That was before the crimes of the Soviet Union, my friend shot back. The title Democratic Socialists of America tries to dissociate today’s American socialists from the 20th century socialist dictatorships. But, of course, the Soviet Union styled itself as a union of “republics.” But Americans have a short historical memory, those failures are receding, and today’s socialists are responding to new conditions with new terms and slogans. The post The rise of socialism and the return of history appeared first on Washington Post.