List of democratic socialists

This is a partial list of notable democratic socialists.

Heads of government

 * Salvador Allende, President of Chile (1970–1973)
 * Jacobo Árbenz, President of Guatemala (1951–1954)
 * Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1945–1951)
 * Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile (2006–2010; 2014–2018)
 * David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel (1948–1954; 1955–1963)
 * Léon Blum, Prime Minister of France (1936–1937; 1938)
 * Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany (1969–1974)
 * Álvaro Colom, President of Guatemala (2008–2012)
 * Alexander Dubček, leader of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1968–1969)
 * Peter Fraser, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1940–1949)
 * Mauricio Funes, President of El Salvador (2009–2014)
 * Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet leader (1985–1991)
 * António Guterres, Prime-Minister of Portugal (1995 - 2002) and Secretary General of the United Nations (2016–present)
 * Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (1992–1997)
 * Norman Kirk, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1972–1974)
 * Fernando Lugo, President of Paraguay (2008–2012)
 * Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1924; 1929–1935)
 * Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa (1994–1999)
 * Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica (1972–1980)
 * François Mitterrand, President of France (1981–1995)
 * Evo Morales, President of Bolivia (2006–2019)
 * José Mujica, President of Uruguay (2010–2015)
 * Walter Nash, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1957–1960)
 * Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India (1947–1964)
 * Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua (1985–1990; 2007–present)
 * Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (1969–1976; 1982–1986)
 * José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor (2007–2012)
 * Giuseppe Saragat, President of Italy (1964–1971)
 * Michael Joseph Savage, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1935–1940)
 * Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil (2003–2011, 2023–present)
 * Sutan Sjahrir, Prime Minister of Indonesia (1945–1947)
 * Mário Soares, Founder and Leader of the Socialist Party (1973–1986), Prime-Minister of Portugal (1976–1978; 1983–1986) and President of the Portuguese Republic (1986–1996)
 * Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (1972–1975; 1977–1979; 1982–1987)
 * Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece (2015–2019)
 * Tabaré Vázquez, President of Uruguay (2005–2010; 2015–2020)
 * Chris Watson, Prime Minister of Australia (1904)
 * Harold Wilson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1964–1970; 1974–1976)
 * Lionel Jospin, Prime Minister of France (1997–2002)

Disputed

 * Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (2007–2010) – disputed
 * Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela (1999–2013) – disputed
 * James Callaghan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1976–1979)   – disputed
 * Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador (2007–2017) – disputed

Other politicians

 * Niki Ashton, member of Parliament of Canada, two time Leadership candidate
 * Obafemi Awolowo, Premier of the Western State of Nigeria (1954–1960)
 * Tony Benn, member of the Labour Party and founder of the Socialist Campaign Group
 * Eduard Bernstein, member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
 * Aneurin Bevan, father of the National Health Service
 * Louis Blanc, member of the French Provisional Government of 1848
 * Lee J. Carter, member of the Virginia House of Delegates
 * Alexandre Boulerice, deputy leader of the NDP, member of parliament of Canada
 * Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition
 * Anthony Crosland, member of the Labour Party
 * Eugene V. Debs, five-time Socialist Party of America presidential candidate
 * Tommy Douglas, father of Medicare
 * Evan Durbin, member of the Labour Party
 * Michael Foot, leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition
 * Peter Hain, member of the Labour Party
 * Joel Harden, member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament.
 * Michael Harrington, founder of the Democratic Socialists of America
 * Denis Healey, member of the Labour Party
 * Karl Kautsky, member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
 * Neil Kinnock, leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition
 * Kevin Kühnert, member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
 * Ferdinand Lassalle, founder of the General German Workers' Association
 * Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London (2000–2008)
 * Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, member of the French Parliament in 1848
 * Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Representative
 * Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont
 * Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Council member
 * Norman Thomas, six-time Socialist Party of America presidential candidate
 * Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Representative
 * Jean-Luc Mélenchon, French presidential candidate

Intellectuals and activists

 * Edward Bellamy, American author, journalist and political activist
 * Fred Hampton, American activist and chairman of the Black Panther Party
 * Étienne Cabet, French philosopher and utopian socialist
 * Jim Cornette, American professional wrestling personality and manager
 * Milovan Đilas, Yugoslav communist politician and dissident
 * Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist
 * Friedrich Engels, German philosopher and sociologist
 * Erich Fromm, Jewish German philosopher
 * Charles Fourier, French philosopher and utopian socialist
 * Henry George, American social reformer
 * Charles Hall,  British physician, social critic and Ricardian socialist
 * Christopher Hitchens, English-American journalist
 * Owen Jones, English journalist and political commentator
 * Helen Keller, American political activist
 * Martin Luther King Jr., African-American civil rights leader
 * Naomi Klein, Canadian author and social activist
 * Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher and communist dissident
 * Rosa Luxemburg, Polish philosopher and economist
 * Karl Marx, German philosopher, sociologist and economist
 * John Stuart Mill, British philosopher and economist
 * George Orwell, English novelist
 * Robert Owen, Welsh social reformer and utopian socialist
 * Thomas Paine, English-born American philosopher and political theorist Their concern for both democracy and social justice marked them out as key precursors of democratic socialism.
 * Bertrand Russell, British philosopher
 * Andrei Sakharov, Soviet physicist, dissident and human rights activist
 * Henri de Saint-Simon, French political and economic utopian socialist theorist
 * Roger Waters, English musician
 * Cornel West, American philosopher and political activist
 * Richard D. Wolff, American economist
 * Howard Zinn, American historian