Socialism is not an evil ideology like some people think

Christian Rico, Guest Contributor

As a socialist, I have experienced the struggle of having to express my political viewpoints to other people who have negative preconceptions of what that means.

To explain your position about your strongly held beliefs to someone who might think socialists are evil can be very  difficult. Many people have told me that I shouldn’t publicly call myself a socialist, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

Akins Young Democratic Socialist is a new socialist group that has many members along with supporters. The 2 main focus’ are social justice throughout schools as well as climate regulation.

Democratic Socialists believe that both the economy and society should be run to meet human needs, not for private profit by corporate leaders. We are a political and activist organization, not a party; through campus and community-based chapters; DSA members use a variety of tactics, from legislative to direct action, to fight for reforms that empower working people.

Here at Akins, the new Young Democratic Socialist club focus’ on the immediate needs of student workers and students. We also have a goal to reduce carbon emissions by encouraging investors to divest their funds from the fossil fuel industry and invest into education.

Since this is a new group, not only to Akins but to the City of Austin, people have been a bit skeptical. During our time at Akins as socialists we have been called numerous names such as “Communist” and “Nazi-Children.” We even had one of our club recruitment posters taken down because we were told that  “some students finding it offensive,” which shocks me because the question that was found to be offensive was “Are you against racism?”

I believe that  students along with teachers and administrators have misinterpreted the term “Socialism” because of the negative stigma attached to the word.  Anti-socialism has been repeatedly used to attack reforms that shift power to working class people and away from corporate capital.

Until we face, and beat, the stigma attached to the “S word,” politics in America will continue to be stifled and our options limited. We also call ourselves socialists because we are proud of the heritage of the founders of the Socialist Party, Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas, and of other struggles for change that have made America more democratic and just. Finally, we call ourselves socialists to remind everyone that we have a vision of a better world.

Fear of socialism has arisen along with Red Scares at various times in American history, notably during the Cold War period, when America was in conflict with the Communist government of the Soviet Union.

Americans are by in large very unaware of how successful many modern socialist countries are. Many have  higher quality of living standards for their citizens compared to the United States because we were just taught about the countries that had bad, cruel leaders that helped their countries collapse and were told it was because of “evil” socialism. Although some socialist run countries have failed in the past, many of this country’s best aspects were brought  to us by socialism.

According to “75 Ways Socialism Has Improved America,” public schools are taxpayer funded. A portion of the taxes you pay go to funding the public education system, which is in fact, socialism. In the 1950’s polio ravaged the United States. Until Dr. Jonas Salk invented a cure, finally ridding America of this terrible disease. Dr. Salk could have sold his vaccine in the free market and made millions and millions of dollars. Instead he gave it to the federal government to begin eradicating polio. He said that he made plenty of money as a scientist and felt it was too important to try and profit from or create a business around, once again a prime example of socialism.

Democratic Socialists core beliefs revolve around the people’s needs. While some may categorize Democratic Socialist as power and money hungry Far Left politicians; history will show, Democratic Socialist are fully against Private Profit and all for working to meet the public’s needs. We have to work hard in order to overcome the misconceptions about socialism, and overcome many students’ lack of interest in engaging in political actions. Young people can be turning the tide against racism, sexism, homophobia and climate change. Joining the Socialist movement will not only benefit you as a student, or just Akins as a community, but the United States of America as our home.