The Midwest Socialist’s Editorial Board

Leonard

Pronouns: he/him/comrade

Neighborhood: Hermosa

Outside of Midwest Socialist: I’m on the North Side Blue Line steering committee, and I’m co-chair of the Political Education committee. 

Outside of DSA: I’m an occasional freelance writer, editor, and proofreader, and I work as a crossing guard for Chicago Public Schools, assigned to Northwest Middle School. My wife, Anna Forsher, is also very active in CDSA, and we love travel, sports, and having fun together.

Currently Reading: Seth Harp’s The Fort Bragg Cartel and Chester Himes’ Plan B.

Book Every Socialist Should Read: André Gorz’s Farewell to the Working Class.

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? D. Boon, Nina Simone, and Joe Hill. Great music, great conversation with three passionate Marxists who led with their politics but also created unforgettable music.

Organizing Advice: Remember that you’re in the struggle for the long haul and don’t get too frustrated when you don’t see immediate wins. Like the saying goes, you’re planting the seeds of a tree whose shade you’ll never enjoy.

Publications: MWS writing here; Jacobin pieces here; lots more on my website, Immortal Science, here.

Binx

Pronouns: they/them/any

Neighborhood: Logan Square

Outside of Midwest Socialist: I serve as one of the chapter’s Harassment and Grievance Officers, as well as one of the co-chairs of the chapter’s Red Rabbits Committee. As a founding member of the RRC, I am also involved with the DSA’s National Security Commission.

Outside of DSA: I work for a non-profit doing social services and I am a staff editor for Sundress Publications. I have a dog, who I love more than anything on this earth, and I’ve gotten into crocheting lately. I’m working on a sweater for her.

Currently Reading: Urusla K. LeGuin’s “Always Coming Home,” and “M: Son of the Century” by Antonio Scurati (translated by Anne Milano Appel)

Book Every Socialist Should Read: Instead of recommending a book, I want to recommend subscribing to Lux Magazine. It’s literally the best magazine out there, especially because it’s a Marxist Feminist publication. Not only are the print magazines glossy and gorgeous, but the journalism is impeccable. Cannot recommend Lux enough!

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? I would have dinner with Pier Paolo Pasolini, Audre Lorde, and Seamus Heaney. Pasolini having lived through Mussolini’s dictatorship as a gay writer, producer, and director; Lorde at the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality during the American Civil Rights movement; and Heaney being an anti-imperialist during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. As a poet and an anti-fascist myself, I think they’d each share some deeply valuable perspectives on poetics and politics from their experiences.

Organizing Advice: IT IS OKAY TO TAKE BREAKS. PLEASE TAKE BREAKS. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD, TAKE A BREAK. I am so serious, burn out will make you a demon to those around you. Do yourself and everyone in your life a favor by taking some time for yourself. IT IS OKAY.

Publications: Visit binxperino.com to check out the creative work that I’ve published over the years! Around Chicago, you can find copies of my chapbook Pure Light (2023) in various bookstores. You can also just enter my name into a search engine, if you’re nasty.

Nick

Pronouns: He/Him

Neighborhood: Andersonville

Outside of Midwest Socialist: I’m a member of the Communications Committee.

Outside of DSA: I’m a songwriter and musician, and I play in bands regularly around Chicago. I’m also a software engineer, avid Bulls fan, and I enjoy long bike rides by the lake.

Currently Reading: Treasure of the Sierra Madre by B. Traven.

Book Every Socialist Should Read: Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis.

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? Neil Young, Tracy Chapman, Gil Scott Heron. Three uniquely talented and accomplished musical artists with deeply held political perspectives that they aren’t afraid to express in their work. I could learn a lot from each of them.

Organizing Advice: Have patience and show up consistently! It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Matt

Pronouns: He/They

Neighborhood: Northwest Side Blue Line Branch

Outside of Midwest Socialist: I served as Chicago DSA’s Political Education Coordinator from July to December 2024.

Outside of DSA: I have a master’s degree in history, and I am particularly interested in the history of East Germany, the Eastern Bloc, socialist/labor history, and the history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries more generally. I speak fluent German and conversational Spanish, I collect currency from around the world, and I am a member of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA).

Currently Reading: Just finished Blue Collar Empireby Jeff Schuhrke, about the zealous anticommunism of the AFL-CIO, its very active collaboration with the CIA, and its successful efforts to undermine democratic trade unionism at home and abroad during the Cold War. I am now rereading the classic alternate history novel The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick.

Book Every Socialist Should Read: Everything for Everyone by M.E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi. It’s a speculative oral history of a global anarcho-communist revolution that takes place from the 2050s to the 2070s. It is one of my favorite works of fiction of all time.

Another very formative book for me was Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, a memoir of the author’s experience as a war correspondent embedded with an anarchist militia in the Spanish Civil War. It’s the book that taught me that socialism could be more than just the aesthetic of the banners and slogans of the bygone USSR, but a revolutionary experiment relentlessly advancing the cause of equality, radical democracy, and human freedom.

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, and Eugene Debs. They are easily my three favorite socialist figures of the twentieth century.

Organizing Advice: Intellectual pursuits are being hollowed out by social media, AI, and relentless attacks on public education. In this context, learning becomes a revolutionary act. Do your own reading, your own writing, and your own thinking. Your brain will thank you.

Publications: I write alternate-history themed settings for an independent tabletop roleplaying game publisher. I have also written for the Baffler, Chicago DSA’s Red Star Bulletin, and on my own (woefully out-of-date) Medium page.

Chase

Pronouns: He / Him

Neighborhood: Lincoln Square / Ravenswood

Outside of Midwest Socialist: I co-lead the Lincoln Square Social / Member Club, part of the Member Club pilot program within Chicago DSA. The focus is to activate, organize, and connect together members of Chicago DSA in Lincoln Square and the surrounding neighborhoods. 

Outside of DSA: Outside of DSA I work as a CPS Substitute teacher, and am currently completing my Masters in Education. I love learning languages, and speak German mostly fluently and Portuguese fairly well, with experience in several other languages. Additional passions of mine are Worldbuilding, watching movies, drawing, and writing. I am in fact working on publishing (on my substack) at least twelve short stories this year. 

Currently Reading: Currently I am reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I recently also finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick. 

Book Every Socialist Should Read: I don’t know if I know a very novel answer to this question, but I did read Kim Moody’s Rank and File Strategy recently; especially for those organizing within the US today, I think it’s a good read. 

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? This is such a difficult question. There are so many people I’d want to meet! I’ll give a shot:

1. Oetzi the Iceman: I actually saw his body on a trip to Italy, when I lived in nearby Austria. I would give anything to talk to anyone from the Neolithic, as I find the period, the dawn of “Civilization,” endlessly fascinating. Plus, he’s the oldest cold case in history!
2. Justinian II: Byzantine Emperor, last of the Heraclian dynasty. His great great grandfather, Heraclius, saved the Empire from the Parthians, only to lose half of it again to the nascent early Islamic Empire. Justinian II himself is interesting for being deposed, his nose cut off, exiled to Crimea, only to kill his guards, escape, and depose his deposer’s deposer (before being later again deposed). I’ve always thought he’d make a great subject of a book I’d like to write someday, so I’d love to chat!
3. Ursula K. Le Guin: I was not so much a fan of Le Guin when she was alive, but became one after her death. Earthsea and Always Coming Home are dear to my heart and great inspirations to me as a writer and as a human being. I would love the chance to talk to her and have her critique my own work!

Organizing Advice: Get to know your comrades! It’s hard to organize with somebody that you don’t know very well. 

Publications: I have not published anything for MWS as of yet, but I do have a substack! If you like short fiction of varying types follow my substack at @leerbaker1 (Lee R. Baker is my pen name). My plan for this year is to release 12 short stories in 12 months. 

Alec

Name: Alec Hudson

Pronouns: he/him

Neighborhood: Lincoln Square

Outside of Midwest Socialist: SEIU 73 member, Chicago DSA jack-of-all-trades.

Outside of DSA: New dad, history nerd, soccer fan, and traveler.

Currently Reading: The Paris Commune: A Brief History (Eichner, 2022), The New Deal: The Depression Years, 1933-1940 (Badger, 2002), The Socialist Challenge Today: Syriza, Corbyn, Sanders (Panitch, Gindin, & Maher, 2020).

If I could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would it be and why? Karl Marx for a good time, Eugene Debs to learn what it took to build a mass socialist party, and Gracchus Babeuf because I’m obsessed with the French Revolution and its role in establishing modern socialism/communism.

Organizing Advice: Stay curious and keep learning new skills!

Feel free to reach out via midwestsocialist at gmail dot com or send us your work!

The post Our Editorial Board: The Comrades Behind Midwest Socialist appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

On Saturday, February 7, as temperatures barely crested double digits, over 300 people across Maine gathered at the Maine Irish Heritage Center in Portland for a community meeting put on by the No ICE for ME coalition, aimed at educating residents on rights and skills to know in light of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) recent heightened activity throughout the state.

It’s been almost three weeks since ICE started their statewide “Operation Catch of the Day” on January 20, 2026; a focused flood of federal immigration agents into Maine with the sole purpose of raiding communities to abduct immigrants and refugees who they allege are violent criminals in the country illegally. Evidence has shown, however, that a good number of the people they detained are here legally, or are refugees already following the legal process; and, in the vast majority of instances, have no violent criminal history.

In light of the agency’s crude and often illegal tactics (which include stalking school drop off and pick up times, quickly disappearing people across state lines to disrupt access to legal representation, using bear spray on civilians recording their actions, and in a number of cases across the country shooting people who presented no threat), thousands of Mainers have not only bristled at the danger ICE presents to their communities, but have organized into networks of rapid response teams and mutual aid efforts in order to help protect their neighbors.

No ICE for ME, a group of resident volunteers with a number of organizational endorsements, has been at the forefront of planning and organizing community networks in case ICE decided to make a push into the state. Indeed, as soon as the ICE surge began in January, community networks organized by No ICE for ME jumped into action on Signal group chats, communicating and documenting what they observed, joining with school watch teams, and funneling people into mutual aid efforts in order to help families who didn’t feel safe leaving their homes.

According to Tophe, who works with Presente! Maine and organizes with No ICE for ME, the group formed last Spring in order to demand Cumberland County end its contract with ICE, wherein the Sheriff’s Dept. held ICE detainees in the county’s jail. But, as the year went on, he says they knew they would have to expand their mission. “We knew this moment was going to come, it was not a matter of if, but when. […] In 2025 alone, immigration detentions in Maine increased by 75%, so this was already a marked escalation that made it impossible for people to ignore.”

No ICE for ME was not the only community group to organize around an expected surge in ICE activity around the state. In October, the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition and Peoples’ Coalition for Safety and Justice (PCSJ) launched the Maine ICE Watch Hotline. Their mission is to receive and verify tips about ICE and Border Patrol activity in Maine communities, providing real time updates and connecting families to supportive resources. There is also the Maine Solidarity Fund, a project of the PCSJ, which collects donations in order to help with legal support, familial support, and healthcare access for immigrant and marginalized people facing increased harassment, discrimination, and detention across Maine.

And while all these groups surely have overlapping participation, Saturday’s community meeting in Portland was officially the work of No ICE for ME. Tophe clearly laid out why the group thought it was necessary. “So many people were suddenly volunteering to fill emergency food distribution shifts at Presente, to donate to the Maine Solidarity Fund, they were flyering about the Hotline in their communities and protesting almost every day. And that power cannot be ignored, it has to be cultivated, grown, and nurtured. There are so many people asking ‘what can I do?’ […] So, the idea behind this event is to hold sessions on real tangible skills that not only can people learn themselves, but to share with their communities.”

The day’s events went from 12 to 4 PM, with panels and workshops covering a plethora of topics. The first session lasted until 2:30, and attendees got to choose among four different workshops depending on their areas of interest and need. One of the first workshops was a training on workplace preparedness, involving a number of teachers and restaurant workers who went over the Fourth Amendment right protecting against unconstitutional searches and seizures. They shared how ICE is not constitutionally permitted to enter restricted workplace areas, and how workers can physically set up their workplaces to make them safer.

There was also a very well attended noncompliance workshop, which focused on the history and theory of resisting unjust and immoral laws through noncooperative tactics. At the same time there was a presentation on how folks can learn to become a trained verifier when observing and documenting ICE activity in their communities, and an important workshop on digital security where attendees could learn the basics on how to protect one’s self or organization from being doxxed or infiltrated via communications.

After a brief break, where could mingle and partake in a zine designing work area to contribute to an anti-ICE zine build, which was fairly busy throughout the day, the second session started. Three simultaneous workshops were offered; upstairs, there was a de-escalation training on skills to identify different levels of escalation, de-escalation strategies, and on how one can focus on grounding and centering themselves and others during moments of crisis and tension in order to keep things from escalating. Downstairs was where attendees could find two other workshops, one being a presentation on mutual aid primarily helmed by members of Presente! Maine, focused on how to help meet community needs via raising funds but also how to get connected to provide direct food, rent, and utility assistance to their neighbors. 

Also downstairs was a panel on protest and picketline safety, which has become more pertinent given the increased number of rallies and actions that have sprung up nationwide in response to ICE, as well as increased union activity under an anti-labor Trump administration. Speakers brought a range of different experiences, including Todd Chretien, candidate for State House District 112 and longtime organizer; Arthur Phillips, Maine AFL-CIO Campaigns Director; Troy Jackson, gubernatorial candidate and union member; and Arlo, a longtime community organizer in southern Maine. They focused on how to make safety and security decisions based on different scenarios, considering the size of the action, whether it is in a friendly or hostile area, and considering nearby establishments like schools and houses of worship. 

In the end, over 300 attendees walked away having learned skills they previously lacked in hopes of sharing and applying them in their own communities in order to keep their neighbors safer. As to why it’s important, Tophe of Presente! noted, “We know that there’s a space for everyone to do something at this moment. We can’t all do everything, but everyone can do something. This event is to help people find their niche, see where they fit in. Because we know another surge is going to come, and we need to be even more prepared.”

This idea that the surge will come again, or perhaps that it hasn’t even left, has been a popular chorus with organizers. While Sen. Collins and ICE have claimed that they’ve ended their surge in Maine; volunteers still observe and document daily instances of ongoing ICE and Border Patrol activity in their communities. It’s clear to many that the immigration agencies are merely playing possum, feigning retreat while shifting tactics to be less visible. When asked why it’s important to keep up and build out these community groups in the aftermath of ICE’s recent operation, Portland City Councilor Wes Pelletier, who has been active in these community defense efforts, had this to say. “Trump and ICE think they can de-escalate the situation by telling us they’ve left, but we know they haven’t. It’s important during this time when their activity seems low to keep building. Because, if and when they do re-escalate, we need to be ready to protect our neighbors again. We need to maintain a level of awareness and vigilance.”

When asked for his final reflections on the event, panelist and State House candidate Todd Chretien summed up his thoughts. “This provided a place for people who have been working for many months, who all came together and blunted ICE’s intention to kidnap 1,400 people. We lost 206 family members, which is terrible and we want all those people brought home; but, it’s important to say that the collective efforts everyone engaged in prevented ICE from stealing another thousand people out of our community. I firmly believe that if everybody had not participated in the ways they have, ICE would still be publicly camped out in Portland, in Lewiston and Bangor. Our collective efforts have forced them back underground, and we have to be vigilant because that threat is not over. But, we are stronger and better prepared for the next round, and eventually to abolish ICE.”

The post Hundreds Attend “No ICE” Skill Share in Portland appeared first on Pine & Roses.

Without reservation, the Salt Lake Democratic Socialists of America (SL DSA) firmly oppose any and all immigration detention within Utah. We reject the Federal Government’s racist, nativist, and exploitative approach to immigration policy, and are appalled at the intentional and cruel humanitarian crisis it has created. Recent leaks uncovering plans for an immigration detention facility in Utah threaten to continue the state’s ugly history of participation in large scale, racially-targeted internment. These past and present attempts to suppress immigrant communities are not only an affront to the fundamental notion of intrinsic human dignity, but also a cudgel wielded against the interests of the working class. They obscure the identities of the true architects of our exploitation, redirecting responsibility for our justified feelings of bitterness and discontentment away from oppressive regimes and economies and onto the precarious and undocumented; those who are, in fact, our allies. 

Over the past several months, internal ICE documents have emerged that outline a plan utilizing US military resources to establish “facilities to house as many as 10,000 people each” in several locations across the country, including Salt Lake City. After the failure of Florida’s taxpayer funded “Alligator Alcatraz” which was shuttered after violating detainee rights, disregarding local government and tribal rights, and dismissing environmental concerns, one would think that Utah’s leaders would express more hesitation to ride shotgun on this wild spectacle of waste and abuse. Sadly, it is not so: Utah’s state-level and congressional leadership, in submissive fealty to Trump’s agenda, refused to comment, much less openly oppose the effort. With new leaks indicating a warehouse near Salt Lake City International Airport as the intended location, there has been mixed response from local officials. The only official acknowledgement from Salt Lake City has been a rather passive reminder from Mayor Erin Mendenhall that a detention center at the location would run afoul of local zoning ordinances; on the other hand, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson admirably condemned the plan and committed the county to fighting it “using every available tool.” In the face of such inconsistent leadership, we salute the people of Utah that showed up in the early hours of January 13^th to make their opposition perfectly clear. While the owners of the rumored detention center site ultimately denied their intent to sell or lease to ICE, it is abundantly clear that ICE’s continue working to build the infrastructure necessary to execute their authoritarian directive. Considering today’s fresh atrocities and with historical perspective, SL DSA’s stance is rooted in one critical message: never again. 

“Never again:” a much-needed refrain which calls us to remember Utah’s record of hosting racial concentration camps within its borders. In 1942, Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, directing the Secretary of War to “prescribe military areas […] from which any or all persons may be excluded” and provide for them “other accommodation as may be necessary.” EO 9102 established the War Relocation Authority, and assigned it the task of “[effectuating] a program for the removal…of the persons or classes of persons designated under [EO 9066], and for their relocation.” In the text of these two executive orders, which speciously argued for the need to protect against foreign espionage and sabotage, Roosevelt identifies a single justification: national security. 

Two of the sites that provided for that relocation program, which in total detained approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent, were the Topaz War Relocation Center in the desert west of Delta, Utah, and the Dalton Wells Isolation Center, a disciplinary camp outside Moab. From 1942 to 1945, 11,000 people were incarcerated in the Topaz camp, making it the fifth largest city in Utah over its three years of operation. Prisoners were given “loyalty questionnaires,” with those not deemed sufficiently loyal sent to more restrictive isolation facilities like Dalton Wells. A unique stain on state history, these concentration camps were the result of a government empowering itself to decide whose rights were sacred, and whose were forfeit. 

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The stage is set for another monumental crime of a scale that promises to shock Utahns to our core; and in this crime, we will be complicit. We cannot say we did not see it coming. 

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Now, these actions are justified with the same warlike rhetoric and appeal to the maintenance of national security. Equating immigration to a “foreign invasion” and making use of military largesse, ICE and the US military are coordinating on a facility in Utah that could have a capacity nearly the size of Topaz. This facility could have up to 10,000 beds, with detainees potentially housed in weather-vulnerable soft-sided tents. We are now living through a moment that demonstrates that although history doesn’t repeat, it does rhyme: the Trump regime engages in racial profiling, deports citizens and legal residents, targets and sanctions those critical of the regime, and offers excuses and justifications for its most violent excesses. The stage is set for another monumental crime of a scale that promises to shock Utahns to our core; and in this crime, we will be complicit. We cannot say we did not see it coming. 

SL DSA’s stance is one that increasingly resonates with the people of Utah as we face a hostile government intent on stripping away our rights. We demand: no detention centers in Utah, no cooperation with ICE, and full solidarity with our immigrant community. We reject any false distinction between “good” and “bad” immigrants, “legal” and “illegal” immigrants, and immigrating the “right way” and the “wrong way.” These distinctions are nothing more than the flimsy judgements of an immoral power structure with no respect for our rights, protections, or human worth. Finally, we reject the increasingly brazen lies of the Trump administration, as it claims “If you are here legally and contributing, you have nothing to fear.” In fact, cases of arrest based on ICE’s refusal to accept documentation, employment records, payment of taxes, or even while following the official immigration process all fall apart under the barest scrutiny. There is no logic, no rule of law, and no respect for human beings in ICE’s “enforcement” activities. 

In our ongoing work, our goal is to mobilize, organize, and educate the working class, ultimately engendering and reinforcing solidarity within it. This objective necessarily must include working class immigrants. If a portion of the working class is deemed unworthy of protection, the rights of the working class as a whole cannot be assured. 

Words on a page, however, are not enough. As wages are depressed, as landlords are permitted to use immigration status to threaten tenants, as bosses and managers benefit from workers’ stolen labor, the consequences of this authoritarian regime will affect us all. This regime and the capitalist economic structure that gave birth to it requires systemic exploitation in order to sustain themselves. At its best, it must demand silence; at its worst, it requires complicity and total obedience. In order to justify this system and its cruel repercussions, we are invited to despise and ostracize our fellow human beings. As socialists, we refuse. We invite you to join us in that refusal, and struggle with us to build a better world that is inclusive of us all.

ETA: Credit where credit is due to Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, who in her 2026 State of the City address, elaborated on her firm opposition to ICE operations in the city.

No, there is no terrible thing happening coming for you in some distant future. But know that a terrible thing is happening to you now. You are being asked to kill off a part of you that would otherwise scream in opposition to injustice. You are being asked to dismantle the machinery of a functioning conscience. Who cares if diplomatic expediency prefers you shrug away the sight of dismembered children? Who cares if great distance from the bloodstained middle allows obliviousness? Forget pity. Forget even the dead, if you must. But at least fight against the theft of your soul.”

― Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This

The post Never Again: Revisiting the Tragedy of Mass Detention in Utah first appeared on Salt Lake DSA.

By: Steve Early

This was originally published by California DSA on January 26, 2026.

DSA’s “rank-and-file strategy” has 60s roots at UC Berkeley 

“The lessons of the International Socialists can help point us in the right direction by sharing what has worked and what has failed in past decades” —Andrew Stone Higgins

Some DSA members are still pondering how they should relate, personally and collectively, to the labor movement. Should they try to become agents of workplace change while serving on the staff of local, regional, or national unions? Or should they organize “on the shop-floor”—in non-union shops or as a unionized teacher, nurse, or social worker? And then, later on, seek elected, rather than appointed, union leadership roles? 

A few years ago, the DSA convention debated this latter strategy and then narrowly passed a resolution favoring the rank-and-file route. Some members locally have joined the Rank-and-File Project which supports this approach “to fighting for a better world from the bottom up.”

Fifty years ago, Sixties leftists pondered the same options before launching their own reform efforts, within the labor bureaucracy or as challengers to it. Some had the foresight to transition from campus and community organizing to union activism in healthcare, education, and social work where college degrees were helpful and job security good.

Other former student radicals—under the (not-always-helpful) guidance of multiple left-wing formations—opted to become blue-collar workers in trucking and telecom, mid-west auto plants and steel mills, and West Virginia coal mines in the 1970s. Unfortunately, in the decade that followed, de-regulation, de-industrialization, and global capitalist restructuring produced enormous job losses and industrial contraction. 

Radicals who made a “turn toward industry” often lost union footholds they had struggled for years to gain. But thankfully, many ended up back on the academic track, retooling as teachers, lawyers or pro-labor college professors. Others became community organizers, public sector union activists, labor educators or staffers, and, in some cases, even entered the business world.

Socialism from Below

Andrew Stone Higgins’ history of the International Socialists (IS), From the Free Speech Movement to the Factory Floor: A Collective History of the International Socialists, brings together individual oral histories or contributor-written chapters by 26 former members of that organization. The IS was founded in 1969 by veterans of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) at Berkeley and other hotbeds of Sixties’ activism. FSM alums featured in the book include the late Mike Parker, an East Bay DSA member whose chapter on “The Student Movement and Beyond” contains good advice for campus radicals today.

Like organizational rivals on the left less interested in promoting “socialism from below,” the IS made a decade-long attempt to “bridge the gap between a left disproportionately formed on college campuses and the working class, which, of course, remains a central concern for all American socialists.”

In Higgins’ collection, contributors like Candace Cohn, Gay Semel, and Wendy Thompson provide vivid first-person accounts of their experience leaving student life or white-collar jobs to become embedded in industry. Each of them helped fight the discriminatory treatment of women and/or African-American workers widespread in the blue-collar world they entered in the 1970s.

Cohn became politically active as a member of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Michigan. After graduation, she moved to Pittsburgh and helped create a local advocacy group for Mon Valley workers exposed to hazardous health and safety conditions.  She then became “one of the first women hired into basic steel since World War II” at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, “the world’s largest coking operation and its filthiest and deadliest.”

In the mill, “sexual harassment was non-stop, both from foremen and from older white co-workers.” Nevertheless, Cohn built relationships with black workers and other female steel workers, started a shop floor paper, Steelworkers Stand Up, and helped rally fellow rank-and-filers on behalf of Ed Sadlowski and his “Fight Back” slate in a 1977 international union election.  

Sadlowski was a “left social democrat,” who was heavily red-baited during his exciting but, ultimately unsuccessful, challenge to labor-management partnering in the steel industry. “In the employer’s offensive that followed,” Cohn writes, “tens of thousands of steelworkers were thrown onto the street, mills shuttered, and steel valley voices silenced.” She was able to retrain as a labor and civil rights lawyer.

Like Cohn, Gay Semel went to law school after her tour of duty in the IS, as its national secretary and editor of Workers Power, an “agitational newspaper” featuring a popular column called “Labor Notes.” Before that, she worked as a telephone operator in N.Y.C. In that well-timed intervention, she got herself expelled from the Bell System company union then representing her-co-workers, which the Communications Workers of America was trying to oust. As a lawyer, she spent most of later career working for CWA, the union she also tried to support, back in 1971, when she wouldn’t cross its picket-lines during a nine-month strike by 38,000 N.Y Tel technicians.

Unlike Cohn and Semel, Wendy Thompson actually made it to the finish line of a good union pension in the auto industry after becoming a labor-oriented radical during her junior year abroad (in France, circa May 1968). Thompson worked for General Motors at a Chevy gear and axle plant, with a predominantly black workforce. Surviving lay-offs and repeated management attempts to fire her, Thompson battled sexism on the shop floor, contract concessions, and the long dominant influence of the Administration Caucus in the United Auto Workers (UAW).

During her 33 years in the plant, only one Administration Caucus critic was ever elected to the UAW international executive board. But the 2022 membership vote to ditch convention voting for top officers—and switch to direct election by the rank-and-file—enabled a slate backed by Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) to win what Thompson calls an “unprecedented victory—and a great culmination of my many years of activity” on the shop floor.

A Hard Sell

The recollections of individual IS members definitely support Higgins’s conclusion that their “pre-party formation” of 500 failed to create an organizational culture “more fully welcoming to diverse working-class recruits.” The latter numbered only about one-fifth of the IS’s peak membership, and, according to Higgins, here’s why:

While refreshingly democratic and seriously committed to political education of new members, the IS culture of deep reading, broad discussion, fierce debates, and long, numerous meetings was a hard sell to prospective members, pressing familial obligations, and a limited amount of free time.

And then there was the internal feuding that disrupted the group’s initially well-coordinated labor work. In 1976-77, the IS split three ways. Several hundred loyalists stayed put; seventy five formed a group called Workers Power, and one hundred created the International Socialist Organization (ISO), which grew bigger over the years but then suddenly imploded in 2019. In the mid-1980s, as part of a more constructive “regroupment” process, Workers Power members got back together with remaining ISers to form Solidarity, a looser network of socialists which publishes the journal Against the Current.

According to former Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU) supporter Dan LaBotz, now a Brooklyn DSA member and co-editor of New Politics, “one of the principal reasons for the IS split was differences over the labor work,” which some members argued was “making the group more conservative.” 

As feminist historian Barbara Winslow recalls, the grounds for her expulsion from the IS, in the late 1970s, was arguing “for a larger engagement in all possible areas of working-class women’s struggles—blue-, white-, and pink-collar movements as well as other women’s liberation activities.”  She and her then husband, former IS National Industrial Organizer Cal Winslow, became targets of a subsequent purge, when they were expelled from the ISO, despite being among its founding members.

Contributors to Higgins collection like UC Santa Barbara Professor Nelson Lichtenstein, David Finkel, co-editor of Against the Current, and others cite TDU and Labor Notes as the main legacies of the IS. That uniquely durable labor education, rank-and-file organizing, and alternative media project was launched forty-six years ago, during an era when other socialist or communist formations were still mired in highly competitive self-promotion. 

For example, their organizational newspapers usually put a higher priority on new “cadre” recruitment than helping to build broad-based, multi-tendency rank-and-file movement. In contrast, as Thompson recalls, “the IS clearly rejected the model that many socialist groups had of maintaining their front groups rightly under their control. Originally staffed by IS members, Labor Notes became a project where workers would feel they were in a comfortable milieu but also a pond where socialists could swim.”

This may have “violated all the norms of so-called Leninism,” Finkel notes. But, in the end, a more ecumenical approach was critical to developing a multi-generational network of rank-and-file militants that now meets every two years with 5,000 or more in attendance, as opposed to just 600 in the early 1980s, which was good turnout back then. (To attend the June, 2026 Labor Notes conference, register as soon as possible at https://www.labornotes.org/2026.)

This very readable volume has much solid advice for socialists trying to revitalize existing unions or create alternatives to them today.  One key lesson is that building a big labor or political tent is better, for the left, than becoming a small one. If you prefer the latter result, then endless meetings, too much organizational “discipline,” and fractious debates over the finer points of Marxist theory—followed by destructive purge—will get you there pretty quick. On the other hand, if you want to be an individual or organizational long-distance runner on the labor left, there are, in this book, some very good role models to follow.

From the Free Speech Movement to the Factory Floor: A Collective History of the International Socialists, edited by Andrew Stone Higgins, Haymarket Books, available March 2026.

Steve Early is a longtime labor activist, journalist, and author. He is an East Bay DSA member who belonged to the New American Movement (NAM) in the 1970s and favored the socialist group merger that led to DSA’s formation in 1982. He has been a contributor to Labor Notes since 1979 and, for many years, served on its editorial advisory board. He can be reached at Lsupport@aol.com.

The post From the Free Speech Movement to the Factory Floor: A Collective History of the International Socialists appeared first on Working Mass.

Events & Actions

Tuesday, February 10 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Wednesday, February 11 (6:45 PM – 9:00 PM):  DSA SF General Meeting (zoom and in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Thursday, February 12 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM):  New Member Happy Hour – Richmond District Edition! (in person at Lost Marbles Brewery, 823 Clement St)

Thursday, February 12 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM):  Education Board Open Meeting  (zoom)

Thursday, February 12 (7:00 PM – 9:00 PM):  Tech Worker Reading Group (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Friday, February 13 (9:30 AM – 10:30 AM):  District 1 Coffee with Comrades (in person at Breck’s, 2 Clement St)

Friday, February 13 (3:00 PM – 5:00 PM):  KCC Office Clean with TLHC (in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Saturday, February 14 (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM):  ETOC Session 2 – Building Campaigns I (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Sunday, February 15 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM): No Appetite for Apartheid Consumer Pledge Canvas (in person at Breck’s, 2 Clement St)

Sunday, February 15 (1:00 PM – 3:00 PM): Get to Know EWOC Flyering Event (location TBD)

Monday, February 16 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board Meeting – Existing Union Support (in person at 1916 McAllister St and zoom)

Monday, February 16 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (in person at 1916 McAllister St and zoom)

Monday, February 16 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM):  DSA Run Club (in person at McClaren Lodge, 501 Stanyan St)

Tuesday, February 17 (5:30 PM – 7:00 PM):  Social Housing Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Tuesday, February 17 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM):  Public Transit Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Wednesday, February 18 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM):  What Is DSA? (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Thursday, February 19 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM):  Social Committee Meeting (zoom)

Thursday, February 19 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM):  Public Bank Project Meeting (zoom)

Thursday, February 19 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Immigrant Justice Working Group Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Saturday, February 21 (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM):  ETOC Session 3 – Building Campaigns II (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Saturday, February 21 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM):  HWG Food Service (in person at Castro Street & Market Street)

Sunday, February 22 (1:30 PM – 3:00 PM):  Get to Know EWOC!  (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Sunday, February 22 (5:00 PM – 6:00 PM):  Tenderloin Healing Circle Working Group (zoom)

Monday, February 23 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM):  Tenderloin Healing Circle (in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Monday, February 23 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board Meeting – Existing Union Support (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

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

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New Member Happy Hour – Richmond District Edition!

Join us for our a Happy Hour on Thursday, February 12th, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM, at Lost Marbles Brewery, 823 Clement St. Learn more about DSA SF’s upcoming projects, find out how to plug in, or just socialize with socialists! 

Also open to old members, regular folks and the socialism-curious .

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No Appetite for Apartheid (NA4A) Consumer Pledge Canvas

This Sunday, February 15th, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM, our next consumer pledge canvass will be at the Clement Street Farmer’s Market (Clement & Arguello). Join the Palestine Solidarity & Anti Imperialist Working Group in building public support for stores that have pledged to go apartheid-free. RSVP here. Training will be held on-site.

Find more info for NA4A here .

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Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee (ETOC) Fundamentals of Tenant Organizing Watch Party

Looking to deepen your understanding of housing work on the ground? Interested in building durable tenant power in SF? Come learn how to organize tenant associations, fight landlords collectively, and build toward radical tenant unionism in San Francisco. These ETOC watch parties happen every Saturday in February at 11:00 AM at our office (1916 McAllister) and focus on turning socialist analysis into mass tenant struggle: investigation, campaigns, and building real tenant organizations that can win. If you’re serious about anti-landlord work, this is where to plug in.

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Reportback: EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing

We have another graduated cohort from the four week long Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee organizing training! The last two weeks covered “The Arc of the Campaign” and “Inoculation and the Boss Campaign”, allowing for even more detailed discussion about the organizing efforts happening within the group. 

The “Arc of the Campaign” focused on Lisa, a nurse who met with her co-workers to organize them in an escalating campaign towards a strike. They used different ways to organize people towards this goal, such as media coverage, candlelight vigils, educating about the meaning of the strike, and collectively representing their issues. There are a variety of ways that union leaders can educate the public about their cause, and making them fun and creative can move the campaign forward!

We heard from Diego, a Trader Joe’s worker whose union election ended in a tie, during “Inoculation and the Boss Campaign”. The boss targeted workers that were less informed about their rights or shakier in their commitment to organizing in order to catch people off guard. It was important that organizers had people prepared to combat the anti-union narrative in larger captive meetings and after 1:1s with management. We went through the union busting bingo card to ideate what we could say in response to anti-organizing rhetoric, whether it was from management or fellow coworkers.

The Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing course is run every other month! If you’re interested in an in-person format or generally want to get involved with the SF local chapter of EWOC, reach out to the lead coordinator Caitlin S or email labor@dsasf.org. EWOC is a standing topic at the new organizing meetings of the Labor Board, which are held on the second Monday of every month at 7:00 PM, both in-person at 1916 McAllister and over Zoom. Anyone is welcome to attend, and we’re always looking for people interested In workplace lead canvassing, organizer trainings, and volunteer outreach. If you’re interested in organizing your workplace and would like to be connected with an EWOC organizer, fill out the request form here.

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DSA Run Club

Runners of all speeds and experience levels are warmly welcome to join our running club! We meet every Monday evening, 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM in front of McClaren Lodge, the stone building at the eastern end of JFK drive. Wear comfortable running clothes (DSA attire encouraged) and bring your most positive vibes! We stretch and warm up for 15 minutes, then hit the car-free streets for a 3.4-mile loop at a gentle pace.

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 publishing the weekly newsletter. Members can view current CCC rotations.

Interested in helping with the newsletter or other day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running? Fill out the CCC help form.

Completed report examines what drives membership growth and engagement

The post State of DSA Part Two: Lessons Learned appeared first on Democratic Left.

In 2025, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors faced a defining set of choices about who this city is for. Again and again, a moderate supermajority supported increasing mayoral power, corporate interests, and punitive responses to social crises over the needs of working-class residents. From criminalizing vehicular homelessness and gutting voter-mandated affordable housing funds, to expanding police surveillance and overtime giveaways, the Board repeatedly voted to consolidate power upward while narrowing democratic oversight and social investment. 

This analysis breaks down key Board of Supervisors votes from 2025, outlines DSA San Francisco’s perspective, and examines how these decisions either served or betrayed the working class. Where socialist leadership prevailed, such as with the Green Bank, sanctuary protections, tenant safeguards, and limits on Big Tech encroachment, it showed what is possible when the city prioritizes people over profit. Taken as a whole, these votes tell a clear story about the political direction of City Hall in 2025 – and the stakes for organizing to change it. 

See how each supervisor voted on the following votes here.

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Housing & Homelessness

RV Ban

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (9-2)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Chyanne Chen
• No: Jackie Fielder, Shamann Walton

In July 2025, the Board of Supervisors voted to institute Mayor Lurie’s RV vehicle ban by a 9-2 vote, with Supervisors Fielder and Walton in opposition. The new policy instituted a 2-hour parking limit on oversized vehicles citywide, making existence nigh-impossible for the over 1,400 poor and working class San Franciscans who live in RVs. This ban, which officially took effect on November 1st, 2025 after a rushed, month-long implementation, has been a brutal failure on a number of fronts. While temporary refuge permits were offered to residents who were included in a May 2025 city count of oversized vehicles, many longtime residents were excluded from this count and struggled to qualify, despite multiple appeals. The funding for rehousing and vehicle buybacks was extraordinarily limited, and simultaneously pitted unhoused communities against one another by promising RV residents that they’d be prioritized over people sleeping on the street. 

Since the ban has taken effect, Lurie’s administration has already ramped up tows, while RV residents with permits have reported few housing offers. This all has taken place against a period of skyrocketing rents in San Francisco, where more people are being pushed into both vehicular and street homelessness daily.

Gutting Affordable Housing Funding

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (8-3)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman
• No: Jackie Fielder, Shamann Walton, Chyanne Chen

In 2018, voters approved Prop C, the Our City, Our Home program, which placed a gross receipts tax on the largest businesses to invest in proven, housing-first solutions to address homelessness. In July of last year, Mayor Lurie and the “moderate” supermajority on the Board of Supervisors moved to reallocate tens of millions of dollars away from these permanent housing solutions and towards temporary shelters, hotel vouchers, rental subsidies, and other short-sighted solutions. Framed as a response to urgent needs and unspent balances, this move undermines the clear intent of Prop C: to move people out of homelessness permanently, not cycle them through temporary fixes. By repeatedly suspending voter-mandated allocations, San Francisco is backfilling gaps created by broader budget and housing policy failures instead of investing in deeply affordable, permanent housing and prevention—the very strategies proven to reduce homelessness long-term. This approach risks normalizing emergency shelter as a substitute for housing, erodes trust in voter-approved mandates, and diverts resources away from systemic solutions that working-class San Franciscans were promised when they voted for Prop C.

Read our full statement here: https://dsasf.org/ocoh

Eliminate Affordable Housing Fees in Hayes

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (9-2)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Chyanne Chen
• No: Jackie Fielder, Shamann Walton

Supervisors voted to forego $81 million in developer impact fees that would have funded affordable housing and infrastructure in Hayes Valley and surrounding areas known as “Market Octavia.”

From 2008 to 2024, such fees provided $40 million for affordable housing and $53 million for transportation and public realm improvements in that area, including Polk Street and Page Street bike lanes, the new Brady Park, Dolores & Market intersection improvements, and partial funding for Van Ness Bus Rapid Transit. No alternative funding sources were identified for planned future projects like these.

Although the rationale was to jump-start stalled market rate developments, the sponsors refused to put a time limit on the waiver, and the Board of Supervisors’ own analyst concluded no projects will start in the next three years anyway. These fees amount to only 7% of typical development costs per unit, and were already priced into land costs because they were paired with a 2008 upzoning.

The real reason market-rate housing is stalled is structural: Interest rates are high, and investors can find greater returns elsewhere (like the AI boom). Or as the director of a real estate industry-funded group said in a candid moment, “One of the challenges we face in San Francisco is we need the rent to go back up to get housing to work”—an obvious non-solution for workers who struggle to afford rent already.

If supervisors are serious about jump-starting housing, they should stop trading away our parks, street safety improvements, and affordable housing funds in a futile attempt to entice developers, and instead invest in building social housing directly. They can start on Hayes Valley’s city-owned Parcel K.

Suspend Empty Homes Tax During Litigation

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (9-2)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Chyanne Chen
• No: Jackie Fielder, Shamann Walton

San Francisco faces a daunting affordability crisis, driven by speculative developers and exploitative landlords. In 2022, voters passed Prop M to penalize owners who kept their properties vacant – nearly 40,000 units in pre-COVID San Francisco. Despite clear voter support, Prop M was immediately challenged in court by landlord groups. When the board voted 9-2 to suspend the empty homes tax during these court proceedings, they stood in the way of a potential $61 million per year in net revenue for working-class rental support programs and affordable housing projects.

Eliminate Affordable Housing Fees for Office Conversions

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (9-2)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Chyanne Chen
• No: Jackie Fielder, Shamann Walton

This ordinance exempts downtown office-to-housing conversion projects from development impact fees, including the Inclusionary Housing fee, and removing deadlines to apply for the program. While supporters frame this as a way to spur housing production and revive downtown amid high office vacancy rates, this legislation trades away critical, permanent funding for affordable housing, transit, and neighborhood infrastructure with no guarantee that these conversions will actually move forward or deliver homes that ordinary people can afford. 

Like past fee waivers, this policy is based on the flawed assumption that developers are only a small incentive away from building, when the real barriers are high interest rates, construction costs, and profit expectations: factors this ordinance does nothing to change. By allowing large, centrally located projects to bypass inclusionary requirements, the city undermines its own affordable housing goals, deepens reliance on luxury market-rate housing, and sets a precedent that public goods are negotiable whenever developers claim hardship. Instead of giving blank check subsidies to real estate interests, San Francisco should be directly investing in social housing, while ensuring that any downtown development meaningfully contributes to affordability, public services, and working-class communities. 

Family Zoning Plan (FZP)

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (7-4)

• Yes: Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Alan Wong
• No: Connie Chan, Jackie Fielder, Shamann Walton, Chyanne Chen

In December 2025, the Board of Supervisors voted 7-4 to approve the Family Zoning Plan (FZP) which rezoned San Francisco’s western and northern neighborhoods as part of the City’s Housing Element compliance program. The rezoning targeted commercial corridors for significant height increases, eliminated density controls throughout the plan area, established a local density bonus program to encourage market-based production of affordable housing, provided 100% affordable developments with some additional height incentives, and allowed developers the option of replacing their “inclusionary zoning” requirement to set aside 12% of their units for affordable housing by opting into San Francisco’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance. 

The FZP’s shortcomings include incentives for the redevelopment of approximately 20K rent controlled units in 2-unit buildings via significant height increases, targeting renter-heavy commercial corridors for redevelopment while freezing heights in wealthy owner-occupied neighborhoods, and lacking an explicit affordable housing program. The BOS separately passed a tenant protection ordinance.

Amending FZP to Protect All Rent Controlled Units

DSA SF Position: Yes
Board of Supervisors Voted: No (4-7)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Jackie Fielder, Shamann Walton, Chyanne Chen
• No: Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Alan Wong

While the FZP was successfully amended to remove rent-controlled buildings with more than 2 units, it left approximately 20K rent-controlled units vulnerable to demolition. This amendment would have removed these duplexes from the crosshairs of redevelopment, but failed 4-7.

Tenant Protections from Demolitions

DSA SF Position: Yes
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (11-0)

This Tenant Protection Ordinance passed unanimously following the passage of the flawed FZP. This ordinance strengthens tenant protections in the context of residential demolitions and major renovations, responding to widespread displacement driven by speculative development, harassment, and abuse of buyouts. The legislation recognizes that “temporary” displacements tied to renovations or redevelopment often become permanent, forcing working-class tenants out of San Francisco entirely, and it shifts responsibility for those harms onto property owners rather than tenants.

Specifically, six of the following eight criteria must be met in order to demolish existing housing that has been occupied by tenants in the past 10 years:

1. The new project is a rental project (i.e. not condos for sale).
2. The new project has more units than before.
3. The new project has more rent-controlled units than before.
4. The new project has more two-bedroom units than before.
5. The new project does not significantly change a historic landmark.
6. In the case of an owner-move-in eviction, the owner has lived there for at least 3 years.
7. No affordable housing is demolished.
8. There are no violations with the Planning Department or Building Inspection Department.

This legislation confronts the structural drivers of displacement, prioritizes the right of tenants to remain in their communities, and affirms housing as a social good instead of a speculative commodity.

Protect Rent-Controlled Units Resolution (Fix SB 330)

DSA SF Position: Yes
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (11-0)

This resolution urges the California legislature to amend the Housing Crisis Act of 2019 (SB 330) so as to bring it in line with the City’s more thorough and generous protections, specifically with regard to demolition regulations, tenant relocation benefits, and right of return regardless of tenants’ incomes. The resolution zeroes in on several loopholes in the existing Act through which tenants can easily fall and which incentivize keeping protected units empty and displacing tenants. The resolution passed the Board unanimously and became law without the signature of Mayor Lurie. 

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Immigration

Sanctuary City Recommitment

DSA SF Position: Yes
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (11-0)

In Socialist Supervisor Jackie Fielder’s first piece of legislation, the city reaffirmed its long standing status as a sanctuary city, which prevents local resources from being used to assist federal immigration enforcement, and situates that commitment in the current political moment. This was especially significant as fears spiked within the broader immigrant community, who make up roughly one-third of the city, of what a second Trump term could mean for our friends, neighbors, and family members. Sanctuary policies are proven to strengthen collective safety and solidarity by refusing to pit working-class communities against one another or turn city workers into agents of deportation.

This resolution passed unanimously, emphasizing San Francisco’s unwavering support for our immigrant neighbors.

$3.5M in Immigration Legal Services

DSA SF Position: Yes
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (11-0)

A unanimously approved allocation of $3.5M from the General Fund to the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development to expand existing immigration legal defense and community response services. This funding strengthens access to deportation defense, legal screenings, and community support at a moment of heightened fear and uncertainty for immigrant communities, particularly amid threats of renewed federal enforcement. By investing in legal representation and protection rather than enforcement, the Board affirmed San Francisco’s commitment to collective safety, due process, and standing with immigrant workers and families.

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Policing, Surveillance, & Carceral Spending

Mayoral Power Grab (Fentanyl State of Emergency)

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (10-1)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Jackie Fielder, Chyanne Chen
• No: Shamann Walton

One of Daniel Lurie’s signature campaign promises became his first big win at the Board of Supervisors, as the so-called Fentanyl State of Emergency Ordinance passed by a 10-1 margin. The bill is indicative of Lurie’s approach in that it transfers power from the Board of Supervisors to the Mayor’s Office, in this case the approval of contracts and grants related to homelessness, substance use and mental health needs, and public safety hiring. It also authorizes the Mayor to solicit private donations of up to $10 million to advance those causes, an early instance of Lurie’s tendency to allow his ultra-wealthy friends to directly fund the initiatives they hold dearest (mostly cops). The passage of this bill was a feather in the Mayor’s cap and afforded him a reputation for tackling San Francisco’s most deeply entrenched problems, yet augmenting the power of the Mayor’s Office hasn’t yet led to a notable decrease in overdose deaths and Lurie fell significantly short of his promise to bring 1,500 shelter beds online in his first 6 months. 

Crypto-funded “Real Time Investigation Center”

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (9-2)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Chyanne Chen
• No: Jackie Fielder, Shamann Walton

In 2024, voters approved Proposition E, letting the SFPD “use technology to the maximum extent possible” in the name of public safety—the key issue Mayor Lurie campaigned on, despite crime rates being down across the city. Prop E helped the SFPD spy on the public using drones, license-plate readers, and surveillance cameras via a facility named the “Real Time Investigation Center”. As the original location for the RTIC was unequipped to handle the technology needs, the SPFD looked to move the headquarters to a new location. Chris Larsen—a crypto billionaire who funded Prop E and the recall of progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin—gave more than $9 million of technology, facilities, and services to a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the SPFD. By law, the city has to solicit bids from multiple companies before accepting any such offers, but last summer, the SFPD asked the BoS to waive this requirement, which they agreed to do by a 9-2 vote. As a result, an unaccountable and untransparent nonprofit, funded by tech billionaires, was able to implement unpopular surveillance measures without civilian oversight or review. The RTIC is now housed in Ripple’s corporate office space, in a building complex partially owned by Donald Trump, and Larsen, et al, can provide it unlimited donations without further Board approval as long as it remains there. 

Police and Sheriff Overtime Giveaway

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (9-2)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Chyanne Chen
• No: Jackie Fielder, Shamann Walton

For the last seven years, the SF Police and Sheriff’s Departments have submitted budgets for Board approval, only to then ask for tens of millions of dollars in additional overtime. The cops claim they’re too understaffed to work within their budget, but a 2024 City audit found overtime cards with fraudulent signatures and revealed that most officers take 5 weeks of paid sick leave, with many working paid private security jobs on days they called in sick. Some officers even claimed 80-hour workweeks, every single week, for years. Despite this abuse of overtime, last spring cops asked for an additional $90 million from the city—which is currently in a budget deficit of $876 million. To close this deficit, the Mayor and Board are cutting funds to public education, Muni, housing services, legal aid, and many other departments. By stealing essential services from the public just so corrupt cops can take home more money, the Supervisors voted (9-2) to balance the budget on the backs of working San Franciscans.

Allow Sheriff to Purchase Military-Grade Riot Guns

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (8-3)

• Yes: Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Chyanne Chen
• No: Connie Chan, Jackie Fielder, Shamann Walton

It’s hard to talk seriously about public safety when cops are given deadly weapons in the name of “crowd control”. Last year—in addition to its many assault rifles, sniper rifles, submachine guns, and automatic pistols—the SF Sheriff’s Office asked the BoS to approve the purchase of ten AR-15–style rifles that fire pepper balls with greater velocity than the chemical-agent weapons currently in their inventory. The product manual for the proposed rifles indicates an increased risk of death or injury, but no mention of the weapon’s lethality was made in the Sheriff’s report. In 2025, the number of reported crimes in San Francisco fell for the third year in a row, and yet the Board voted 8-3 to approve these excessive and unnecessary weapons, bolstering the cops’ arsenal to the detriment of essential city services.

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Economic Justice & Public Investment

Green Bank Resolution

DSA SF Position: Yes
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (10-0)

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution directing the City to move forward with creating the San Francisco Green Bank, a publicly owned finance institution designed to fund affordable housing, small businesses, and climate projects.

The Green Bank will be a non-depository public benefit corporation, meaning it will not act like a normal retail bank. Instead, it will function as a public financing engine that uses city, state, federal, and philanthropic capital to invest in projects that serve the public good rather than Wall Street profit.

Under the resolution, the Green Bank’s mission is explicitly to promote equity, social justice, and ecological sustainability, with lending focused on:

• Affordable rental housing and homeownership
• Local small businesses
• Green investments tied to environmental justice

The Treasurer is now directed to pursue regulatory approvals, hire a Green Bank Coordinator, and work with a public advisory group to design the institution. The Treasurer must also report back to the Board every four months, creating ongoing political accountability. While this vote urges the Treasurer to design and pursue approvals for a Green Bank, the legislation itself says the bank cannot be established without an appropriation for staff/legal work and without securing capitalization.

Supervisor Jackie Fielder sponsored the resolution and secured unanimous support across the Board. Although the Mayor returned it unsigned, it became law automatically under the City Charter.

For socialists, a Green Bank is about democratizing capital. Instead of relying on profit-driven banks that underfund working-class communities and overfund fossil fuels and luxury real estate, San Francisco can begin directing money toward housing, climate resilience, and local businesses on public terms.

Learn more and get involved: https://sfpublicbank.org

Billionaire’s Budget

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (10-1)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Shamann Walton, Chyanne Chen
• No: Jackie Fielder

The budget approved this past summer was shaped by claims of a looming fiscal crisis and prioritized “downtown recovery” and spending on the punishment bureaucracy over meeting the actual needs of the working class, continuing a pattern of neoliberal austerity politics in one of the richest cities in the world. While moderate city leaders framed the budget as fiscally responsible, it protected or expanded funding for policing, jails, and business incentives while cutting or severely underfunding essential services like public health, stable housing, homelessness prevention, transit, and nonprofit workers who deliver critical care across our city. These deliberate choices came amid rising rents, stagnant wages, and deepening inequality, effectively asking working-class San Franciscans to bear the costs of the economic volatility of capitalism, while corporations and wealthy interests were shielded. 

This budget reflects political priorities, not fiscal necessity: it doubles down on a punitive, carceral approach to social problems, undermines long-term investments in housing and care, and fails to use the city’s full fiscal and political power to tax the wealthy, defend public services, and build a city that works for tenants, workers, and marginalized communities, not just downtown and big business. 

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Democratic Accountability & Oversight

Removal of Max Carter-Oberstone

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (9-2)

• Yes: Connie Chan, Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Joel Engardio, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Rafael Mandelman, Shamann Walton, Chyanne Chen
• No: Myrna Melgar, Jackie Fielder

Shortly after taking office, Mayor Lurie decided to remove Max Carter-Oberstone from the Police Commission—a group appointed to oversee the SFPD and conduct hearings on police misconduct. Lurie gave no rationale for his decision, which was subject to an approval vote by the Board of Supervisors. In his four years on the commission, Carter-Oberstone helped to pass reform-minded policies—such as curtailing pretext traffic stops, which disproportionately affect Black and brown drivers—and also exposed former Mayor Breed’s unethical practice of requiring her appointees to sign undated resignation letters. Civilian commissioners provide a crucial means to check the overreach and abuses of city leaders, most of whom are backed by tech billionaires. By removing Carter-Oberstone from office, the mayor and BoS (who voted 9-2 to remove) weakened police accountability and signaled to other commissioners they’d better fall in line behind Lurie in his consolidation of power.

Removal of Our City, Our Home Committee Expert

DSA SF Position: No
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (7-3)

• Yes: Stephen Sherrill, Danny Sauter, Bilal Mahmood, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman, Shamann Walton
• No: Connie Chan, Jackie Fielder, Chyanne Chen

This legislation replaces Jennifer Friedenbach on the Our City, Our Home (OCOH) Oversight Committee. This body was created by Proposition C, which Friedenbach herself architected and led to passage with overwhelming voter support in 2018. Prop. C created a tax on San Francisco’s largest corporations to fund permanent housing and homelessness services, generating over $1 billion to date, with community oversight as a core safeguard against political interference. Friedenbach’s removal comes in clear political context: she was one of the most vocal opponents of Mayor Lurie’s recent effort to redirect tens of millions of Prop. C dollars away from permanent housing and into temporary shelter, a shift which DSA SF has criticized for failing to address root causes of homelessness. Replacing her with a mayoral and supervisor ally undermines the independence of the oversight committee and sends a chilling message that dissent, especially from those who defend the original, voter-mandated intent of Prop. C, will be punished. 

This move undermines democratic accountability and punishes principled dissent: replacing the chief author and guardian of Prop. C with a politically connected appointee weakens independent oversight, opens the door to further dilution of voter intent, and signals that standing up for proven, housing-first policies can cost advocates their seat at the table.

DoorDash Drone Experiment Protections

DSA SF Position: Yes
Board of Supervisors Voted: Yes (11-0)

This resolution responds to long-standing concerns about the erosion of Production, Distribution, and Repair (PDR) space in the Mission by placing temporary, targeted guardrails on a specific emerging land use: outdoor engineering and development laboratories operating in PDR-1-G districts, mostly in northeast Mission and Dogpatch. While laboratory uses have long been permitted in these zones, the growth of “knowledge sector” firms (especially those conducting noisy or polluting hardware testing outdoors, most visibly exemplified by DoorDash’s outdoor delivery drone testing at 1960 Folsom) has created conflicts with nearby homes, schools, and parks, and accelerated displacement of traditional PDR businesses and working-class jobs. This establishes narrow, 18-month zoning controls requiring Conditional Use approval for these outdoor lab activities, pausing further expansion while SF studies permanent protections for PDR land. 

This puts democratic oversight and community health ahead of corporate convenience, defends blue-collar and non-degree-required jobs, and prevents Big Tech from bypassing land-use rules written specifically to protect working-class neighborhoods. While our Socialist Supervisor Jackie Fielder received intense online backlash for this legislation from prominent tech executives and investors, the resolution ultimately passed unanimously, underscoring the broad agreement the SF must set limits when new, untested technology threatens workers, residents, and the public good. 

Special thanks to the comrades who helped make this scorecard and analysis possible: Alex L., Annie B., Connor N., Dan R., Dave M., Hans E. W., Jill M., Matt P., Rishav R., and Scott F. 

Imagine the last five DSA meetings you have been to. Do you feel like you could, without providing excuses, invite a friend or coworker to each of those meetings and feel confident they would walk away with a positive impression of our ability to make change? Would they come away with a sense that our project is worth committing valuable time to?

The national DSA Growth and Development Committee recently reported that more than one in three DSA members have joined within the last year as the horrors of Trumpism spur people into action. Our organizing efforts and electoral wins, especially Zohran Mamdani’s in New York, show a path toward a better future. In this membership bump, like others in the recent past, we are faced with the question of how we successfully “onboard” new members and broaden our reach even further. While our growing wealth of collective experience has improved our abilities in these areas greatly (revamped DSA 101s and 102s and the work of the Membership Engagement Committee have been big successes), there is still plenty of room for improvement. For the majority of our meetings, we need to ensure that the answers to the above questions are resoundingly “Yes and yes!”

We can accomplish this by bringing a basic level of professionalism and competency to our own political practice and in turn, to DSA. As socialists, it can be uncomfortable to use words like “competency” and “professionalism,” because we understand how these terms are used in the context of the late-capitalist workplace to create the impression (and only the impression) of a meritocracy. We can reject that framework while still recognizing that if we look and act like a mess, we are less likely to attract new members, retain existing members, and succeed in our political efforts. Luckily, we are not starting from scratch – working people have cultivated decades and even centuries of know-how we can draw from and rely on.

Accordingly, if we consistently focus on perfecting these known basics of organizing skills and political development, we will have done most of the work of building competency. If we look to sports for a parallel: when a professional athlete reaches the top of their game, they do not transcend the fundamental rules and concepts of the sport. Rather they realize them expertly and bring their special talents to bear within that framework. If you’ve ever watched videos of professional athletes training, you will note that even once-in-a-generation talents consistently do basic drills. They do this not in spite of their expertise, but because it is what makes them expert. The basics are not just the foundation that everything else is built upon, they are most of the game.

So what are the fundamental organizing skills and what is fundamental to socialist political development?Fundamental organizing skills are the means and methods by which we build relationships of trust among ourselves and structure our decision making and collective action. These are a combination of soft skills, which can be applied broadly across a variety of pursuits, and hard skills specific to the task of socialist organizing. None of it is rocket science, and some of these skills might come naturally to certain people. No matter what, being intentional about it makes all the difference. Without going into too much depth on specifics, the core tenants of organizing skills involve:

• Being able to read and relate to people to understand where they are coming from. The term “buy-in” can be a useful shorthand, but the core is taking the time to understand what is motivating people and what they would like to contribute to the organization. Painting a picture of how someone’s contributions are meaningful to the project of building a better world is how we build engagement and capacity.
• Making sure that strategy, ideas, and debates are legible and meaningful to a broad spectrum of membership. We need to have clarity of purpose and action to be effective. Achieving legibility means honing the ability to run meetings effectively and making sure that people know what is going on through effective communication. This can include everything from social media posts, to scheduling meetings and communicating agendas well in advance, to one-on-one meetings with comrades who want to get more involved.
• Building relationships by following up. While our members don’t all need to be friends, we do need to be comrades. This means building a basic sense of trust and the willingness to understand each other. This is the cornerstone of a healthy democratic culture. Building these relationships requires intentional effort. Being welcoming and friendly is a must, but we also must make sure that we are doing the basic leg work that can help us keep in touch. This can include making sure meetings have sign-ins to help with list building and that collective and individual follow-up happens after each event, especially with new members.
• Developing comradely values, most especially patience and empathy. I’ve noted that the folks who tend to stay involved in the moment for the long haul are those who exercise patience with the organization and their comrades. Patience doesn’t mean abandoning a sense of urgency; rather, it means recognizing that imperfection is a fact and that there are no shortcuts in the work of building mass organizations. Likewise, empathy doesn’t mean being excessively kind or withholding criticism, but it does mean recognizing that, in general, folks are doing the best they can at any given moment, and this is the starting point for getting better.

To develop as socialists, we must possess a baseline analysis of capitalism and theory of change rooted in the collective experiences of past and present socialists. Capitalism is a moral outrage, but working toward change requires sober analysis of where we are at as an organization and the conditions we are working in. This will allow us to draw on history, theory, and our own creativity to chart a path forward.  Without going into too much depth, some of the core tenants of socialist political development as we understand it within DSA involve:

• Understanding that capitalism is working as intended, necessitating both reform and revolution. Developing this understanding requires a study of economics and the historical development of capitalism. Such a study demonstrates that the system is not broken, but working as intended. It therefore must  be swept into the dustbin of history. We need reforms in the here-and-now to improve lives and help develop our capacity to make change. At the same time, our ultimate goal must be upending the current order via democratic means to establish a socialist society where the economy is democratically controlled and unjust coercion is abolished in all its forms.
• A recognition of the centrality of the working class as agents of change. The idea of the multi-racial working class as the protagonist of history is easy to say, but harder to make real. We live in a world where nearly all people have internalized capitalist ideology in deep and fundamental ways. Our task is to overcome this by developing class consciousness through action, and to bind that consciousness together organizationally so it can translate into the mass action necessary to make sweeping changes. Socialists believe that workers are in the best position to effect change because our role as the sole producers of value under capitalism is, potentially, an immense source of political power. Recognizing this idea is one thing, but to truly work towards its realization requires an important deconstruction of liberal theories of change through political education work.
• Honing your ability to engage in comradely discussion and debate. Because democracy is a central value for socialists and vital to building a meaningfully mass organization, it is imperative that we take time to deliberately hone our ability to participate in the process of democracy. This means taking responsibility for developing ideas and perspectives by engaging with socialist writings (past and present) and having good faith constructive debates with comrades. Approaching this work with intention and humility as individuals is how we prepare ourselves as a collective for the hard work of deciding what it is we ought to be doing.

So how do we double down on the fundamentals? There is of course no silver bullet, but I do want to highlight that this will be a major focus of our Political Education Committee over the next several months. In that time frame, we will be spinning up a monthly series of skills trainings with rotating subject matter, as well as another semester of Socialist Night School. I encourage members, and especially newer members, to attend these events and approach them with an open mind. Even if you are coming into DSA with some organizing skills or a political background, talking about these things with fellow members and attending a training is bound to bring new perspectives, whether the material is something you already know or something you are just learning for the first time.

Similarly, my ask for experienced leaders and chapter members is that you attend these skills trainings and our Socialist Night School the way that a professional athlete approaches practice drills. There is value in revisiting skills that you’ve used before and have already developed with a sense of humility, asking yourself what you don’t know or how you can do something you are good at even better. I’ve been an organized socialist for half my life, and whenever I run or attend a political education event of any kind, even a repeat event, new neural pathways are formed. I learn something new or a new way of approaching or thinking about something. Sharing my experience with a new group of people and allowing their perspectives to shape me has value.

Further, I would also ask those that are either formally or informally in chapter leadership to lead by example and tend to the fundamentals and integrate them into our work. Make sure that meetings are well publicized in advance, that you are doing turnout, that agendas are clear, that meetings start and end on time, that new members always feel welcome, that you are having one-on-ones consistently, and that you are giving others the opportunity to develop their leadership and organizing skills. Consider taking meaningful time in your work with the chapter to have frank, big picture conversations and reflections about how well you are doing on the basics and what steps you can take to make improvements.

No one graduates from socialist political education, and everyone benefits from a focus on the fundamentals. If we want to build a mass movement, we need to sharpen our focus on these basics. We will need to get them right, not once, not a hundred times, but every single day that we are doing the work of building a better world.

The post On Getting The Basics Right (Again and Again) appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

This story was originally published by The Beacon, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization, on January 21, 2026. To get regular coverage from the Beacon, sign up for the free Beacon newsletter here.

***

Last week, my editor and I talked about what to write for this week’s column – and decided on a piece about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, whose birthday was observed on Monday. 

I wrote this piece, and as we worked on it, reports began to come in that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (i.e., ICE, or Pres. Donald Trump’s shock troops) were showing up in Maine to violently harass people in our community, disrupt Mainers’ lives to make us feel unsafe, and clamp down dissent. (Here’s what you can do to help our community members!) 

Right now, the world seems very scary in a lot of ways. And while it’s sometimes hard to keep perspective in these moments, I wanted to remember how King kept his eyes on the prize even in moments that would have made most of us freeze in terror.  In 1964, the Nobel committee awarded its Peace prize to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. At 35, he was its youngest recipient. In making their choice, the committee made clear which side of history they were on–those fighting to sustain white supremacy vs those fighting for racial equity. 

Which side, as Alfred Nobel charged the committee, was conferring “the greatest benefit to humanity.” And which side was not.

Unsurprisingly, there’s much to be inspired by in King’s speech, which I read for the first time this weekend, including a moving description of nonviolence and a throughline of hope in the face of overwhelming odds. 

But it also made me sad to think about how much has been lost in the past decade in regard to racial equity. How hopeful a time that was, with a decade of Supreme Court rulings that had  America’s embrace of equality and with the 1963 March on Washington having inspired a nation. With the 1964 Civil Rights Act having just been signed into law and the 1965 Voting Rights Act on the verge. 

And, perhaps most revealing, with Lyndon Johnson’s victory over Barry Goldwater, a person Dr King described as having become, “identified with extremism, racism, and retrogression.” How times have changed. In our courts. In our Congress. And especially with our nation’s voters’ choice, this time, not to reject the racist running for President.

King is less well known for his work on income inequality, often the focus of these columns. I had always thought of his criticism of capitalism’s shortcomings as coming closer to his assassination, but even in 1964 he understood how our economic system fed the widening income gap.

“… the poor in America know that they live in the richest nation in the world, and that even though they are perishing on a lonely island of poverty they are surrounded by a vast ocean of material prosperity.”

There was great hope, and action, here too. Johnson’s war on poverty had just begun. A slate of ambitious and proven methods helped the poor and middle class build economic stability. Programs like Medicare, Headstart, Food Stamps, and Job Corps, all still here today, cut American poverty in half, from 22% in the early 1960’s to 11% by the early 70’s.

But the poverty rate has basically remained flat, or fluctuated up to 15% when recessions kick in and the government fails to respond. A permanent expansion of Build Back Better, which brought poverty to its lowest level in American history, would have helped greatly.

But economic inequality, sadly, has just gotten worse because taxation has become so regressive. Today, the top 1% earn 21% of the income in America, the same as the worst period of income inequality in American history, the late 1920’s, just prior to the great depression. At the time of Dr. King’s speech, this was actually trending in the right direction. But once Reagan became President, he implemented his massive tax cuts for the wealthy (enhanced by Pres. Bush, and then twice again by Pres. Trump), that wealth simply started flowing back up.

King ended the part of his speech on economic inequality by reminding us that failing the poor is a choice.

“There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.”

Today, as I’ve been hearing about ICE harassing people on the streets of my city, I feel furious and unclear about what exactly to do. But at the same time I’m moved by King’s belief in all of us, both individually and collectively to do right by our neighbors; to rise up in unity and tear down the systems that oppress and cage us.

“I have the personal faith that mankind will somehow rise up to the occasion and give new directions to an age drifting rapidly to its doom … Old systems of exploitation and oppression are passing away, and out of the womb of a frail world new systems of justice and equality are being born.”

The post At a dark moment, remembering Martin Luther King’s fight for equity appeared first on Pine & Roses.

The Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are working to support a statewide race for governor after both that chapter and Madison DSA voted to endorse DSA member Francesca Hong in her bid for that office.

“Working people have seen that the system doesn’t work for them,” Milwaukee DSA Co-Chair Autumn Pickett said. “Time and again, the establishment has failed us so as not to upset their billionaire donors. As ICE threatens to terrorize our communities and kidnap our neighbors, Francesca Hong stands committed to fight back as the only candidate calling for their abolition.”

Hong’s campaign comes at the heels of successful DSA campaigns across the country, from New York City’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani to Milwaukee District 3’s Alder Alex Brower, and U.S. polling has shown an increased interest in socialism, a clear reflection of the crumbling material conditions of the American working class amid ongoing crises at the hands of capitalism and its benefactors. 

“Francesca Hong has fought for Wisconsinites’ right to healthcare, paid family leave for all, a vibrant union movement, and public power owned by the people and not for the profit of billionaires—the same billionaires who are now forcing us to pay for their destructive data centers,” Pickett said. “She, thankfully, is not alone in this fight. As a movement of everyday people, DSA members are tired, fed up, and ready to win the better world we know is possible. Mayor Zohran Mamdani proved there is a better alternative to fascism than the same old tired establishment policies that brought Donald Trump into power to begin with. Socialism beats fascism, and now it’s our turn to prove it. Elect Francesca Hong for Governor.”

Those interested in joining DSA’s efforts to elect Hong can fill out a DSA campaign interest form to get plugged into the chapter’s work. More information on Hong’s candidacy is available on her campaign website.Milwaukee DSA is Milwaukee’s largest socialist organization fighting against imperialism for a democratic economy, a just society, and a sustainable environment. Join today at dsausa.org/join.