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.
