Biden just recently bypassed Congress to rush 14,000 tank shells to Israel and AIPAC pledges to take out the Squad. Meanwhile, Trump boasts openly of his plans to invoke the Insurrection Act and become a dictator. What is a democratic socialist organization to do less than a year before the presidential election? DSA operates on…

The post From The National Director — Our Task This New Year appeared first on Democratic Left.

DSA members are serious about building working class power. That’s why, at this year’s National Convention, DSA members voted to create full-time, paid positions for two political leadership positions – National Co-Chairs! Meet Ashik and Megan, your new National Co-Chairs, and hear how DSA committees, chapters, and campaigns had wins in hard times during 2023,…

The post Winning In Hard Times – Building A Brighter Future In The New Year appeared first on Democratic Left.

The post Winter 2023 appeared first on Democratic Left.

Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America Little Red Letter #121 Building a Brighter Future in 2024 and Every Year Another year in the books, welcome to 2024 everyone. Not a long introduction today, we hope readers have had some opportunity the past few weeks to take some time for themselves. 2023 was not a quiet […]

In a discussion with a former Executive Director of Take Action MN, he explained some of the problems they run into as a liberal non-profit. Take Action will submit a funding request to a foundation or rich person outlining what the project is and what the budget is. Quite often the entity will respond by […]

Flags, like any symbol, do not really have meaning crafted into them by default. They are imbued with meaning from the actions and narratives that are made to associate with them. Sure the current Minnesota flag has pretty un-abstract designs of colonialism imprinted directly on it but its significance and meaning comes from it flying […]

2024 is going to be another pivotal election year. During a federal presidential election, the discourse on electoralism at all levels will be in full swing across the wider left and across our own organization. With this discourse we must ask ourselves, what does it mean for Twin Cities DSA to take electoral power? Is […]

Over the past year, one of the largest organizing campaigns in the country has been the effort to organize Delta Airlines. Members of Twin Cities DSA will be familiar with this campaign, as many have joined rallies in solidarity with these workers as they seek to organize over 45,000 workers at the only U.S.-based mainline […]

Much has been made of how our current political moment feels like the Iraq War era. When leftists mention this, they usually are referring to the vibe of centrist and neoliberal media discourse, which since October 2023 has veered sharply between an apoplectic, war-mongering “anti-terrorism” tone when reporting Hamas’s offenses and a confused, “still looking […]

2023 has been a great year for political education, with no shortage of opportunities for the socialist-curious to find their place in the movement and for socialist organizers to advance working class power. Now with 2023 coming to an end, we in DSA’s National Political Education Committee wanted to take a moment to reflect on our organizing efforts over the last year.

Events and Speakers

This year, we hosted six panels viewed by over 3500 people, covering party building, the far right, imperialism, policing, Reconstruction, and Palestine. To hear from speakers like Luisa Martinez (@LuisaKnuckles), Gerald Horne, Sumaya Awad (@sumayaawad), and more. Check out our Events Catalogue.

We also launched our Speakers Bureau, an ever-expanding resource connecting DSA chapters with experienced organizers and subject experts to support political education at the local level across the country.

Speakers Bureau

Chapter Support

In 2023, we organized 13 trainings over seven topics, from organizing socialist night schools to child watch, from public speaking to Palestine, reaching over 750 people with hands-on experience and resources.

We also supported dozens of DSA chapters through our mentorship program, connecting experienced organizers with those looking to start up or improve their local political education efforts.

As one of the most successful areas of NPEC’s organizing, we look forward to continuing to develop and expand our role in making DSA chapters powerhouses of political education.

Curriculum

Earlier this year, we launched our new curriculum site for DSA chapters to use in their Socialist Night School events, featuring three introductory modules (What is Capitalism?, What is Socialism?, and Why the Working Class?) and a new deeper dive module (The US Labor Movement and the Socialist Role).

We also held our first-ever Foundational Political Education series, a three-part event based on our introductory modules, featuring guest speakers Sanjiv Gupta, Meagan Day, and Eric Blanc.

Communications

Our monthly Red Letter email continues to keep subscribers apprised of upcoming NPEC events, and helps direct them to educational materials on our website. In 2023, our email list grew by over one hundred to 4,912 subscribers. We have also added a public facing Google Calendar for events that people can follow.

When it comes to social media, we have remained most active on X, formerly Twitter, with 2,122 followers, reflecting a steady growth over the year. On Facebook we keep up a modest presence of 314 followers, regularly advertising committee events. And most notably, we began an account on the increasingly popular Bluesky platform, which we treat much like X with event updates.

Class Podcast

Our committee podcast launched in late 2022 and has since seen explosive growth, with a 400% increase in listenership, 21 episodes released, and 10,000+ listens in the last year alone, putting it in the top 10% of podcasts.

This year’s episodes supplemented our curriculum modules like Why the Working Class?, explained DSA’s internal democracy at its 2023 Convention, and explored topics like labor organizing with guest speakers from @EWOC and In These Times’ @MilesKLassin.

Convention Season

NPEC and the NPC worked together to bring DSA to Haymarket Books’ Socialism 2023 Conference in Chicago, featuring seven panels on labor organizing, bodily autonomy, housing, ecosocialism, and more. You can see a full list of our panels here, and audio recordings from the conference here.

Looking Forward to 2024

All of the organizing we’ve undertaken this year is part of the continued growth and development of the socialist movement, but there’s much more work to be done. We hope to make 2024 an even bigger year for political education, building up class consciousness and a body of organizers with the ample knowledge and incisive critiques necessary for realizing the socialist horizon.

In the words of Marx, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” And together, we’ll do just that. So don’t wait, and join DSA today.