Democratic socialism is a political philosophy that supports political democracy within a socially owned economy,[1] with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers’ self-management
[2] within a market socialist economy, or an alternative form of decentralised planned socialist economy
.[3] Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society
.[4] Although most democratic socialists seek a gradual transition to socialism
,[5] democratic socialism can support either revolutionary or reformist politics as means to establish socialism.
[6] Democratic socialism was popularized by socialists who were opposed to the backsliding towards a one-party state in the Soviet Union and other nations during the 20th century.[7]
The history of democratic socialism can be traced back to 19th-century socialist thinkers across Europe and the Chartist movement in Britain, which somewhat differed in their goals but shared a common demand of democratic decision making and public ownership of the means of production, and viewed these as fundamental characteristics of the society they advocated for. In the late 19th to the early 20th century, democratic socialism was also heavily influenced by the gradualist form of socialism promoted by the British Fabian Society and Eduard Bernstein‘s evolutionary socialism in Germany
.[8] Democratic socialism is what most socialists understand by the concept of socialism;
[9] it may be a very broad (socialists who reject a one-party Marxist–Leninist state
)[10] or more limited concept (post-war social democracy).
[11] As a broad movement, it includes forms of libertarian socialism,
,[13] reformist socialism,[4] and revolutionary socialism,
[14] as well as ethical socialism,[15] liberal socialism,
,[17] and some forms of state socialism
,[19] all of which share commitment to democracy.[10]
Democratic socialism is contrasted with Marxism–Leninism, which opponents often perceive as being authoritarian and undemocratic in practice
.[20] Democratic socialists oppose the Stalinist political system and the Soviet-type economic planning system, rejecting as their form of governance and administrative-command system that formed in the Soviet Union and other Marxist–Leninist states during the 20th century
.[21] Democratic socialism is also distinguished from Third Way social democracy
[22][nb 1] on the basis that democratic socialists are committed to systemic transformation of the economy from capitalism to socialism.[nb 2]
While having socialism as a long-term goal,[28] some moderate democratic socialists are more concerned about curbing capitalism’s excesses, and are supportive of progressive reforms to humanise it in the present day,[29] while other democratic socialists believe that economic interventionism and similar policy reforms aimed at addressing social inequalities and suppressing the economic contradictions of capitalism would only exacerbate the contradictions,[30] causing them to emerge elsewhere under a different guise.[31] Those democratic socialists believe that the fundamental issues with capitalism are systemic in nature, and can only be resolved by replacing the capitalist mode of production with the socialist mode of production through the replacement of private ownership with collective ownership of the means of production, and extending democracy to the economic sphere in the form of industrial democracy.[32] The main criticism of democratic socialism is focused on the compatibility of democracy and socialism.[33] Several academics and political commentators tend to distinguish between authoritarian socialism and democratic socialism as a political ideology, with the first representing the Soviet Bloc, and the latter representing the democratic socialist parties in the Western Bloc countries that have been democratically elected in countries such as Britain, France, and Sweden, among others.[3