This piece may be more than what some are able to hear today. I implore you to center yourself on our shared belief that a better world is on the horizon and we will not be oppressed forever. There is a path forward without capitalism and oppression, and we will destroy their systems in our venture forward. Our collective future relies on our ability to critically release our relationship to capitalism as it stands along with the nefarious tendrils it extends into what may seem to be our fond companions.

Our best chance of success in the face of facism today is looking to our revolutionary predecessors who left us detailed instructions; Malcolm X, a Muslim and Black revolutionary, worked personally on an addiction recovery program in his autobiography. In Malcolm’s youth he relied on the black market of drugs in Harlem and openly admitted to using multiple forms of addictive drugs. Later he identified that the same system he relied on in childhood was designed to keep him and his community under oppression. Malcolm developed a 6-step program for addiction using the following tenants: 

1. The addict has to admit that he is an addict
2. The addict is taught why he used narcotics and alcohol
3. The addict is taught that there is a way to stop their addiction
4. The addict’s self-image and ego are built up and anchored in self-power
5. The addict must voluntarily go through a cold-turkey to break with the drugs
6. The addict’s characteristics of hostility and suspicions are addressed

Full of empathy and understanding, Malcolm’s efforts to reduce addiction and abuse were honorable and full of hope.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was also no stranger to the perils of addiction. From an article by Hampton Sides in 2011, King himself struggled with alcohol use, increasing his consumption toward the end of his life to cope with the strain of fighting oppression. In a 1958 advice column King responds to a young man’s submission saying, “Alcoholism is a disease which needs the most expert medical care. A person whom he trusts can probably persuade him to seek this expert treatment… [If] you solve this [problem] each succeeding [problem] will be easier. You have youth, health and strength.”

Fred Hampton, leader of the Black Panthers, aptly referred to the same sickness of addiction as “chemical warfare” and encouraged members to be wary of the role of addiction in their lives and communities. As a party, they endorsed the formulation of Capitalism + Drugs = Genocide, an inflexible equation of the inevitable. In an interview with Rev. Julian DeShazier by the Huffington Post, he says King would hold a similarly wary stance on the war on drugs (before it truly began under the Nixon administration), “When we as a society make something illegal – in this case drug use – we should be very careful. We aren’t just telling people they shouldn’t do something. We are giving ourselves a mandate to arrest them, and very often to put them in jail or prison. The opposite of legalizing drug use is not some vague immediate stage of moral disapproval. It is incarceration.”

For revolutionaries in the U.S. particularly, our past leaders and great thinkers have clearly carved out consistent concerns of how the state relies on addiction to excuse their response of force. Addiction has taken many forms from the opium trade of Eastern Asia to Fentanyl use today, but the message remains the same: it will bring nothing but suffering for you and your community.

From the 2016 publication “Drug War Peace” by the Drug User Peace Initiative, “[Drug law] effectively criminalises people who use drugs themselves, and in some countries it is illegal to even have drugs in one’s bloodstream: it is illegal to be a drug user. People who use drugs are therefore inherently vulnerable to police interference and harassment, being publicly searched, being subjected to invasive strip and

cavity searches, being arrested, and being imprisoned.” In fact, drug related charges account for nearly half of incarcerated individuals at 43.8% representation (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2025). These laws and disproportionate application affects our non-white, non-cis, and non-straight comrades primarily. Our society still struggles with its relationship to alcohol with a whopping 85% of people 18+ who have used the substance at some point – imagine getting 85% of Americans to agree to anything. Beyond who is willing to try it, just under 25% of people 18+ reported that they had participated in binge drinking in the last month (NIH, 2024) and nearly the same rate of people generally say alcohol has caused problems in their family (Gallup, 2024).

Alcohol has obviously been a struggle for the working class and has been a vector for abuse and control over the proletariat, but according to statistics by Dr. Kristen Fuller, MD, “Gen Z is the first generation to take a noticeable stance on abstaining from alcohol… they are known as the ‘sober curious’ generation.” It seems the state’s tool of incapacitation and violence is not as strong over the newest batch of revolutionaries, which begs the question: is alcohol the only front in the war for bodily autonomy in our revolution today? After all, we know that capitalists are nothing if not excellent parasites hoping to squeeze every last drop from us and move on to a new sales pitch easily. In the same way that cigarettes went largely out of style (and exposure to children declined significantly), alcohol may also have seen its heyday and the people may be waking up to the consequences of capitalistic “fun,” Without the ability to use addiction to alcohol, what ploys does Capitalism still have hidden?

One front could be our relationship to caffeine and processed foods. I know this is a deeply personal relationship to a lot of my comrades and many will feel resistant to the concept of forgoing our treats, particularly treats that represent the few ways we still can achieve a little serotonin boost during the day. For many of us food represents control or joy or consistency, and I do not wish to reduce anyone’s sense of control or joy or consistency in the world. But now is the time to consider being more uncomfortable for the good of humanity and free ourselves from anything we cannot produce ourselves. This fact rings true: we cannot rely on the current systems of production and vow to overthrow them. Revolution requires free thinking, uninhibited by our desires and addictions. It is our responsibility right now to take as much control over our selfhood as possible and rid ourselves of any footholds capitalism still has in us.

The first component to begin breaking down is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Because corn is heavily subsidized, HFCS became a popular use of the product due to overproduction, leading to the cheaper sugar swap in many American food products. In a NIH paper, Richard Atkinson, a professor of medicine and nutritional sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison says, “There are a lot of subsidies for the two things we should be limiting in our diet, which are sugar and fat, and there are not a lot of subsidies for broccoli and brussels sprouts.” For decades people have been warning each other of the seemingly addictive-parallel nature of excessively sweet and processed foods, based on their own experiences and little official scientific documentation. Similarly to the cigarette industry, food is difficult to research without the whims of powerful corporations affecting funding and release of information – what would Coke say and do to a study about how harmful it is to drink Coke? But brave researchers still tried to inform the public and HFCS has become a tumultuous topic, never to be addressed by the government who stayed staunchly invested in its production and use. According to the NIH, “We demonstrate that HFCS can impair dopamine function in the absence of weight gain or increased fat consumption. As reduced dopamine function has been implicated in compulsive behaviors and reduced energy expenditure.” In essence, HFCS’s effect on us is to make us want more and feel tired.

Feeling tired leads me to the more difficult aspect here: caffeine use and abuse. Capitalism uses exhaustion as a tool of oppression. By nurturing that problem they have offered the solution in the form of caffeine. In a 2014 study by the NIH, “at least 85% of the US population consumes at least one caffeinated beverage per day,” a statistic that seems to hold steady today, but I could not find a more recent official study. In addition to its constant use, caffeine comes with chemical dependency and therefore withdrawal symptoms, which can become severe. In a 2023 study researchers found “Withdrawal from caffeine causes mild to clinically significant distress and impairment of normal functioning. The severity of symptoms vary from individual to individual, and most commonly include a headache, fatigue, decreased energy/activeness, decreased alertness, drowsiness, decreased contentedness, depressed mood, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and feeling foggy/not clearheaded.” The study continues to note the rate of experiencing the most common withdrawal symptom (headaches) is about 50% and the rate of clinically significant distress sits at 13%.

In a Vox article from 2023, author Emily Stewart describes what we all feel to be true: drinking soda is normal and everywhere. It’s an acceptable alternative to alcohol, coffee, tea, even water. There is no environment where cracking open a bottle of Diet Coke wouldn’t be acceptable – even the Oval Office seems to have a high supply. But has anyone else noticed the price increase over the last several decades? From the article, “They’ve been pretty relentless in raising prices over the last few years, really ever since the pandemic. It’s not just Coca-Cola, but it’s PepsiCo and Keurig Dr. Pepper, too. They’ve just continued to raise prices with very little negative impact on their sales volume,” said Garrett Nelson, vice president and senior equity analyst at CFRA Research, a financial intelligence firm. Stewart goes on to explain that the increase in price has been inconsistent with the cost of production. “Shoppers are price sensitive, but they’re not very price aware, meaning most shoppers can’t name the price of more than 10 or a dozen different items that they buy regularly. Diet Coke is one where a regular purchaser of it will know what a good price is,” said Jon Hauptman, the founder and president of Price Dimensions, a retail consultancy.

I understand that the parallel I’m drawing between the alcohol addiction of yesterday’s civil right’s movement and today’s food and caffeine dependency might seem like evidence that I don’t understand true addiction and that we should not compare something so destructive like alcoholism to the mild effects of a missed afternoon pick-me-up, but to that response I would like to pose a question: if this addiction is somehow different, then why can’t we simply forego them? If we feel disruption inside ourselves at the suggestion of giving up a treat, do we really have control over our impulses concerning the treat? I would like to argue that capitalism has achieved something much more nefarious: an addiction so slight and ubiquitous that doesn’t affect our relationships because it is so socially accepted and therefore flies undetected, but remains an unactivated bomb in our hearts. In a scenario where we willingly remain squished under the thumb of caffeine and food reliance, we enslave ourselves to their form of production. It is in direct opposition to our struggle as a working class and has been a tool of colonizers that we must avoid in our communal future.

Sources

“Go after the black man in the mud”- Addiction, Malcolm X, and The Nation of Islam’s 6-Point Recovery Plan for Black People (2021)
https://medium.com/@sharrieff__/go-after-the-black-man-in-the-mud-addiction-malcolm-x-and-the-nation-of-islams-6-point-45d7cb5a4b0c

Revolutionary Discipline and Sobriety by Cliff Connolly (2020)
https://cosmonautmag.com/2020/08/revolutionary-discipline-and-sobriety-2/

Remembering Martin Luther King as a Man, not a Saint (2011)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/remembering-martin-luther-king-as-a-man-not-a-saint/2011/04/01/AFvQjTXC_story.html

Dr. King and the War on Drugs (2016)
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dr-king-and-the-war-on-dr_b_9045106

MLK Jr Dear Abby
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/advice-living-12

Human Rights, Stigma, and Substance Use (2020)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7348456/#:~:text=people%20who%20use%20drugs%20need,and%20the%20possession%2C%20purchase%20and

50 Years Since the Panthers Formed, Capitalism + Drugs Still = Genocide
https://www.liberationschool.org/50-years-since-the-panthers-formed-capitalism-drugs-still-genocide/

Drug War Peace, INPUD (2016)
https://www.unodc.org/documents/ungass2016/Contributions/Civil/INPUD/DUPI-Violations_of_the_Human_Rights_of_People_Who_Use_Drugs-Web.pdf

Offense Statistics – Federal Bureau of Prisons
https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offenses.jsp

Alcohol Consumption in the US (2024)
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics-z/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/alcohol-use-united-states-age-groups-and-demographic-characteristics#:~:text=According%20to%20the%202023%20NSDUH%2C%20172.9%20million%20adults%20ages%2018,drank%20in%20the%20past%20year.&text=3%2C4-,This%20includes%3A,69.1%25%20in%20this%20age%20group)

Gallup Alcohol Consumption (2024)
https://news.gallup.com/poll/1582/alcohol-drinking.aspx#:~:text=The%20table%20presents%20data%20on,drinking%20and%2030%25%20not%20drinking.

Gen Z on Alcohol by Kristen Fuller, MD (2024)
https://www.alcoholhelp.com/blog/alcohol-consumption-generations/#:~:text=A%20World%20Finance%20report%20shows,drink%20less%20than%20older%20generations.

Beverage caffeine intakes in the U.S (2014)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24189158/

Food Addiction Statistics
https://olympicbehavioralhealth.com/rehab-blog/food-addiction/#:~:text=Addictive%20eating%20behaviors%20are%20often,addiction%20to%20highly%20processed%20foods.

Caffeine Addiction Study (2023)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430790/

High Fructose Corn Syrup’s Affect on Dopamine Levels (2017)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5747444/#sec014

The Fat of the Land: Do Agricultural Subsidies Foster Poor Health? (2004)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1247588/#abstract1

Diet Coke Getting Smaller & More Expensive (2023)
https://www.vox.com/money/23979340/diet-coke-price-coca-cola-pepsi-inflation-walmart-costco

The post Putting Treats on the Altar appeared first on Pine & Roses.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, April 1 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Turnout Tuesday for Vision Drive (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, April 2 (6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): New Member Happy Hour at Zeitgeist (In person at Zeitgeist at 199 Valencia)

Thursday, April 3 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.): Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group (Zoom)

Thursday, April 3 (7:00 pm. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigration Justice Working Group Meeting (Zoom)

Friday, April 4 (12:00 pm. – 5:00 p.m.): Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, April 5 (12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): Chapter Local Vision and Strategy Meeting (In person at 518 Valencia)

Sunday, April 6 (1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.): Surveillance of Palestinian Activism: the 1993 case of the ADL Spy Ring in San Francisco (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Sunday, April 6 (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Capital Reading Group (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, April 7 (5:50 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Electoral Board Meeting + Socialist in Office (Zoom)

Monday, April 7 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (Zoom)

Monday, April 7 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Tuesday, April 8 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): Abolish Rent Reading Group session 3 (In person at 438 Haight)

Wednesday, April 9 (6:45 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): April General Meeting (Zoom and In person at TBD)

Thursday, April 10 (5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.): Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)

Saturday, April 12 (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Training and Outreach (Location TBD)

Saturday, April 12 (1:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.): Muni History Walking & Riding Tour (Meet at Kearny & Market)

Monday, April 14 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Healing Circle Tenderloin (In person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates.

Events & Actions

Office Hours

Co-work with your comrades! Come to the DSA SF office and get your DSA work or work-work done, or just hang out. We’ll  be at 1916 McAllister from 12:00 p.m to 5:00 p.m. on Fridays.

Chapter Local Vision and Strategy Meeting

This Saturday DSA SF is hosting a Chapter Local Vision and Strategy Meeting to shape our chapter’s direction in the short-term and long-term. Please join us for lively discussion and take part in building socialism in San Francisco and beyond! We’ll be meeting at 518 Valencia this Saturday, April 5 from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Capital Reading Group

DSA SF has started a Marx’s Capital reading group! We’ll be meeting every other Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister and also on Zoom. We’ll meet on April 6th to cover Chapter 1. We’re reading the new translation published by Princeton University Press. You can also join the #capital-rdg-group-2025 channel on the DSA SF Slack for additional information and discussion!

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.

To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.

On March 12th, eight state Democrats in Michigan voted for an anti-trans resolution that would hurt trans kids in schools.

HR40 is a non-enforceable resolution that strongly encourages the Michigan High School Athletic Association to discriminate against trans women by following Trump’s executive order to ban trans-women in women’s sports.

Despite it being non-enforceable, this resolution would lead to increased harassment and discrimination towards trans children who just want to play sports with their classmates.

The eight state Democrats who voted for this resolution are Rep. Alabas Farhat, Rep. Peter Herzberg, Rep. Tullio Liberati, Rep. Denise Mentzer, Rep. Reggie Miller, Rep. Will Snyder, Rep. Angela Witwer, and Rep. Mai Xiong.

Call your state Representative and let them know how you feel about their vote! You can find your state Representative here!

If your state Representative voted yes for this resolution, call them to express how disappointed you are and tell them they need to stand for trans rights or you will be voting against them in the next election.

If your state Representative voted no for this resolution, call and thank them for siding with trans people. Encourage them to continue their support and to speak up for the rights of trans people. We need as many people in positions of power to be on our side.

Keep in mind, your state representative does not represent anywhere close to as many people as your US Congress representative. Your call could very well sway them to support trans people going forward, even if they are Republican. In Montana, 29 Republicans changed their mind on an anti-trans bill after Reps. Zooey Zephyr and SJ Howell gave impassioned speeches. This goes to show that it is possible to sway state Republicans.

The whole situation was handled so maliciously. Speaker Pro Tempore Rachelle Smit (R-43), a far-right Republican who believes the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, kept cutting off the speeches of Democrats so that her Republican colleagues could speak. The vote was then rushed through the House without letting Democrats finish their speeches. Erin in the Morning provides a copy of the whole situation here.

We must all stand for the rights of trans people!

The post Call your Reps and Tell Them to Let Trans Kids Play Sports appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

by Travis Wayne

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent the official position of Working Mass.

On Tuesday night, ICE abducted Rumeysa Ozturk. A Turkish national with a valid F-1 visa, Rumeysa is a Tufts grad worker, student activist, and member of SEIU Local 509. She is also a Somerville tenant. After her doxxing by Canary Mission and monitoring her home in unmarked cars for several days, five ICE agents ambushed Ozturk from all directions wearing plainclothes and masks. Thirteen DSA and YDSA chapters across New England released a statement describing ICE as a “Gestapo” secret police.

ICE kidnapped Ozturk for the crime of authoring an op-ed. 

Immediately, the Coalition for Palestinian Liberation at Tufts and the Palestine Youth Movement organized an emergency protest with dozens of other groups – notably unions, like the Tufts Graduate Student Union and Rumeysa Ozturk’s own Local 509. Foot traffic converged across the city as thousands descended upon one site: Powder House Park, the same hill where crowds decided to organize the Minutemen information network that sustained the American Revolution to throw off British rule. Rally organizers were aware of the symbolism. Powder House Square was where one tyrant’s end began; “We are about to do it again,” tour docent Mary Mangan shouted. Boston DSA released a rapid-fire email before 9 AM calling for mobilization to Powder House. In the Somerville DSA branch, we conducted direct outreach to hundreds of active members and supporters to mobilize their relative networks to the square. 

The next day, Somerville DSA members showed up at an action organized by Somerville for Palestine in force with a crowd of hundreds shouting freedom slogans surging at police blocking the masses from swarming City Hall for a resolution to divest Somerville from Israeli apartheid.

The mood was as militant as the rally speakers. People called for the abolition of ICE and the release of all political prisoners like Rumeysa Ozturk and Mahmoud Khalil. Benny from the ICE Somerville Watch Network shouted “the Democratic Party will not save you! They did not save Rumeysa!” to thunderous applause. One organizer made the audience shout the local ICE watch hotline back. Speakers drummed people to turn out to City Hall to support Somerville for Palestine’s measure to end Somerville investments in apartheid companies the next day, where the council ultimately voted 9-2 to make the task as hard as possible for Palestinian organizers.

Only DSA cadre elected officials Willie Burnley Jr. and JT Scott voted for Palestine in Somerville’s ruling chamber.

Was further escalation possible?

The rally dispersed rather than escalated. Henry De Groot, managing editor of this paper, pointed out that the “rally could have marched to Tufts and launched an occupation until [Rumeysa] is free” and that we “need militant tactics to match our militant mood.” Tech worker Eve Seitchik argued the rally was a “missed opportunity to channel the anger into pressure.” 

They’re right. Occupation when media helicopters were already on scene would have fixed national attention on Somerville beyond one news cycle, maintaining attention on the demands of organizers to release Rumeysa Ozturk. That would have created immense pressure on Tufts University, which would face a crisis point as millions of dollars were lost in donations to follow Columbia’s lead in becoming a handmaiden of fascism or fighting against Trump on behalf of Somerville tenants abducted by the secret police. Occupation conceivably could have applied far more pressure on the Somerville City Council to divest from Israel, in the short run, and greater pressure on Tufts to divest and reinstate the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter that Tufts suspended for raising funds for Gaza in the long run. The strategic choice made Rumeysa’s abduction a flashpoint but not necessarily a climax. Further escalation is harder when you have to re-mobilize the masses and then re-stoke their anger. 

None of this is a mistake by students responding quickly and effectively to new strategic conditions. Instead, these are an illustration of those conditions students now face. One year ago, student organizers especially associated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organized mass encampments not seen since SDS’s occupations in the Sixties. Those drew immense national attention, forced Palestine into mainstream discourse, and applied pressure directly on entities both deeply invested in Israeli apartheid and often the largest landlords in their communities: the universities. Now, Columbia University – the site of the second such occupation after Vanderbilt – cowers in fear at the feet of Trump. Desperate to keep $500 million in grants, Columbia willingly assists the new regime in deporting their own students while Tufts suspends its students on the grounds of “gambling” for raising funds to stop a genocide. 

The culture of fear that abduction creates, abetted by the complicit universities, acts as a significant disincentive to occupation for student organizers on the frontline. Students historically have the unique capability of organizing high-risk spatial occupations of their own campuses. The broader working class does not occupy the quad alone. Outside organizations only have the leverage to materially assist occupations of university property but lack the political capital to initiate them. Now, however, the regime is curbing the rights students have that enable occupation through the high-profile targeting of Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk. Fewer people with green cards and even fewer people without papers will take risks that draw attention to the genocide by the Zionist state occupying Palestine. The Trump Administration is actively targeting the Palestine movement, both student and non-student, by blunting an important strategic weapon in our arsenal: campus occupation.

Students will continue to escalate in new arenas for Palestine, but they lead our movement forward despite the higher risks that the new regime has intentionally raised to attack the student wing of the working class.

Class organization and collective risk

Students losing their rights does not make occupation impossible – class disorganization does. The Young Lords occupied Lincoln Hospital, forming relationships with healthcare workers, barricading themselves inside the grounds of their “people’s hospital” to raise attention for healthcare access and conditions in their South Bronx community. The Lords were an effective organization of their immediate working class Puerto Rican community and the Lords’ demands received decades of attention beyond the twelve hours of occupation. Their cadre had capacity to undertake collective risk. We lack that same capacity now. That’s partly because DSA is organized as a mass organization and not a cadre organization like the Young Lords. Generally, that’s to our strength, interconnecting us more deeply with social worlds beyond the organization, but structure isn’t the only reason. Collective risk requires solidaristic trust that’s impossible when organizers act like sectarians instead of comrades.

But DSA’s lack of capacity to take collective risk at the strategic moment occurs at the same time that labor itself remains too weak to take that same level of collective risk. Straightforward solidarity strikes are banned, but more importantly, most people mobilized to Powder House Park were not union members. They weren’t deeply organized nor connected beyond word-of-mouth and group chat. Unions that did mobilize their memberships don’t have a shared movement-wide communications democracy capable of leveraging militant memberships to escalate in coordination with one another. In other words, we need to organize ourselves into unions and organize our unions, not only to contract but with depth, to become militant enough to form the rapid response capabilities we need to protect our communities. 

Labor unions can knit together the working class into networks of solidarity capable of mass mobilization, but tenant unions form an essential supplementary bedrock. ICE is abducting people from their workplaces but also their homes. Rumeysa Ozturk was almost home to break her Ramadan fast. Tenant unions, which form class organization at the neighborhood level, connect neighbors and make the solidaristic bedrock of public safety. Neighbors who know each other’s children, who knock doors with each other, who break bread with each other form the bonds of community defense, “[making] the community by defending it.” The fact that tenant unions are on the rise, including the local Greater Boston Tenants Union, but have not reached the level of density across the tenant class needed to defend against ICE onslaught is tragic. We need to organize tenant unions to create the layer of community defense at the neighborhood level capable of protecting tenants like Rumeysa Ozturk. Tenants, organized together, can block evictions by both landlords and secret police. 

The only way we defend ourselves as entire communities against ICE is greater class organization. That’s necessary from the workplace to the home to the academy. Unions, along with a coalition of community organizations, were the ones that mobilized the incredible mass mobilization for Rumeysa Ozturk. Unions of both workers and tenants need to deliver know your rights to as many people as possible, but also practical information on raising the alarm as bystanders during ICE abductions and reporting undercover ICE vehicles like Union del Barrio does in South Los Angeles: as organizers there note, ICE patrols in Chevy Impalas, Dodge Durangos, and Ford Explorers. And even as we build the organization needed to take greater collective risks, we need to train each other and as many people as possible to support hotlines for reporting ICE incidents like LUCE in Somerville. Finally, we need to support one another and defend each other – especially student tenants, deeply vulnerable, who have already begun organizing a walk-out under Medford Coalition for Palestinian Liberation as further escalation in their intifada.

Make no mistake; we are all under attack. 

Travis Wayne is an organizer with the Greater Boston Tenants Union and co-chair of the Somerville branch of Boston DSA. They serve as deputy managing editor of Working Mass.

Monthly Newsletter of the Rochester Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America

At twenty-eight pages, this is our largest issue of Red Star yet. We appreciate the exchange of ideas taking place on our pages—conversations between reader and author that dialectically shape the trajectory of the socialist movement. May we be a centripetal force which unifies the working class against the repression of capitalism. This month, our pages include a re-fletion on ROC DSA’s platform, a warning against conspiratorial thinking, thoughts on the manipulation of revolutionary art, and more.

The post Rochester Red Star | April 2025 (Issue 12) first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Why Recruit?

DSA members have by this point seen that present political events mean a lot of people are finding their way to our organization on their own. Indeed, since the beginning of September 2024, DSA Cincy has grown by nearly 100 members-representing ~33% growth from September 2024 to the end of March 2025. While we have developed an onboarding system, most of this actual recruitment has been fairly passive, from people who learned about our organization or who finally joined due to external events. So why should we do active recruitment?

• We want to not just be influenced by history, but to influence it. If we rely primarily on external events to determine our rise, fall and success, and don't take seriously developing our own power to win and change the world, we won't amount to the political force we would like to be in the US.
• The more relationships we develop in DSA, the more power we have. Every person who joins DSA isn't just one more member or volunteer-they're a person with a wealth of social relationships and history with people, and the more of these social networks we bring into DSA, the stronger our organization can be in our larger society.
• It develops our own organizing skills. Being able to have an organizing conversation and make direct asks are core skills for any organizer. This applies at all levels of campaigns and efforts, be it asking someone to sign a petition, or to join an organizing committee at your workplace. And every organizing conversation we have is a learning opportunity for ourselves to do better with the next one. Take the chance, make the ask, and learn from each one for next time!
• Direct recruitment asks work! One of the largest membership bumps in DSA history was the 100k recruitment drive in 2020, where chapters across the country recruited thousands of new members to DSA. Direct asks to the people in our lives who should be involved work, we just need to make the ask!

Recruitment Steps

So you've been persuaded-it's worth asking people to join DSA! How do you get started doing this? There are many different approaches, but one that's pursued by many different campaigns is shared below:

1. Make an initial list of at least five people to recruit. Notably, this list does not have to be restricted to people who have described themselves to you as socialists. Instead, think of the people in your life who have been sympathetic to socialist demands in your life. The family member who told you they voted for Bernie in 2020, the coworker who opposes the genocide of Palestinians-anyone who you've had a positive conversation about politics with in this vein is worth talking to!
2. Open a positive conversation on your shared values and vision for the world. Many leftists open up conversations about politics with the unorganized by starting with the problems. Unfortunately, opening with this framing often leaves people feeling hopeless to resolve those problems and unwilling to commit to action. Instead, open with shared socialist political values that you both have in common.
3. Spend most of your time listening. A good organizing conversation does not look like you delivering a speech to the other person-it looks like you listening and genuinely engaging with their thoughts and concerns about the world.
4. Channel towards a positive solution-DSA. After your conversation has touched on the things you both care about and what the other person is thinking about, talk about DSA and our efforts to build a mass organization that is able to fight for the things we care about. Share why DSA matters to you.
5. Directly make the ask. In any recruitment conversation, it is of the utmost importance you directly ask the other person if they will join DSA. You aren't imposing, anyone has the power to say yes or no as they wish, but many people don't realize joining is an option, or are waiting for implicit permission to be invited in. Give it to them!
6. If they say yes, walk through signing up with them. Sometimes people say yes, the conversation moves on, and by the end both have forgotten to take the step of actually filling out the join form. Make sure to show them the join page (link provided here), and walk through the form with them step by step!
7. Know your follow up. Whether you get a yes or no, it's good to make sure they know about other actions and events coming up you think they'd be interested in. And if they're unsure, a good event could be enough to change their minds. Make sure you know your follow up ask, whatever it is!

“Agitation” is a term regularly used in the context of organizing and socialist politics. But what does it actually mean? 

I’ll keep it simple. Agitation means making someone angry.

Anger is often painted as irrational, a primitive reflex that should be suppressed in favor of a cool and objective analysis. But to be overcome by anger because of the cruel actions of the ruling class under capitalism is actually very rational. How else is one supposed to react to the barbarism that is unfolding every day in Gaza, or to ICE kidnapping immigrant activists off the street, or simply because your boss is an asshole who exploits and humiliates you day in and day out? 

Feeling your temper flare up just at the mention of those topics? Consider yourself agitated. 

Trying to assuage anger is not only a losing battle, it’s counterproductive. Anger can certainly lead to reckless behavior. Ever see someone get so mad they punch a wall? Anger is a deeply powerful emotion, and through organizing it can be channeled into effective struggle. 

Socialists affirm righteous anger and direct it towards those who are actually responsible for its causes. The Right also affirms anger, but then through deceit they direct it away from the ruling class and towards a scapegoat, whether it’s immigrants, trans people, Black people, “woke”; any “other” will do. Liberals do this too, usually to cover their own ass, directing blame for their failures at the masses for being “dumb” or “lazy”. Some on the left adopt a similar persuasion. 

As socialists, we aim our fire squarely on the boss, on the capitalist class, and on the politicians and institutions that uphold and defend the ruling order that is the cause of so much suffering.  Our task is to uncover “the innermost secret” of our society, “the hidden basis of the entire social structure”, as Marx described it. That is, we must uncover the fact that our entire economic and political system depends on the exploitation of those of us who must “work for a living” by those we are forced to work for. We must make this conflict and its irreconcilable nature well known and understood.

This is not easy. The ruling class has erected a vast “superstructure” designed to veil this conflict. Socialists will find themselves constantly running up against the kind of “common sense” that is doctrinaire in our society, whether it’s “work hard and you’ll get ahead”, “poverty is a choice”, or “politics is about making compromises”. This is why it’s generally unwise to immediately dive headfirst into ranting and raving about the evils of capitalism, as right as you may be. More often than not you’ll just come off like a crank.  

“Anger is often painted as irrational, a primitive reflex that should be suppressed in favor of a cool and objective analysis. But to be overcome by anger because of the cruel actions of the ruling class under capitalism is actually very rational.“

Agitation is the bridge. Most workers already know they’re being fucked over. Start there. 

Many workers are taught to have low expectations. Many will blame themselves for their troubles. This is when you start asking questions like, “do you think things are going to change without action?” or simply “do you think it’s right that the boss treats you like shit?” 

Part of agitation involves challenging others to overcome apathy and commit to action. You frame the choice. “Do you want to keep on doing nothing and accept that this is how things are going to be, or do you want to organize and fight for something better?” This is usually followed by a long silence. It’s uncomfortable, but don’t break it.  

There’s agitation in the context of an organizing conversation at work, but there’s also “political agitation” of the kind that a socialist organization like DSA engages in. The same principles apply as if you were agitating around a workplace issue, except the target is not the boss but their political representatives. 

Take for example recent Chicago DSA social media posts criticizing Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, whether over his plan to cut healthcare funding for immigrants or his veto of the Warehouse Worker Protection Act. These posts don’t just relay information; they are meant to elicit anger, and if they’re effective they’ll do so from all sides. After all, if liberals don’t complain when you rightfully point out the way a Democratic Party leader is failing the working class, then are you really agitating? 

Like with agitation at the workplace though, political agitation needs to be skillful to be effective. Hysteria is a turnoff. Be measured and direct. This is what is happening. These are the consequences. Ask: do you think this is right? 

At its core, political agitation is the simple act of asking “whose side are you on?” Socialists declare ourselves on the side of the workers and we condemn whomever is on the side of the boss, be it Democrat, Republican, or even “progressive”. This will ruffle some feathers. But we should not concern ourselves with naysayers who try to justify acquiescence to our class enemies. 

Most people don’t have deeply held or entirely coherent politics. But most people can smell bullshit from a mile away. This is why so many people view politics as a sham and a waste of time. If we want to have any chance at linking socialism with the working class, we can’t afford to get lumped in with the kind of two-faced hacks that dominate the political class. We must always take a stand, and we must always be agitating. 

The post Understanding agitation  appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

Last week, the Maine Coalition for Palestine organized a protest of ICE detention of Columbia University student leader Mahmoud Khalil. Since then, ICE has operated as the Trump Administration’s secret police, abducting a growing number of immigrant organizers for exercising their right to free speech and protesting the U.S.-sponsored genocide in Gaza. The list includes Rumeysa Ozturk, Yunseo Chung, Badar Khun Suri, Momodou Taal, Ranjani Srinivasan, as well as farmworker organizer Alfredo Juarez Zerefino. Maine DSA member and Portland District 2 City Councilmember Wes Pelletier spoke at the Portland Mahmoud Khalil protest and DSA chapters around New England issued a joint declaration reprinted below against the ICE abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk.

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New England DSA chapters demand freedom for Rumeysa Ozturk

Yesterday, ICE agents abducted Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student and pro-Palestine activist at Tufts. 

The kidnapping comes after almost 400 ICE arrests in Massachusetts, as well as the doxxing of Ozturn by the pro-Isreal website Canary Mission. 

ICE’s abductions—of Ozturk, Khalil, and many others—is an unprecedented attack on basic civil rights in the name of U.S. Empire, whether those detained are peaceful political activists or undocumented migrants seeking safety, jobs, and a better life. 

We must stand up against this brazen attack on Palestine, free speech, and the right to protest.

We must stand in solidarity with our neighbors and communities under attack from Trump, ICE, and all agents of imperialism. 

Governor Healey, the courts, and the Democratic Party establishment are not coming to save us—we must mobilize, agitate, and organize in our workplaces and campuses to defend working-class rights. 

In Solidarity,

Berkshires DSA, Boston DSA, Boston University YDSA, Cape Cod DSA, Connecticut DSA, Maine DSA, Northeastern YDSA, River Valley DSA, Simmons YDSA, Southern New Hampshire DSA, Upper Valley DSA, Worcester DSA

[Listen next: Maine DSA podcast on Bowdoin College Gaza encampment]

Wes Pelletier speech at March 18 rally for Mahmoud Khalil in Portland

I’m here to lend my voice to everyone here to call for the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil who was illegally detained and is facing deportation. This is part of a sadistic assault on working-class immigrants across the country. It’s part of a broader attack by this administration. In fact, the attack has been going on for a long time, but there’s also something new. This casual separation of families, this destruction of Black and Brown lives has been going on for years but what’s new is that the veneer is off, the idea that these are not white supremacist policies has fallen away. We now have a government that is hell bent on creating fear and uncertainty among everyone.

These are obviously very frightening circumstances. We’re facing a clear and present danger, but it’s also an opportunity. We have a lot of people who are not used to the machines normally reserved for others now turned on them. Yes, it’s scary, but there is an opportunity for solidarity. That solidarity does not come automatically and it’s going to take a lot of work. We need to do what’s right. Meanwhile, the liberal institutions that we count on, the Democratic Party and universities like Columbia are immediately acquiescing to fascism and it’s creating this vacuum.

So we need to turn to each other. Here’s what I’m asking everyone here to do. You need to create community, to build organization. You need to find and join an organization that’s got clear rule and decision-making structures that are democratic so you can create organizations that can help tackle these problems. The time to quibble over small differences has passed. We need to come together against a unified enemy. We need to unify to win this fight. We also need to come together in our communities. We need to go out and knock on neighbors’ doors and join community gardens and create tenant unions and more. This is the kind of community that will protect us because fascism thrives on fear of our neighbors. That’s something we see over and over. They want people to be afraid of the people around them. The poor people, Black and Brown, so you will support the people who will crack down on them. We need to create networks to resist that.

This moment is ours. It’s an opportunity even if it’s dangerous. We’re on the precipice of something, but we can get through this. We can create a stronger, more agile, more powerful working class that’s made up of everyone. We will have something bigger if we do it. So I call on you to contact your representatives, even if I don’t know that they’ll do anything! But it’s good to at least be a pain in their asses.

But more than that, get involved in local politics. Call on Mayor Dion, call on the city manager to stop slow rolling a bill that will prevent police from collaborating with ICE. That’s been kept off the agenda for months. Call the sheriff to end the Cumberland County Jail’s contract with ICE. Get involved at every level of your local government because it feels like something where you can feel your own agency. Together we can effect change in our state, in our county, in our towns. And it creates power and it creates community and it creates resistance. I appreciate you all for coming out tonight. Free Palestine!

[Read next: The method to Trump’s Medicaid cut madness]

The post New England DSA protests ICE detentions appeared first on Pine & Roses.

If you’re reading this, you (hopefully) agree that housing is a human right. The Democratic Socialists of America support Housing for All as a main tenet of the national platform, ultimately demanding public housing for all, housing relief and rental protections for all, and abolishment of homelessness (DSA, 2024). While rising housing costs dig deeper and deeper into our pockets, many of our community members continue to find themselves experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness. Colorado Springs shamefully attempts to combat homelessness with their four shelters, known for their ever changing rules, poor food supplies and abhorrent shelter conditions, thousands of unhoused folks go without a place to sleep each night (Pikes Peak Continuum of Care, 2024). With this unforgiving system, too many people are left to fend for themselves while being forced to live on the streets. So, how do we move towards making housing equitable and accessible to all? The Housing First Model may provide some guidance towards eliminating homelessness, along with insight as to the external catalysts and systems that create the circumstances for homelessness to occur.

The Housing First approach provides no-questions-asked housing to those in need, while also offering (yet not requiring) practical support such as guidance in applying for state benefits, financial planning education, substance use cessation assistance, mental health counseling, and job training. A Housing First approach to homelessness and homelessness prevention is based on the idea that housing is a human right. The Housing First Model eliminates any requirements or stipulations that many conventional renters and landlords impose before someone is granted access to housing. By providing housing or rental assistance absent of prerequisites, people are able to focus on things that can help them maintain stable and permanent housing, such as: finding employment, pursuing education, tending to mental and physical health, exploring sobriety and engaging with community. The Housing First model is thought to be beneficial as several studies show that supportive services are more effective when the person offered services willingly participates (Housing first, 2022). In turn, folks in Housing First programs have reported significant personal benefits such as an increased sense of autonomy, choice, and control (Housing first, 2022). This humanistic approach to housing can allow those experiencing homelessness the space and support to thrive in life on their own terms, rather than focusing all of their energy and capacity into surviving.

Housing first is not only a compassionate approach to preventing and eliminating homelessness in our community, but it provides economic and social benefits as well. In Colorado Springs, it costs approximately $58,000 to provide services such as shelter, police, fire and medical emergency services to 1 chronically homeless person each year (City of Colorado Springs, n.d.). According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness (2022), cities can see a yearly savings of around $23,000 per person housed in a Housing First program. These programs also lessen the social costs of homelessness: by utilizing Housing First programs and principles, we can dismiss the city's desire to hire more police and prison personnel, lessen the strain on emergency services like hospitals and emergency rooms, and reduce tensions between housed and unhoused communities.

As we continue to fight for Housing First policies and housing for all legislation, we must organize at the local level to change the minds of our neighbors. Luckily, there are many ways to join our fight for housing for all, including talking about these issues  with your neighbors and community, connecting with grassroots organizations (like DSA!), participating in your local politics and elections, showing up to city council and town hall meetings, and engaging in mutual aid with those around you. Another great opportunity to work towards Housing for All with a Housing First approach is coming up on April 1st, 2025 with Colorado Springs’ General Municipal Election. Colorado Springs’ DSA chapter has proudly endorsed fellow socialist Maryah Lauer for city council in district 3. Maryah is a steadfast candidate that we can count on to push for Housing for All policies with a Housing First approach while serving her community on city council. As a long-time community organizer herself, Maryah has built personal rapport with Colorado Springs’ unhoused community, so she understands how city council can play a larger role in eliminating and preventing homelessness through the sympathetic lens of the Housing First model. Maryah also plans to work towards DSA’s goal of Housing for All by expanding on renters protections and implementing restrictions on the purchase of housing stock by private equity and investment firms. If you’re looking for more ways to get involved and flex your socialist muscle, please visit https://maryahfordistrict3.com/ to learn more, volunteer, or donate!

References

City of Colorado Springs. (n.d.). Homelessness Prevention and Response. https://hr.coloradosprings.gov/homelessness-prevention-and-response 

El Paso County Colorado. (2024, January). Housing Our Future: City of Colorado Springs Housing and Community Vitality Department. https://epc-assets.elpasoco.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2024/02/EPCPH-2016-Annual-Report_-Final.pdf

Housing first. National Alliance to End Homelessness. (2022, March 20). https://endhomelessness.org/resource/housing-first/ 

Pikes Peak Continuum of Care. (2024). PIT Totals. 2024 Point-In-Time Count. https://www.ppchp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/PIT-Count-Summaries-1.pdf