It is the defense of every good German communist too. They are sorry for all the hardship and suffering because the system went bad. They plainly forget that they were the system. Truly democratic socialism has to provide for the right to be unequal in effort and result. Anything truly democratic involves the right to dump the system and reinstall individual rights to property and capitalistic endeavor.
Democratic socialism is thereby an oxymoron that has no basis in reality.
It became the alias of the 'newly reformed' party. Nothing had changed except that the guns were no longer available to enforce the dictum of the party. The approach was now to be reasonable and approach the people with logic. For some people that subterfuge works. Surely, the fellows can defend themselves but from my point of view what counts is that our country permits support for or against whichever political leaning we may have as individuals.