The South African Civil Society Information Service

Howard Zinn on his Philosophy: Democratic Socialism
1 Feb 2010

Howard Zinn was a giant on the American left and best known for his 1980 non-fiction novel, "A People's History of the United States," which rewrote American history from the perspective of the poor and dispossessed.

The dissident author and political activist died on 27 January 2010 at the age of 87.

His book was made into a documentary, "The People Speak," by well known actor Matt Damon (executive producer) and debuted on the History Channel in December 2009.

According to the History Channel, "Using dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries and speeches of everyday Americans, The People Speak gives voice to those who spoke up for social change throughout U.S. history, forging a nation from the bottom up with their insistence on equality and justice."

The documentary narrated by Zinn, features a stellar hollywood cast and world renowned musicians, with such big names as Sean Penn, Marisa Tomei, Josh Brolin, Morgan Freeman, Benjamin Bratt, Danny Glover, Dan Cheadle, Viggo Mortensen, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder and more.

In this 2008 interview, Zinn talks about his philosophy - democratic socialism - outlining the progressive values that drove his pursuit of social justice and making useful elucidations about communism, socialism and anarchism.

Question: What is your philosophy?

HOWARD ZINN: I believe, I suppose, in what could be called democratic socialism. I believe that we need a society where the motive for the economic system is not corporate profit, but the motive is the welfare of people, health care, jobs, child care, and so on. But that is dominant. Where there is a greater equalization of wealth and a society which is peaceful, which devotes its resources to helping people in the country and elsewhere.

I believe in a world where war is no longer the recourse for the settling of grievances and problems. I believe in the wiping out of national boundaries.

I don’t believe in visas and passports and immigration quotas. I think we need to move toward a global society. They use the word “globalization,” but they use it in a very narrow sense to mean the freedom of corporations to move across boundaries. But what we need is a freedom of people and things to move across boundaries.

When I talk about socialism without jails, I mean greater societal intervention into the economy, but without deprivation of civil liberties. Dalton Trumbo, the Hollywood writer, put it very simply. He said, “Socialism without jails.”

Question: How do you blend anarchism, socialism and communism?

HOWARD ZINN: I'd like to think of taking the best elements of all of them.

Communism - if you separate communism from the Soviet Union and from those bureaucratic and totalitarian countries that call themselves Marxist or communist and just treat communism as it was envisaged by Marx and Engels as ultimately a society where there would be a freedom of the individual and rational use of the world's resources. 

Well that's something to take from communism.

From socialism, I would take what I just described and that is the use of the government, of a democratically elected government, to equalize resources and help people.

I would take from anarchism the suspicion of authority. The suspicion of all governments and a readiness to criticize and rebel against any government that may have started out in a humanitarian way, but that can easily become ossified and dictatorial. Anarchism has as its goal the idea of a kind of decentralized society where individuals are free from the oppression of government and corporate power and the church.

So I think there are elements in all three that are useful.

Question: Is that a practical way of thinking?

HOWARD ZINN: Well it's certainly not practical in the sense of something that is immediately achievable. But, its I think, very important to hold as a goal. Philosophical, but not in a utopian sense that makes it simply theoretical and unworkable. 

Philosophical only in the sense that it is long term. So although it is not an immediate possibility or probability, I think it's very important to have an idea of what a good society would be like so we can then measure what is happening today and what the policies are today, against that goal.

Read more articles tagged with: communism, socialism, anarchism, democratic socialism.

You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/204.19.