That does not mean the two ideas have no historical relationship. Both emerged from critiques of capitalism, inequality, exploitation, and concentrated wealth. But they are not the same system, they do not operate the same way, and they do not lead to the same political model.
A matter of fact: democratic socialism begins with democracy. Communism, as practiced in many 20th-century states, was often associated with one-party rule, centralized state control, political repression, and the elimination of pluralistic democratic competition.
Democratic socialism argues that democracy should not stop at the voting booth. It asks whether workers, communities, consumers, and the public should have more voice in the economic systems that shape their lives: health care, housing, energy, transportation, education, wages, banking, and public services.
National Geographic’s civic education resource describes democratic socialism as a form of socialism emphasizing that both the economy and society should be run democratically, with the goal of meeting the needs of all people, not only a wealthy few. It also notes that some socialists do not believe the government must run everything, and instead support worker-run cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed with worker and consumer input.
Why the Confusion Exists
The confusion is not accidental.
For more than a century, political language in the United States has often been used as a weapon. Words like “socialism,” “communism,” “Marxism,” and “radical” are frequently thrown together to create fear before people have time to understand what the terms actually mean.
The Associated Press recently reported that experts say political claims broadly linking Democrats or democratic socialists to communism are inaccurate. AP cited experts explaining that democratic socialists are far from core communist ideas such as abolishing private property or imposing central economic planning; instead, they generally support a stronger social safety net, universal health care, higher taxes on the wealthy, and stricter corporate regulation within a democratic framework.
That distinction matters.
Disinformation works by collapsing differences. A healthier public conversation separates the ideas.
What Democratic Socialism Believes
Democratic socialism is built around several core principles:
Democracy must include the economy.
People should have meaningful power not only in elections, but also in workplaces, communities, public budgets, essential services, and major economic decisions.
Basic needs should not depend entirely on market luck.
Health care, housing, education, food security, energy access, transportation, elder care, and dignified work are treated as foundations of freedom, not luxuries.
Concentrated wealth can become concentrated power.
Democratic socialists argue that when a small number of corporations, billionaires, landlords, banks, or monopolies control essential systems, political democracy becomes weaker.
Workers should have more voice.
This can include unions, cooperatives, employee ownership, workplace democracy, fair wages, safe working conditions, and stronger labor rights.
Public goods matter.
Democratic socialism values strong public systems: schools, libraries, health systems, infrastructure, clean water, clean energy, public transit, parks, and civic institutions.
Democracy must remain pluralistic.
The “democratic” part is essential: free elections, civil liberties, free speech, independent media, public debate, and the right to organize are not optional.
The Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States, describes its goal as a society where ordinary people have a real voice in workplaces, neighborhoods, and public life, while explicitly distancing its vision from authoritarian versions of socialism.
So What Is Communism?
Communism has several meanings, depending on whether people are discussing theory, political parties, or historical governments.
In Marxist theory, communism refers to a classless, stateless society where property and goods are commonly owned. National Geographic summarizes communism as a form of socialism based on Karl Marx’s writings, where in a fully realized communist society all property and goods are commonly owned and society has no government or class divisions.
In practice, many 20th-century communist states became centralized one-party systems. They often suppressed opposition, restricted speech, controlled media, and concentrated power in the state.
That is why democratic socialists usually reject authoritarian communism. Their argument is not for dictatorship. Their argument is that political democracy is incomplete if economic power is highly concentrated and ordinary people have little say over the systems that determine their survival.
Was FDR a Democratic Socialist?
No — not exactly.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was not a democratic socialist in the modern political sense. He was a Democrat, a capitalist reformer, and a president who used government power to stabilize a collapsing economy during the Great Depression.
But FDR did advance many ideas that overlap with social democracy and democratic socialist concerns: jobs, labor rights, Social Security, public works, regulation of finance, rural electrification, and protection from economic insecurity.
The clearest evidence is his Economic Bill of Rights, proposed in 1944. Roosevelt argued that “true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence,” and he listed rights including a useful job, adequate income, decent housing, medical care, protection from unemployment and old age insecurity, and a good education.
FDR also framed freedom in broader terms through the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. The National Archives notes that Roosevelt presented these as fundamental freedoms people should have, and the FDR Library explains that they later influenced the Atlantic Charter, the United Nations, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
So was FDR a democratic socialist? No.
Was FDR influenced by the belief that democracy requires economic security? Yes.
Did his New Deal save capitalism from collapse by reforming it? Many historians and political analysts argue exactly that. Hoover Institution scholars Seymour Martin Lipset and Gary Marks described Roosevelt as incorporating much of the rhetoric and demands of the left while preventing the rise of a powerful national socialist third party.
The Mobilized Read
The real question is not whether one label can explain everything.
The real question is: What kind of system enables people to live with dignity, freedom, health, security, and voice?
A society can have markets and still decide that health care should not bankrupt people.
A society can protect private property and still regulate monopolies.
A society can support entrepreneurship and still defend workers.
A society can reward innovation and still prevent poverty.
A society can believe in freedom and still recognize that people without food, housing, education, medical care, or basic security are not fully free.
That was FDR’s insight. It is also why the word “socialism” is often misunderstood.
A Matter of Fact
- Democratic socialism is not communism.
- It is a democratic political tradition that argues that freedom must include economic security, public accountability, worker voice, and shared access to the systems that make life possible.
- People can support it, oppose it, debate it, improve it, or reject it.
- But a healthy democracy begins by describing ideas honestly.
- Disinformation tells people what to fear.
- Democracy requires helping people understand what is true.