The Young Democratic Socialists (YDS)
Democratic Socialists believe that both the economy
and society should be run democratically—to meet public needs and not to
make profits for an elite few. To achieve a more just society, many
structures of our government and economy must be radically transformed,
toward greater economic and social democracy, so that ordinary Americans
can participate in the many decisions that affect our lives. Democracy
and socialism go hand and hand. All over the world, wherever the idea of
democracy has taken root, the vision of socialism has taken root as
well—everywhere but in the United States. This is due to
misrepresentations of socialism that have been popularized by the
business community in this country.
Democratic socialists do not want society to be taken over by an
all-powerful government bureaucracy. In addition, we don’t want private
business bureaucracies to control our society either. Instead, we want
social and economic decisions to be made by those whom they most
affect. We believe that the workers and the communities that are most
affected by economic institutions should own and control them.
Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-run
cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers’ and
community representatives. Democratic Socialists favor as much
decentralization as possible. While the large concentrations of capital
in industries such as energy and steel may necessitate some form of
state ownership, many consumer-goods industries may be best run as
cooperatives. Democratic Socialists have long rejected the belief that
the whole economy should be centrally planned. While we believe
democratic planning can shape major social investments like mass
transit, housing, and energy, market mechanisms are needed to determine
the demand for various consumer goods.
Many people assume that in a socialist society people will lose
their incentive to work. We strongly disagree. The incentive to workmay,
in fact, be strengthened in a socialist society because workers will
become the owners of their place of employment and will have a stake in
its productivity. People enjoy their work if they find it meaningful and
if it enhances their lives. They work out of a sense of responsibility
to their community and society. Although a long-term goal of socialism
is to eliminate all but the most enjoyable kinds of labor, we recognize
that unappealing jobs will long remain. These tasks should be spread
among as many people as possible rather than distributed on the basis of
class, race, ethnicity, or gender, as they currently are under
capitalism. In addition, this undesirable work should be among the best,
not the least, rewarded work within the economy.
To realize our goals and move toward socialism in the U.S. we
need a new generation of leaders. Since the Civil Rights movement of the
1950s, young people have played a critical role in American
politics. They have been a tremendous force for both political and
cultural change in this country: in limiting the U.S.’s options in the
war in Vietnam, in forcing corporations to divest from the racist South
African regime, in reforming universities, and in bringing issues of
sexual orientation and gender discrimination to public attention. Though
none of these struggles were fought by young people alone, they all
featured youth as leaders in multi-generational progressive
coalitions. Young people are greatly needed in today’s struggles as
well: to gain universal health care coverage, to build stronger labor
unions, to strengthen and universalize welfare benefits, and to hold
multinational corporations responsible for their actions. Through the
socialist movement and the Democratic Socialists of America you can help
build a progressive majority and become part of the solution to social
and economic injustice here and abroad.
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