Takoma Park Residents Struggle to Define Socialism as Movement Gains Ground

Clear Facts

• A September Gallup poll found that 43 percent of Americans hold a positive view of socialism, the highest level since Gallup began tracking the question in 2010.
• Fox News Digital interviewed attendees at the annual Takoma Park street festival in Maryland about their personal definitions of socialism and willingness to surrender private property.
• Documentary filmmaker Nina Gilden Seavey stated that democratic socialism in America is distinct from traditional socialism and that wealth redistribution is not occurring in the United States.

Americans remain divided over the meaning of socialism even as public favorability for the ideology reaches record highs. The lack of consensus could affect how far-left factions attempt to unify around the label.

Fox News Digital visited Takoma Park, Maryland, a longtime liberal enclave, during its annual street festival to ask residents how they define socialism and how far they would go in supporting its principles.

“The fact is that there’s no…one answer,” Nina Gilden Seavey said when asked to define socialism.

Jaw Blake described his understanding as programs being made available to everyone rather than a special group. “It’s not a special group that gets to have them, it’s just available.”

Jenny Sniderman offered a more concrete list that included public libraries, police and fire departments, and utilities as core elements of socialism.

The same residents expressed hesitation when asked about surrendering private property to government or collective control. “Do I want to give up my private property? Of course I don’t want to give up my private property,” Sniderman said. “Are they going to reimburse me fairly? That would be helpful in making my choice.”

Blake added that while no one wants their possessions taken, he would consider the idea if it proved beneficial to the broader community.

Seavey argued that government is not the best steward of assets and questioned the wisdom of centralized reallocation. She maintained that the current movement should not be confused with traditional socialism.

“This is not socialism. This is democratic socialism. It’s different. There’s socialism, there’s communism, there are all kinds of ‘isms.’ Democratic socialism is essentially what we have a growing movement in this country,” Seavey said.

“Socialism is where there is a massive redistribution of wealth. We are not having redistribution of wealth in this country.”

The Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States, continues to call for wealth redistribution from high-income individuals and corporations to workers and lower-income Americans. The group also advocates public ownership stakes in major corporations and essential industries.

A 2018 Gallup survey found that only 17 percent of Americans defined socialism in terms of government ownership or control of businesses. Another 23 percent linked it to equality, while nearly a quarter could not offer any definition.

Seavey called for removing what she described as stigmas attached to political labels. “Let’s think about it differently and let’s take away these ridiculous stigmas that have to do with these crazy labels that we have allowed the right wing to foment onto the rest of America,” she said.

As socialist-aligned candidates seek office, the movement raises a central question that favorable polling cannot answer: whether voters embrace its promises of affordability and equality or also support its broader demands for economic ownership and control.

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