Socialist Night School: What Is Democratic Socialism?

Socialist Night School is an open course that provides a chance to develop our politics together, regardless of background knowledge or whether you’ve attended a class before. New members and lifelong socialists, all are welcome!

This session, we’re going back to the basics. What is Democratic Socialism and why should we fight for it? And how? We’ll answer those questions together by readings the two articles below and discussing them.

We’ll start Socialist Night School with a lecture (so you can participate even if you couldn’t do the readings), and then we’ll break out into small, guided discussion groups led by trained facilitators.

Readings:

Neal Meyer, What is Democratic Socialism.

This Jacobin article, written by a DSA member, spells out the basics of democratic socialism, especially how it differs from liberalism and social democracy. It also names many of the challenges democratic socialists face, and what we can do to get past them.

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/07/democratic-socialism-bernie-sanders-social-democracy-alexandria-ocasio-cortez

Meagan Day, Democratic Socialism Explained

This Vox article, also written by a DSA member, explains why socialists want to go beyond reforming and regulating capitalism.

https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/8/1/17637028/bernie-sanders-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cynthia-nixon-democratic-socialism-jacobin-dsa