Is socialism compatible with democracy?

In short, yes. Socialism is a system of economic organization, while democracy is a system of political organization. You can have a free press, free elections, and robust democratic institutions while having what we Americans call "big government," i.e. things like heavy social spending and high government share of GDP. read more

Evidently, only socialism is compatible with democracy because only under socialism you have your democratic government controlling the whole property. Under capitalism the government has no power to control private property, regardless of whether it is democratic or not. read more

But then nothing of any complexity is compatible with direct democracy. A small isolated troop of 20 or 30 hunter-gatherers could be socialist and ruled by direct democracy (they usually were) but not a larger society. read more

Democratic socialism is a political philosophy that advocates political democracy alongside social ownership of the means of production with an emphasis on self-management and/or democratic management of economic institutions within market socialism or decentralized and participatory planned economy. read more