Socialism and communism have been tried. They have failed — everywhere, every time — at a cost of over 100 million lives. The DSA is trying to bring it here.
Socialism is an economic and political system in which the means of production — factories, resources, industries — are owned or regulated collectively, typically by the state. First articulated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the 19th century, socialism promised to eliminate inequality by abolishing private property and redistributing wealth.
In practice, every socialist experiment has followed the same arc: nationalization of industry, collapse of productivity, shortages of food and goods, erosion of political freedom, and eventual authoritarianism or economic ruin.
The DSA openly identifies as socialist. Its platform calls for the elimination of private ownership of major industries, nationalization of healthcare, housing, and energy, and the dismantling of the free market system that has produced the highest standard of living in human history.
"The goal of socialism is communism."— VLADIMIR LENIN, FOUNDER, SOVIET UNION
Communism is the end-stage of Marxist theory — a classless, stateless society in which all property is communally owned. Marx argued that capitalism would inevitably give way to socialism, and then to full communism. In practice, no country has ever achieved communism as Marx defined it.
Every attempt to implement Marxist theory has instead produced totalitarian one-party states, secret police, political terror, mass executions, engineered famines, and the systematic destruction of civil society.
The Black Book of Communism — a scholarly study published by Harvard University Press — estimates that communist regimes killed between 85 and 100 million people in the 20th century alone. This is the ideology the DSA is bringing to America.
"The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property."— KARL MARX, THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, 1848
Published DSA documents, platform statements, resolutions, and member statements. All submissions verified before publication.