Enjoy your March National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 27-person body (including both YDSA Co-Chairs) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, find out how chapters are melting ICE and improving their communities, stand against war, get involved with DSA labor work, 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 — Melt ICE, Stop War, Build Labor
• Tonight, Thursday 3/12 — Join Our International Migrant Rights Working Group ICE OUT Training Call
• Union Members: Organize Against the War on Iran! Here’s How
• RSVP for National Electoral Commission: Standing Up to ICE Call Tonight Thursday 3/12
• Save the Date — DSA National Organizing Conference This Summer!
• Help Support DSA! Sign Up for Development Phonebanks Sunday 3/15 or Sunday 3/29
• Learn Fundraising Skills for Your Chapter — Join Our Sunday 3/22 Training
• Join Our Workers Organizing Workers Salt Training Series this April! Sessions Begin Monday 4/13
• DSA National Labor Commission May Day Organizing — Get Involved!
• Religious Socialism News and Events — Calls Starting Friday 3/20
• Join Our National Labor Commission Today
• Welcome New DSA Organizing Committees and YDSA Chapters!

From the National Political Committee — Melt ICE, Stop War, Build Labor

“They tell us that we live in a great free republic; that our institutions are democratic; that we are a free and self-governing people. That is too much, even for a joke. Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.” — Eugene V. Debs, Speech at Canton, OH, 1918

These words, pulled from the speech which famously got Comrade Eugene Debs thrown in jail (where he carried on his 1920 campaign for President on the Socialist Party ticket), are a universal truth. This truth could not be more evident as Trump and the Republicans, with the complicity of far too many Democrats, march us into yet another deadly forever war, this time with Iran, while continuing to starve and saber-rattle in their siege against Cuba. sell weapons to Israel, and use sanctions and violence to destabilize countless other people. Who suffers? The working class, always. Who benefits? The ultra-wealthy. 

But we aren’t backing off from the fight for working class power here or abroad, and we know that all of our fights are connected. For every new union contract we win, every tenant we organize to protect, every wealth tax we pass, every privatized good we make public, every socialist we put in office, we chip away at the power that the ruling class holds over us and consolidate it for the working class. It’s easy to feel hopeless when things seem so bleak, but we draw our strength from these wins, knowing that each one builds toward true working class power and total liberation.

Here are just a few of the blows against the capitalist class that are bringing us strength this month:

• Twin Cities DSA co-hosted an incredible Melt the ICE Week of Action, which included rallies, marches, trainings, and more, to share lessons learned from standing with immigrant neighbors on the frontlines of occupation by ICE. That included much discussion of the massive strike against ICE that recently took place on January 23, when many workers withheld their labor and almost 100,000 people took to the streets despite subzero temperatures. People in Minnesota are letting the ruling class know that a moderate step-down of ICE forces is still unacceptable — they want ICE gone, and they’ll keep organizing to kick them out from every part of civil society until that happens. 
  • For more reportbacks and reflections about the 1/23 mass actions against the ICE incursion in Minneapolis, join organizers from Twin Cities DSA and our National Labor Commission for a mass call on Tuesday 3/31 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT!
• Chapters across the country, from New Orleans to Philly to Seattle and beyond, hit the streets the day after the bombing began. Our National No War With Iran Rapid Response Committee mobilized members to send over 30,000 letters to Congress saying NO to war with Iran and YES to the War Powers Resolution, and held a mass call for over 1200 people to talk about the context and next steps for this mobilization. Watch the recording here if you missed it!
• NYC-DSA and chapters from around the state met up in Albany for a day of action demanding that Governor Kathy Hochul TAX THE RICH and spend that money on public goods — protecting New Yorkers from devastating SNAP and Medicaid cuts, instead of co-signing President Trump’s $12 billion giveaway to millionaires and billionaires. Meanwhile in the city, our socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani has set out to seize buildings from bad NYC landlords in order to improve life for tenants — and City Council is exploring a legal pathway to do it. 
• Symbolically, we love to see Zohran as NYC’s first Muslim mayor observing Ramadan side by side with workers — sharing a pre-dawn suhoor meal with sanitation workers about to take on a citywide blizzard, breaking fast with delivery workers — and hosting Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil for an iftar dinner at Gracie Mansion, a public show of solidarity after the ordeal of his prolonged detention by ICE under Trump’s crackdown on campus protests one year ago.
• Seattle DSA threw down to support socialist-in-office Assembly Member Shaun Scott in passing an amendment that successfully axed a massive tax break for corporations as part of a new state tax bill — more money out of the hands of the ruling class and into the goods and services the working class demands.
• New Orleans DSA, along with coalition partners at the BDS National Movement and elsewhere, successfully pressured the world-famous French Quarter Festival to drop Chevron as their title sponsor, connecting our national Stop Fueling Genocide campaign with their vibrant local arts scene and snatching away a primeaux reputation-laundering opportunity for one of the world’s worst (and wealthiest) companies.
• Atlanta DSA member Kelsea Bond motivated the Atlanta City Council to vote unanimously to support their first resolution in office as a socialist city councilmember, to prioritize pre-arrest diversion and examine the arrest procedures of the Atlanta Police Department as the FIFA World Cup nears, playing a critical role in preventing further jail overcrowding and punishing low-level offenses, and shifting toward community-based care.

This is just a taste of the work that our members are taking on. We are organizing from coast to coast and we’re not stopping! 

Later this month, DSA chapters across the country will be joining the No Kings mobilizations on Saturday 3/28 to say No Kings, No Cuts, No Billionaires! Over the past year, millions of Americans have turned out to these massive rallies against the Trump administration’s authoritarianism and horrific, cruel policies. We’re showing up in solidarity with everyone getting politicized right now, when we must show mass opposition to Trump’s power grabs and the rise of fascism. We need an opposition that isn’t funded by billionaires and special interests, who often stand against meaningful reforms like universal healthcare and working-class institutions of power like unions. Powerful opposition requires organization that keeps building through moments of mass mobilizations — and DSA is ready to keep building powerfully and democratically, as our organization of over 100,000 is funded by member-dues, and accountable to the working-class, not the billionaire class.

On the same timeline, we’re looking ahead to May Day this year, where we’re joining with the May Day Strong coalition and workers across the country to plan for May 1, 2026 as a day of action to rally, march, and plan for a day of no school, no work, and no shopping! When the billionaires break every rule, it’s going to take more than rallies to stop them. An upsurge of working class resistance is happening across the country against the violent repression by the Trump administration, most clearly on display in Minneapolis. We have to keep flexing our collective muscles and show our power to hit them where it hurts economically — it’s workers over billionaires!

If you’re not engaged with your local chapter’s work, we challenge you to connect with them today. Join your comrades for a rally, a canvass, or even just a fun social event, and get involved. Nothing helps combat despair like being an active part of this movement for the better world we know is possible. 

In Solidarity,

Megan Romer and Ashik Siddique
DSA National Co-Chairs

Tonight, Thursday 3/12 — Join Our International Migrant Rights Working Group ICE OUT Training Call

287(g) agreements allow ICE to deputize local law enforcement and embed ICE into jails, police departments, and even university campuses. ICE relies on local collaboration to create the neighborhood-to-prison pipelines for mass deportation, and we can and must organize to stop our local government and resources from being hijacked by Trump’s anti-worker and anti-immigrant agenda.

Join DSA’s International Migrants Rights Working group tonight, Thursday 3/12 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT to learn how to map and expose local collaborations with ICE and build coalitions to end them.

Union Members: Organize Against the War on Iran! Here’s How

If you are a union member, DSA’s National Labor Commission calls on you to talk to five of your union siblings about the war and begin organizing your union to take anti-war action!

• Contact Congress and demand they pass a War Powers Resolution on Iran to require congressional approval for any continued intervention in Iran.
• Take direct action with your union siblings by attending or organizing a mobilization against the war. DSA has endorsed the following ANSWER Coalition actions.
• Ahead of May Day 2026, talk to your coworkers about what labor actions they’d be willing to take in the face of prolonged war or election interference.
• Consider organizing a solidarity school or joining your local May Day coalition as a socialist unionist.

Stand with the people of Iran and take action today as a proud union member!

RSVP for National Electoral Commission: Standing Up to ICE Call Tonight Thursday 3/12

Tonight, Thursday 3/12 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT, hear from DSA Socialists in Office Robin Wonsley (Twin Cities) and Alex Brower (Milwaukee), as well as chapter electoral leaders in New York and Los Angeles as we discuss the role our electoral efforts have played in the response to ICE’s siege of our cities across the country. This is a members-only event!

Save the Date — DSA National Organizing Conference This Summer!

DSA is hosting a National Organizing Conference in Chicago, July 31–August 2. Save the date if you’re interested in attending — application details will be shared in the coming weeks.

Help Support DSA! Sign Up for Development Phonebanks Sunday 3/15 or Sunday 3/29

Join the Growth and Development Committee for an upcoming phonebank!

• Solidarity Dues Phonebank on Sunday 3/15 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT
• Recommitment Phonebank on Sunday 3/29 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT

Training will be provided at the beginning of each call. We’ll see you there!

Learn Fundraising Skills for Your Chapter — Join Our Sunday 3/22 Training

Join the Fundraising Committee for a training on chapter fundraising on Sunday 3/22 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm ET. RSVP today!

Join Our Workers Organizing Workers Salt Training Series this April! Sessions Begin Monday 4/13

Are you looking for a new job? Want to join the labor movement and build power on the shop floor with your co-workers? Join our Workers Organizing Workers (WOW) Salt Training Series! This three-session series will be held Mondays in April beginning 4/13. All sessions will be held at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT.

Salting, or getting a non-union job and organizing your workplace, is a key tactic that organizers have used for decades to build the labor movement. Join a historic tradition today! We’ll cover organizing basics, share information about our priority industries, and help you get a job you can organize. No organizing experience required.

DSA National Labor Commission May Day Organizing — Get Involved!

This year it’s more important than ever for DSA members to take the lead in bringing socialist politics to May Day by organizing May Day actions with their local unions and labor bodies. Whether your chapter is organizing a march, a solidarity school, a political education event, a movie night, or something else entirely, you can help organize successfully for  May Day 2026, International Workers Day! Contact your chapter for details. If you have any questions, please contact the National Labor Commission at nlc@dsacommittees.org.

Religious Socialism News and Events — Calls Starting Friday 3/20

If you are a person of faith, check out the DSA Religion and Socialism Working Group (RSWG). We are unique on the Left as a multifaith socialist group. This month, we have three calls and a new sub-group starting. Get involved today!

• The Black Liberation Socialist Circle is organizing Black Christians who are interested in the Black Radical Tradition and liberation struggles. Join our Discord here for more information. This space brings together political education, fellowship, and strategy rooted in the long tradition of Black freedom movements.
• On Friday 3/20 at 9pm ET/8pm CT/7pm MT/6pm PT, join the Democratic Socialist Episcopal Association (DSEA) for “A Socialist Way of the Cross Service: Who is the Empire Crucifying Today?”. This solemn service places the passion of Christ in direct conversation with the suffering of our own time. At each station, we will reflect on Christ’s journey to Golgotha, and on the systems of political domination, economic exploitation, racialized violence, and carceral control that continue to crucify the poor and marginalized today. This service asks where Christ is being condemned, beaten, and executed in our communities. Through prayer and reflection, we will confront the powers of death while proclaiming a hope rooted in collective liberation. Come prepared to meditate, lament, and recommit yourself to the work of justice. You can sign up for the call through the DSEA’s Discord.
• And help build the Buddhist Circle. What might it look like? How can Buddhist precepts and practices (e.g., meditation, 4 noble truths) deepen socialist ethics and be of benefit to organizers, activists, everyone? Join us Thursday 3/26 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT. Meetings are held the last Thursday of every month. You can find notes here.

For more about the Religious Socialism Working Group, please sign up for our email list to join our monthly online meetup on Tuesday 3/24 at 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT/6:30pm MT.

Join Our National Labor Commission Today

Are you:

• A union member?
• Trying to organize your workplace?
• An aspiring labor writer?
• Active in your chapter’s labor working group?

Join DSA’s National Labor Commission (NLC) and get involved in socialist labor work at the national level! Whether it’s salting your workplace, organizing towards May Day 2028, sharing strike support strategies with solidarity captains in chapters across the country, writing reports about national labor issues, or building up our national listwork, there’s an NLC campaign for you to plug into. Apply to join today!

Welcome New DSA Organizing Committees and YDSA Chapters!

And a warm welcome to our newest DSA Organizing Committees and YDSA chapters!

DSA Organizing Committees

• DSA Maui, Hawaii
• Cadillac DSA, Michigan
• DSA Wooster, Ohio

YDSA Chapters

• Indiana University Bloomington
• Santa Monica High School
• Millersville University
• University of Missouri Kansas City
• Western New England University
• Lehman College
• University of Wisconsin Eau Claire
• St. Mary’s College of Maryland

The post Melt ICE, Stop War, Build Labor — Your National Political Committee Newsletter appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

by R.K. Upadhya

The American Civil War is a key moment of US history. If you grew up in the US, you almost certainly spent a good chunk of time in grade school learning about the Civil War. It is also likely the case that this education was boring and unengaging. This is a tragedy, for in fact the Civil War era had profoundly radical and revolutionary dimensions, and should be a source of education and inspiration for the modern Left and the US socialist movement. Case in point: after Abraham Lincoln’s re-election victory in 1864, Karl Marx himself helped pen a letter of congratulations to Lincoln, celebrating the Union cause as a universal interest of the working class, and encouraged him toward complete victory over the Southern slavers. It is not often that we think of Marx and Lincoln as being contemporaneous – but they were, and while it is unknown if Lincoln actually read Marx’s letter, it is likely that Lincoln read at least some of Marx’s many articles in the New York Daily Tribune.

The Civil War was the culmination of the abolitionist movement, which emerged out of free Black communities of the North, and the slave revolts which rocked the South in the 1830s. And the abolitionist movement is where the US Left was truly born; it was in this fiery struggle against slavery that many of the ideas we hold dear today – anti-racism, democracy, anti-imperialism, and anti-capitalism – went mainstream and became a permanent part of American politics. There is a grand history for how this happened, with many moving parts. But one fascinating thread is the way in which the abolitionist movement in the US was connected with the emerging revolutionary socialist movement in Europe. Abolitionism being the birthplace of the American Left wasn’t just a matter of converging values, but based on a direct exchange of ideas and militants between the US and Europe – and in particular, the cohorts of revolutionary German exiles who immigrated to America in the 1850s.

Historical Context

The abolitionist movement started in earnest in the 1830s, after Nat Turner’s Rebellion in 1831, which galvanized free Black communities across the North and put an end to any doubts that enslaved people were happy with their lot in life. Over the course of the next few decades, it grew dramatically in popularity, organization, and militancy; its electoral expression was the Republican Party, founded in 1854, while its more revolutionary tendency was expressed via the likes of John Brown, Harriet Tubman, and other insurgent figures. By the 1850s, the question of slavery was the defining political issue in the US, fostering an intense amount of political and civil unrest.

At the same time, Europe was also undergoing convulsions. In parallel to the growth of the abolitionist movement in the US, the revolutionary socialist movement was growing, and founding figures like Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels were coming into the spotlight. The tremors finally erupted into an earthquake in 1848, when a wave of uprisings and revolutions shook the foundations of Europe, particularly in Germany. Workers, peasants, and other parts of a “revolutionary citizenry” assaulted and overthrew centers of monarchical and feudal power. Marx and Engels wrote and published The Communist Manifesto during this tumult; Engels himself was in the streets as a revolutionary soldier.

Unfortunately, the revolution in Germany gets crushed, and millions of Germans escape to Western Europe and beyond, fleeing harsh counter-revolutionary reprisals as well as general economic ruin. Many of these refugees and exiles end up in the United States; about one million Germans emigrated to America in the 1850s. And among this number, roughly 4,000 were hardcore revolutionaries, socialists and communists, organizers and militants, in addition to tens of thousands more supporters, followers, and sympathizers. This cohort was known as the “Forty Eighters”, exiles of the 1848 Revolution. And once in the US, the Forty Eighters immediately bolstered the ranks of an increasingly revolutionary abolitionist movement. This was a natural alliance; the nature of the Southern slaver elites was an uncanny mirror image of the tyrannical aristocrats that they had attempted to overthrow at home. And for the abolitionist movement, these veterans brought military experience, organizational discipline, and expansive ideas about liberty, labor, and capitalism, which coupled well with the parallel works of the leading abolitionist intellectuals.

Colonel Weydemeyer and General Willich

Two figures in particular represent the radical edge of the Forty Eighter abolitionists: Joseph Weydemeyer and August Willich. Both of these men were German communists and revolutionaries, who eventually ended up as high-ranking military officers in the Union Army.

The initial trajectories of the two men were similar. Both were Prussian military officers in the 1840s, who became radicalized by Marx’s writings about capitalism, class, and revolution. They rebelled in 1848 on the side of the Revolution, and fled west when the revolution was crushed. They made personal acquaintance with Karl Marx in London, and joined the Communist League and helped further develop revolutionary socialist politics in Europe. After a few years, both men emigrated to the United States, where they planted themselves among fellow Forty Eighters and made a living via political organizing and radical intellectual writings. And when the Civil War began, they enlisted along with large numbers of fellow Germans, and quickly rose up the ranks due to their previous military experience and their political fervour.

Compared to Willich, Weydemeyer was more of an intellectual type. He was a friend of Marx and Engels; in fact, it was Marx who directly suggested to Weydemeyer that he emigrate to New York City. Once there, he quickly got to work in left-wing journalism and organizing, joining a growing cohort of revolutionary Marxist voices that joined the abolitionist movement. He was a co-founder of what was arguably the first socialist organization in the United States, the American Workers League (which, despite its broad name, was almost entirely an organization of radical German immigrants). This group would later become the New York Communist Club.

When the Civil War began, Weydemeyer enlisted and quickly ended up as a technical aide to General Fremont, an abolitionist and a radical rival to Abraham Lincoln. Within a year, Weydemeyer was a Lieutenant Colonel and in charge of a volunteer artillery regiment. Later on in the war, he served as a Colonel of the 41st Missouri Infantry Regiment. Amusingly, throughout his active duty service, Weydemeyer kept up his intellectual pursuits, exchanging letters with Marx and Engels about the war, writing opinion pieces for local newspapers near his posts, and engaging in local debates. In 1864, when Marx helped found the International Workingmen’s Association (a.k.a., the First International), Weydemeyer printed out copies of the inaugural address and passed it out to his men (it is unclear how many of these Missouri infantrymen subsequently joined the cause of international communism).

After the war, Weydemeyer remained in politics, winning an election for the St. Louis County auditor. He ran the office as a Marxist, using his powers to strengthen tax laws and chase down war profiteers. Unfortunately, his tenure was short-lived; Weydemeyer passed away in August 1866 from cholera.

August Willich led a similarly colorful life, albeit one more oriented around military affairs.

An excellent book on his entire life, only a tiny fraction of which can be discussed here, is Radical Warrior: August Willich’s Journey From German Revolutionary to Union General.

Like Joseph Weydemeyer, Willich also knew Marx & Engels; indeed, Engels was Willich’s right-hand man during several battles in the final stages of the 1848 Revolution. But unlike Weydemeyer, Willich did not like Marx at all. Willich led the left-wing faction of the Communist League, and thought Marx was too conservative and was not eager enough to wage revolutionary struggle; for his part, Marx was not impressed by Willich’s intellectual standing. There may have also been some more personal animosity at play; Willich apparently was quite interested in Marx’s wife, Jenny, and would regularly come visit her at their home in London and engage her in long conversations about theory and politics. As Jenny Marx described, “He would come to visit me because he wanted to pursue the worm that lies in every marriage and coax it out.” It’s not clear if Willich ever coaxed out the worm; within a few years, he emigrated to the United States, engaged in radical writing, and organized among other German immigrants and Forty Eighters in the midwest.

When the Civil War began, Willich played an important role in recruiting fellow Germans into the military; he would become a Colonel, and then a General in command of an all-German infantry unit, the 32nd Indiana Infantry Regiment. Willich and his men quickly distinguished himself on the battlefield, helping win one of the few Union victories in 1861 at the Battle of Rowlett Station in Kentucky. This battle saw about 500 German infantrymen defeat over 1,000 Texas Rangers and assorted Confederate infantry. This battle is also commemorated in what is the oldest surviving Civil War monument, the Bloedner Monument, which was carved by a member of the regiment a couple of weeks after the battle. It’s a remarkable piece of history, since it’s likely that this battle is mentioned in many Civil War textbooks – but the radical historical context, that this victory was one of a revolutionary communist veteran and other revolutionary exiles, is papered over or ignored.

Willich and the 32nd would go on to fight in other major Civil War battles, including the 1862 Battle of Shiloh, the 1863 Siege of Chattanooga, and General Sherman’s “March to the Sea” in 1864. After the war, just like Weydemeyer, Willich went into government service and was elected as a county auditor in Ohio. In his later years, he went into academia. August Willich passed away in 1878.

Forty Eighters in Texas

The legacy of the Forty Eighters is also present right here in central Texas, where many Germans settled in the 1850s. San Antonio and the Hill Country were particularly popular – a legacy that still continues today, with cities like New Braunfels and Fredericksburg remaining centers of German culture, as well as smaller towns like Boerne and Comfort. Despite being in a southern slave state, just like their brethren in the midwest and the north-east, German immigrants to Texas were generally anti-slavery and pro-Union. In 1854, Germans in San Antonio caused a major political firestorm when they held a convention and passed a resolution condemning slavery. In 1861, during the Referendum on Secession, the counties with the most Germans tended to vote against secession.

As the war progressed, repression against Unionists escalated, with Germans being a major target. In 1862, the Confederacy passed a conscription law to mandate military service, which provoked German Texans Unionists to escalate into armed resistance – which in turn, brought martial law across the Hill Country and waves of violent reprisals. The struggle culminated in August 1862, when a band of Germans gathered up arms and attempted to escape to Mexico. Unfortunately, the Confederates caught wind and chased them down, eventually cornering them on the banks of the Nueces River, and defeating them after a pitched battle. Despite being right at the border, the German Unionist rebels were captured, and 34 executed on the spot. The dead were buried at a cemetery in Comfort, Texas, where after the war a monument was erected – the Treue der Union Monument, or, the “Loyalty to the Union” Monument – to honor them and the pro-Union beliefs that they died for. This monument remains in Comfort to this day.

Conclusion

These stories – of German Texan rebels, communist commanders, and the surprise emergence of Marxism in antebellum America – should make us recognize the importance of tracing back our own political lineage to this period. It was the abolitionist movement that established a long and unbroken legacy of socialist politics and struggle in the United States. Abolitionists went on into different movements after the war, expanding the struggle into labor organizing, civil rights, anti-imperialism, and feminism. After the abolitionist movement, came Radical Reconstruction; veterans of that went on into the Knights of Labor, and then the Industrial Workers of the World; then emerged the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party, and so on. We should look at abolitionists as our own political ancestors, and with the connection to radical German immigrants, appreciate that revolutionary socialist politics has been in this country for a very long time.

And to draw a final parallel to then and now: the Civil War didn’t start out of nowhere. It was preceded by years of civil unrest, violence around elections, and collapsing legal boundaries. And one dynamic in particular, was the escalation of violence in the 1850s by federal agents against Northerners. After the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, federal agents and southern bounty hunters and slave catchers had free legal reign to indiscriminately hunt down Black people to kidnap and enslave. This enraged public opinion across the North and galvanized abolitionists and their allies, who organized Vigilance Committees to track and disrupt federal operations, preventing arrests, staging jailbreaks, and engaging in pitched battle against the feds.

And it is a remarkable parallel today, when we have federal troops engaging in indiscriminate violence with impunity, hunting down immigrants, assaulting and murdering protestors, kidnaping people and whisking them off into a growing network of concentration camps. And in response, just like over 150 years ago, people are organizing and mobilizing, forming rapid response networks, tracking and disrupting federal operations. It is a beautiful thing, and shows how our political ancestors can echo through us today, even without our conscious knowledge. The struggle has been going on for a long time; and if there is to be another civil war, let us make sure we finish it for good this time around.

The post Between Marx and Lincoln: German Communists in the American Civil War first appeared on Red Fault.

Before we start, we’re asking everyone to write to your elected officials to support H.794 and S.282. Tell them that you want to tax the rich for healthcare and schools!

GREEN MOUNTAIN DSA MONTH IN REVIEW

February was a month of incredible momentum for Green Mountain DSA, bookended by electoral victory and direct action. We are thrilled to open this newsletter by congratulating our endorsed Burlington City Council candidate, Marek Broderick, on their decisive Town Meeting Day win! Marek defeated a Democratic opponent with a strong tally of 301 to 187, securing a second term representing Ward 8. In the weeks leading up to the vote, our members made phone calls and knocked doors (again and again) across the entire ward to ensure voters had a plan. We are proud to stand behind a proven champion for renters, UVM students, and working-class Burlingtonians. Marek's leadership in passing a resolution to address deteriorating student housing is just one example of the socialist leadership we are building in Chittenden County.

At our February General Membership Meeting in Montpelier, members discussed our growing chapter-wide priority campaign, "Tax the Rich," supporting H.794 and S.282—legislation championed by our own State Senator Tanya Vyhovsky and Rep. Kate Logan that would generate hundreds of millions in revenue by making the wealthiest Vermonters pay their fair share. Green Mountain DSA organized a press conference at the State House in February and coverage by WCAX features Rep. Kate Logan detailing just how much working Vermonters stand to win by taxing the rich. The February General Membership Meeting also featured updates on our Palestine solidarity work (“No Appetite for Apartheid” campaign), and local ballot initiatives (“Proposition Zero” in Burlington). Alongside these campaigns, our chapter is deepening its foundation by launching weekly Saturday-Sunday socials to build comradeship and expanding our reach to southern counties through our “Statewide Expansion Working Group”. From electoral wins to anti-war action in coalition, your Green Mountain DSA is proving that another Vermont—one centered on working-class power and solidarity—is not only possible, but already being built. In solidarity, and see you at a meeting, social, or on the streets some time soon!

WE’RE BUILDING A FAMILY-FRIENDLY GMDSA

Green Mountain Democratic Socialists of America is working towards making our organization more accessible to parents and guardians. You can help us by letting us know if you would benefit from childcare being offered at our general meetings.

Please fill out our Childcare Needs Survey: https://forms.gle/6Mq1KHWGrc3QgLGv8 

GREEN MOUNTAIN DSA MEETINGS AND EVENTS

Our Labor Committee meets on the second Monday of every month at 6:00pm on Zoom, including Monday March 9th. 

  Our Electoral Committee will meet on Tuesday March 10. The electoral committee meets at 6:00pm on Zoom. 

🌹The next May Day Coalition meeting is Tuesday March 10 at 6:00pm at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington) and on Zoom. 

Talk about your job and learn about shop-floor organizing from peers at Workers' Circle (co-hosted with the Green Mountain IWW) on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, including Wednesday March 11 at 6:00pm at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington).

💰Our Tax the Rich Working Group will meet on every Sunday, including March 15 at 6:00pm on Zoom..

Find out how you can help our Membership Committee improve recruitment and involvement in our chapter on Monday, March 16. The Membership Committee meets on the 3rd Monday of every month at 6:00pm on Zoom. 

GMDSA's East and West branches will come together for another general meeting on Saturday March 21 at 11:30 a.m. at TBD (Most likely the Public Library in South Burlington). Newcomers are encouraged to show up at 10:30 a.m. for an optional “DSA 101” orientation. Everyone is welcome to join for coffee hour with snacks and discussion at 11:00 a.m. prior to the start of the general meeting.

🇵🇸 Our Palestine Solidarity Committee will meet on Monday March 23. The Palestine solidarity committee meets on the 4th Monday of every month at 6:00pm on Zoom. 

📱Our Communications Committee will meet on Monday March 23. The communications committee meets on the 4th Monday of every month at 7:00pm on Zoom. 

📑 Our Steering Committee meets on the first Monday of every month at 7:30pm on Zoom, including Monday April 6. All members are welcome to participate in the meeting discussion, only members of the steering committee can vote. We will have a hybrid meeting this month. We will be meeting at the Queen City Lodge Oddfellows Hall. The address is 1416 North Ave in Burlington. Email hello@greenmountaindsa.org for the Zoom link if you would prefer to join online

Add our Google Calendar 📅 - Check out our website 🌐

IMPORTANT DATES THIS YEAR

• International Workers’ Day: May 1, 2026

• 2026 Labor Notes Conference: June 12-14

• Vermont Primary Election: August 11, 2026

• Labor Day: September 7, 2026

• General Election: November 3, 2026

• Next GMDSA Convention: November 2026

• Next DSA National Convention: August 2027

We’re living in interesting times, comrade.

As I write, we are witnessing the opening salvos of what will likely develop into a major war of aggression by the US and Israel against Iran. The imperialist order is in decline across the globe. But, that also means the capitalist class that benefits from that order has never been more desperate — or more dangerous.

It’s clearer than ever that we have two choices: socialism or barbarism. We can have a world defined by peace, justice, and a dignified life for all people, or we can have a world defined by endless war, oppression, and suffering for all but an ever-shrinking circle of elites. It can feel hopeless sometimes, but that’s when we need to remember: there’s a power at the core of this monstrous machine. The force that keeps the wheels of this machine turning is our labor.

Our hands are on the switch, and we can turn off the war machine any time we choose. We just need to have enough hands pulling in unison.

The DSA is now more than 100,000 members strong, spread across all 50 states. We’re the largest socialist organization in US history by membership. And, our ranks are still growing fast.

Read on to see what we’ve been up to… and learn what’s coming next!

February Highlights

We started off the month with members braving the cold to kickoff the canvassing efforts to re-elect PDSA member Richie Floyd to St. Pete City Council. This is a critical project of our Electoral Committee, and although it’s only been a couple of weeks, we’re already well on the way to collecting enough petition signatures to secure Richie’s spot on the ballot (rather than buying ballot access, as most candidates do).

The Ecosocialist Working Group continued to advance our ongoing Dump Duke campaign, with organizers facing off against a representative from Duke Energy’s dark-money front group, to argue the merits of public power.

Our Education-Social Working Group hosted Capitalism vs. Socialism, the latest installment of our core training on the basics of organizing with DSA. In the session, which attracted nearly three dozen attendees (pretty good for a Friday night!), organizers explained why we believe that socialism is a superior system to capitalism, and how a socialist society compares to our existing capitalist one. And, our International Solidarity Working Group stayed busy, too, hosting a demonstration at the Chevron station on Sunset Point Road in Clearwater to protest Chevron’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza as part of the ongoing #StopFuelingGenocide campaign.

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Re-Elect Richie Floyd

Our campaign to re-elect Richie Floyd to the St. Petersburg City Council is shifting into high gear!

Since launching the campaign last month, DSA members have doggedly showed up, weekend after weekend, braving both the cold and the heat to knock doors in District 8. While the campaign could simply buy ballot access, as most elected officials do, the members of our chapter agreed to take the same approach as we did with Richie’s first election campaign, doing it the grassroots way and collecting petition signatures to gain a spot on the ballot instead.

After just one month, we’ve already collected more than half of the 500 signatures needed! As of right now, the campaign is in good shape. But, we need to keep up the energy and get those signatures. This is a people-powered campaign, so let’s show the members of the capitalist class here in St. Pete what the people can do!

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: End 287(g)

Pinellas DSA, as a member organization of the Tampa Bay Immigrant Solidarity Network, hosted a public volunteer meeting on Saturday, February 21 at WonderWorks in Gulfport. Much like neighboring St. Petersburg, the Gulfport Police Department has signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE, volunteering their officers to work as deputized enforcers for the spear of the US regime’s fascist immigration policy. Our ongoing campaign aims to pressure local police departments in Pinellas County to end these agreements and to refuse to collaborate with ICE.

Following a presentation on local 287(g) agreements — including how they undermine public trust in law enforcement, drain public resources, fuel racial profiling, and erode due process — attendees went out to canvass neighborhoods across Gulfport, raise awareness about 287(g), and invite community members to sign petitions calling for an end to the city’s collaboration with ICE.

Our demand of local government officials is simple: No collaboration with fascism! No ICE in our streets!

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Dump Duke

DSA members spearheading the Dump Duke campaign continue to pressure St. Pete officials to explore the feasibility of creating a publicly owned power utility in the city. We’re up against mounting resistance from dark-money groups funded by Duke Energy, including the Clearwater Energy Alliance and the St. Pete Energy Alliance. But, even with all the money Duke is throwing against us, we’ve got the people on our side!

Organizers with Dump Duke faced off against a representative from the Clearwater Energy Alliance as part the “Opposites Attract” debate series at Bayboro Brewing on February 9. We laid out a clear, practical case for public power — a publicly-owned municipal utility that puts reliability, affordability, and accountability ahead of corporate profit.

Dump Duke organizers also hit the streets at the Mezzo Market, speaking to St. Pete residents, asking their feelings about Duke Energy, and getting the word out that an alternative option is a real possibility!

If you haven’t already, make sure you sign the petition calling on city officials to fund a feasibility study on public power, and to begin negotiations with Duke Energy to end St. Pete’s relationship with the company. Also, if you’re interested in helping build support for public power, go to dumpdukefl.com to learn how you can get involved!

Upcoming Events

We have more than two dozen political events, working group meetings, and social outings scheduled in March. You can always view our full calendar of upcoming events, along with the most up-to-date times and locations, on our website: https://www.pinellasdsa.org/home.

Health Justice Working Group Meeting

Monday, March 2 from 7:00–8:30pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). Meeting will be hosted in Wesley Room & virtually via Zoom.

Housing Working Group & St. Pete Tenants Joint Meeting

Tuesday, March 3 from 7:00–8:30pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). Discuss and take action on the housing crisis in St. Pete at this joint meeting between the St. Pete Tenants Union and Pinellas DSA.

Socialists in Office Working Group Meeting

Wednesday, March 4 from 6:30–8:00pm at Allendale UMC.

Run DSA: Glow in the Park 5k

Thursday, March 5 from 6:30–8:00pm at Allendale UMC. Join us in the Hybrid room for a basic training on protest marshalling.

Canvas for Richie Floyd

Saturday, March 7 from 10:30am–1:30pm at Gladden Park Recreation Center (3901 30th Ave N. in St. Petersburg). RSVP at richiefloyd.com/volunteer-rsvp.

Self-Managed Abortion Canvass

Saturday, March 7 from 2:30–4:00pm at the President Barack Obama Main Library (3745 9th Ave N. in St. Petersburg).

General Meeting & Social

Sunday, March 8 from 2:00–3:30pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). To be followed immediately after by the Socialist Social Hour, with food and (non-alcoholic) drinks provided!

International Solidary Working Group Meeting

Monday, March 9·from 6:30–8:00pm. This will be a virtual-only meeting. Zoom Link.

Book Study: Health Justice Now!

Tuesday, March 10 from 6:15–8:00pm at Allendale UMC. Join us to read and discuss Timothy Faust’s Health Justice Now: Single Payer and What Comes Next. We will be meet in-person in the Hybrid Room and via Zoom.

Bylaws Meeting

Wednesday, March 11 from 6:30–8:00pm. At Allendale UMC, in the Teresa Room.

Cuba: An American History Reading Group

Thursday, March 12 from 6:30–7:30pm at Allendale UMC. Meet us in the Wesley Room for our final discussion of Cuba: An American History.

North County Meeting & Social

Friday, March 13 from 6:30–9:30pm. Location TBD.

Canvas for Richie Floyd

Saturday, March 14 from 10:30am–1:30pm. Location TBD. RSVP at richiefloyd.com/volunteer-rsvp.

Safe Self-Managed Abortion Info Session

Sunday, March 15 from 11:00am-12:00pm at the President Barack Obama Main Library in St. Pete.

Boca Ciega Apartments Canvassing

Sunday, March 15 from 1:00–2:00pm. Canvass the Boca Ciega Apartments (3401 37th St S. in St. Petersburg) to inform and encourage tenants to attend a tenants meeting, where they can tackle the issues facing their property together!

Steering Committee Meeting

Sunday, March 15 from 7:00–8:30pm at Allendale UMC.

Fundraising Committee Meeting

Monday, March 16 from 6:30–8:00pm. Our chapter’s monthly fundraising check-in and brainstorming session at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). Will be hosted in the Hybrid Room, as well as virtually. Zoom link.

Electoral Committee Meeting

Wednesday, March 18 from 6:30–8:30pm. To be hosted at Allendale UMC in the Wesley Room.

Ecosocialist Working Group Meeting

Thursday, March 19 from 6:30–8:00pm. Hosted at Allendale UMC in the Hybrid Room.

Labor Committee Meeting

Friday, March 20 from 6:30–8:00pm at the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association offices (650 Seminole Blvd. in Largo).

Canvas for Richie Floyd

Saturday, March 21 from 10:30am–1:30pm. Location TBD. RSVP at richiefloyd.com/volunteer-rsvp.

Dump Duke Social & Canvass

Sunday, March 22 from 10:30am-2:00pm at Dell Holmes Park (2741 22nd St S. in St. Petersburg).

International Solidarity Working Group Meeting

Monday, March 23 from 6:30–8:00pm. Meeting at Allendale UMC in the Hybrid Room.

Canvas for Richie Floyd

Saturday, March 28 21 from 10:30am–1:30pm. Location TBD, but RSVP at richiefloyd.com/volunteer-rsvp.

Pinellas DSA Orientation

Saturday, March 28 from 2:30–4:00pm. New member orientation hosted at Allendale UMC in the Hybrid Room.

DSA Nature Walk

Sunday, March 29 from 10:30am-12:00pm. All this organizing can wear you out — refresh and recharge with comrades on a nature walk at Sawgrass Lake Park (7400 25th St N. in St. Petersburg)!

NOTE: All dates and times are subject to change, so check the website regularly for updates!

STATEMENT ON DSA-LA’S ENDORSEMENT FOR MAYOR

Two left candidates who are DSA-LA members are now challenging Mayor Karen Bass in her re-election campaign: Councilmember Nithya Raman and Reverend Rae Huang. This has raised questions about DSA-LA’s endorsement for Mayor.

As with all major decisions for our local chapter, political candidate endorsements are driven and democratically decided by DSA-LA members.

Our endorsements require thorough discussion and debate because an endorsement from DSA-LA is not just another logo on a campaign mailer. When our members vote to endorse a candidate, it comes with a serious commitment of resources and time. We have a detailed and robust process for ensuring that any campaign we endorse is also building our movement.

At this time, DSA-LA has not endorsed anyone for Mayor in 2026, and any future endorsements will only be considered if motivated by a petition and approved if voted on by the chapter’s membership.

Should a mayoral candidate receive DSA-LA’s endorsement, we will throw the full weight of our power behind their campaign. For now, we are focusing that power on our already-endorsed candidates that make up the Shake Up City Hall slate—Marissa Roy for City Attorney, Rocio Rivas for LAUSD School Board, and Hugo Soto-Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez, Faizah Malik, and Estuardo Mazariegos for City Council.

Our Shake Up City Hall slate is made up of renters, immigrants, union members, and devoted DSA-LA members who are going to fight against ICE, the fascist Trump administration, bad bosses, and billionaires. That’s why we endorsed them. Winning these six races—the most we’ve ever endorsed in one election cycle—will be a monumental achievement toward building a Los Angeles for the working class. Sign up to get involved at shakeup.la.

-2026 DSA-LA Steering Committee

March 2026 Newsletter

This is the monthly newsletter by the Montgomery County Branch of the Metro DC Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (MoCo DSA).

•  Interested in building a socialist future? Join DSA.
• Want up-to-the-minute updates? Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, Twitter, and Facebook.
• Sign up for weekly updates (and see the archives) from Metro DC DSA.

Take Action

• Data centers require enormous amounts of power from local grids around the clock and constant cooling with local water supplies. Tell the Montgomery County Council to put a moratorium on data centers.
• Takoma Park has some of the strongest renter protections in Montgomery County, thanks to its rent stabilization ordinance. But the ordinance is under threat. Sign your name if you agree that Takoma Park should not allow landlords to get even richer on the backs of renters—the very people who can afford it the least.
• Maryland law denies teachers, librarians, and other public workers in the state the right to strike. That means residents who provide some of the most important care to our community don’t have access to organized labor’s most powerful tool—the strike. HB 1492 would give teachers and public workers the right to strike. Learn how you can support this critical bill.

Upcoming Events

• Saturday, March 7th – Canvass for Gabriel Acevero and Josie Caballero. Show MoCo that DSA stands with our endorsed candidates by turning up and turning out to knock on our neighbors’ doors. Gabe and Josie support teachers and working families, and that’s why we support them. Register to canvass.
• Saturday, March 7th – Join a Know Your Rights Canvass in Montgomery Village with MoCo IRC. You must request to participate here. The event is not open to the public.
• Saturday, March 14th – MoCo DSA Monthly General Body Meeting. Join us in person at the Gaithersburg Library or via Zoom for our monthly meeting to get plugged into the latest with MoCo DSA. If you’re brand new to DSA, this meeting is open to the public.
• Saturday, March 21 – MoCo DSA March Social. Socialize with fellow MoCo comrades at the Mayan Monkey Brewery in Gaithersburg. Tell us if you plan to attend! (P.S. We will be canvassing for our candidates that afternoon. Stay tuned for details).
• Looking to connect with comrades in DSA in a casual setting? We will be launching the MoCo DSA weekly coffee social in the coming weeks. More details to come!

MoCo Briefs

MoCo DSA in Annapolis

On February 16, we went to Annapolis to urge state legislators to support just cause eviction, end state investments in the imperial war machine and genocide, and stop collaborations with ICE.

Electoral 

In February, our campaign work for Gabe Acevero, Josie Caballero, and Izola Shaw kicked into high gear. Between phonebanking, canvassing in Rockville and Takoma Park, and a fundraiser at Clear Skies Meadery, MoCo DSA showed up for the candidates campaigning for a more just Montgomery County and Maryland.

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By Dylan

The fundamental case for corporate accountability rests on the principle that significant power—whether political or economic—must be subject to ethical scrutiny. In a globalized economy, the actions of large-scale enterprises have profound consequences for the communities and environments in which they operate. Consider the devastating impact that corporations like Union Carbide, Nestlé, Monsanto, and Halliburton have had on the environment and human lives.¹ When a corporation’s pursuit of profit intersects with regions marked by conflict, repressive governance, economic injustice, or social inequality, the company ceases to be a neutral bystander and instead becomes an active participant in the local landscape. If an organization benefits from or reinforces systems that result in human suffering or environmental harm, it incurs a moral responsibility that transcends simple legal compliance. Therefore, corporate accountability is not merely a regulatory preference but a necessary safeguard to ensure that private interests do not supersede human rights and dignity. In the absence of a unified global authority to govern these interactions, public awareness and ethical pressure serve as essential tools for aligning corporate behavior with the broader interests of humanity.

One of the most troubling, contemporary, examples of a lack of corporate accountability involves the Chevron Corporation. While its economic power and technological capacity are often framed as engines of development, Chevron’s operations in Israel and Venezuela reveal a more troubling dimension of corporate involvement in human rights abuses. In both cases, Chevron’s activities raise serious concerns regarding complicity, accountability, and the exploitation of people in politically volatile environments by non-state actors.

In Israel, Chevron’s involvement in the Tamar and Leviathan offshore natural gas fields has positioned the company as a critical contributor to the country’s energy infrastructure.² These gas fields supply a substantial portion of Israel’s electricity, thereby reinforcing the operational capacity of the Israeli state. While energy development is frequently presented as politically neutral, such claims become untenable when corporate profits are closely intertwined with prolonged military occupation and structural inequality. Revenues generated from Chevron-operated gas fields flow directly into the Israeli economy and, by extension, support state institutions that administer and enforce policies in the occupied Palestinian territories. As a result, Chevron’s presence cannot be separated from the broader political context in which systematic restrictions on Palestinian movement, economic activity, and self-determination persist.

Furthermore, Chevron’s stake in regional energy infrastructure, including gas pipelines operating in the eastern Mediterranean, intersects with security policies that have restricted Gazan’s maritime access. According to Investor Advocates for Social Justice:

• “The Company holds a partial stake in the East Mediterranean Gas pipeline, which transports gas from Israel to Egypt along the coast of the Gaza Strip. Under international law, including the Hague Regulations and Geneva Conventions, economic activity in occupied territory without the agreement of the affected population is considered unlawful and may constitute “pillage,” a war crime. The pipeline is also closely linked to Israel’s longstanding naval blockade of Gaza, which restricts Palestinian maritime access and has had a devastating impact on the region’s economy since 2009.”³

Although Chevron does not directly administer these policies, its operations benefit from and reinforce a system sustained through coercive state power. In this respect, Chevron exemplifies how corporations become embedded within structures of control and repression while maintaining formal distance from their consequences.

Chevron’s role in Venezuela also raises concerns about corporate ethics and humanitarian responsibility. The oil giant continues to operate in Venezuela even as the United States government has sanctioned the Caribbean nation’s economy. According to a report last year by EuroNews,

• “Chevron’s operations are structured so that cash flows and profits do not directly benefit PDVSA (Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company) or the Venezuelan state under current sanctions licences….The Venezuelan government does not receive fresh revenue from these operations — no dividends, no budget income, no direct cash transfers….US officials argue that Chevron’s continued presence actually strengthens sanctions enforcement rather than undermining it.”⁴

Basically, Chevron functions as the sanctions arm of the US government by not having to pay taxes or royalties to the Venezuelan government. Add in that Venezuela must sell its oil abroad for debt relief and it becomes clear that the country and its people are being exploited by state and non-state actors.⁵

This means that Chevron’s ongoing oil production in Venezuela has not translated into meaningful improvements in living conditions for Venezuelans experiencing shortages of food, medicine, and basic services due to U.S. sanctions. As two economists at the Center for Economic and Policy Research noted:

• “It is important to emphasize that nearly all of the foreign exchange that is needed to import medicine, food, medical equipment, spare parts and equipment needed for electricity generation, water systems, or transportation, is received by the Venezuelan economy through the government’s revenue from the export of oil. Thus, any sanctions that reduce export earnings, and therefore government revenue, thereby reduce the imports of these essential and, in many cases, life-saving goods.”⁶

Chevron has also faced numerous allegations of failing to comply with mandated cleanups, leading everyday, working-class people to bear the social and economic costs.⁷ Their privileged status highlights a recurring pattern in global energy politics: corporations maintain access to strategic resources while civilian populations suffer.

With the Trump administration’s recent coup against Venezuela’s government, Chevron stands first in line to profit from Trump’s oil grab as the only U.S. company currently operating in Venezuela.⁸ This has ramifications for Americans as well. If Venezuelan oil production is increased, it is likely that more Venezuelan heavy crude oil would be imported by U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, largely located where Black, Latino, Indigenous, and low-income communities are already exposed to fossil fuel pollution.^9,10

Boycotting Chevron should therefore be understood not as an isolated consumer choice, but as part of a broader effort to impose ethical constraints on corporate behavior within the international system. Historically, boycotts have functioned as tools to expose moral contradictions, mobilize public awareness, and pressure powerful institutions resistant to reform. Consider the progressive, humanitarian, impacts of the Montgomery bus boycott or international divestment from South Africa’s apartheid regime.¹¹ In the absence of effective international regulation of corporations, public accountability becomes one of the few remaining mechanisms for challenging corporate complicity in systemic injustice.

Ultimately, Chevron’s involvement in Israel and Venezuela illustrates a wider failure to reconcile profit-driven enterprise with ethical responsibility. A boycott, while limited in scope, signals a refusal to normalize corporate practices that benefit from occupation, repression, inequality, and human suffering. In doing so, it affirms the principle that economic—like political—power, must be subject to moral scrutiny.

Footnotes:

1. CorpWatch: The 14 Worst Corporate Evildoers

2. AFSC: Chevron Fuels Israeli Apartheid and War Crimes Additionally

3. Investor Advocates for Social Justice: Proposed Human Rights Policy Implementation

4. EuroNews: Why Chevron still operates in Venezuela despite US sanctions

5. Venezuelanalysis: Chevron Back in Venezuela, A Tale of US Imperialist Arrogance

6. CEPR: Economics Sanctions as Collective Punishment: The Case of Venezuela

7. AmazonWatch: Chevron’s Global Record of Denial and Destruction

8. USPCR: From Palestine to Venezuela, Chevron Profits From U.S. Imperialism

9. S&P Global: US Gulf Coast refiners seen benefiting from increased use of heavy Venezuelan crude

10. PBS/NPR: Oil refineries release lots of water pollution near communities of color, data show

11. Ethical Consumer: History of Successful Boycotts

It is that time of year again, time for Vermont’s annual Town Meting Day tradition. 

The last two years have seen schools and school budgets become the focus on local as well as state politics. As in every year, Green Mountain DSA (GMDSA) recommends voting yes on your local school budget. 

GMDSA only chose to endorse one candidate for a local race this year, but there are elections in every town, city and village, some of which are more exciting than others. The rest of this voter guide will be a town-by-town breakdown of local races in areas where there is an active GMDSA presence, of both elections and ballot questions. 

Burlington

Green Mountain DSA has only endorsed one candidate this TMD, being Marek Broderick, for re-election to the city council in Ward 8. Before first being elected in 2024, Marek was co-chair and an organizer with the UVM chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, DSA’s youth section. As a councilor, Marek has fought for tenants’ rights on and off campus, including notably organizing with UVM's Student Tenant Union to win unanimous support for a resolution holding UVM accountable for poor housing conditions. Marek was unanimously endorsed for re-election by the chapter because the fight is not over. If Marek wins on March 3, he will continue to fight for housing for all, tenant rights, and a city that everyone can call home.

However, Marek’s advocacy for renters, students and the broader working class has not made him any friends within Burlington’s establishment. This year, the Democrat Party chose to nominate only one candidate to run against an incumbent: the landlord Ryan Nick, scion of commercial real estate tycoon Jeff Nick, is running to unseat Marek. 

Nick has been able to raise considerable cash through his connections to the city’s monied interests, mostly from other landlords and real estate moguls. This is fitting, as Nick has made a name for himself as a vocal opponent of essential harm reduction services like the Howard Center’s needle exchange, and an opponent of mutual aid groups like Food Not Cops. Ryan himself works for his father’s real estate company, JL Davis Realty, on “tenant relations,” according to his CCTV candidate forum. Between his status as one of Burlington’s landlords and his antagonism of community groups, Green Mountain DSA believes that Nick cannot be trusted to hold police accountable and exactly represents the elites’ status quo that is crushing us workers. 

If you live in Ward 8, please vote to re-elect Marek Broderick!

Green Mountain DSA recommends voting for all other Progressive candidates, including in Ward 7, where Bill Standen is running to unseat Democrat Even Litwin.  Green Mountain DSA also recommends voting yes on question three, which would enshrine the city’s Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Office in the city charter. 

Lastly, the coalition that put Proposition 0 on the ballot in 2023 is at it again, aiming to get the direct democracy charter change on the ballot again in time for the November midterms. We recommend signing the petition to get Proposition 0 on the ballot. 

Winooski

In Winooski, there are no contested races for city council or the mayor. Green Mountain DSA offers no recommendations for this election, other than a yes vote for both the city and school budgets, particularly article six which would allow the school to purchase a nearby home to the school with surplus funds. The property will be used by the school for specialized educational settings for students who need it. Currently, the school system does not have something like this and students who need a specialized education setting are required to travel out of district. We would also like to note that an added benefit of this purchase is removing a known Zionist's pro Israel propaganda from the property being purchased.

GMDSA also recommends Katie Livermore, who is running for re-election to the School Board. Many Winooski GMDSAers know her from her work on the Winooski AFC campaign which passed last year with over 70% approval. Katie played an integral role in that campaign and continues to organize in her community both in the school and outside.

South Burlington

Unlike Burlington, and like Winooski and the rest of Vermont municipalities, South Burlington elections are officially non-partisan. However, this does not stop them from being competitive. For the two-year seat this year, the two candidates running are Amy Allen and Beth Zigmund. Allen seems to be a typical pro-business, establishment candidate, while Zigmund is running with the support of progressive non-profits like Run on Climate (which also endorsed Marek Broderick). Green Mountain DSA offers no recommendation in this race, but leans toward favoring Zigmund. 

Montpelier

Montpelier residents will again vote on the Apartheid-Free Communities (AFC) pledge, after it was voted down last year. The pledge, which passed last year in Winooski and various other towns across Vermont, condemns Israel’s system of Apartheid, settler colonialism and occupation, and commits the signer to fighting for liberation in Palestine. Green Mountain DSA endorses AFC, and urges Montpelier residents to vote yes. 

Waterbury

On Waterburry’s ballot this year, there are three seats up for election: one three-year seat, and two one-year. For the three-year seat, Republican Chris Viens is the only candidate to have made it onto the ballot. Fortunately, former Selectboard member Don Schneider has announced a write-in campaign, and we recommend writing in his name. The chapter offers no recommendation for the one-year seat, but recommends voting yes on the Randall Meadow bond question .

Randolph

Randolph residents of the police district again face an increased police budget, this time to $893,357. Despite the district containing less than half the town’s total population of just 4,774 people, the police budget is approximately a sixth of the town’s budget. Green Mountain DSA recommends residents vote no on the police budget.

Randolph also has two selectboard elections this year. The three-year seat race is between Ashley Lincoln and Emery Mattheis, and the two-year seat is between Bethany Silloway and Dustin Adams. Mattheis and Adams are running with the newly-formed “Committee for a Cooler ‘Dolf,” organized by a GMDSA member. Adams is also a GMDSA member himself, although he did not seek the chapter’s endorsement. GMDSA recommends voting for Emery Mattheis and Dustin Adams.

St Albans

St. Albans has a relatively slim election this year. Three city seats are open – two city counselors and the Mayor – all of which are uncontested. 

Article three continues a seven year project to upgrade and update the city's 1953 water system. The current ask is for St. Albans residents to permit the borrowing of $800,000 to refurbish the existing town water tank; this accounts for half the total cost (project total of $1.6M) with the remaining $800,000 covered by a no-interest 40 year loan. Completion of the project will ensure that St. Albans continues to provide safe, clean water to residents without service interruption caused by maintenance: GMDSA recommends voting yes on Article three. 

Article two is a proposed budget for FY2027. Effort has been made to keep expenses low for residents with a modest property tax increase of 2.2% (estimated to be $50 more per resident throughout the year), and the budget includes capital improvements for the Welden Theater, new breathing apparatuses for fire responders, a lawn mower for city parks and properties, an increase in services provided by the Restorative Justice Center, and a new snow plow. The budget also includes a substantial increase for Police and Dispatch wages, as well as two new vehicles (one marked, one unmarked) for the St. Albans Police Department. Because the FY27 budget devotes nearly 50% of its total projected $15.5M expenditure to Dispatch and Police service, GMDSA recommends voting no on Article 2 unless the police budget is disentangled from other budgetary needs or the increase in police spending explicates integration of support/social service resources into law enforcement services. 

Town Meeting Day is Tuesday, March 3, 2026. Please email us at hello@greenmountaindsa.org if you’d like to join a canvass between now and then, or if you’d like to see an item on your town’s ballot included in this guide. 

You can check your voter registration here.