Socialism means the social ownership and control of the nation’s large corporations and major industries, a democratically planned economy where the people set the priorities, and where workers and consumers cooperate to realize those goals. Democratic socialism has nothing in common with Soviet-style Communism nor with those Social Democratic parties that merely manage capitalism without transforming it.
- Socialism means eliminating the corporation as the dominant institution of our society around which everything is organized and replacing it with collectively owned and democratically managed economic life.
- Socialism means the nationalization of the “commanding heights of the economy,” not the takeover of small businesses.
- Socialism means the democratic and collective elaboration and implementation of a plan to meet the needs of society. A planned economy will allow us to eliminate the boom-bust cycle that brings us an economic crisis every few years wrecking the lives of tens of millions.
- Socialism will allow us to transform the entrepreneurial impulse and competition so that they serve the common good rather than the individual acquisition of wealth and power.
- Socialism does not mean taking away people’s personal property or their ability to make decisions about their life. Rather it means eliminating obstacles and expanding opportunities.
- Socialism means society taking control of the economy and providing housing, education and health care for all so that people-no longer worried about their economic survival-have more freedom in their personal and social lives.
