialism?
Isn't that what USSR was, dictatorship?
Good question. No. It was not. Please read about it. There is plenty of writing about the political structure of the USSR, its constitutional documents, its legal and court systems, etc. It is imminently possible for you to learn about it if you're curious
Dictatorship of the proletariat is democracy for the people
And at what point is it no longer a "dictatorship of the proletariat"? Do you really think, say, the Soviet leaders were looking out "for the proletariat"? Is Kim Jong-Un doing so because the country's official name contains the word "people"?
The working class saw a doubling of life expectancy, reduced working hours, tripled literacy rates, cheap or free housing, free, high quality healthcare and education, and the gap between the top and bottom of society was around ten times, as opposed to thousands to millions. The structure of society in socialist countries is fashioned so that the working class is the prime beneficiary. Having "people" in the name of the country makes no difference on structure, be it the PRC, DPRK, or otherwise, what matters is the structure of society.
There was no dictatorship of the proletariat. Trotsky prevented labor unions from going on strike. War communism was forcing workers to labor as slaves. The new economic policy sent managers bourgeois back to run the factories.
It was a top down dictatorship. Not a bottom up dictatorship of the proletariat. It was supposed to be all the power to the soviets. The soviets ended up being a tool for the politburo.
No, the soviet union was democtatic. The soviet union had a more comprehensive and complex system of democracy than liberal democracy.
It was even dissolved through a vote
Illegally though, most of citizens voted against in a referendum that was just ignored.
The voting for leftists into office one is there twice.
Fixed
Thank you, as a democratic socialist this is what I was looking for.
Sometimes I wonder how many “Marxists” really have read Marx.
The DSA has everyone from reformist soc dems, to anarchists, to MLs, to Maoist Third Worldists
and that's precisely the reason it's been so effective
Were you were being sarcastic? I am Brazilian and know nothing of the DSA.
Yes, he was being sarcastic.
Supa-hot-fire.gif
"I'm about to ruin this man's whole career"