Magazine Editor Makes Case for Democratic Socialism

On November 2, the founder and editor of Jacobin, the country’s leading socialist magazine, spoke with Groton School students and faculty about his political ideas and the state of socialism in America and the world.

With humility, humor, and intelligence, Bhaskar Sunkara made the case for socialism as the world’s best political system. The son of immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Sunkara was among the first of his family to attend college not because, he said, his older siblings were less intelligent, but because he benefited from the opportunities provided by access to a strong public school district and other public goods.

Mr. Sunkara argued that socialism, far more than capitalism, offers most people in society the kinds of opportunities that allow them to achieve to the best of their abilities. The speaker emphasized that while he was a Marxist, he did not identify as a communist, in part because of the horrific and failed implementation of Marxism by so-called “communist” regimes in places such as the Soviet Union and Cuba. He called himself a “democratic socialist” in the European tradition that seeks the implementation of socialism through non-violent, democratic means.

In addition to publishing Jacobin, Mr. Sunkara writes occasionally for the Washington Post and the Nation, and he has appeared with Tavis Smiley on PBS and with Chris Hayes on MSNBC. Mr. Sunkara was brought to the Circle through the efforts of Fifth Former Max Klein.—Tom Lamont 'P'09, '12, '15, history teacher

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