Why is Socialism a Dirty Word in the US?

A still young republic cherishes freedom and equality for all, yet views the values of Marx as akin to a sexual perversion.

Photo by Hennie Stander on Unsplash

Thanks to politicians like Bernie Saunders views are slowly changing. His enormous popularity amongst ordinary, working class people of the US has allowed the values of socialism, enshrined in the narratives of Karl Marx, to be resurrected. Is the pale light of respectability tentatively reaching out to begin to shine on the venerable pages of Das Kapital?

Although socialism and Marx’s theories of communism are often used interchangeably, there are important differences. They share the same values, yet communism is sometimes referred to as revolutionary socialism while socialism itself is more communism-lite.

Unlike communism, socialism allows for private ownership and acknowledges the economic need to reward individual effort and innovation. It’s instincts are democratic rather than totalitarian. Socialism achieves its aims of social reform and a redistribution of wealth while working alongside the challenges of a free market economy.

Yet both seek to address the pernicious inequalities of a capitalist system that exploits its workers and creates a widening gulf between the rich and the poor. In…