The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not represent the official position of Working Mass. This statement is republished with permission from UEunion.org.

Statement of the UE officers

In the face of rising working-class militancy, anti-union forces have launched various legal attacks on the labor movement, using the false claim that union involvement in protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza is somehow “anti-Semitic.” Most prominently, the federal monitor charged with rooting out corruption in the United Auto Workers has engaged in wildly inappropriate behavior, in a clear attempt to use his immense legal power over the union to shut down their criticism of Israel. The National Right to Work Committee and union-busting law firms like Jones Day have also launched a series of legal cases, including some against UE locals, aimed at undermining union shop and exclusive representation.

On December 13, a little under two weeks after the UAW released a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the court-appointed monitor overseeing the union, Neil Barofsky, made a phone call to UAW President Shawn Fain, urging him to reconsider the union’s position. In February, Barofsky sent a letter to the UAW executive board reiterating his criticism of the union’s position, and also brought it up in a virtual meeting with the executive board on February 19.

Barofsky was appointed in 2021 as part of a consent decree between the union and the federal government, stemming from rampant corruption under previous UAW leadership. In his role, Barofsky has extensive power to oversee all aspects of the union’s operation, including the power to impose discipline on UAW officers and members. The current leadership of the union was elected to reform the union; they have democratized the UAW and led important and militant fights, and have in fact worked closely with the monitor to root out corruption.

The consent decree which gives Barofsky authority over the union charges him with “remov[ing] fraud, corruption, illegal behavior, dishonesty, and unethical practices” from the union. Nothing in this mandate is applicable to the union’s position calling for a ceasefire, a position voted on by an executive board elected through a democratic process overseen by Barofsky himself.

After the union refused to change its position, and sent Barofsky a letter raising concerns that he was acting outside of his jurisdiction, Barofsky opened a new investigation into the union and demanded that the union turn over more than one hundred thousand documents, including communications that could potentially expose the union’s internal plans for taking on corporations

The attacks on labor over positions on Israeli policy towards Palestinians are not limited to the UAW, however. In July, a lawsuit against the Professional Staff Congress, the union representing faculty and professional staff of the City University of New York, was appealed to the Supreme Court. The National Right to Work Committee, which is providing legal counsel in the case, seeks to further weaken public-sector unions by asking the Supreme Court to eliminate the principle of exclusive representation. If exclusive representation is eliminated, then employers will be free to reward non-members with higher wages and other perks. This would further undermine public-sector unions, which are already suffering under the effects of the 2018 Janus decision outlawing union shop in the public sector. Two UE locals have also been the target of legal actions making false claims of anti-Semitism to attempt to undermine the union shop in the private sector, instigated by the National Right to Work Committee and the notorious union-busting law firm Jones Day.

These lawsuits, like the UAW monitor’s attack on that union, are justified by personal differences of opinion with positions taken by the union’s democratically-elected leadership, or in some cases by the membership as a whole. However, in a democracy, differences should be resolved, not by lawsuits, but by persuasion. UE has never taken action against a member for holding an opinion which differs from the union’s policy. Indeed, the preamble to our constitution directs us to unite all workers regardless not only of “craft, age, sex, nationality, race, [and] creed,” but also of “political beliefs,” and we encourage robust discussion of the union’s policies through our democratic structures.

It is ironic that several of these legal assaults alleging that criticisms of Israel’s military actions constitute “anti-Semitism” are being supported by the National Right to Work Committee, an organization whose history is steeped in actual prejudice against Jewish people. Vance Muse, the lobbyist who was central to the passage of so-called “right-to-work” laws throughout the country in the 1940s, was both a rabid anti-Semite and a committed white supremacist. His organization, the Christian American Association, sought to portray CIO unions like UE and UAW as agents of “Jewish Marxism” — precisely because our organizations united workers regardless of race, creed, and political beliefs.

It is not an accident that these attacks are specifically targeting unions which are growing, leading militant struggles, and daring to take independent positions on U.S. foreign policy. In this and in many other ways, they resemble the attacks on the progressive wing of the labor movement in the 1940s and 1950s when the unions which were growing, leading militant struggles, and taking independent positions on U.S. foreign policy were tarred as “communist-dominated” and subjected to government persecution — all of which only aided the corporations. The attacks on so-called “anti-Semitism” are nothing more than a new McCarthyism.

Just as we have always rejected any attempts by the government, corporations or special interests to dictate UE policy, we forcefully condemn the attempts by the federal monitor to influence the policies of the UAW, and to retaliate against them for taking a courageous and just stand for peace. We urge the court which appointed Barofsky to replace him with a monitor who will not exceed his authority.

More broadly, we condemn the cynical misuse of claims of anti-Semitism to attack union security and exclusive representation. We call upon the rest of the labor movement to close ranks against these attacks on exclusive representation, on the union shop, and on the right of unions to democratically take policy positions independent of the government or any political party.

Carl Rosen
General President

Andrew Dinkelaker
Secretary-Treasurer

Mark Meinster
Director of Organization

UE (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America) is a democratic national union representing tens of thousands of workers in a wide variety of manufacturing, public sector and private service-sector jobs. UE is an independent union (not affiliated with the AFL-CIO) proud of its democratic structure and progressive policies.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, August 21 (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Phonebank for Extreme Dean (In person at 1630 Haight St)

Wednesday, August 21 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): What is DSA (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, August 21 (7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.): Canvassing 201 with Dean x DSA Homelessness Working Group (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, August 22 (5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Mission Pool Jackie Fielder Mobilization (In person at Mission Pool @ Linda & 19th)

Thursday, August 22 (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Phonebank for Extreme Dean (In person at 1630 Haight St)

Thursday, August 22 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, August 24 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, August 24 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Jackie Fielder For D9 Supervisor Mobilization (In person at Bernal Rec Center @ Moultrie & Jarboe)

Sunday, August 25 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Extreme Dean Door Knock Mobilization with DSA SF Homelessness Working Group (In person at Boeddeker Park & Clubhouse – Meeting Room 246 Eddy Street)

Sunday, August 25 (11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.): Starbucks Workers United Flyering Event – Castro (In person at Castro Starbucks, 4094 18th St.)

Sunday, August 25 (1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.): No Appetite for Apartheid Canvass Kickoff (In person at 876 Valencia)

Sunday, August 25 (2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): Tenderloin Healing Circle (In person at UNITE HERE Local 2, 209 Golden Gate)

Monday, August 26 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Ecosocialist Monthly Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, August 26 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Solidarity Social @ Dean Preston HQ (In person at 1630 Haight)

Monday, August 26 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Tuesday, August 27 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): How to Be an Organizer (Zoom)

Wednesday, August 28 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Canvassing 201 with the Dean Team and DSA HWG (Location TBD)

Saturday, August 31 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Extreme Dean Door Knock Mobilization (Location TBD)

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

Events & Actions

Volunteer for the Dean Preston Campaign This Week!

We have a whole bunch of opportunities to volunteer for the Dean Preston campaign this week! Come pitch in, meet other volunteers, and talk to your neighbors about Dean Preston!

• Today (Tuesday, 8/20) – Turnout Tuesday from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister
• Wednesday and Thursday (8/21 and 8/22) – Phonebanking at Dean HQ (1640 Haight St) from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
• Thursday (8/22) – Weekday Mob with SF Rising Action Fund from 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at 1630 Haight St
• Sunday (8/25) – Mobilization at Boedekker Park from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at Jones and Eddy St

Mobilizer 201: Canvassing Training

Mobilizer 201 is a next-level canvassing training for folks knocking doors on our electoral campaigns! Join us this tomorrow (Wednesday, August 21) from  7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister to learn more about how to be an effective door-knocker and talk with your neighbors.

Turnout Tuesday for Dean Preston, Every Tuesday!

It’s all hands on deck as we close in on the final months before the election this November! Join the Extreme Dean team every Tuesday from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister to call Dean’s supporters and get folks fired up about weekend mobilizations.

Starbucks Workers United Flyering Event – Castro

Starbucks Workers United is making history with one of the fastest growing union campaigns. More than 10,500 workers at more than 470 stores are headed back into bargaining for their first contract, and they are asking for the community’s support!

On Sunday, August 25th from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., DSA SF Labor is hosting a flyering event outside the union Starbucks at 4094 18th St to educate customers that their baristas are bargaining for their first union contract. Come support union labor!

Join the Palestine Solidarity Anti-Imperialist Working Group in our No Appetite for Apartheid campaign in SF!

Inspired by long-standing Palestinian boycott tactics and the BDS call, we are canvassing local stores and asking them to pledge to become Apartheid-Free by dropping products from companies complicit in the genocide of Palestinians and colonization of Palestine. It’s time to turn up the heat on this apartheid regime and take apartheid off our plates!

We will be holding our first public canvass on August 25th!

Want to show your support? Sign our Apartheid-Free Pledge so business owners know how popular this movement is with their local customers. After signing the pledge, we would love to see you at any of our upcoming campaign strategy sessions and canvassing days.

• Canvassing kick-off! Sunday, August 25th, 1:00-2:30 p.m. Check dsasf.org/events for meeting location updates.
• Weekly canvassing every Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. 

DSA SF’s Solidarity Social with Dean Preston

Come hang out at Dean Preston’s campaign HQ at 1630 Haight Street on Monday, August 26th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.! We’ll be taking some time to connect with each other celebrating our wins as we hunker down and get ready for this final stretch before the election!

Sign the BAD! Petition

Bay Area Divest! (BAD!) is a new coalition that believes we must invest our public funds in our communities, NOT in repression, war, or genocide! DSA SF officially endorses BAD!, along with East Bay DSA, AROC, Palestinian Youth Movement, AFSC, Palestinian Feminist Collective, JVP, CodePink, and several other great organizations. Please sign the petition to join BAD! in refusing to allow our public funds to go towards supporting genocide and occupation.

Behind the Scenes

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

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

By Nick Lavin

BOSTON COMMON – Around 1,000 demonstrators drawn from dozens of Boston-area organizations rallied on Sunday to demand Kamala Harris call for a ceasefire and arms embargo. 

The event, called by the Uncommitted National Movement and held in coordination with more than seventy like it across the country, comes after months of pressure from grassroots activists on Democratic National Convention (DNC) delegates, local politicians, members of congress, and President Biden to end the brutal Israeli siege of Gaza.

Protesters gathered at the Park Street T Station in Boston Common and marched up to the State House, accompanied by a local brass band. Once there, rally-goers occupied the street to chalk a “Not Another Bomb” mural while local faith and community leaders spoke to the conditions in Gaza and the need for an arms embargo. 

Among the speakers was a Gazan boy named Anes, who lost three siblings in the past ten months of Israeli attacks. 

“We are just innocent children. What did we do to deserve this?” Anes asked in Arabic.

While anguish over the deaths of all Gazans was at the front of everyone’s minds, the special plight of children was a theme many speakers paid particular attention to, including Merrie Najimy, member and former president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. 

Najimy spoke specifically to how Israeli attacks have not only interrupted education but targeted schools.

“What the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians, beyond genocide, is scholasticide” Najimy said. “If you go to the UN dashboard, they say 93 percent of schools in Gaza have either been damaged or destroyed.” 

Regarding President Biden, who has promised continued negotiations but has failed to deliver any meaningful changes for Gaza, Najimy said “his rhetoric of ceasefire has gotten us nowhere, the only path forward is an arms embargo.”

“Ceasefire” is increasingly seen by those involved in Palestine solidarity work to be an empty signifier, as many Democrats including Biden call for it while continuing to supply billions of dollars in military aid. Locally, Senators Warren and Markey have both given lip service to the term while voting for every Israeli weapons bill placed in front of them. Warren in particular carefully separates herself from activist demands for ceasefire by re-fashioning the word as ‘cease-fire’ in her statements.

Observing these calculated movements in language but not action by the Democrats, pro-Palestine activists have shifted to the more concrete demand of an arms embargo in the lead-up to the DNC. They say the need for the shift is further highlighted by Israel’s steadfast rejection of peace proposals from Hamas, the US, and other international mediators.

Building a National Movement For An Arms Embargo

The pivot toward weapons restriction is led at the national level by the Uncommitted National Movement and a coalition of organizations including IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Democratic Socialists of America. 

The Uncommitted National Movement came together during the Democratic Party primary to demonstrate widespread frustration with the White House’s inaction over Israeli genocide. While not the only factor in Biden’s decision to drop out, the Uncommitted Movement underlined the failure of his administration to meet the moment while also coalescing critical elements of the Democratic Party base against him, especially in the must-win state of Michigan. 

Uncommitted placed critiques of the Democrats front and center at a time when Biden was deeply underwater against Trump, providing an unparalleled opportunity for activists to agitate against the pro-Israel consensus in Congress and organize newly disaffected Biden voters. 

For its part, Democratic Socialists of America leaped in headfirst to support Uncommitted, first providing critical infrastructure and volunteers in dozens of states in the Movement’s primary season push and now co-sponsoring many of the rallies happening this week. On the 18th, the National Labor Commission held a “Labor Action Call” with Not Another Bomb and union activists from across the country, including Rafael Jaime, UAW 4811 President. Local 4811 represents the University of California students who went on strike for the safety and free speech of pro-Palestine campus organizers last spring.

Sunday’s rally was a notable boost of energy in the Boston area, which has been seeing a slow but noticeable decline in rally attendance as people are discouraged by the war’s continuation. Sobering analogies to Vietnam (and the yearslong battle for peace then) abounded. Dave Grosser, a former member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the 1960s and today a member of Boston DSA, pointed out to me that “withdrawal from Vietnam took nine years from the first major protests; right now, we’re only ten months in.” 

While parallels to 1968 are striking – an expensive foreign war, a confrontational DNC rally, an enormously unpopular sitting president and (soon-to-be) appointed presidential nominee – there is one major difference. Back then, only a narrow majority of Americans disapproved of the war. Today, more than seventy percent of US residents want a ceasefire. With the White House writing multi-billion dollar checks for Israel, we need a mass movement for peace composed of the overwhelming majority of Americans favoring an end to the genocide. But as ever, the question remains: who will organize them?

Learn more about the various organizations sponsoring the rally here, and sign up to get involved here. To learn more about Boston DSA’s efforts in particular, read our petition and sign on here.

Nick Lavin is a Boston Public Schools paraprofessional and a member of the Boston Teachers Union.

Inspired by DSA Cleveland’s resolution, “Winning the Battle for Democracy,” DSA San Diego adopted the following resolution on July 28, 2024:

Rene Gonzalez’ terrible, horrible, no good, very bad campaign for Portland mayor is both mean and clumsy.

“She came from behind, sort of surprised me,” Gonzalez said.”

In early February, Gonzalez claimed he was “assaulted” by a fellow MAX passenger, but video footage released later by Trimet showed “incidental contact” — a fancy way of saying that he completely fabricated the incident.

Rene has been cheerleader #1 for the police union’s ‘Portland-so-dangerous’ campaign (they are best buds). But that not must be hitting like it used to, so Rene took matters into his own hands.

Even fact-checkers with the website X (formerly Twitter) hit Gonzalez’ claim with a Community Note:

Petty Corruption and Wikipedia

Just last month, it was revealed Gonzalez used over $6,000 of city money to pay an outside PR firm, WhiteHat Wiki, to manipulate the mayoral-hopeful’s Wikipedia article.

WhiteHat Wiki claims to be the “the leading ‘white hat’ ethical provider for Wikipedia strategy and problem solving, including crisis management.”

No doubt Gonzalez is keen to suppress public awareness of his various scandals — many of which are described in this article!

The City Elections Office is now investigating.

Any Ngo Fanboy

Rene was caught liking a repugnant post by far-right street provocateur Andy Ngo. If only he’d waited a few months until X (formerly Twitter) owner — and fellow weirdo — Elon Musk turned off the ‘View Likes’ feature across the website. D’oh!

Comic Book Corruption Greases Downtown Real Estate Deal

Usually, Portland politicians are smart enough to break bread with their major corporates backers in the privacy of the Multnomah Athletic Club or at dinner parties in their West Hills mansions.

But a 2022 “gift” from mega-Downtown property inheritor Jordan Schnitzer caught the ire of the public — and the City’s election office.

Per OPB, “Portland City Council hopeful Rene Gonzalez was slapped with a hefty fine Tuesday for accepting — and failing to report — a steep discount on rent on his campaign office from real estate company Schnitzer Properties Management.”

Schnitzer waived rent and charged the Gonzalez campaign only for parking (also at a steep discount). According to data from Portland real estate firm Norris & Stevens, the rent should have been about $7600/month.

That’s substantially more than FREE.

A few months later, Gonzalez announced a cruel ban prohibiting his favorite punching bag — Portland Street Response — from handing out live-saving tents and tarps. Downtown property owners rallied around Gonzalez’ tent distribution ban and recently secured another Gonzalez-led victory when the City enacted an all-out ban on camping.

Unsheltered Portlanders are dying on the street, but some of Portland’s biggest property owners are cashing in.

Rene Will Trip You On The Soccer Pitch

The man is bush league!

P.S. An honorable mention that didn’t make this Top 5 list. Per the Portland Mercury:

“The city commissioner and candidate for mayor insists the city should no longer ‘platform abolitionists’ by allowing comments about police brutality during council votes on legal matters.”

Big business and their puppets like Rene are contemptible — but we can beat them — if regular people get organized.

Click here to get Portland DSA’s monthly elections newsletter and join the movement to win working-class leadership — not soccer cheaters — in Portland City Hall.

The mood among opponents of MAGA has shifted dramatically. But the electoral map hasn’t changed, and the Gaza genocide continues. What does this mean for progressives and the socialist Left? 

The Joe Biden-to-Kamala Harris handoff has produced a dramatic shift in mood among all opponents of MAGA’s white Christian Nationalist agenda. The gloom about prospects for defeating authoritarianism in 2024 that hung in the air for months has been replaced by a surge of energy and hope.

That hope can produce a big win in November, but only if it is translated into effective action grounded in realism. The balance of forces that existed before Biden withdrew remains the same. Likewise unchanged are the differing political programs of those contending for power – the MAGA-controlled GOP, the Biden-Harris (now Harris-Walz) wing of the Democratic Party, and the still-developing progressive trend that started to take its current shape in 2016. 

To begin sorting through the complexities of the moment, let’s examine what forced Biden to step down.

Ceasefire movement laid the groundwork

The unprecedented movement for a ceasefire and an end to US complicity with the Israeli genocide in Gaza laid the groundwork for Biden’s withdrawal. The sustained protests consistently spotlighted the moral bankruptcy and political cowardice of a President whose “red lines” were just hot air. They were irrefutable evidence that Biden had alienated large numbers in constituencies absolutely essential to any electoral victory.  

That meant the pump was already primed for change when Biden’s debate debacle showed the world that he was unable to effectively combat Trump even on the issues where he had actual accomplishments or had majority support. 

That combination punctured the bubble of denial that had pervaded the Democratic Party leadership for the last year. For several weeks, leaks and speculation about their ensuing rethink filled the headlines. 

On the broad Left, the conversation about what was underway reflected the widespread opinion that mainstream Democrats don’t offer a program that can inspire the working-class majority and are incompetent at messaging even when they do something positive. But the Democratic leadership’s apparent paralysis while facing the prospect of a landslide defeat seemed to bolster the idea that mainstream Democrats are mired in denial about the danger from the Right, and only get combative when they battle the Left.

But then the hammer came down. Led by their toughest and savviest heavyweight, Nancy Pelosi, top Democrats faced facts and moved to push Biden out. And once they succeeded, they quickly got behind Kamala Harris and gave her the green light: Make this a fight.

And Kamala Harris came out swinging. 

Three lessons

There are three lessons here. 

One, even before a militant grassroots movement achieves its immediate goal (in this case, a ceasefire) it can alter political dynamics in the country, as shown by the sparkplug role it played in pushing Biden out.

Two, with MAGA’s campaign to restrict all right to protest, gain control of higher education, and further fan anti-immigrant hysteria as well as justify genocide, the movement for a ceasefire and Palestinian rights is an absolutely crucial component of a consistent fight for peace and opposition to fascism.

Three, a Left that opts to sit out the fight because it objects to the weaknesses and inconsistencies in mainstream Democrats’ opposition to fascism will have little credibility with the millions whose spirits have been lifted by the one-two punch of Biden being forced out and Harris launching what is shaping up as the most combative Democratic presidential campaign in decades.  

This is energy at scale

The speed and scale of the energy surge underway has outstripped anything since the first Women’s March on January 21, 2017 and the uprising that began immediately after the police murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. 

Within days of the baton being passed,  44,000 Black women joined a Zoom that  raised $1.5 million and more than 20,000 Black men joined a call and raised over $1 million. Groups that had been struggling to recruit people to postcard, text and canvass got flooded with volunteers. Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ) sponsored a series of three calls for white people and more than 20,000 registered. A “White Women Answer the Call” session initiated by anti-gun violence activist and founder of Moms Demand Action Shannon Watts broke the record for the largest Zoom call ever with 164,000 participants.

This outpouring reflects the deep and wide hunger for a fighting response to what millions of people in the US regard as an existential threat to their rights and livelihoods. It’s not that tens of thousands studied Kamala’s political positions and decided they were better than Biden’s, though many of course hope they are. The shift in mood that is translating into action is not driven by a change in policy. The surge is driven by a call to fight. 

Voices in the progressive wing of the anti-MAGA front – electeds like Bernie, AOC and Cori Bush, labor leaders like Shawn Fain, people’s organizations like the Working Families Party and Progressive Democrats of America – have been working to rouse the electorate all along. But it’s hard to build excitement when the electoral standard-bearer’s posture signals the exact opposite of the militancy needed. Once Kamala showed she could take the gloves off, the dam burst.

What about the politics?

The contrast between Harris and Biden on fighting mode is not matched by a comparable difference in their political programs. Harris has, after all, been a loyal part of the current administration and has long functioned within the parameters of the Democratic mainstream. And initial indications are that she is assembling her campaign team and the advisers who will flank her if she is elected from the same pool of insiders that have surrounded Biden.

That said, Harris comes from a different political generation and has not been as cocooned as Biden from current cultural trends and the sentiments in younger generations. That shows in some of her rhetoric, and it means that she is likely to be more susceptible to pressure on several key issues than Biden has been. The choice of Tim Walz over Josh Shapiro for the VP spot, in light of labor (teacher’s unions in particular) throwing down for Walz and the ceasefire movement’s highlighting of Shapiro’s aggressively backward stance on Gaza, is also a positive sign.

Both the inertia and the potential openings in the above combination have already shown up in Harris’ positioning on the Gaza genocide and US support for Israel. She continues to pledge “unwavering” support for Israel, she issued a terrible statement denouncing the protests against Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, and she gives no sign she is breaking with the administration on any concrete action item. But she did break tradition and skip Netanyahu’s speech; her on-camera remarks after meeting privately with him lifted up the importance of Palestinian life in a way Biden never could manage, and her stress on achieving a ceasefire has reportedly made Israeli officials  nervous. 

Only continuing pressure will reveal whether Harris can be moved from words to real action. A new vehicle for such pressure is the Not Another Bomb initiative just launched by the Uncommitted Movement. Like the hundreds of thousands of uncommitted primary votes that played a big part in priming the pump for Biden to withdraw, this new campaign has the potential to turn the shifting sentiment among left-of-centner constituencies and young people generally and the Democratic voting base in particular into a powerful political force. 

The potential for change here is underscored by looking again at Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi skipped Netanyahu’s speech, saying afterwards that it was “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States.” She stated that Netanyahu’s time would be better spent achieving a ceasefire. That kind of stance coming from this powerful Democratic stalwart is clear evidence that the movement for Palestine has made a difference, and is a huge incentive not just to keep up but to intensify our efforts. And coming off the AIPAC-funded defeat of Cori Bush, defense of another pro-Palestine champion in Congress, Ilhan Omar, is just around the corner. .

The same goes for immigration, real action to combat climate change, and every other issue on which progressives differ with mainstream Democrats. Defeating MAGA is an essential step on the road to changing the country, but so is building the clout to force deep-going change as the fascists are pushed back.

Progressives are seizing the moment

Because of the gains progressives have made since 2016 – including important shifts in the labor movement – we now have both influential figures and organizational infrastructure to make a difference in this new climate. The sophistication now exists to move in a way that strengthens the overall anti-MAGA front, grows the clout of social justice organizations, and moves the Democratic mainstream closer to our positions on key policy issues.

This does not require tactical uniformity in the progressive camp. Rashida Tlaib has withheld her endorsement, stressing the pressure side of this moment of new opportunity. Other Squad members – Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, AOC and Ayanna Presley – have all endorsed Kamala, as have the AFL-CIO and numerous national unions (Service Employees International Union, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association) and grassroots progressive organizations (Community Change Action, March for Our Lives, Black Voters Matter). 

Of particular note is the increased cooperation among progressive national and local groups reflected in common messaging and coordination of practical efforts. On July 25, the Working Families Party, Center for Popular Democracy Action, and People’s Action jointly announced their endorsement of Harris and “pledged to mobilize their national member bases to knock on over 5 million doors in key battleground states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Arizona.” 

The Working Families Party also has been joined by SURJ, Seed the Vote and the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) in a common 2024 effort of political education and action situated within a long-term strategy to gain governing power. In explaining WFP’s plan to “make 2024 a win for working people” and forge a new center of gravity within the progressive movement, WFP director Maurice Mithcell wrote: 

“We must block MAGA extremists from seizing governing power, and we must build the most viable, durable political vehicle that is beholden and accountable to the people and not the wealthy and corporations.”

Where are the socialists?

When faced with the threat (or reality) of authoritarian or fascist rule, socialists, communists, and revolutionaries in most times and places have sought to galvanize the broadest possible front in defense of democratic space, and to rally the most progressive forces in their society to contend for influence and leadership within that front. 

Some socialists are taking that kind of approach to US politics today. Framing the 2024 election as one essential-to-win fight in the long-term battle to win working-class political power, several socialist groups are throwing themselves into the anti-MAGA fight with all they’ve got. 

These include the Communist Party USA, whose resolution on the 2024 elections contains a “call to action to help build and actively participate in the broad all-people’s front to block fascism”; the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism whose editorial statement is titled “The Core of Our 2024 Elections: Democracy vs. Fascism”; and Liberation Road, which has issued a statement titled “Block, Broaden, Build: the 2024 Elections and the Threefold Tasks of the Left.” 

These three groups are also joined by the newly formed North Star Socialist Organization, which emerged out of a years-long process of strategy discussion and cadre development. Their Movement Mission 2024 statement says: “Block the Right and Build the Left must be leftists’ guiding orientation for 2024 and upcoming years. Blocking the Right this year must include defeating the Donald Trump and MAGA campaign to commandeer the power of the presidency…” 

All these formations have the potential for growing their influence in the newly energized anti-MAGA front. The Liberation Road and North Star groups are especially well- positioned to boost the influence and anti-MAGA contributions of some of the progressive world’s most dynamic sectors: many of their members are already embedded in labor and many of the state-based power-building organizations and issue-focused organizing networks that relate to the Working Families Party-led motion noted above.   

But these groups, even taken together, are far smaller than the largest socialist group in the US, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Unfortunately, the current majority on the leadership body of DSA does not agree with positioning the organization within the anti-MAGA front and assigns little importance to most of that front’s progressive wing. They refrain from a call to defeat MAGA in 2024, instead calling for a focus on building a new party as an alternative to both the Republicans and Democrats.

Many DSA members—perhaps a majority—disagree with this view. So while the organization as such sits out the 2024 presidential contest as it did in 2020, many of these members will be doing what they can to defeat MAGA, especially at the local and state levels, and trying to preserve relationships with those progressives and socialists who are throwing themselves into the anti-fascist fight. Hopefully, their efforts will succeed. But the stance of DSA’s national leadership is not just a missed opportunity for DSA, it is an obstacle to accomplishing those goals.  

US-style fascism is on the march. Among most of the constituencies existentially threatened by MAGA there is a surge of new energy for taking on the electoral fight against it. Victory or defeat will still come down to close votes in six battleground states. And with a woman of African American and Asian descent heading the anti-MAGA ticket, we can expect that the racist and sexist tropes floated in the last week will only increase in both viciousness and quantity. 

The mood shift produced by the Biden-to-Harris handoff will not by itself produce the changes we need. But the combative energy unleashed is an essential element in moving this country, and failure to connect to it, build it, and fight for influence over its political direction, is to miss the moment.

The gender myopia in this passage from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar stands out at a time when it is largely women’s energy that is driving US politics. But still, these lines capture the moment: 

“There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.”

A right-wing Supreme Court overturning abortion rights for tens of millions of Americans. The highest numbers of immigrants “repatriated” in decades. A never ending supply of weapons for a right-wing ethnostate ally to commit an ongoing genocide in broad daylight. Brutal police crackdowns on campus protestors and striking academic workers. 

This sounds like the dystopian fate that Democrats warned voters of if Trump were elected in 2016 or re-elected in 2020. Instead, all of these have occurred since the Biden-Harris administration was sworn in in 2021. All but the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision have been either cheered on or supported by both President Biden and Vice-President Harris. 

The simple fact is, whether Trump wins or loses, the task of socialists in this country remains the same—building fighting, independent working-class organizations. The fascist elements galvanized by Trump’s 2016, 2020, and 2024 campaigns are not going away. The decades-long trend of a skyrocketing cost-of-living alongside near-stagnant wages will not end due to a Harris victory. Harris has signaled that Biden’s “unconditional” support for Israel and attempts to outdo Trump on deportations and ending asylum at the US-Mexico border will continue if she is to win. 

In times like these, it’s easy to get pulled into counterproductive debates about whether DSA should get involved in the presidential race—either through backing quixotic “third-party” runs or by endorsing Kamala Harris or actively campaigning against Trump, as Max Elbaum argues in a recent article in Convergence. 

Each of these strategies have been tried by different socialist organizations for decades, with little, if anything, to show for either the Communist Party USA’s (CPUSA) habitual endorsement of Democratic presidential candidates or the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s (PSL) heavy focus on qualifying on state ballots for Presidential elections. Supporting “the lesser evil” has not made Democrats consistently more progressive or Republicans less reactionary. Third party presidential campaigns do not seem to translate into PSL or other socialist organizations being able to win victories for the working class, even at a local level, and the amount of work to maintain ballot access is herculean due to this country’s anti-democratic laws.

Keeping our eye on the ball as socialists means putting in the hard work, day in and day out, to transform DSA into an organization that can develop organizers capable of building and re-building democratic, member-led tenant and labor unions (as well as other forms of class-struggle organizations) that are willing to strike directly at landlords’ and bosses’ profits. This doesn’t just mean building new organizations but also revitalizing existing ones—either through independence from the nonprofit industrial complex on the tenant front or building shop floor organization capable of executing member-led strikes on the labor front. These working class organizations and struggles should be our top priority—no other approach will change the balance of forces in this country between the capitalists and the working class. 

Until socialists have a sea of strong class-struggle organizations to swim in, meaningful electoral and legislative successes will be elusive and difficult to maintain, as DSA has been learning the hard way since 2020 through both defeat and disappointment. When DSA does engage in electoral politics, it should be to elect principled socialists who stand with Palestine, or to support ballot initiatives that protect key rights or raise the standard of living for the working class (including the unemployed). 

All of this activity must be undertaken independently from the capitalist class. That doesn’t mean the shallow, reactionary bipartisanship of Teamsters President Sean O’Brien boosting a transphobic article by right-wing US Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO)—that’s just shopping around for different capitalist benefactors. Class independence also doesn’t mean unequivocally refusing to run socialist candidates on the Democratic Party ballot-line, when it's often advantageous for DSA to do so. 

Class independence does mean that organizations must be of, by, and for the working class and must focus on building the power and level of organization of their own class. The only times that oppressed and exploited people in the US have seen major material gains have been during periods of immensely heightened class struggle (such as the Civil War and Reconstruction, the rolling strike waves of the pre-WWII era, and the Civil Rights era). 

In each of these times, literally millions of organized people (be it through their union, their church, political organizations, or through formerly enslaved people abandoning plantations and enlisting in the Union Army) put clear demands on the United States government in the face of brutal repression, and won major victories against racism, exploitation, and oppression.

The level of heightened class struggle that is necessary to address the challenges we face will require disruption of the economy at a scale that neither Republican or Democratic politicians will be willing to tolerate (unless they are forced to)—as evidenced by the near unanimous bipartisan suppression of railway workers’ right to strike during the Biden administration. So while Harris supporters may be able to point to the Biden administration’s union-friendly NLRB, the level of confrontational workplace organizing needed is an order of magnitude beyond what a Harris administration would tolerate or the NLRB is legally allowed to abide. 

The lack of victories in our current political moment on the same scale as Reconstruction, the best moments of the New Deal, or the Civil Rights era is not for lack of trying. To take just one example, the 2020 uprisings against police repression and racism were some of the most inspiring, sustained, and massive actions against oppression in US history. Dedicated organizers across the country have contributed to an upswell of labor and tenant organizing as well as movements for climate, racial, gender, and LGBTQ+ justice in recent years.

Our class, in this moment, lacks the sufficient vehicles and level of organization necessary to launch the heightened level of class struggle needed to win and defend such victories. Activists bound by a common cause and ideological motivation, organized by unelected nonprofit staff, do not have the same ability to bring the US (and by extension, global) economy to a halt the way that organized and concerted teachers, nurses, and Amazon and UPS workers motivated by a common interest and bound by solidarity built through collective decision-making can. 

The working class and its communal and political institutions have been subject to an all-out political, economic, and ideological assault since the turn to neoliberalism by the US ruling class. This is part of why, for the last four decades, Democratic presidents have overwhelmingly capitulated to reactionaries and capital rather than listen to their actual (overwhelmingly working-class) voters, with the GOP continuing to move right. This trend of proletarian disorganization will continue until our unions and political organizations are vehicles for class struggle and building working-class power, rather than funnels of support and energy for the “least worst” viable candidate running for the highest office. 

DSA’s role is to develop the capacity and ability of ordinary people to transform tenant, labor, and other working-class organizations into such vehicles. Not in order to realign or reform the Democratic Party, but to force the entire bipartisan American ruling class to reckon with an organized, fighting working class. By keeping our eye on the ball and not getting bogged down in the 2024 presidential election, we can continue to lay the groundwork for our class to win the victories we so desperately need for ourselves, our loved ones, our communities, and the international working class. 

On August 11, a coalition of organizations in Los Angeles, dedicated to Palestinian human rights and addressing the global climate crisis, converged at the Chevron Refinery in El Segundo, just south of the L.A. airport.  

The coalition included Black Lives Matter LA, Code Pink LA, Extinction Rebellion LA, Veterans for Peace LA, WhitePeople4BlackLives, Queers4PalestineLA, Community Solidarity Projects, Youth Climate Strike LA, SJP Santa Monica, SJP Irvine Valley College, SoCal 350 Climate Action, Unmute Humanity, and ProPalestineLA.  The action was also advertised and supported by the Los Angeles DSA chapter, with DSA-LA members participating. 

Chevron is complicit in crimes against humanity around the world. The company faces thirteen credible accusations of genocide and seventeen accusations of torture.  The consequences of Chevron's activities in Palestine are particularly gruesome. Chevron operates the largest Israeli natural gas fields, Tamar and Leviathan, thus enabling electrical power to all branches of the Israeli government and its military. These operations also provide the government of Israel with billions of dollars in revenue, thereby contributing to apartheid, occupation and genocide in Palestine. 

On a global scale, Chevron is responsible for one of the highest total carbon emissions of any private company in the world. Atmospheric greenhouse gases are now at peak concentrations, and 2024 is expected to have the highest global average temperature ever recorded.  The threat to life on Earth from these emissions can hardly be overstated. A 2019 paper published in Nature warned that up to a million species of plants and animals are now facing extinction. Underscoring this assessment, the World Wildlife Fund reported that 69 percent of the world’s vertebrate population has died off since 1970. According to leading biologists, Earth is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction (the previous mass extinction, 65 million years ago, ended the dinosaurs).

Humanity is not exempt from the devastation.  A 2020 study, published in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”, predicts that for every additional one degree Celsius temperature rise, a billion people will be forced to abandon their locations or endure insufferable heat.  Areas home to a third of the world’s population could experience the same temperatures as the hottest parts of the Sahara within fifty years, because of high emissions. Consistent with this, the Institute for Economics and Peace reports that 1.2 billion people could become climate refugees by 2050.

The coalition made the following demands, articulated at the demonstration and mailed to the Chevron CEO and Board of Directors:

1. Discontinue all financial contracts and relations with the state of Israel.

2. Compensate Palestinians for any losses resulting from the extraction of gas reserves off the Gaza Strip.

3. Develop and carry out a plan to convert all Chevron operations to producing renewable energy, compensate all past victims of climate disasters, and end all fossil fuel operations worldwide.

4. Provide full funding for a just transition of Chevron's labor force into well-paid, unionized jobs in renewable energy and/or jobs with sustainable outcomes.

 A flyer distributed in the neighborhoods surrounding the Chevron refinery further addressed the issue of a Just Transition for Chevron workers this way:

"Without support from labor, ending fossil fuel production and creating a just transition for workers won't be possible. Trade unionists are justifiably worried over the loss of jobs. A just transition for workers requires social control of the process of decommissioning fossil fuel infrastructure and deploying green energy infrastructure in its place. Private capital has no interest in building the democratic energy commons required for humanity’s survival, or in ensuring that workers’ needs are fully protected. Public ownership of all fossil fuel and energy infrastructure is therefore a necessity. We call for nationalization of Chevron and all fossil fuel corporations." [bold in the original]

This recent action in Los Angeles is part of a growing opposition to fossil fuel industries worldwide and Chevron in particular.  A similar action occurred in Richmond California in February 2024, and demonstrations are being planned in Houston, Chevron's new headquarters, and other cities in Texas, as well as many locations around the world.

Medicare celebrated its 59th anniversary last month. As is its custom, the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) marked the occasion with demonstrations around the state. But this year’s birthday was something less than happy. The program is in danger.

Medicare has long been a target of the right, which sees it as a threat to individual freedom and an unacceptable government intrusion into the private market. Ronald Reagan launched his political career by denouncing it as “socialist”; today, the 2025 Project calls for its abolition, part of a larger agenda of getting rid of “entitlements” and dismantling the “administrative state.” 

In past years CARA used its birthday parties to counter attacks on Medicare by free market ideologues. But Medicare now faces a more serious threat: with startling speed, it is being privatized at the taxpayer’s expense.

“Medicare for All” has a long been a progressive watchword, for good reason. Medicare is one of the few bright spots in a health care system marked by waste, inequity, and needless suffering. When functioning as it should, it’s a model of how a publicly financed health care system could work. 

Medicare patients have free choice of physicians, whose clinical judgment is rarely challenged by bean-counters who call the shots under private insurance. Health care providers are paid directly, avoiding the middlemen who drive administrative overhead for private plans through the roof. And Medicare is truly universal—its benefits are available to everyone over 65, regardless of where they live or what health issues they may have. When everyone is part of part of the same system and the risks are shared equally, there’s no discrimination against those whose treatment might cost more.  

Unfortunately, Medicare does not cover dental, vision, hearing, and long-term care. Once, many retirees could fill the gaps in their coverage with supplemental health benefits, paid for by their employers.  Nowadays, far fewer people are able to stay on a job long enough to qualify for such benefits, and far fewer employers are willing to pay for them. You can still buy supplemental coverage for yourself, but it’s expensive, especially if you have a “pre-existing condition” that makes actuaries consider you a poor risk. 

Early in the Biden administration, Bernie Sanders proposed an amendment to the Build Back Better Act that would have expanded Medicare coverage to include vision, dental, and hearing. His proposal wound up on the cutting room floor. As a consequence, seniors who need those benefits and can’t pay out of pocket for them have increasingly turned to Medicare Advantage plans. They now account for over half of all Medicare enrollees. 

Medicare Advantage plans are private entities operating on the public dime. Their cost is borne by the Medicare Trust Fund, using funds that could easily go to expand coverage under traditional Medicare. According to one estimate, they have raised Medicare’s overall costs by $140 billion a year, thanks the added expenses of advertising, profits, and administrative overhead that is four to five times as high as traditional Medicare. 

For insurance giants like United Health and Aetna, it’s one more opportunity to feed at the public trough. United Health saw its profits rise 44% in a single year once it decided to invest more heavily in Medicare Advantage. It now controls nearly 30% of the market, expanding into new geographic areas while ramping up its marketing efforts in existing ones. 

To some extent, these profits are achieved through outright fraud. The government compensates Medicare Advantage plans based on how many people they enroll; to discourage the private plans from favoring healthy patients over sicker ones, individual enrollees get a preliminary exam and the rates are adjusted to take the results into account—a process known as “risk adjustment.” 

But risk adjustment is too imprecise to be very helpful, and insurers know how to game it. A patient who could stand to lose a few pounds is diagnosed as “morbidly obese,” a patient whose blood tests show a little too much glucose suffers from “diabetes with retinopathy,” and so on.  Patients may not actually be treated for these conditions, but the insurance plan is compensated as if they were. A 2021 Justice Department probe of “upcoding,” as it’s called, indicated that seven of the largest Medicare Advantage plans were ripping off the Medicare Trust Fund by as much as $30 billion a year. 

It's not just the government that’s being gamed. Federal subsidies allow Medicare Advantage plans to charge affordable premiums for benefits like hearing aids and costly dental work that traditional Medicare won’t cover.  It seems like a pretty good deal at first, but all too often buyer’s remorse sets in.

Start with those low premiums, As is usually the case with private insurance, they mask other, higher costs. A medical issue that requires repeated doctor visits means that any co-payments will mount up in a hurry. High deductibles discourage people from getting treatment when they need it, often leading to more serious conditions that are far more expensive to treat.

When you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan, you lose the right to choose your providers. That, too, can be financially ruinous. According to Physicians for a National Health Program, more than one-third of Medicare Advantage enrollees live where less than 30% of the doctors are part of their plan’s network. If you need to go “out of network” for the care you need, it could set you back thousands of dollars. This is a particular risk for people who are rushed to the emergency room and are attended to by whomever happens to be available.

Nor are your doctors free to treat you as they see fit. Treatments must be “pre-authorized,” and in 2021 insurers denied an estimated 2 million claims. Most denials that are appealed get overturned, but in the meantime patients get sicker. The American Medical Association reports that one in three doctors it surveyed reported claim denials that led to hospitalization, permanent disability, or death.

Another problem with Medicare Advantage: once you’re in, it’s hard to get out. A bill before the California state legislature would have given enrollees a chance to opt back into traditional Medicare once a year, while barring supplementary private plans from discriminating on the basis of pre-existing conditions.  The bill cleared the Senate Health Committee but died in Appropriations—unaccountably, since its impact on the state budget would have been minimal.

The private disasters of Medicare Advantage suggest a larger public one in the making. Health care already consumes 10% of the federal budget; by 2032, that figure is expected to rise to 18%. Far from alleviating the situation, Medicare Advantage makes it worse. It assumes that greater market discipline will bring costs down, when the actual result will be a valuable public program undermined to the point where it is no longer sustainable, fiscally or politically.

Defending public goods from expropriation by private capital is central to DSA’s mission. That’s one reason for our participation in Healthy California Now, the statewide coalition that fights for a single, publicly funded, universal health care plan in California. By expanding the benefits of traditional Medicare and extending it to everyone, not just seniors; andby putting the available federal health care dollars coming into the state to fairer and more efficient use, our state could not only ease the fiscal pressures on Medicare nationally. It could show what is possible under a truly public system—one that treats health care as a right, not a commodity.

In the run up to the 2024 U.S. elections, DSA is hosting a political education series on the international immigrant exclusion regime and political praxis to oppose the expansion of migrant incarceration and violation of international standards for the protection of vulnerable migrants. Join us for the following webinars co-hosted by DSA’s International Committee, Abolition Working Group, and Immigrant Rights Working Group. Use the links on the right-hand side of the screen or below to register. You must RSVP for each webinar separately.

• The Border, the Sanctions Regime, the Politics of Imperial Xenophobia, and the Asylum System with Aviva Chomsky: August 17 7pm EST

• Mass incarceration and the struggle against migrant detention with Marcela Hernandez of Detention Watch Network: August 29 8pm EST

• Resisting the International Reach of the ICE/CBP Agenda with Margarita Nuñez of the Colectivo de Monitoreo Frontera Sur and Programa de Asuntos Migratorios of the Ibero University: September 12 8pm EST.
• How border imperialism empowers exploitative employers and how labor is fighting back : late September TBA

The post Solidarity Across Borders Webinar Series appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).