Would MLK be “Feeling the Bern”?
The civil rights leader was more radical than the history books remember
Published in
2 min readApr 5, 2016
We were surprised to learn that one of the most Googled questions about Martin Luther King was regarding his economic philosophy:
Was Martin Luther King a democratic socialist?
The question takes on added relevance in 2016 with Bernie Sanders, the most prominent democratic socialist in the US, exceeding expectations in the Democratic primaries.
King has reached near-saint status in the United States, and many of his more radical positions get downplayed in the history books. This is especially true of his critiques of capitalism, which he saw as a barrier in the fight to solve poverty and socioeconomic equality:
