Bhaskar Sunkara, a democratic socialist political writer, advocated for expanding democracy in unconventional places at the first Yale Political Union debate of the semester last Tuesday.
Lucas Miller
Staff Writer, The Buckley Beacon
On Tuesday, January 20, democratic socialist and president of The Nation Bhaskar Sunkara visited the Yale Political Union (YPU) to debate the resolution “Everyone Should Govern.”
Sunkara, 36, is the founding editor of Jacobin, a magazine which describes itself as “a leading voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture,” according to a statement on its website. He is also the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, and has contributed to The Guardian US, The New York Times, Vox, The Washington Post, and other periodicals. In 2022, Sunkara was named president of The Nation, a popular progressive outlet.
Sunkara joined the YPU for its first event of the semester. He spent his speaking time diagnosing what he believes are the ills of contemporary American democracy and arguing that its shortcomings stem in part from hierarchical power structures. Power structures that exclude individuals, Sunkara argued, foment disinterest and disengagement, weakening the institutions themselves. “Disengagement is often a radical response to exclusion,” he said.
Sunkara’s proposed solution is to radically expand democracy in the United States, including in previously untouched realms, such as private business. Sunkara invoked an example, though not by name, to support the practicability of his plan: the Mondragon Corporation, a 70,000-worker cooperative in the Spanish Basque region. In the Basque Country, Sunkara said, “production does not require a separate capitalist class to own and command.” Instead, the Mondragon Corporation features so-called “worker-owners,” who vote on various business-related issues, including “strategy, salaries, and policy,” according to an explainer article published in The New Yorker in 2022.
Sunkara believes such a system is possible to implement and should be implemented in the United States. In America today, Sunkara claims, “decisions are made without ordinary people, and often against them,” and “hierarchical firms train people in deference.” In his eyes, such a culture has led Americans to embrace quiet quitting, in which people do the bare minimum at work to avoid termination, with little real passion for their vocation.
To Sunkara, remedying that problem means bringing the working American back into the decision-making process. “We recognize [in other areas] that participation builds capacity. People become more capable by doing– government should be treated the same way. This is not a romantic claim about human nature; it’s a practical claim about learning. People learn democracy by doing democracy.”
Sunkara also addressed two mainstream critiques of his suggested reforms in his speech: ones based on “technocratic-managerialism” and what Sunkara deemed “thin populism” present in the contemporary American left and right wings.
The “technocratic-managerialist” criticism of Sunkara’s democratic expansion holds that the world is too complex to be governed by the average citizen; instead, those with advanced expertise should lead.
The “thin populist” critique of Sunkara is slightly more nebulous. To Sunkara, “thin populists” alleviate, but do not remedy, the workforce’s problems. They may provide benefits to and mitigate some struggles of the working class, but ultimately they refuse to upend systems of “elite control,” Sunkara continued.
By adopting a system of “economic democracy,” Sunkara contended, America would embrace participation in the economic architecture of the country “not as a threat to order, but as the foundation of a good civilization.”
Finally, Sunkara implored his audience to consider his proposal. “Democracy has always been a wager; the question before us is whether we are willing to make that wager again.”
Sunkara then took questions from members of the YPU in a segment facilitated by Avi Rao ‘27, the Speaker of the Political Union. Early in the question segment, Sunkara was asked to examine the farthest reaches of his proposal. “The guest mentioned expanding self-rule to the work culture,” a YPU member mentioned. “Are there limitations? Should the military be democratized?”
Sunkara responded moderately, admitting that in some sectors, including the military, private, efficiency-based hierarchical structures still have merit. Still, he advocated for a reconsideration of the military structure, including expanding democracy to service members in peacetime for proposals regarding pay and hours.
Later in the segment, a YPU member questioned Sunkara on his reverence of democracy, asking, “What is democracy good for? Is it good in and of itself, or for something else?” Sunkara responded in two ways: first, by stating his belief in democracy’s intrinsic value, and second, by touting democracy’s ability to “redistribute power and wealth.”
The evening closed with speeches opposing Sunkara’s remarks, including from Independent Party member Zachary Suri YC ‘27, who spoke about the benefits of referring to established law rather than referenda in certain circumstances.
“My broader critique of his piece was really that it missed the central part, and the real thing that governs, or should govern society, which is law.” Suri raised concerns about the likelihood of popular opinion being overly reactionary, arguing instead that “we need systems of law and institutions that can make those choices.”
Suri also criticized Sunkara’s speech, believing it relied on ideology rather than practicability. “I think he was very, very vague on real details, and what exactly he wanted a system where everyone governs to look like,” Suri told The Buckley Beacon in an interview.
Next Tuesday, the Yale Political Union will host recent former New York mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa to debate the resolution, “Resolved: Act Before the State.”