"Most social revolutions begin peaceably. Why would it be other-wise? Who would not prefer to assemble and demonstrate rather than engage in mortal combat against pitiless forces that enjoy every advantage in mobility and firepower? Revolutions in Russia, China, Vietnam, and El Salvador all began peacefully, with crowds of peasants and workers launching nonviolent protests only to be met with violent oppression from the authorities. Peaceful protest and reform are exactly what the people are denied by the ruling oligarchs. The dissidents who continue to fight back, who try to defend themselves from the oligarchs' repressive fury, are then called "violent revolutionaries" and "terrorists."

-Michael Parenti, Blackshirts and Reds.

Democratic Socialism, while a nice thought, does not have the internal strengths to combat capitalist forces from the outside. You cannot vote in socialism, nevertheless communism. The external systems of global hegemony will do anything in their power to destroy it. The concept of self-sufficiency on a national scale is nearly impossible, due to how global capitalism and finance imperialism works. The work that is required to be self-sufficient, especially under sanctions, from "western" capitalist nation, requires other countries that reject the western paradigm to be able to export goods. By definition, democratic socialism is a bandaid for capitalism, as it still requires the extraction of resources from the global south.