House Socialists and Field Socialists
** This article appeared in Counterpunch January 12, 2016 ** I wholeheartedly support the populist programs that Bernie Sanders advocates—from single-payer healthcare, to free college tuition, to taxing the rich and more. But borrowing from Malcolm X , Bernie is a house socialist and I'm a field socialist. Bernie doesn't want to replace or overthrow capitalism. Like all house socialists, he thinks capitalism can be fixed or tamed with reforms. By contrast, we field socialists understand that the essence of capitalism—private ownership of major industry, resources, banks, and the exploitation of labor by appropriating surplus value (profit)—is antithetical to democracy. In fact, for all of Bernie's talk about "democratic socialism", he and other house socialists turn a blind eye to the lack of economic democracy that is the very hallmark of the capitalist system. Because Bernie is in favor of tweaking capitalism but opposed to dismantling i