Aren’t Democratic Socialists just Social Democrats? In Europe we have several Socialist Parties who are part of the same European group of Social Democrats. PS (French and Portuguese), PSOE, SPD are all part of the same group Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). Also, those “Socialist” parties have long stopped advocating for socialism and even take pride in implementing and defending liberal policies.
My understanding of the difference is: dem socs believe you can bring about socialism through electoralism, whereas soc dems (in the modern terminology) just believe in reforming capitalism.
But in practice, there doesn’t appear to be substantial difference because neither is willing to buck the system on a fundamental level and so both end up working toward policies that try to reform capitalism. They can dress it up however they want, but neither takes seriously the power struggle for control over the means of production and distribution, nor the need to have a militant and disciplined vanguard. I’m not aware of any instance of dem socs winning electorally on a majority level of influence and actually holding onto it in the long-term against the forces of reaction. Not sure how they would without armed forces on their side to defend them.
But I also sympathize with why some true believers may try anyway. If one lives in a place where repression of communists is high, then going for reform might feel like a way to reduce harm without risking their life outright. People just have to be clear about the limitations of it for bringing a socialist project into being. OTOH, people who seize on it because it advances their career and who choose their career over any sort of ideological line that actually challenges the system, fuck that.
Aren’t Democratic Socialists just Social Democrats? In Europe we have several Socialist Parties who are part of the same European group of Social Democrats. PS (French and Portuguese), PSOE, SPD are all part of the same group Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). Also, those “Socialist” parties have long stopped advocating for socialism and even take pride in implementing and defending liberal policies.
My understanding of the difference is: dem socs believe you can bring about socialism through electoralism, whereas soc dems (in the modern terminology) just believe in reforming capitalism.
But in practice, there doesn’t appear to be substantial difference because neither is willing to buck the system on a fundamental level and so both end up working toward policies that try to reform capitalism. They can dress it up however they want, but neither takes seriously the power struggle for control over the means of production and distribution, nor the need to have a militant and disciplined vanguard. I’m not aware of any instance of dem socs winning electorally on a majority level of influence and actually holding onto it in the long-term against the forces of reaction. Not sure how they would without armed forces on their side to defend them.
But I also sympathize with why some true believers may try anyway. If one lives in a place where repression of communists is high, then going for reform might feel like a way to reduce harm without risking their life outright. People just have to be clear about the limitations of it for bringing a socialist project into being. OTOH, people who seize on it because it advances their career and who choose their career over any sort of ideological line that actually challenges the system, fuck that.