Join us as we celebrate our 200th episode! We’ve been broadcasting on WBAI and online for almost five years and in that time, have featured the stories of hundreds of workers, tenants, and organizers fighting for socialism in New York City, in the United States, and around the globe. It’s a true honor and privilege to bring these stories to you, and we’re looking forward to what the future has in store!

 

For this week's show, we’re joined live by Honda Wang of DSA Labor. As a New York City delegate to the recent national DSA convention in Chicago, Honda will be sharing his analysis of the present and future of DSA and what’s next in the struggle for socialism. We also hear from Mac, Smitha, and Adam, three  NYC-DSA members who were inspired by their work in DSA to start organizing for tenants’ rights in their own buildings and neighborhoods.

 

Take the DSA Labor Strike Ready pledge to support workers at the UAW Big 3: dsausa.us/UAWPledge

 

Donate to the DSA Labor Solidarity Fund: donate.laborsolidarity.com.

Greetings Comrades, 

Twin Ports Pride celebrations kick off this week! Come join the celebrations and learn about our ongoing work. 

Events

• Monday, August 28 (today!)

  • 6:00 pm, tabling prep at Sarah's house. Come help make posters, bike decorations, button designs, and more!

  • 6:30 pm, Socialism and a Slice by the Northwoods Socialist Collective

• Pride celebrations start Thursday! See the full calendar of events.

• Saturday, September 2

  • Pride Fest at Bayfront Park

  • Come visit our table and make a button!

• Sunday, September 3

  • 12-2 pm, Pride Parade in Superior

  • Come join in! Walk, roll, or bike! Respond to this email for details.

News

• 53 years ago: Queer liberation’s roots were socialist, working class and anti-imperialist

• In a Summer of Record Heat, These Striking Workers Are Making Climate Demands

• UPS Teamsters Across the Nation Are Voting on the Tentative Agreement 

• DSA Statement : UPS Teamsters Show Us The Way

See you at Pride!
Sarah Kjorlien
TPDSA Secretary

(If you have been receiving these emails and aren't a member yet, we want you to join! Our goals are both broad and local,  and we intend to win as many as possible. Simply put – the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, Green Housing for All, a justice system that helps instead of harms, an end to poverty, socialists in office everywhere – these goals and more will not happen without mass participation. Use this link to join or renew.)

LVDSA Office Hours

August 31st @ 7pm

Drop in during our office hours to ask any questions about DSA, our chapter, any of the work we’re doing, or just enjoy some company while you do DSA work. Register here.

Tenant Canvassing

September 2nd @ 9am

We will be going door-to-door informing tenants of their rights to a habitable dwelling unit and how to defend themselves against eviction. Join us and help build tenant power in our city! Register here.

Labor 101

September 3rd @ 3:30pm

Join us this Labor Day weekend for an event to examine the history of the labor movement in the United States and discover ways to show solidarity with unions as numerous labor struggles break out across the country and in our own city. Register here.

Socialist Vibes

September 4th @ 7pm

Join us for a virtual discussion group covering socialists concepts & theories. Stay tuned for more information on the discussion topic. We’d love to hear from you about what topics would interest in you in the future. Drop by and share what you’d like to see from our political education program! Register here.

September General Body Meeting

September 7th @ 7pm

Join us for our September General Body Meeting to hear updates on the chapter, discuss issues relevant to our work, and vote on any chapter business. Register here.

Communities United: A Multicultural Festival

September 9th @ 4pm – 9pm

We will be joining SEIU 1107 and community partners for the Communities United, Raising the Stakes 2023 Multicultural Festival. We will be celebrating all of the different communities throughout Las Vegas and Nevada with performances and food trucks. Communities United is free to attend to and open to everyone! View details.

We have a big weekend coming up. On Saturday, September 2nd we will be tabling all day at Twin Ports Pride Fest. Join us a Bayfront Park. Then Sunday we head to Superior for the Pride Parade, always a favorite. Finally, on Monday we participate in the Cloquet Labor Day Parade. We need more parade marchers! We have a pile of new t-shirts if you want to try one, and we will be distributing stickers on The Minnesota Health Plan. Contact us a dsa.duluth@gmail.com if you want to participate in anything.

Our table at Pride Fest from a few years ago. Chapter member and congressional candidate Skip Sandman has sadly passed away since then.

Have you been thinking about joining DSA, but haven’t gotten around to it?
Is it time to renew your dues?

DSA is a member-based organization committed to increasing power for the working class and fighting capitalism. All members decide how much and how often to give, and dues-paying members democratically decide the direction of our chapter locally and DSA nationally. To be a truly democratically controlled and explicitly anti-capitalist organization, we can’t rely on big donors or grants, which can often push non-profits into running certain projects or campaigns as conditions of receiving money. Dues – especially monthly – go to running local campaigns, training organizers, and sustaining a nation-wide infrastructure.

Join today!

By Monday, August 28: Tee Pre-Order!

https://mke.wtf/product/mildred-fish-harnack-day-pre-order/

Friday, September 1: Mildred Fish Harnack Memorial Concert

Come celebrate the life and achievements of a true antifascist hero, born right here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We will be celebrating her with an exciting lineup of regional musical talents including Ruth B8r Ginsburg, Glutton for Insurrection, Brandon Payton-Carrillo, Lil’ Guillotine, and DJ Dr!psweat! Stand with us in solidarity against the forces of fascism in our country and communities! All proceeds from this event go to the creation of this event as well as future antifascist organizing and education. 

Learn More & Purchase Tickets

Earlier this month the national Democratic Socialist of America joined the Atlanta chapter of DSA in publicly endorsing a campaign to put a referendum on the November ballot that would stop “Cop City”, a massive police training facility that has been proposed to be built in the Weelaunee Forest - public forest land and one the largest remaining green spaces in Atlanta - surrounded by predominantly Black working class neighborhoods.

Tonight we’ll hear from Atlanta DSA member Gabriel Sanchez about the chapter's effort to stop Cop City through a ballot referendum, the terrifying tactics police, the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia have used to in order to crush opposition and what motivates them to keep fighting despite few clear victories for the Defund the Police and abolition movements in recent years.  

To learn more and to get involved you can visit copcityvote.com and atldsa.org/stopcopcity

As socialists, we are fundamentally aware of the ways money impacts legislation at all levels of government – that is clear in the voting records of Nevada’s legislators during the 2023 Session.

With cash flowing in from all sectors of private business, including landlord associations, working class needs were de-prioritized and often completely rejected. This is especially true for affordable housing. In 2022, Culinary 226 delivered a ballot initiative to North Las Vegas City Council to demand rent stabilization. This ballot initiative would have applied to North Las Vegas alone, and not Las Vegas or unincorporated Clark County. Still, it was a good bill that would have protected families from rapidly increasing rents. The ballot initiative was scrapped by North Las Vegas City Council, who tied it up in expensive litigation and declared that the signatures obtained by Culinary 226 were invalid. Of course, every North Las Vegas City Council member has received money from for-profit housing groups, including “progressive” Isaac Barron.

It was then carried by Senator Pat Spearman to the legislature, who introduced the bill to implement rent stabilization statewide. Culinary 226 rallied behind the bill, as did hundreds of community members. Las Vegas DSA sent over 200 letters in support, and community members spoke directly to the legislature about the pain Nevadans face due to drastic and unyielding rent increases. Three housing lobbyists were also in attendance: Ovation Properties, The National Apartment Association, and Nevada Realtors.

The bill passed the senate, then was left to die in the house, a common tactic used by the legislature. They didn’t vote no, in favor of the lobbyists who spent a combined $3 million on their personal campaigns, they simply didn’t vote at all!

It gets worse. If you follow these same three lobbyist groups throughout the legislature, you’ll quickly notice a recurring theme. Whenever they opposed a bill, they typically won. In one egregious instance, Ovation Properties submitted an amendment on a bill that would have ended exploitative application fees by capping the amount landlords could charge. Senator Fabian Donate, the sponsor, graciously allowed this corporate behemoth to amend his bill, changing it from a bill that helped tenants into a bill that allowed landlords to sue tenants for their own evictions. Officially, landlord groups have donated over $8700 to Donate’s campaign. Unofficially, that number is surely higher.

This is not just about housing. Other bills that supported workers over corporations were also shot down. A bill that would have provided water breaks for outdoor workers was rejected, much to the confusion of everyone involved. It originally included mandated breaks at temperatures over 95 degrees, but was quickly amended to say “as needed” over 105 degrees before it ultimately died in the assembly committee. No one directly opposed the bill, however, construction industries have donated heavily to Democratic lawmakers.

While labor unions also donated heavily to campaigns this cycle, their concerns were often ignored. Senator Rochelle Nguyen, the recipient of massive amounts of casino money, took it upon herself to champion a bill to roll back daily room cleanings at hotels, which was opposed by Culinary 226. Nguyen took a bizarre, niche stance in fighting against the union’s desired protections. While it may seem like a matter of small importance, what’s truly striking about the bill is that it was introduced at the behest of casino corporations. Nguyen argues that COVID era protections are no longer needed, but that’s not why this bill was introduced. The Nevada Resort Association pressured the Democrats to pass the bill, so they did.

Workers lost most of the fights in the Nevada legislature. Democratic lawmakers shot down most tenants rights bills, including bills that would have ended income discrimination and reigned in application fees. Workers rights were non-existent in the legislature, with zero bills passed to correct the power imbalance between employee & employer. Democrats were, however, successful in passing several liberal reforms. They managed to remove slavery from the constitution and further enshrine our already enshrined abortion rights, facing zero opposition from Republicans in doing so. The NGO world has chosen to fixate on these wins despite the overwhelming failure to support the working class.

Workers didn’t just lose, corporations and billionaires won. Most bills for worker or tenant protections simply “died” in committee without a vote, a shrewd move that voters are supposed to believe is due to time limitations. Meanwhile, a bill to provide over $500 million in public tax money to fund the construction of a baseball stadium for billionaire A’s owner, John Fisher, got its own special session. For a week, Democrats played coy. They made public announcements against the special session, stood up in session and delivered fiery speeches about the rich … then voted to pass the bill. Assemblyman Steve Yeager signaled which direction they would vote when he responded to criticism by saying “I didn’t get into politics to make friends”. I disagree, it seems that you can be Steve Yeager’s friend, but only if you have the right amount of money. Combined with the $400 million in tax breaks handed out to billionaire Elon Musk, Nevadans are now on the hook for $1 billion in free money to two billionaires.

With the help of the Nevada Legislature in this recent session, corporations are allowed to continue to mistreat workers, while tenants are without any meaningful protection, rents continue to rise, wages continue to stay the same, and no real help is offered to the homeless – except to hide them in a massive corporate sponsored jail facility. Nevadans deserve better.

In a recent development within the Florida higher education system, Ray Rodrigues, a member of the State University System’s Board of Governors, has effectively halted the ongoing presidential search at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). The decision came as a surprise to many, as the search process was well underway and had involved substantial input from faculty, students, and community members. The interference by Rodrigues marks a concerning departure from democratic decision-making processes within academia, raising questions about the misuse of state power and its implications for the education system.

This instance follows hot on the heels of numerous additional presidential debacles, further highlighting the damage being inflicted upon Florida’s higher education system as a result of the DeSantis administration’s policing, censorship, and autocratic governance of public universities. The Board of Governors is not an elected body but rather comprised of members appointed directly by the Governor and confirmed by the Florida Senate. Despite not being popularly elected, this body has broad authority over matters such as budgeting, tuition rates, academic program approval, and the appointment of university presidents. Its supposed purpose is to serve as a link between the universities, the Florida Legislature, and the Governor’s Office. Furthermore, The Board of Governors has the final say on major policy decisions and plays a significant role in shaping the direction and priorities of higher education in Florida. This recent interference constitutes a major abuse of the already disproportionate power afforded to these unelected officials.

This undemocratic intervention is a major cause for concern, as it not only disregards the voices of faculty and students but also undermines the principles of shared governance and academic freedom. By impeding the involvement of faculty and students in the selection process, this misuse of state power erodes the quality and integrity of the education system. Moreover, such actions have the potential to drive away individuals who play vital roles in academia, as they seek environments that value their input and allow for meaningful participation in shaping their institutions. It is essential to push back against this encroachment on educational autonomy, advocating for democratic processes that uphold the rights and voices of all those involved in the pursuit of knowledge.

By: James J. Jackson

In early August of 2023, I had the privilege of attending the DSA National Convention as a delegate for our chapter. Although I originally planned to attend as our chapter’s alternate, circumstances arose where I was obliged to replace one of our elected delegates.

This was my 3rd convention as a delegate and my 4th convention overall since joining DSA in 2017. While I am sad that I had to replace one of our elected delegates, I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to participate. I say I am “beyond grateful” because no words can do justice to how proud I am of my fellow delegates. Nor can they properly describe how far our organization has come in the last six years.

For those who might not know, the DSA National Convention is the highest democratic body in our organization. Delegates use the space to set our priorities and rework the structure of our organization for the next two years. It is also the space where our national leadership, the National Political Committee, is elected.

At this convention, I saw where DSA stands, where we are going, and what it means for our chapter.

Like any other organization, SacDSA is not perfect. We still have much work to do to improve communication between our committees and campaigns. Also, we need to have a serious talk about the grossly unfair distribution of labor in this volunteer-run organization (and why that labor tends to fall on the shoulders of people who aren’t cis het white guys like me despite the fact our membership is mostly cis and white).

That being said, thanks to what I saw during this awe-inspiring weekend in Chicago, I am thrilled to report that DSA is lightyears ahead of where we were at the 2017, 2019, and 2021 conventions.

2017: Socialism Is Cool Again!

In 2017, DSA had just exploded to somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 members after Donald Trump’s 2016 victory. At the time, we were in a state of chaotic reorganization thanks to the expansion. We were a bunch of eager young leftists taking over an organization that was once notorious for having an average membership age of 60-65 and was scoffed at by many leftists for being “zionist” and Pro-Israel.

At this convention, there was a massive new radical energy entering the organization that shifted us harder to the left than ever before. But in that energy, there was little guidance because it was here we saw in real-time what being multi-tendency means in a democratic organization that exploded in membership so quickly. Still, it was a beautiful sight and an honor to be a part of that convention too. The 2017 Con reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Hunter S. Thompson, “We had all the momentum… We were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.”

Regarding that multi-tendency tendency, it was there that the factionalization of DSA began to rise. Much can be said here about the different caucuses, but as a biased member of a caucus myself (the Socialist Majority Caucus), I will instead focus on the direction DSA took, and do my best to set my sectarian hot takes aside.

From this convention going into 2018 and 2019, debates about our internal structuring and the direction of DSA became more intense and divisive. There were many reasons for this, some incidental and some with gross consequences for the organization. For example, there was the snafu where a single member began fundraising for Charlottesville DSA members and comrades who were victims of the Unite the Right Rally violence that ultimately killed Heather Hayer. Said member raised hundreds of thousands of dollars with no plan for distributing the money and had no contact with the NPC or any NC DSA chapter members prior to starting the fundraiser.

There was also the incident where one of our newly elected NPC members from 2017 was outed for repeated acts of sexual assault, and the drama that unfolded when another newly elected NPC member was called out for organizing a union of correctional officers.

The point is, we were excited, but we had no fucking idea what we were doing, and because of that, drama ensued.

2019: “Guys, Can We Keep The Chatter To A Minimum!?” By the 2019 con, it was all about the Bernie momentum. Bernie was not only poised to run in 2020 but it seemed like he was on track to win the Democratic nomination. This was why the major tier of the 2019 electoral plan oriented itself around our Democratic Socialists for Bernie campaign. The peak of this at that convention was the passing of a resolution that prohibited DSA national from endorsing any other Democrat if Bernie lost the nomination, which he did.

But the tone of 2019 was much different and much more divisive than in 2017. This convention was also much less democratic than in 2017. Delegates were bombarded with bad-faith attacks by sectarians who smeared our convention chairs and used procedural nonsense to bog down progress whenever they did not get their way.

I am not joking when I say we delegates lost a full day of debate and voting thanks to constant, idiotic procedural motions. Debates about the convention rules and needless credential challenges against delegates stole hours of work from us. There were similar challenges in 2017, but 2019 was atrocious, vicious, and disillusioning for many. Several members, including some SacDSA delegates, came home lethargic and despondent about our organization. On a personal note my comrades, this was heartbreaking for me. Despite any issues in 2017, I came back to our chapter inspired and energized to get involved with my organization. I was hoping 2019 would do the same thing for the comrades coming to convention with me.

Not only did the complete opposite happen, but the convention was so chaotic and so full of members attacking each other in bad faith that I ended up, in a moment of poor judgment, grabbing the mic and having a full-on anxiety attack on the convention floor. I also made the mistake of forgetting I was no longer in California and therefore forgot that regional dialects don’t always carry over. Long story short, after my anxiety attack a trans/nonbinary comrade took the mic and took furious exception to the fact I referred to the delegation as “guys’’ and not as “comrades.”

The moment has since become a right-wing meme still making rounds on Twitter and Tik Tok to this day. When it first went viral, I was promptly doxed by Fox News and several right-wingers. Fun fact, the now out-of-work Tucker Carlson said my name at least 8 times in one 10-minute segment, but probably because “James Jackson” is such a fun name to say. Who doesn’t love alliteration, right?

My point is that after such a hellish convention and that nightmarish experience with the far-right, I was a little apprehensive about ever going back to being a delegate.

Fortunately, weed is legal in Chicago now, so for the 2023 convention, my anxiety was properly under control. Attending this convention and seeing that I could keep my cool in the face of bad-faith sectarianism was just one of the things that made the 2023 convention so healing for me.

2021: F*ck You Covid

The 2021 convention was our first, and likely our only, all-virtual convention due to COVID. I can only say so much about this convention because 1. I was not a delegate and 2. The shift to an all-virtual meeting was a challenge for everyone involved, especially in the wake of where socialists stood in 2021.

Bernie lost, Biden was already president, the pandemic was taking everything from us, and the overall tone of that convention was a collective head scratch. It didn’t matter what your faction was in 2021 because we were all asking the same question, “Where is this organization going now!?”

But by 2023, we figured it out.

2023: A New Hope

There are some sobering realities to take away from the 2023 convention. DSA has seen a decline in membership which means a decline in dues, which means a decline in resources for both future and existing campaigns. However, despite such a decline, one saw comrades with more hope in their organization than ever before. I lost count of all the comrades I met who were attending a DSA con for the first time, and this was the one to have as their first. (Thank god they missed 2019!)

As a 4-time con veteran, I knew just how far we had come after only the first day of voting.

As already mentioned, both the 2017 and 2019 conventions were slowed down by tedious bad faith procedural motions that included things like challenging the credentials of delegations (NYC DSA in 2017 and East Bay in 2019), and in 2019 there was the infamous day-long rules debate. But comrades, when this convention’s opening day saw zero, and I mean zero, challenges to the rules and not a single credentials challenge, it was clear that this con had one and only one vibe. “Fuck the bullshit, let’s get to work!”

The 2023 convention chairs handled any bad faith that came their way beautifully. Shout out to two of them, Beth H. and Sandy B. who oversaw some of the most intense debates. It was also beneficial that this convention utilized something called Openslides, an online tool that allowed members to voice their procedural motions in a more constructive way than screaming into the microphones. It also eased the chairs’ ability to spot, and squash, bad-faith actors who were obviously abusing procedural motions.

But the real achievement belongs to the maturity of delegates who handled both their losses and victories with poise and dignity. Even after votes riddled with intense debate, comrades moved forward in a fashion that sent a clear message that we just wanted to vote and take our work back home to our chapters.

Some of the most intense votes included a vote where the BDS working group was to be absorbed under the banner of the International Committee, which passed, and a vote to expand the NPC in hopes that more members would create a fairer distribution of labor for our national leadership. That motion failed narrowly despite having a near supermajority.

Full disclosure, I was strongly in favor of both of these above-mentioned resolutions. Of all the resolutions in 2023, the NPC expansion was the issue I was most strongly in favor of (and still am). So it did hurt me when that failed. That said, I still went through the convention with the collective dignity and eagerness my comrades shared to build DSA.

Regarding the NPC election, going forward it will be interesting to see how our stance as a multi-tenancy organization will manifest in our work. Thanks to the use of a Single Transferable Vote counting system for the NPC election, our NPC is once again reflective of our big-tent posture. We have some pro-electoral NPC members, some anti-electoral, and a sprinkling of other ideological tendencies. It will be interesting to see where that takes us, especially because this NPC saw more of the anti-electoral block elected than ever before.

One think piece is not enough to sum up the concise and healing effect this convention had on me and so many others. Nor is it enough to go into detail about the debates around still important issues in DSA like BDS, Anti Zionism, Trans rights, our electoral strategy, and more. However, what can be stressed is the newfound pride I have in this organization, especially in this chapter.

It has been years since I have seen our chapter handle themselves the way they did at this convention, and I include myself in that little hint of complimentary criticism. I came into this organization in 2017 as loud and angry as the most annoying Twitter sectarian. I came home from the 2023 Chicago con with hope and understanding about my comrades. And I thank my fellow delegates for that. Sac DSA delegates showed pragmatism, patience, poise, research skills, dignity, and good faith in ways I haven’t seen in years. Our whole delegation deserves our thanks, especially our delegation chair, Sara C.

On yet another personal note, I cannot praise Sara enough because when I first joined DSA in 2017, the first major task I had for the organization was serving as delegation chair. It was incredibly stressful. I lost hours of sleep and was riddled with panic attacks about voting cards and Robert’s Rules. Once Sara was delivered to us in Chicago, I saw nothing from her except all of the perfect qualities of a delegate that I mentioned above. This convention was a smashing success, and it is thanks to comrades like Sara who made it such a success. Stepping up as a delegation chair for the first time is like learning to swim by getting thrown into the deep end head first. Some sink and some swim, but Sara soared.

I am not mincing words when I say that every single person who dares to call themselves a Sac DSA member should be very proud of their delegation.

The World To Win

There is only one thing about this convention that makes me sad, and that is the fact that not everyone from SacDSA could be there. If we had all been there, so many in this organization would have had their faith restored, not just in DSA but in the concept of organizing. My only hope now is that the rest of the delegates and I can bring this energy to every meeting, every event, every campaign, and every Mutual Aid Monday!

We do have to take things like our lower membership numbers and our ongoing internal debates seriously, but not to the point where we forget, as I did in 2019, that we are all comrades. Despite so many ups and downs, so many democratic socialists are still here, still fighting, and still ready to do the work.

And I think we’re more ready than ever before! We are fighting to re-elect our comrade Katie Valenzuela to the city council and we are ready to send two more friends of our chapter (Amreet Sandhu in District 6 and Dr. Flo Cofer for Mayor) to join her. Another thing I learned at the convention when talking to delegates from other chapters was that our decision to focus on these races and not overextend our capacity further marked our maturity. Our chapter got just as many compliments about our city council campaigns as we did on our decision to focus our limited resources on them. The decision to not only endorse but also to prioritize is a true mark of political maturity. It shows we are taking this work seriously, and that was the entire vibe of this convention. We have matured as an organization.

DSA is not what it was when it was founded in 1982. It is not what it was when socialism fell out of favor in the 1990s. It is not even the organization it was in 2017 or 2019. We are now a real socialist organization. An established and mature collective of eager organizers who take this work seriously. We’re in this to win, not just to flex how radical or progressive we are, and I’m here for it!

So long as we stay this course and keep our heads held high and maintain a sense of dignity through our internal debates, that “world to win” we keep talking about is ours!

I have never been happier and more eager to tell everyone I know, “Why yes, I am a member of Sacramento DSA. Allow me to introduce you to my comrades.”

James J. Jackson is a member of the SacDSA steering committee and served as its co-chair in the 2019-2020 term. He has written for Sac News and Review, the Sac DSA blog, Democratic Left, and Socialist Forum. He also writes fiction, poetry, and journalism under the pen name Jimbo Jax.