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New Left and Social Unrest
Dr. Martin Luther King was the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, which emphasized nonviolence in the struggle for social justice and to give Black Americans equal rights under the law. According to David J. Garrow, King in private conversation "made it clear to close friends that economically speaking he considered himself what he termed a Marxist, largely because he believed with increasing strength that American society needed a radical redistribution of wealth and economic power to achieve even a rough form of social justice". King, in 1966, "rejected the idea of piecemeal reform within the existing socio-economic structure. Only at that time did he become persuaded that capitalism is the common determinant linking together racism, economic oppression, and militarism. There is conflicting interpretation by scholars who view King's radicalization of thought as being a result of experience and pressure from the Black Power Movement or whether it was rooted in his formative experience at Morehouse College. It is speculated that King read Marx as a college student. Nevertheless, King began to push for a more socialistic platform during his time as the leader of the Poor People's Campaign. He began pushing for policies such as a guar­an­teed annu­al income, con­sti­tu­tion­al amend­ments to secure social and eco­nom­ic equal­i­ty, and great­ly expand­ed pub­lic hous­ing. In addition, he advocated for a jobs guar­an­tee, a liv­ing wage and uni­ver­sal health­care. King was transitioning from the leader who led campaigns for civil rights and racial justice, to a campaign that was more anti-Capitalistic, anti-War, and a full frontal attack on the war on poverty. In a 1961 speech to the Negro Amer­i­can Labor Coun­cil, King declared, ​“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.”

Activists in the 1970's used Socialism and reinterpreted in order to encompass members of radical movements, whether it be the Black Panther Party or the Gay and Lesbian Left. The overlap between all of these different radical movements was that they were oppressed peoples who were subjugated by the ruling straight white male elite class. Similar themes between these different movements was the issue of capitalist violence that was used to preserve power for the ruling class. There was a prominent group of socialist activists in San Francisco who were combatting the issues of homophobia, American imperialism, and police brutality. The assassination of gay rights proponent Harvey Milk by an ex-cop resulted in police violence that “encouraged attacks on gay men, Lesbians, prostitutes, and Third World people. ” Angela Davis, an ally of the Black Panther Party and a socialist, viewed capitalism as an inherently violent system. In response to a question regarding the violent nature of the Black Panthers, she says “If you are a black person who lives in a black community all your life and walk out on the street everyday seeing white policemen surrounding you… When you live under a situation like that constantly, and then you ask me whether I approve of violence, I mean, that just doesn’t make sense at all.”  Davis speaks to how capitalism subjugates black people through violence and that the main purpose of police is to protect white supremacy. The Black Panther Party were prominent members of Black Power Movement and was fueled by what they saw as systemic racism perpetuated against black people. According to Douglas Sturm, Professor Emeritus of Religion and Political Science at Bucknell University: "‘‘Police brutality, lack of opportunity, and the realization that opportunity was not forthcoming in the near future led many Blacks to conclude that armed self-defense coupled with self-help was the only way to end the despair.'"This armed-self defense made many white Americans fearful of the Black Panthers and contributed to the FBI's designation of the Black Panthers as a terrorist organization. Although the Black Panthers were labeled violent extremists and terrorists, they provided many resources to their communities, including free healthcare, breakfast, and education services.

The 21st Century
The Occupy Wall Street movement provided a breeding ground for anti-capitalist activism that featured anarchists and socialists, and gave a renewed interest to socialist thought. The long-term background of Occupy begins with the Great Recession, which boosted sentiment for the anti-Capitalist and Social Democratic left, and created a movement against rampant wealth inequality, greed, and rallied for corporations to be held accountable for their incessant lobbying and economic strong-arming of the personal wealth of the owner-class. According to Holly Campbell: "In addition, the Occupy movement itself also created a number of spaces through which to communicate and exercise dissent—physical spaces through encampments (for their duration), a virtual space of discussion through social media, and an intellectual space through, again, the language of popular occupation and 'the 99%.' All of these spaces have provided a place for people to gather and partake in a sustained dialogue through which to share stories, generate knowledge, and develop resources for dissent against the forces of neoliberal capitalism."

Although the Occupy movement did falter, it did help to revitalize the American Left, which lost considerable influence since the 1970's. There was a greater mainstream interest to left-wing politics and socialism. The Occupy movement ultimately convinced United States Senator Bernie Sanders to run for president in 2016 as a democratic socialist. In his bid, "Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders attracted some of the largest crowds of the 2016 presidential campaign: 11,000 in Phoenix, 25,000 in Los Angeles, and 28,000 in Portland, Oregon. Sanders, a democratic socialist who for three decades has won office as an Independent... While he does not advocate the original goal of socialism —Sanders has put 'socialism' back in American political discourse." Sanders states that there needs to be a "political revolution", by which he means an insurgent movement of voters and activists, not a violent storming of the barricades—can make the U.S. work for the majority of its citizens. In addition, his 2020 run for President of the United States saw even larger crowds, topping 26,000 attendees. Senator Sanders also received the most amount of votes in the 2020 Democratic Iowa and Nevada Caucuses, and the New Hampshire Primary. The 21st century has seen an increase in the participation of socialist and left-wing organizing, precipitated by the Occupy movement and Bernie Sanders 2016 and 2020 presidential runs. This has resulted in an explosive growth of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) where by "December 2018, DSA had some 55,000 members in 166 chapters and 57 high school and college groups, making it the largest socialist organization in the United States since the heyday of the Communist Party in the 1930s and 1940s." In an interview by The New Labor Forum, a DSA member says "I have basically been a lifelong liberal who has very slowly radicalized and was kind of catapulted into radicalization by the Bernie primary campaign. I really didn't know about the term democratic socialism until Bernie started using it." These organizations like the DSA are leading a movement that is giving voice to left-wing positions, emphasizing issues such as affordable housing, universal health care, opposing public subsidies for corporations, seeking the creation of government-owned banks, environmental justice, and free college for all. There have been an increase of democratic socialists elected to Congress, most notably a group of four congresswomen known as "The Squad." In a 2011 survey, more people under the age of 30 had a favorable view of socialism than of capitalism.