Causes of the Socialist Wind in Capitalist America

ABSTRACT

During the campaigning for the 2016 US Presidential election, the self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders gained momentum in the Democratic primary and won significant support especially from young voters. This may appear abnormal in a country that has long been regarded as exceptional for the weakness of its socialist movement. Analysis of the underlying situation and of its historical logic indicates that the “unexpected” upsurge of socialist tendencies in US politics is the integrated consequence of multiple factors. Subjectively, Sanders’s socialist campaign appealed to concerns that are widespread among Americans. Objectively, along with the widening gap between rich and poor, the deepening financial crisis in the US has altered the existing bias of Americans against socialism. At the same time, the socialist tradition in the US has survived and continued to develop, while internationally, world socialism has undergone a revitalization. The “unexpected” rise of American socialism proves that history has not ended, and that in terms of a socialist presence in its political life, America is by no means an exception.

KEYWORDS:

• Sanders
• US presidential election
• socialism

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Xuan Chuanshu (following Chinese practice, the surname, Xuan, is placed first) is a research fellow and director of the Overseas Socialism Research Center at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai, China. His research focuses on party politics and comparison of socialism in China and abroad.

Tan Yangfang (following Chinese practice, the surname, Tan, is placed first) is a research fellow and director of the Supervision and Evaluation office at the Bureau of Scientific Research Management of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Her research focuses on Western Marxism and issues of contemporary capitalism.

Notes

1 These are the most frequently used keywords in reports since 2015 on the US presidential election.

2 The current total national debt of the US is 64.9 trillion dollars, including 17.6 trillion dollars of household debt, 19.3 trillion dollars of government debt (exceeding the US Gross National Product of 17.24 trillion dollars in 2015), and 26 trillion dollars of corporate debt (Source: www.usdebtclock.org. May 13, 2016).

Additional information

Funding

This work is among the outcomes of the project “The Changes of European Left-Wing Political Systems” supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (NSSF) (Grant No. 10BGJ009).