DSA San Diego, as part of TRUST Coalition, is demanding the end of Automatic License Plate Readers used by the San Diego Police Department. Read statement. [...]

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Enjoy your May National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 18-person body (including two YDSA members who share a vote) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, join Palestinian solidarity actions, sign up for tenant organizing trainings, get in the Convention spirit, and more!

And to make sure you get our newsletters in your inbox, sign up here! Each one features action alerts, upcoming events, political education, and more.

• From the National Political Committee — Growing Our Movement
• Palestine Will Live Forever — Nakba Week of Action Through Wednesday 5/21
• May and June Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus Committee Meetings
• Document Our Socialist History! Join Our DSA Archives Workshop Thursday 5/29
• Summer Tenant Organizing Training Series Starts Saturday 6/7!
• Monthly Convention Update: Programming Proposals, Running for National Political Committee, and More!
• DSA Graphic Novel — Help New Members Learn Our History!
• Apply for DSA’s National Communications Committee

From the National Political Committee — Growing Our Movement

Two weeks ago on May Day, chapters across the country poured into the street to protest the oligarchy and celebrate our power, bringing the spirit of International Workers’ Day to over 800 cities and towns all over the United States — the most simultaneous May Day events in US history. Standing shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with each other and with workers everywhere is a powerful reminder of the world we’re building toward — a better world where the working class has democratic control of every aspect of our lives, instead of the war-hungry earth-killing capitalist class currently running it all like some kind of demented planetary chessboard. 

As we organize and show up at mass events to keep demonstrating and growing our power, we know we are up against the rise of fascism everywhere as capitalism buckles under its own need for endless, mindless growth of profits for the very few at the top. The death drive of these war profiteers is especially clear today, the 77th anniversary of the Nakba of Palestine, as corporations and governments complicit in genocide and apartheid feel the heat from the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement. Our international solidarity is the force that will not only push back against this tide, but turn it altogether — but only if we organize ourselves into something stronger than the billionaires’ bottomless bank accounts. 

We know that this means growing our numbers and carefully organizing the resources we have, to deepen our power in ways that disrupt the ability of the capitalist class to control us. We need powerful labor unions in our workplaces to take on the bosses, organized tenants to take on the landlords, socialists in office to use state power and the bully pulpit to curb capitalist control of the economy, and a mass movement that’s ready to hit the ground in defense of immigrants, trans folks, reproductive rights, and against ecological devastation for a planet where all can survive and thrive together. 

And that’s exactly what we’re doing. DSA has seen more than 10% growth in membership since Election Day, plus a rapid increase in new organizing committees in cities and regions where we didn’t have a chapter. Capitalists organize everywhere, so we must do the same — and we are!

We want to give a special welcome to the members of these new Organizing Committees (pre-chapter formations) that have formed so far in 2025:

• Bluegrass (KY)
• Brazos (TX)
• Central Mississippi
• Chippewa Valley (WI)
• Flagstaff, AZ
• Land of Lincoln (IL)
• Med City (Rochester, MN)
• Middle Georgia
• Northwest Michigan
• Paso Del Norte (TX, NM)
• River Region (AL)
• Southeast Kansas
• St. Cloud (MN)
• Walla Walla (WA)

And we want to welcome our newest chapters, who have all already passed a set of bylaws, elected officers, and gotten down to the nitty-gritty of organizing in their areas!

• Mesa County DSA (CO)
• Mobile Bay DSA (AL)
• Omaha DSA (NE, IA)
• Saginaw Bay DSA (MI)
• Sonoma County DSA (CA)
• Southern Idaho DSA
• Southern Maryland DSA

This is incredible growth and we’re so excited to see organizing happening in these areas. Workers are taking on mega-corporations Amazon and Starbucks, organizing brand new tenants unions, running people for municipal office, fighting back against hospital systems that are complying in advance with Trump’s anti-trans directives, and so much more. If you are an at-large member interested in organizing a new formation in your city or region, you can learn more about that process here. There’s no time like the present to get that work off the ground. Folks are ready to get mobilizing and organizing!

If you’re interested in connecting with DSA members across the country to talk about your organizing work, learn from each other’s successes and challenges, and find the collective motivation and courage to take on these big fights, there are two big opportunities this summer to do exactly that.

Socialism Conference will be held over 4th of July weekend in Chicago and will feature programming from organizers, activists, and thinkers across the country and around the world, with folks addressing everything from the nuts and bolts of organizing tasks to the huge political questions in front of us about how we build left power, against the far right ascending around the globe amid war and wildfires. DSA will be hosting several panels and DSA members will be present on many more, plus there will be DSA meet-and-greets and lots of chances to connect with other members. Watch this space for more information, and register now!

The 2025 DSA National Convention will be taking place in Chicago on August 8-10. It will be an incredible opportunity for us to network with each other, debate our strategy and political orientation for the next two years, and continue building ourselves into the mass party we need to be in order to fight capitalism. If your chapter hasn’t already started the process of choosing delegates, thinking about resolutions, or making a fundraising plan to help get delegates to the convention, what are you waiting for? Reach out to your chapter for more information!

We look forward to seeing you at either or both of these events, or maybe at a march or rally or canvass, very soon!

Solidarity forever!

Megan Romer and Ashik Siddique
DSA National Co-Chairs

P.S. Join us to make some phone calls to raise socialist cash to take out capitalist trash and support our current nationally-endorsed slate of socialist candidates for office. We’ll be hitting the phones on Sunday, 5/18 at 3pm ET/2pm CT/1pm MT/12pm PT, and we hope to see you there!

Palestine Will Live Forever — Nakba Week of Action Through Wednesday 5/21

Now until Wednesday 5/21, DSA is holding a nationwide week of action for Nakba Week. As Israel and the U.S. continue to ethnically cleanse Gaza and provoke an entire regional war and Trump’s administration escalates repression against solidarity work at home, it is more important than ever that we build sustainable, mass campaigns against strategic targets. This is the most effective form of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Chapters across the county are organizing long term BDS Campaigns targeting municipalities, Chevron, and Maersk. Find an event near you here.

May and June Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color Caucus Committee Meetings

National AFROSOC Committees are LIVE. Check it out!

• Communications Committee Biweekly Meeting Sunday 5/18 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT
• Organizing and Mutual Aid Committee Monthly Meeting Tuesday 5/20 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT
• Growth and Development Committee Monthly Meeting Thursday 6/5 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT
• Political Education Committee Monthly Meeting Friday 6/6 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT

And we’ve added May Local AFROSOC Events! Wanna plug into your local chapters actions? Download our AFROSOC Events Calendar here.

Lastly! For those who may not vibe with Discord or Slack, we have access to an AFROSOC Discussion Group on the members-only DSA Discussion Forum. If you haven’t signed up for the Discussion Forum already, use the email you use for your membership to get in!

Document Our Socialist History! Join Our DSA Archives Workshop Thursday 5/29

Join the DSA National Political Education Committee and the DSA Fund for our DSA Archives Workshop Thursday 5/29 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT! We invite all DSA comrades who are…

• chapter secretaries
• interested in starting a local archive of DSA and/or associated histories in their chapters
• political educators who want to bring archival knowledge back to their chapters
• socialists with cool stuff who want to know what they could do with it
• interested in exploring the purpose and meaning of archives for the left

This is a 90-minute instructional workshop with interspersed, interactive discussion of theory and practice, led by Michaela B. (DSA National Political Education Committee, North New Jersey DSA), Anna F (Chicago DSA), Colin M (National Tech Committee, North New Jersey DSA), and Shannon O (NYU Tamiment Archive).

Summer Tenant Organizing Training Series Starts Saturday 6/7!

Learn how to start a tenant union! Are you or people you know having trouble with landlords? Take initiative into your hands and start a tenant union! In this weekly training series, you’ll learn how to set up an organizing committee, investigate your local conditions, and run campaigns. RSVP today! Sessions are Saturdays at 2pm ET/1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT throughout June. If you’re already in a tenant union, this is a great opportunity to share your expertise with other members!

Monthly Convention Update: Programming Proposals, Running for National Political Committee, and More!

Convention season is in full swing. Submit your ideas for Convention programming sessions today! Proposal submissions are open until Saturday 5/31. The Convention team is looking for diverse, engaged, and energetic programming that connects to our theme, “Rebirth and Beyond: Reflecting on a Decade of DSA’s Growth and Preparing for a Decade of Party-Building.” Sessions can include workshops, panel discussions, seminars, and creative displays or performances.

As part of our 2025 Convention Fundraiser, DSA will be hosting an auction — and we need auction items! The deadline for submissions is Sunday 6/15. Are you an artist with a piece you’d be willing to donate, an author who could donate some signed books, or a collector who’s hanging on to a cool item that a comrade might be willing to bid on? Previous years’ auction items have included all sorts of physical goods, gift cards, and even experiences, like museum or concert tickets or a stay at a vacation property. If you are interested in sharing something or talking more to someone about it, please fill out this form. Everyone else, get ready to raise those paddles!

And it’s last call for chapter fundraising seed grants! The deadline is Saturday 5/17. 

Convention is coming, and we hope your chapter has started thinking about how you’ll help fundraise for your delegation to attend! The DSA National Political Committee, 2025 Convention Planning Committee, and Fundraising Committee have worked together to create and approve a $5000 grant pool for chapters to help finance fundraising activities for Convention. 

For example, maybe you’re throwing a punk show, or a “prommunism” fundraising dance, and need to put a deposit on a rental space. Or you’d like to print and sell limited-edition calendars or t-shirts and need to pay for supplies up front. Whatever creative fundraising idea you’ve got, if you need a bit of seed money to make it happen, please reach out to your chapter leader about applying for this grant.

And National Political Committee (NPC) nominations are open until Sunday 6/15! NPC candidates must have a nominating resolution passed by either the chapter or Organizing Committee of which they are a member, any recognized National Working Group or Committee, or a majority vote by the current NPC.

Please note that NPC elections will be more complex than in past years due to rules changes that will be voted on at Convention. You can find information on these, the election rules, roles and duties of NPC members, the candidate questionnaire, and more on the National Political Committee Elections page here.

DSA Graphic Novel — Help New Members Learn Our History!

Democratic Socialists of America: A Graphic History (narrated by the spirit of Eugene V. Debs, seen here) is ready for chapters to use with new and newish members as well as those interested in DSA. Right now, it exists online. You can help us print it for use at in-person events! This comic, based on research and input from several generations of DSA members, was written by Paul Buhle and Raymond Tyler with illustrations by Noah Van Sciver. In 24 colorful pages, it  gives a quick overview of our origins and campaigns. Your support can bring this fantastic and fun tool to both new and experienced comrades.

Apply for DSA’s National Communications Committee

The National Communications Committee is expanding! We are looking for DSA members with experience in video editing, livestream production, social media strategy, graphic design, media relations, and more to expand our national communications work. The National Communications Committee’s NPC members and at-large co-chair will appoint the new members. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Apply here today!

The post May National Political Committee newsletter — Growing Our Movement appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Increasing the existing CEO surcharge Novick championed in 2016 equitable move to fund parks

The Portland Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America supports Councilor Novick’s move to increase the surcharge on companies with highly skewed ratios of CEO to worker pay. Portland DSA recently launched a new campaign for a Family Agenda for Portland, to fight for concrete public investments in Portland families, children, and communities. We appreciate Councilor Novick’s bold proposal that will protect programs families rely on. We also support DSA member Councilor Green’s PCEF loan proposal as a vital part of this package. Novick’s complement to Green’s plan is an example of the creative policy-making this city desperately needs.

An increase in taxation aimed at the city’s vast wealth inequality is an appropriate way to pay for infrastructure vital to working Portlanders’ lives. Parks are some of the few remaining publicly shared free spaces; third spaces where we can exist in community. They function as oases when heat waves hit the city, and provide connections to nature that we depend on. They are places of solace in a too-hectic time.

Parks programs and community centers are the cornerstone of Portland communities, and anyone who attended the public listening sessions on the city budget that were held in every district in Portland this spring heard personal testimonies of how much parks programs had transformed the lives of Portlanders and their families. Parks programs also provide jobs and support livelihoods. They must be defended.

Portland DSA Co-Chair Olivia Katbi testified at the District 2 listening session accompanied by her family, urging the council to raise revenue by taxing the rich, and to keep open the community center where she brings her daughter. “At a time when Trump and Musk are gutting critical services at the federal level, the response from our city government cannot be to turn around and do the same thing. Do we want to have a nice city that families with children want to live in, or do we want to just have a shell of a police state with shitty services and abandoned parks? What is going to be left for us? The billionaire class is growing while the rest of us are fighting for scraps. We need to present an alternate vision forward.”

Socialists understand that austerity always functions to the detriment of working people, and we believe strong progressive tax measures targeting the wealthy are good for the economy, and a sign of independent, uncaptured political leaders. We also understand that the underlying issue is the limitations of capitalism’s ability to provide for full lives. We cannot afford a market-driven neoliberal urbanism, which privatizes and undermines public goods in the name of profit, at a terrible human cost.

Councilor Novick proposed, championed, and helped pass the first CEO surcharge in any city in the US in 2016; another reason Portland is a leader in public policies.

Portland DSA urges City Council to pass Councilor Novick’s CEO surcharge increase. We urge the people of Portland to contact your district Councilors and speak in favor; to protect our communities, our parks, and our future!

Find all city councilors here. Not sure which district you’re in? Enter your address into the interactive map here.

The post Portland Democratic Socialists support Councilor Novick’s Park Plan appeared first on Portland DSA .

by R.K. Upadhya

Over the past two decades, the housing market has emerged as a powerful means by which capitalism can exploit the working class. At our workplaces, capitalists profit from their ability to control our labor; and then we go home, where we are exploited by the landlords who profit from their control over housing. And if the answer to our oppression in the workplace is labor unions, the answer to our oppression in our homes is tenant unions.  

From early 2022 to early 2024, I was involved with a tenant union campaign at a large apartment complex in north-west San Antonio, via the now-dormant Tenant Union San Antonio (TUSA). While the campaign failed in its overall goal – to organize the tenants of the complex into a self-sustaining, democratic, and militant union – the efforts nonetheless secured some improvements for tenants, and provided organizers with an important and fulfilling learning experience. 

The apartment complex in question was Vista Del Rey Apartments (VDR), a massive 453-unit complex in Leon Valley, located near the intersection of 410 and TX-16/Bandera. The property was first built in 1979, and by testament of some long-time tenants, was a beautiful and well-run property. But in recent years, as the housing market heated up and real estate capital grew increasingly predatory, things started falling apart. Ownership was repeatedly swapped between increasingly greedy firms looking for fresh ways to cut costs and extract more rent. In April 2021, VDR was bought by Shippy Properties, a firm run by an Austin tech executive turned real estate speculator, which quickly turned out to be the worst landlord yet for VDR tenants..

By pure coincidence, a core TUSA member had just moved into VDR in late 2021, and quickly realized it would be an excellent place to start a tenant union campaign. So a handful of us got to work, and over the next two years helped instigate class conflict between the tenants of VDR and their corporate slumlord. Our overall vision was informed by the strategies and tactics developed by socialist-aligned autonomous tenant unions like Tenants and Neighborhood Councils (TANC) in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU), Stomp Out Slumlords (SOS) in Washington D.C., and Houston Tenants Union (HTU).

A quick run-down of what the campaign looked like: we door-knocked across the complex, inquired about conditions and experiences, invited interested tenants to meetings, and saw the formation of the Vista Del Rey Tenants Union (VDR-TU). More canvassing was done; petitions were passed around and protests and rallies were held; a kind of spontaneous rent strike emerged, with many tenants across the complex refusing to pay rent. The city of Leon Valley got involved in a lawsuit against Shippy Properties, demanding that they fix the numerous code violations across the property. Key tenant leaders were targeted for eviction, but we successfully fought back against most of the initial eviction attempts. Shippy made various concessions, even as they caused more problems in the process and escalated repression. A tenant leader’s apartment burned down due to bad electrical wiring, along with the other eleven units in her building. More canvassing, more meetings; attendance and enthusiasm waxed and waned. Finally, after many cycles of ups and downs, by the end of 2023, people had burned out and key leaders had left VDR, and the campaign came to an end. VDR-TU was dead – but if nothing else, the mailboxes had been fixed, wider renovations had been implemented, two people got married, David Shippy’s name was mud, and dozens of people had experienced an interesting and unique attempt at building an autonomous and militant working-class organization.

A full accounting of the day-to-day and month-to-month of the campaign would make for a very lengthy report. But here are some major lessons and take-aways, to paint a picture of what it was like organizing at VDR, and how socialists should think about tenant organizing.  

Big corporate landlords are the scum of the earth – and people love chatting at the door about it

That landlords are parasites shouldn’t be a surprise to socialists – but there is a difference in understanding this in the abstract, versus coming face-to-face with the depths of criminal deprivation and immiseration that landlords subject people to. 

Conditions at Vista Del Rey were abysmal in almost every possible way. A non-exhaustive list of issues at VDR included:

• Constant and unannounced water shut-offs and major water main leaks – the bill for which was passed on to tenants
• Mailboxes that had been broken for over a year, forcing people to pick up mail at the post office (if the mail didn’t get lost)
• Air conditioners being broken for weeks, if not months, during the summer
• Broken and unusable laundry machines
• Endemic cockroaches and mold 
• Crumbling staircases and weak railings, which routinely broke 
• Covid-era rent relief checks getting stolen by management, who then demanded more rent money
• Widespread electrical wiring problems, which in one case resulted in an entire building of twelve apartments burning down
• Arbitrary fees and fines for whenever maintenance was performed (even if temporarily and poorly)

These problems weren’t just incidental. The profit-making strategy of Shippy Properties was overtly about cutting maintenance and services, while simultaneously raising fees and levying fines. As an article in San Antonio Report in January 2022 described: 

The stated strategy of David Shippy, the company’s founder and CEO who wrote a 2019 book detailing his wealth-building formula, involves buying up working-class apartment complexes, slashing maintenance costs and charging tenants new fees. “I like to think of each apartment complex as a cash machine,” wrote Shippy in his book Money Matters for Financial Freedom: The Fast Path to Abundance in Life and Business.

But there is a silver lining to the depravities of landlords, which is that tenants are generally more than happy to talk to a stranger at the door about their issues and experiences. Of course, there is always an initial suspicion (“ugh, what do these people want to sell me…”), but once they realize that you’re not a salesman or missionary, and mainly want to hear about their experiences, the barriers vanish. And a key aspect of this is to, in fact, not be trying to sell some grand organizational plan or political ideology (at least, initially), but to show up to have a genuine conversation with somebody. The 80:20 rule is key – a good initial conversation at the door should have the tenant talking for 80% of the time, and the canvasser mainly asking questions and learning. Ask people about how long they’ve been there, what their experiences have been like, if they know their neighbors, if they’ve tried to get management to address problems, what their thoughts are on why things aren’t being solved and how they feel about that. Ultimately, none of this should be that complicated; talk to people and take a genuine interest in who they are! 

Door-knocking, surveying about problems, and collecting contact information was probably the easiest aspect of organizing at VDR, and made for many memorable conversations. During one canvassing session, me and another DSA/TUSA member met a mother and her daughter who were in the process of moving in, and were already livid about management not having prepared the apartment at all for move-in. We then helped her move a dishwasher up the stairs. Then her neighbor, a pudgy older guy with no shirt came outside and told us that his own dishwasher had backed up a month ago and had never been fixed. Another time, a guy invited me into his apartment to see the massive hole in his living room ceiling, and the leak in the bathroom. His upstairs neighbor, meanwhile, was furious about the impact of persistent mold on his young son’s health. Not all of the people we talked to were immediately excited about getting involved in a tenant union campaign, or organizing in general; but at a minimum, they were happy to chat about how bad the complex was, and their desire to see things change.     

Disorganization is the default mode of existence for working-class people

One thing you realize very quickly when canvassing across apartment complexes is that people are highly atomized – a reflection of the wider problem of “proletarian disorganization” and the fact that whatever working-class institutions and networks that once existed in this country have withered away under neoliberalism. People don’t really talk with their neighbors, beyond waving at them (if that). Tenant unionism thus must overcome an obstacle that labor unionism doesn’t have to deal with: that people tend to lack basic knowledge about one another and their shared problems. Despite the serious and widespread issues at VDR, many people didn’t realize that they had the same problems as their neighbors, which pushed them toward individual solutions (calling management themselves, trying to find a lawyer, or deciding to move out) or just a sense of apathy (“what can I do, I just gotta get used to it”). One tenant who became an early member of the VDR organizing committee told me that when we first knocked on his door, he was happy to chat about his problems, but he was also a bit suspicious about what we wanted and why we were even interested. But once he realized just how many other tenants had the same exact problems as him, it finally clicked that he didn’t have to fight these issues alone.  

Another consequence of social disorganization is that people may tend to identify other tenants as the main source of problems, rather than landlords. The issue of crime, in particular, can be a difficult question for socialists to grapple with. One on hand, we have our standard abolitionist principles that rejects the police as a viable solution to social problems; on the other hand, it can be difficult to articulate – let alone implement – abolitionist solutions to immediate issues around crime. At VDR, there were undeniable problems with anti-social behavior, theft and robberies, and even murders; and for many tenants, the obvious solution for this was more police presence. It’s important for tenant organizers to be prepared to discuss these issues and propose solutions that don’t rely on police; meet people where they’re at, but don’t stay where they are at. TUSA and VDR-TU were somewhat successful in this, insofar as whenever complaints about other tenants came up, these were sidelined in favor of focusing on problems caused by the landlord, which most people agreed were more egregious and easier to directly address.  

In addition, atomization overlaps with and exacerbates racism and xenophobia. This did not become a particularly large obstacle at VDR, but the complex had a number of cultural and linguistic divisions that created challenges to get people together. Unsurprisingly for San Antonio, the majority of the complex was Latino, with smaller numbers of Black and white people. There were also several immigrant groups, specifically Afghans and Indians, typical for apartments in the Medical Center area. This meant there were small populations of monolingual Pashto, Dari, and Hindi speakers, in addition to the typical group of Spanish speakers. And perhaps most unusually, there was a sizable Romani community – an Eastern European ethnic group with a traditionally nomadic culture, descended from South Asia – many of whom were allegedly squatting in one of the buildings. It was this Roma group, as well as other South/South-West Asian families, who attracted the most animosity from certain tenants, who were suspicious of “refugees” who couldn’t speak English, and who blamed them for vandalism and petty crime.  

All of this comes back to the point that one of the most important aspects of tenant organizing is  simply to get people to know each other, to break down the default atomization of neoliberal existence. Prejudice in working-class neighborhoods like this can sometimes be very superficial; simply attending a meeting or social with a person you were suspicious of, could be enough to cure you of any wrong-headed ideas. And simply building a sense of community can be enough to provide a greater sense of security, with the knowledge that you know your neighbors, and you have each other’s back. 

Despite atomization and exploitation, resistance is widespread

One of the best things about tenant unionism is the consistency with which you’ll come across sudden and unexpected sources of radicalism. Acts of resistance – ranging from individual and spontaneous, to broader and more organized – are already happening, all over the place, in all kinds of ways, and militancy can accelerate faster than an activist is prepared for. People are constantly pushing back individually against their landlord; VDR tenants constantly called in or barged into the office, demanding appliance repairs or an explanation for the latest water leak. During canvassing, a constant theme was tenants wanting to connect with legal resources and sue Shippy Properties. But it is in group discussions with other tenants, that people’s natural instincts about collective action and power can emerge. At the first general event we held at VDR in May 2022, a Know Your Rights training, one older lady almost immediately brought up the idea of a rent strike, talking about the need to hit the landlord in the pocketbooks. The dozen or so other tenants largely agreed that this would be morally justified and strategically sound. 

Another memorable moment, fusing individual and collective resistance, happened during a protest VDR-TU held later that summer. As “luck” would have it, during the protest rally held outside the management office, the water was abruptly shut off yet again. A man then came around the corner, still damp from his interrupted shower, and made a beeline to the office and started banging on the door and yelling about the water shut-off. If he wasn’t planning on attending the protest before, his ruined shower made his mind up for him. And this wasn’t the end of the story; his spontaneous passion impressed one of the main tenant leaders of VDR-TU, and they got to talking afterward – and two years later, they got married!  

But the most stunning example of spontaneous resistance was something we learned shortly after the protest – that upwards of half the complex was already on a de-facto rent strike. Ironically, we learned this when management sent out an e-mail asserting this mass non-payment of rent, and that this was the reason why they couldn’t do necessary repairs. As it turned out, many people were willing to act on the basic notion that if they weren’t being given habitable apartments, then they shouldn’t have to pay rent – a righteous position, albeit illegal. But the illegality of individual rent strikes were of little concern to many – as they told us themselves, who cared about getting evicted or taking a hit to their credit score, when they already had multiple evictions on their record and no credit score to speak of? At a complex like VDR, filled with the most oppressed layers of the working class, taking risky actions can be an easy choice – there is little left to lose anyway.   

Tenant unionism requires high levels of commitment and consistency

Despite the atrocious conditions at VDR and the relatively combative spirit of VDR tenants, the tenant union campaign ultimately fizzled out after about two years. There are a number of reasons for this, some outside of our control; but if I had to pick the biggest shortcoming, it was that those of us in TUSA weren’t able to give the campaign the necessary amount of consistent effort. 

A tenant union campaign should have a solid overall plan, and a rapid cadence; if you knock on somebody’s door, you should have an upcoming meeting or action you can invite them to, or at least a 1:1 follow-up if they seem like a potential leader. And more broadly, tenant union campaigns are about relationship-building; quality is better than quantity, especially at the beginning of the campaign. It’s crucial to spend time doing 1:1s with tenants you’re trying to bring into an organizing committee as potential leaders, to get on the same page about the project and the political and social principles of tenant unionism, and to understand their own background, experiences, and ideas. Talking to somebody once at the door and then dropping them into a group chat or Facebook group is not going to get them involved or lead to a functional organizing committee.

Unfortunately with the VDR campaign, most of us didn’t really understand this at the time. After door-knocking sessions, we would try to create big group chats with all the contacts, which would fizzle out over and over again, other than a couple of busybodies who would spam the chat and annoy everybody else. We did few 1:1s, even with people who were enthusiastic about organizing. There were often long gaps of time between talking to somebody and getting their contact info, and actually reaching back out to them. In retrospect, it’s a bit surprising that an actual organizing committee of about a dozen VDR tenants emerged at all, but that may be a testament to just how many people we talked to. But less surprising is that outside of this core group of people who spontaneously and by their own will began organizing, there was little success in building out a wider layer of “cadre” at VDR; the energy required for genuine relationship-building and rigorous onboarding just wasn’t there.

Our inconsistency wasn’t just a result of our relative inexperience, either – a general problem, especially toward the latter phases of the campaign, was the split attention of core TUSA organizers, who were trying to keep the campaign at VDR going while also being in leadership roles in other spaces like San Antonio DSA, Black Rose Anarchist Federation, and labor union campaigns. In retrospect, it was impossible to give the campaign the necessary attention while also being a key member of other campaigns and organizations. A tenant union campaign needs at least a couple of people who are completely focused on finding and developing tenant leaders into an organizing committee, and connecting these leaders with resources, training, and support.  

Tenant unionism is worth it, even in failure

Despite the eventual failure of the Vista Del Rey Tenant Union to develop into a mass, militant working-class institution, I would still consider my involvement in the campaign to be the most interesting, educational, and fulfilling project I was ever involved in during my five years living in San Antonio. I met and organized with people who were far outside the typical left-wing activist and organizing spaces – but who nonetheless had deeply radical instincts and ideas. And despite the long-term failure, there were still short-term victories; the mailboxes, broken for years, were fixed after our campaign started. Many organizers had long-standing maintenance issues resolved by management, who hoped this would pacify them. The campaign pushed the city of Leon Valley to engage in their own lawsuit, which forced even more repairs. And one of the main tenant leaders found a husband through the campaign, and invited the core TUSA members to the wedding. Can’t be a total loss if a great party came out of it!

In conclusion, I would encourage all socialists and fellow radicals to engage in tenant organizing. Many of us already rent our homes in the first place; thus, tenant unionism isn’t something that has to make us go “somewhere else” to organize, but instead can be about us building institutions where we are already at, with our own neighbors. And just like with workplace organizing, oftentimes the best way to engage in socialist politics and organizing is to “organize where we are at”, and to radicalize the networks and communities we are already embedded in.  

If you’re in Austin, join other Austin DSA members in Greater Austin Tenant Organizing (GATO) to help spread autonomous tenant unionism. Follow and support other local tenant organizing groups, like BASTA. And sign up for the DSA Housing Justice Commission’s upcoming four-part training series on tenant union organizing, scheduled for June! 

The post Lessons from a Tenant Union Campaign in North-West San Antonio first appeared on Red Fault.

Over the past three months, our movement has made powerful strides in building the collective project of ecosocialism and climate action, with DSA chapters across the country organizing around transit, housing, and energy to put people and the planet over profit.

2025 began with strong momentum from Detroit DSA, where comrade Mel H led a successful Building for Power (B4P) power mapping training for their “Bring Back the Tracks” transit campaign. About 15 members—both new and experienced—came together with high energy and deep engagement. The chapter launched power mapping and research working groups in preparation for their next ecosocialist meeting, strengthening their capacity to fight for climate and economic justice locally. 

The campaign itself received positive local press coverage on Detroit Public Radio and Click On Detroit, highlighting the growing influence of our ecosocialist vision in the motor city. By the end of February, Detroit’s campaign was officially designated as a Building for Power campaign!

Meanwhile, in Louisville, the Get on the Bus campaign—fighting for expanded bus funding alongside the ATU—hit a major milestone, landing on the front page of the Courier Journal in January! 

Then in February, the campaign secured key union endorsements, including the Jefferson County Teachers Association. The campaign also presented to the Louisville Central Labor Council, which voted unanimously to join the coalition and sign the demand letter! In a major show of support, the Kentucky State AFL-CIO also signed on, with its director publicly recognizing DSA as “the real deal” in building working-class power

Those nearby can join their next campaign meeting May 13.

Metro DC’s We Power DC was reauthorized as a chapter priority campaign, and kicked off 2025 with a Public Power 101 to train organizers on the essentials. This spring, the campaign is hosting monthly wheatpasting around the city, with summer public power canvasses to launch soon! And for all public power policy nerds… stay tuned for We Power DC’s white paper on public power in the District — publishing later this month.

House the Future in NYC began canvassing efforts to advance social housing as a key site of climate resilience. They collected nearly 1000 signatures over a few weekends in support of a statewide social housing developer.

In February, ecosocialist work connecting climate, labor, and public power continued to gain traction. In Milwaukee, comrade Alex Brower won the primary for Common Council, running on a platform to replace local utility We Energies—a bold step toward public, democratically controlled utilities backed by DSA’s might!

Finally, Los Angeles shared a deep dive into their Mass Transit for All campaign in a feature Q&A, offering lessons on how to tie mass transit to a broader vision of ecosocialist transformation. Give it a read.

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These past three months reflect not only important local victories, but also the power of organizing at the intersection of climate, labor, and public goods. As more chapters take on strategic, place-based campaigns, we’re building toward a future where ecosocialism is not just a vision—but a material force in the everyday lives of working-class people.

We, the Greater Grand Rapids Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, are disappointed the jury failed to convict former police officer, Christopher Schurr, and the case was declared a mistrial. We demand that a new trial be held as soon as possible. We also demand that County Prosecutor, Chris Becker, recuse himself and let someone who hasn’t received political donations from Schurr’s Police Union try the case.

The Lyoya family has been waiting three years for this trial to take place and are now being forced to wait longer while Christopher Schurr is still walking free. While this case has been about Justice for Patrick, this mistrial means the Lyoya’s civil case against Schurr and the City of Grand Rapids must also wait.

Christopher Schurr clearly showed intent to kill. Once he drew his weapon, he offered no warning, never said, “stop or I’ll shoot,” and shot Patrick in the back of the head. Schurr testified on the stand that he didn’t know what he was shooting at, he just fired at Patrick Lyoya. But the physical evidence showed the gun was pressed against the back of Patrick’s head when he fired.

We are disappointed that the GRPD Captains testified in defense of Schurr. There are still people on the police force who believe murdering civilians out of frustration is “reasonable” behavior. The GRPD remains a threat to our community.

We are thankful to the many community members who stood up to participate in marches, rallies, and other outcries for justice for Patrick. We are disappointed in the outcome of this trial and acknowledge that our efforts for police accountability are not over.

The post Statement on the Mistrial of Former GRPD Officer, Christopher Schurr appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

At the January 2025 general meeting, Cleveland DSA voted to begin a priority project in support of transgender liberation. 

In our chapter structure, the passage of a priority project indicates a commitment to putting the full weight of the chapter’s resources behind the initiative. Our bylaws impose a limit of 2 priority projects at any given time. As of this writing, the trans liberation project is Cleveland DSA’s only priority.

As socialists, we believe that every person should be able to express and develop themselves fully as human beings, including trans people. The struggle for trans liberation is connected to the broader struggle for the liberation of the working class. 

The mission of the Trans Liberation Project is to create an environment in Northeast Ohio where all transgender people feel supported and free to express themselves without fear of persecution or marginalization. The project aims to achieve this mission locally through a three-pronged approach:

1. Building Community 
2. Taking Local Legislative Action 
3. Providing Access to Affirming Services

Building Community: To provide a safe haven for trans people, we need to form a base in Northeast Ohio dedicated to fighting for trans liberation that can be mobilized for community defense and campaigns. DSA’s objective is to develop our capacity to turn out large numbers of people in a militant way. 

Taking Local Legislative Action: DSA aims to enact legislation that will make Cleveland a sanctuary city for trans people. Inspired by work of DSA chapters across the country, we will draft a trans sanctuary city policy and advocate for it to be passed by Lakewood city council.

Providing Access to Affirming Services: DSA will assist trans people in gaining access to gender-affirming services.

1. Name change clinic: DSA will host a name change clinic to make it easier for trans people to update their birth certificate with gender affirming details. 
2. Gender-affirming clothing: DSA will host clothing swap events to provide trans people free access to gender-affirming clothing.

This is not the first time our chapter has engaged in organizing around trans rights. In a 2024 non-priority activity, we organized a public pressure campaign against HB68 and Governor Mike DeWine’s administrative rules restricting gender-affirming care. We targeted state representatives and senators, the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, the Ohio Health Advisory Board, the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and the Cuyahoga County Board of Health with public comment, phone banking, emails, and a demonstration outside the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. After receiving thousands of public comments and testimony, the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review blocked the implementation of the administrative rule Reporting Gender-Related Condition Diagnoses and Gender Transition Care which would have required medical professionals to report diagnoses and treatment related to gender-affirming care to the Ohio Department of Health but allowed several other rules restricting care for minors to move forward. Lower courts in Ohio blocked the implementation of HB68. Interest in mass action over the restrictions quickly diminished.

Since January, the Trump administration has issued a series of anti-trans executive orders, including a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and a policy barring trans people from obtaining federal identity documents aligning with their gender identity. These policies are an escalation of the attacks on trans people by the right-wing in the United States over the last decade and further encourage discrimination, harassment, and violence. As the right-wing has scapegoated and attacked the transgender community, the Democratic party has failed to take meaningful action to protect us when it has had the power to do so.

Transphobia, like other forms of oppression, divides the working class and prevents us from building collective power by targeting the human rights of those who are particularly vulnerable. We can’t rely on the two capitalist parties to save us. Winning reproductive rights and trans liberation will require an organized, independent, working class movement with the ability to fight back.

Our chapter has experienced considerable growth in recent months, and we are excited to organize our membership into this priority project. Join Cleveland DSA today to organize for a better world!

You can sign up for a one-on-one meeting with an organizer from our chapter here and join the chapter here. 

The post Announcing Trans Rights as DSA Cleveland’s Priority appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.