In the last campaign before his assassination, King campaigned for a democratic socialist agenda. Called the Poor People’s Campaign, demands included a guaranteed job, [redistribution] of land and capital, and more inclusion of the poor in state decision-making.
Yes, taking land and money from rich people and giving it to poor people was part of King’s dream.
King’s own views of capitalism are often sanitized in textbooks and mainstream media stories, but he could not have been for explicit:
“You can’t talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can’t talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You’re really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then,” King declared. “You are messing with captains of industry. Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong with capitalism. There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.”
Originally posted on Babble: There must be a better distribution of wealth…
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