Joining DSA means making a commitment to cooperation and solidarity. Not only do you help further democratic socialist ideas in the United States, you also become part of a community that shares your values.
DSA Members participate in a variety of ways, depending on time, financial resources, and interests. All are important:
1) Participate in a community chapter.
DSA and Young Democratic Socialists chapters are critical to spreading the word about democratic socialism.
New to activism? That's okay! We hold regular webinars to help members learn organizing skills.
2) Participate in identity/issue-based working group.
DSA's national teams are autonomous groups organized around issues of identity or particular political interests. The commissions help link DSA to critical social movements and provide an important mechanism through which DSA members can mobilize around particular issues within the organization. Current caucuses and working groups are:
- Anti-Racism Working Group
- Socialist Feminist Working Group
- Women's Caucus
- Disability Caucus & Working Group
- Labor Working Group
- Religion & Socialism Working Group
- Queer Socialists Working Group
- Veterans Working Group
- Solidarity Economy Working Group
- Climate and Environmental Working Group
You may also consider proposing a new issue based working group here.
3) Participate in national work committees.
Members who are not near a DSA chapter can contribute professional skills such as graphic design, social media organizing, editing, writing, etc. Current working groups are:
- Communications Committee
- Design Committee
- Political Education Committee
- Social Media Committee
- Translation Team
- Tech Committee
For all other volunteer opportunities, Let us know if you are interested in contributing any specific skill(s).
You may also consider proposing a new task oriented working group here.
4) Attend online or national and regional events.
DSA has a biannual national convention, in a different region of the country each time. Our student section, Young Democratic Socialists, holds an outreach conference in the winter and a leadership retreat in the summer. The national office organizes occasional joint events at the regional or local level, and we hold regular seminars via webinar.
Learn about upcoming events on our calendar.
5) Recruit new members!
Many people share our values, but don't know there is a name for the ideas. Others already consider themselves democratic socialists or anti-capitalist, but haven't heard of DSA. You can play a critical role by visibly representing DSA and talking to friends, family, neighbors, coalition partners and others. If you share a flyer, blog post, copy of Democratic Left or other DSA literature, they may thank you for letting them know about DSA. Downloadable flyers and web versions can be found in our resources section and articles from our three blogs on the DSA homepage. You can even get a personalized link to get "credit" for recruiting your friends to connect with DSA!
You can also forward DSA emails, which you can sign up for on our homepage. Of course, you can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, and help spread the word by liking, sharing, commenting on, retweeting, and favoriting posts!
6) Pay Dues and/or make additional financial contributions.
DSA is entirely member funded. This means we are accountable to members, but that sometimes we must raise additional funds for special projects. In our highly capitalistic country, we appreciate every dollar from memberships, special fundraising, or bequests. We especially appreciate members who build a solid foundation for DSA by making a regular monthly contribution.