Remembering MLK’s Democratic Socialism
Monday was Martin Luther King Day in the United States. It is a day that was established by American president Ronald Reagan in an attempt to control the narrative of the civil rights leader's legacy. One of the things neocons and neoliberals alike want us to forget is that the reverend doctor also had an economic vision. King believed in both a society and an economy for the people. So, to properly honour his legacy, we must remember King for all he stood for and not just what is filtered through the lens of disingenuous capitalists. The following is just a selection of his quotes on the matters of socialism and anti-capitalism:
“You can’t talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can’t talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You’re really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry. Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong with capitalism. There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.”
“The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.”
“We must recognize that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power… this means a revolution of values and other things. We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are all tied together… you can’t really get rid of one without getting rid of the others… the whole structure of American life must be changed. America is a hypocritical nation and [we] must put [our] own house in order.”
“Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.”
“I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective – the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed matter: the guaranteed income… The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.”
“If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to hell.”
Click here for more on the Forgotten Socialist History of Martin Luther King Jr.