The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in the United States. We believe that working people should run both the economy and society democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few. We are a political and activist organization, not a party; through campus and community-based chapters, DSA members use a variety of tactics, from legislative to direct action, to fight for reforms that empower working people.
DSA and YDSA chapters organize around a variety of issues based on local priorities, especially labor solidarity and anti-austerity work. However, the national office provides resources and support for the main activist priorities of the organization as voted on by delegates to our national convention:
Health care is a huge segment of our economy and health care access is a deeply and widely felt need. In the capitalist system, you have to pay to get care or go without, and under a democratic socialist system, we would collectively provide care as a society. Medicare for all is a stepping stone towards that vision and our campaign is designed to build a working class base of people fighting for state and national power. Click here to go to the campaign website.
Capitalism pits us against each other and workplaces are fundamentally authoritarian unless workers can self-organize and build collective power. This is why people build unions, and why employers undermine them. It is also why the capitalists as a class constantly work to undermine unions and promote narratives about unions that frame them as unnecessary, undemocratic or ineffective. We are forming a national project to fight back and build power in the economy, since outside of Wall Street, workplaces are the place where the owning class extract resources from the working class. Click here to learn more about the Democratic Socialist Labor Commission.
Bernie Sanders launched a political revolution and we continue to build it, supporting democratic socialist candidates running for local and state office. We’re also grappling with how to build independent political power to hold candidates we elect, and others, accountable to their constituents rather than the donor class. Click here to go to our electoral website.
Before launching into critiques of China, we must learn to understand the complexity of its situation. Understanding a method of resistance and solidarity is undoubtedly difficult, but perhaps China’s working-class and intellectual communities have already been offering us some models.
(We’ve come a long way from mailboxes like this one from 1869). DSA Weekly, formerly known as Democratic Left Blog, is a digital media hub for all things DSA. DSA is a broad multi-tendency organization with an international presence. While private magazines and media projects play a tremendous role in the fight for socialism,…
Every DSA chapter should devote a great deal of its time to formalizing democratic process at their regular and general meetings. This means making sure that all members are encouraged to submit resolutions; that agendas are distributed well in advance of meetings; that all resolutions are debated; that parliamentary rules are obeyed; that votes are publicized and respected; and so forth. Formalizing the democratic process gives all members the sense thatthis is simply what we do.