Democratic Socialists of America - Ideology

Ideology

The DSA's ideas are greatly influenced by those of writer Michael Harrington, Chairman of the League for Industrial Democracy (1964) and member of the National Executive Board of the Socialist Party of America (1960–68). Opposed to capitalism and communism alike as cruel and anti-libertarian social systems, Harrington advocated working for a realignment of the U.S. Democratic Party, away from an amorphous amalgam of often contradictory ideas towards making it a principled party of the left.

Throughout his life, Harrington simultaneously embraced the thinking of Karl Marx while rejecting the "actually existing" Communist systems of the Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe. Harrington said:

"Put it this way. Marx was a democrat with a small d. The Democratic Socialists envision a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning...and racial equality. I share an immediate program with liberals in this country because the best liberalism leads toward socialism.... I want to be on the left wing of the possible."

Harrington made it clear that, even if the traditional Marxist vision of a marketless, stateless society was not possible, he did not understand why this needed to "result in the social consequence of some people eating while others starve."

Before the collapse of the USSR, the DSA voiced opposition to that nation's bureaucratically managed economy and control exerted over its satellite states. The DSA welcomed Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet Union. Sociologist Bogdan Denitch wrote in DSA's Democratic Left:

"The aim of democrats and socialists should be...to help the chances of successful reform in the Soviet bloc... While supporting liberalization and economic reforms from above, socialists should be particularly active in contacting and encouraging the tender shoots of democracy from below".

Today, the organization issues few statements about overriding principles while frequently commenting on matters of public policy. One primary leaflet detailing the group's official ideas, "What is Democratic Socialism? Questions and Answers from the Democratic Socialists of America," states that while "no country has fully instituted democratic socialism," nonetheless there are lessons to be learned from "the comprehensive welfare state maintained by the Swedes, from Canada’s national health care system, France’s nationwide childcare program, and Nicaragua’s literacy programs". The "tremendous prosperity and relative economic equality" established by the Social Democratic Parties of the countries of Scandinavia and Western Europe is lauded.