always had the power to end injustice; and although we have made reforms,
we have so far lacked the social maturity to do so completely. For example,
we have created public education and public libraries; and with the United
States being the sole exception in the developed world, we have created
national health plans that cover everyone. These coexist with private schools,
private bookstores, and private health insurance. However, we have largely
not extended, with few exceptions, that idea to the creation of government
jobs with decent wages and benefits for all those who want and need to
work, but whom the private, capitalist system cannot or will not employ.
We have established Social Security and welfare systems, but not yet a nega-
tive income tax system that would guarantee that everyone would be above
the poverty level. As society has developed, the movement for democratic
socialism has gathered speed and force. More and more people in every nation
have come to the realization that liberation is worth the struggle, that no
price is too great to pay to be democratic, free, and equal. Time and time
again, people have risen up against their oppressors, both domestic and
foreign. The question in Isaiah 3:15, "What mean ye that ye crush My people,
and grind the face of the poor?" is not just one of a single age or society, but
an eternal one for all nations. From the democratic and the labor move-
ments of Europe and North America to the fight against dictatorship and
colonialism in Central America, South America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle
East, people all over the world have fought for their rights. At times their
societies have slid back into tyranny. Millions have died in wars against
fascism and imperialism. But always the struggle continues. This work is
the story of that struggle, of the democratic socialists and the political par-
ties and the governments they have formed worldwide.

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