The Kenyon Young Democratic Socialists of America (KYDSA) is a new club founded by Max Fishman ’26, Tobias Hughes ’26 and Elias Kradel ’28 that provides students a space for political discourse and action.  My introduction to democratic socialism, as may be true for many of us, was Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign. Even then, at 11 years old, the negative connotations associated with the term “socialism” alienated me from meaningfully engaging with the ideology. It seemed daunting: a political faction based on seemingly archaic texts and difficult concepts that felt a bit removed from practicality. However, after sitting down and listening to the goals and applications of democratic socialism with Fishman, my wariness shifted to enthusiasm and hope for an avenue to facilitate important community change. 

Fishman interprets democratic socialism as “the notion that our economy, or more robustly our public spaces, should be run democratically.” Fishman further expanded on that seemingly simple concept: “Democratic socialism is a specific vision for carrying out the vision of liberalism to its end,” they noted. “Not just democracy in government, and leaving an autocratic system where we work for our entire lives in place, but implementing the values of democracy that we think are good for the government to the rest of society. What it really means is [KYDSA] is a place for people on the left to come together and strategize.” 

When asked about possible distinctions between democratic socialism and other forms of leftism, Fishman pointed out that instead of trying to further analyze and dissect ideology, KYDSA intends to act as more of a “place for those [ideas] to come together, hash it out with each other and move forward.” 

Fishman recognizes that at an institution like Kenyon, “The people who have the power in decision-making are not the ones involved in doing the work, and so [we’re] thinking about ‘How do we approach making changes on this campus given that we have no say in the decision-making process?’ and ‘We are reduced to consumers [and] faculty who create so much of the academic parts of this institution are reduced to laborers.’” On campus, KYDSA aims to tackle institutional problems from the ground up by holding town hall-style meetings where students and faculty can come together and address community issues, bridging the gap between students and the administration. 

We are currently living in a time when, from Fishman’s perspective, “The federal government is dominated by fascists and we are seeing an increasingly totalitarian crackdown,  but on the other hand we have someone like Zohran Mamdani who has won his Democratic primary, and is the favorite in the New York City [mayoral] election.” Here, Fishman paused to knock on wood. “I think the real showdown, as the phrase goes, is socialism or barbarism, and I think KYDSA is a great place where there can be a microcosm of that.” Hopefully, with the introduction of a new space for discourse and action, Kenyon students can, as Fishman succinctly puts it, “Go into this f*cked-up world and do something about it instead of doing nothing.”