When is it Democratic Socialism?

What is Democratic Socialism? What makes it different than Socialism, Communism, Marxism or Social Democracy? As self-described democratic socialists, like Mayor Mamdani, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bring the term to the mainstream, it felt like a good moment to dive into the history of the term, and to explore the central tension to be found in any social democratic movement: reform or revolution? ★Support on Patreon: Patreon: williamcfox Social Media ▼ Twitter➜ @williamcfox Instagram➜ @williamcfox TikTok ➜ @williamcfox 00:44 Manifesto for 1848 40:13 Interlude: Inevitability 01:29:15 Marxism to Orthodoxy 02:27:23 Revisionism 02:56:54 Reform or Revolution 03:22:50 Social Democracy vs Democratic Socialism 04:03:18 Defining the 'types' Sourcing Ascher, Abraham (Ed.). 1976. _The Mensheviks In The Russian Revolution_. Berman, Sheri. 2006. _The Primacy of Politics: Social Democracy and the Making of Europe's Twentieth Century_. Bernstein, Eduard. 1899. _Evolutionary Socialism_. Buhle, Paul. 1987. _Marxism in the United States_. Draper, Hal. 1987. The ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’ in Marx and Engels. Chapter 1. Eley, Geoff. 2002. _Forging Democracy: The History of the Left in Europe, 1850-2000_. Engels, Friedrich. 1880. _Socialism: Utopian and Scientific_. Gay, Peter. 1952. _The Dilemma of Democratic Socialism: Eduard Bernstein's Challenge to Marx_. Gramsci 1917. The Revolution against ‘Capital’ Guttsman, W. L. 1981. _The German Social Democratic Party, 1875-1933: From Ghetto to Government_. Kolakowski, Leszek. 1978. Main Currents of Marxism Volumes 1-3 Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich. 1905. _Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution_. Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich. 1917. _The State and Revolution_. Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich. 1918. _The Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky_. Luxemburg, Rosa. 1908 (Second Edition). _Reform or Revolution?_. Martov, Julius. Essays from 1919-1921. The State and the Socialist Revolution. (accessed via 'whatnextjournal') Marx, Karl. 1875. _Critique of the Gotha Programme_. Marx, Karl & Engels, Friedrich. 1848. _Manifesto of the Communist Party_. Modern/Critique: Brooks, David. 2026. Democrats Became Great by Fighting the Left. Flynn, Daniel J. 2008. _A Conservative History of the American Left_. Fortgang, Tal. 2026. Radicals Are at the Door. Sunkara, Bhaskar. 2019. The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality. Michael Harrington. American activist and author by Markku Ruotsila. Britannica Editors Misc: The Erfurt Program 1891. Translated: by Thomas Dunlap & Das Erfurter Programm (1891) Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images.