[1] Nicos Poulantzas is often considered the first to formalize the term, democratic road to socialism.
[1]:24 Yet, institutions of representative democracy would be "an essential condition of democratic socialism" to regulate decentralized models like workers' councils in order for the working class to collectively wield the political power and technical expertise necessary to direct a complex socialist society.
The democratic road to socialism is espoused by certain socialist politicians, such as Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera,[1]:xii and groups, such as the Bread and Roses caucus of the Democratic Socialists of America.
[7] The democratic road to socialism has influenced the development of Eurocommunism[8][9][2] and the ideological trajectory of parties such as Syriza.
[10][11][12][13] Additionally, Tristram Hunt and Bruno Jossa argue that Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels grew skeptical of "top-down revolutions" in their later writings, in favor of "a peaceful, democratic road to socialism.