Socialism used to be a dirty word in the U.S.
But now for many young Americans strapped with debt, disenchanted with mainstream politics
and uncertain about their economic future, socialist ideas might just be a breath of
fresh air.
So what is this new political movement - and have we seen it before?
So Zach, you joined the DSA when?
I joined the morning after the presidential election in 2016 when Trump was elected
So you were scared socialist?
Why do you think so many young people like yourself are joining the DSA?
We’ve seen what the system does to people and how much people are struggling and things
aren't getting better for the 99%.
Like, we’re just seeing rich people get richer and richer.
Lucie Macias is the co-chair of the Chicago chapter of Democratic Socialists of America,
a national organization that works on grassroots campaigns, stages actions like confronting
the Homeland Security secretary during her Mexican dinner, and helps to elect like-minded
candidates.
I think what's great about electoral work is we can have our foot in the electoral door,
but we also have a foot in other work.
DSA is now approaching 50,000 members nationwide, with 167 branches - a number that’s surged
since Bernie Sanders’ presidential run.
And unlike in 2016, Democratic Socialist candidates are winning.
From national victories like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, to races at all levels
of government.
It’s enough to cause panic both in the GOP, and within the Democratic Party.
I’m here in the Logan Square area in Chicago and I'm about to meet up with their councilman,
who happens to be a Democratic Socialist.
And guess what?
He’s only 28!
Did you just knock on doors and were like, “Hey I’m a socialist”?
I think that sometimes people get confused by a label.
So when I knocked on doors, I said I was going to stand up to the big corporations that were
too powerful in city hall.
I was going to make sure that our public dollars benefit our public schools, benefited our
communities and invested in after-school programs, job programs, mental health services.
And it wasn’t until later, after I was elected, that I came out and said, “I’m a
Democratic Socialist.”
If you’re a Democratic Socialist, why not run on the Socialist Party ticket?
People that want to tax the rich, they want to protect immigrants, they want to stand
up for women’s rights, for workers' rights, they’re already voting in large numbers
for the Democratic Party line.
So let's actually give them what they want.
Let’s give them Democratic Socialists on that party line that are actually going to
deliver the policies that the Democratic Party should be standing for.
Damn, this guy has got it together.
And he doesn’t mince words when calling out moderate Dems.
I think here in the context of Chicago, I learned that the Democratic Party is very
much tied to the establishment and the monied interests.
Do you think the moderate Democrats and the establishment Democrats are afraid of
you guys?
Absolutely.
We can see, when they begin to fight you, that’s when you know they feel threatened
by you.
All these inspiring young Socialists running for office and winning.
It feels unprecedented, but is it?
Let’s rewind.
Socialism in America, and throughout the industrialized world, first took root in trade unions and
in a movement to protect and advance the rights of workers.
Chicago was once the center of the Industrial Revolution and, along with explosive growth
and profit, came a whole lot of exploitation.
People were working 16 hours a day, living in terrible conditions, this is just a fact.
And a movement began, called the 8-hour day movement - 8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep,
8 hours for what you will.
Meet Larry Spivak, the premiere labor history tour guide of Chicago.
You want labor history?
You go to Larry.
So that monument there is the exact site where the Haymarket Rally of May 4th, 1886 took
place, which was what some could argue was one of the most important and influential
historical events of the last 150 years, in the world!
The Haymarket Affair happened when a labor protest in support of the 8-hour work day
turned violent, ultimately ending in the death sentence of four activists.
It was a tragedy in so many ways, for those who were killed, and it set back the working
class movement for awhile.
It was really the first “Red Scare.”
“Red Scare” tactics meant portraying socialist ideas as somehow foreign and un-American.
Back in the day, calling for free healthcare would get you accused of being an agent of
the Soviet Union.
Today, you’ll be accused of wanting to turn this country into Venezuela.
One-third of Chicago was German-speaking at that time.
Today, it’s one-third Spanish-speaking.
But the Germans were despised.
Basically, you could take today and go back to 1886 and just substitute Latin American
or Mexican for German, and you’d get the xenophobia and the “America first” and
the native-born hatred toward these German immigrants.
But how foreign of a concept is socialism?
This is John Nichols, who wrote the book “The S-Word, a Short History of an American Tradition,”
a history that's actually quite long
America’s always had a socialist or social democratic presence, going back to the founding
of the country.
In the very first years of the Republic, Tom Paine wrote his pamphlet, “Agrarian Justice.”
That was in 1797.
And so, even before the word “socialism” was used, you had people advocating for solutions
to problems that involved a redistribution of the wealth.
What have been the economic conditions and the conditions of the United States that have
led to these socialist movements?
In the 1890s, the start of the 1900s, first-off you saw a great economic downturn in 1893.
But then you also saw the Gilded Age, this incredible inequality in that period.
In the 1930s, you saw a similar thing.
A great depression of course, but also immense wealth surrounded by great poverty.
And Roosevelt really started to talk about that.
Others did as well.
So again and again throughout history, what we have seen are moments where economic turbulence
and technological change - that combination - has caused people to pause and say, “Hey,
who’s got an idea here?
Who’s got a solution for the circumstance we’re in?”
Because the wealth is not distributed appropriately.
The power is not distributed appropriately.
We are oppressing some people while empowering others.
What moment are we in right now when it comes to capitalism and exploitation and this entire
push and pull of history?
We are currently experiencing the equivalent of three industrial revolutions at the
same time.
And there's a real sense of lack of control - that the great mass of people aren't making
the decisions about our technological changes.
All this change is happening, but we don't necessarily get a signal that things are getting
a lot better.
And in a moment like that, it is incredibly necessary to have new ideas.
Time in to 2018, I’m back at another DSA meeting.
They seem to do a lot of this.
You know, things are happening in this world where people are hurting, people are not able
to have a place to live, people aren't able to access healthcare.
People are literally dying because their GoFundMe to get insulin fell $50 short.
Like, it really is sometimes life or death for people, so this is why we believe so much
in what we do.
I do think that Democratic Socialism has historically been about the meeting in a sweaty hall, late
at night.
It’s about going to the mom who's at the drive-thru at Wendy’s or Burger King and
treating her as a human being and respecting the struggles that she is facing economically
and trying to come up with answers for her.
And I do see in the contemporary movement a lot of that.
I see a lot of young activists going out and making very practical
connections with people.
If they continue to do it, my sense is that this is a movement that will stick.