The young socialists of today call themselves Democratic Socialists. They truly believe that they can do socialism in America much better than it was done in the 20th century in all the Soviet satellite countries which called themselves socialist democratic republics.
These countries were not democratic; they were tyrannies controlled by the Communist Party. The Communist Party represented about ten percent of the population while the other ninety percent were subjugated by the total control of the top Communist Party executive leaders.
The Communist Party leaders had a huge standing army, a huge street police apparatus, and a large security police controlled by the Dear Leader. The ultimate power resided with the tyrant and his wife.