During the 2016 presidential campaign, Americans discovered that one of the major candidates called himself a “socialist.” A “democratic socialist,” to be sure, but a socialist nonetheless. For many—not all of them on the far Right—the word evoked the Enemy, the Other, Satan, even Stalin. Good grief. How could we have a socialist running for president of capitalist America?

As we entered the 2018 political campaign, many more candidates were calling themselves socialists. And some got elected, too, generally as Democrats. Polls suggest that a majority of Americans no longer pledge allegiance to capitalism. Membership in the Democratic Socialists of America climbs daily. The stars in the Democratic Party firmament, like defeated Congressman Joe Crowley, sink in the east—and in the west, too. Hillary Clinton has disappeared from the screen, displaced by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Even the New York Times ran a story on the first page of the Sunday Review by Corey Robin explaining how socialist values—he cites “freedom”—differ from capitalism’s dominative culture. Bob Dylan’s lyrics have once again become relevant: “Something is happening here,” Mr. Jones, “but you don’t know what it is.”

Fifty-some years ago change was also afoot. And Mr. Jones didn’t know what was happening then either. Then, we didn’t speak of “socialism” but of the “movement.” Capacious terms, both could be interpreted differently by different individuals and groups. But always, both spoke change. In the 1960s change meant ending segregation and white supremacy, terminating the war on Vietnam, and eventually combatting sexism, homophobia, and other forms of inequality and conflict.

Today, the push for change takes different names: Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Red for Ed, Green New Deal. Speaking change does not require socialist or even identifiably progressive names or programs; indeed, by the time you read this, the name “socialism” might have once again been pushed to the margins of American political discourse. I think not, because what’s at stake are the values, like freedom and equality, and the goals—like supporting public schools, ending gerrymandering and other threats to voting rights, and seriously addressing climate change and inequality—for which “socialist” or “progressive” have come to stand.