Occupy Movement picks up MLK’s legacy

The Occupy Movement has been widely credited for breaking ground in the struggle for economic justice in the Unted States. Since Occupy Wall Street kicked off in September, a wave of protest and organizing has spread throughout the country, unleashing the hopes, frustrations and energies of many Americans. The term "occupy" has entered the lexicon of political life. But how much ground has actually been broken? In the wake of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it is worth a brief look back at the roots of the Occupy Movement during the twilight of King's life.

In 1968, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King's civil rights organization, undertook a Poor People's Campaign. The Campaign was designed to highlight crippling economic injustice in the United States, a cause that King believed was central to realizing civil and human rights. It is this lesser known phase of the Civil Rights struggle that absorbed King's energy before he was killed that April 4 during a sanitation workers' strike. His assassination occurred before his dream of a Poor People's Campaign could come to fruition, and without his unifying presence, the SCLC's efforts culminated in a less than revolutionary event. That is why King would be so excited to see the growth and vitality of the current Occupy Movement.

By the end of 1967, King claimed, "riots are not revolutionary," and, instead, "nonviolent protest must mature to a new level … mass civil disobedience." He envisioned poor people from around the country descending on Washington, setting up a tent city and carrying out sustained protest and disruption: "There must be more than a statement to the larger society, there must be a force that interrupts its functioning at some key point." It would be the original Occupy D.C.

King's advocacy of a truly "revolutionary" movement was not simply rhetorical. He saw capitalism as a fundamental threat to democracy, freedom, civil rights and human dignity. In 1966 he declared, "something is wrong with capitalism…and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism." A year later he was more openly critical of the interlocking evils of poverty, racism and militarism. King's ideal of a Poor People's occupation was an attempt to mobilize the victims of capitalism to affect structural change in a deeply unfair system of concentrated power. "The dignity of the individual," he spoke, "will flourish when the decisions concerning [her] life are in [her] own hands, when [she] has the means to seek self-improvement."

That is the fundamental assertion of democratic socialism. When our government is compromised by dollars that speak louder than votes, our democratic rights are threatened. When citizenship stops at the door of our workplaces, our democratic rights are threatened. When the decisions made by the unelected Wall Street one percent bring down the economy for the 99 percent, our democratic rights are threatened. King recognized that capitalism undermines our democracy by stripping away our participation in political and economic life, and eliminating the resources necessary to realize those rights. King faced this challenge with a vision of a poor people's occupation. Our generation has updated that with an occupy movement of the 99 percent.

King's democratic socialism, while frequently glossed over in most representations of his life and work, represents the hidden roots of the current struggle. Since King's death, various democratic socialists have continued the work of the late 1960s. Michael Harrington, who worked with King, went on to form the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The DSA, whose membership includes Cornel West, Frances Fox Piven and Barbara Ehrenreich, has continued the fight for democratic socialism into the ongoing Occupy Movement. As socialists, they have worked to identify capitalism as the connective tissue that links the struggles of unions, the unemployed, the working poor, welfare-recipients, women and people of color. They build coalitions to fight for a world beyond capitalism, where people control the decisions that affect their lives and have the necessary means to seek self-improvement.

The DSA's youth affiliate, the Young Democratic Socialist of America (YDS), will continue this fight in the coming generation. Their work with Occupy is just the beginning. Vassar College's own YDS chapter is starting off this semester. We look forward to continuing King's legacy of agitating and organizing against the injustices of capitalism. It will be a spring of occupying, protesting student debt and fighting austerity.

In these times of seemingly unprecedented struggle, it serves us well to remember those who have come before. As King's democratic socialist vision plays out on our streets today, the best way we can remember him is not with a moment of silence, but a lifetime of struggle.

—Spencer Resnick '15 is a member of the Vassar Young Democratic Socialists.