democratic socialism Political movement that arose in late 19th- and early 20th-century Europe, out of the evolutionary wing of the Second Communist International. Broadly speaking, democratic socialism is committed to the principles of: equality and social justice, parliamentary government, redistribution of wealth (through progressive taxation) and social protection. Democratic socialist parties have held power in most Western European countries, as well as Australasia, Canada and some Latin American countries. After the collapse of Soviet communism in the late 1980s, many communist parties reconstituted themselves as ‘democratic socialist’ parties.

socialism, democratic See STATE CAPITALISM.

democratic socialism See STATE CAPITALISM.