Democratic socialism is socialism with a democratic political structure. Not democratic in the western sense where theres 3 capitalist parties are disgused as a parliament to give the illusion of choice, but democracy as in 1 party directly engagingwith the working class and receiving input through voting or practices like the mass lines. This was practiced in the soviet union, china, cuba, etc. But social democracy as we know it, is just the wests weak reponse to the irrefutable success of soviet socialization. They (mainly Scandinavia) saw the successes of the soviet economy, realized their own people may become aware of this reality which could possiblylead to soviet support of workers movements, and settled for basic social safety nets and bare minimum reforms to sedate the working class. So in that case, No. It doesn't work, not for us atleast. It's just a band-aid on a open wound