The strikewave within higher education came ashore in New York last month, as more than 1600 part-time faculty members at The New School, represented by ACT-UAW Local 7902, went on strike, hitting the picket line for higher pay, benefits, and greater security for their work. After a 25-day long strike in what some have called the longest strike by adjuncts in US history and a brutal battle with New School management, the university and the union reached a tentative agreement on December 10th, which included a number of key wins for the striking faculty. Tonight, we will hear from Annie Levin, an ACT-UAW staff organizer and political writer, and Brian Allen, also an organizer for ACT-UAW and formerly a member of Teamster Local 528, to tell us more about this historic strike at the New School, and how adjunct faculty won their new contract. We will also cut to a brief interview with Bucky, a student at the New School, and hear how they and their fellow classmates occupied a university building in support of their striking faculty and their thoughts on what can be done to build a better & democratic academy. 

The Georgia runoff election is an important window into the political trends of both Georgia and the country at large. Although the individual characters of Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock are important, it is equally important to understand the larger movements at play, in order to inform a political strategy that advances the interests of the working class. 

Raphael Warnock is not a socialist. His voting pattern has been squarely in line with the record of Democratic Party leadership, although he has taken notably progressive stances on specific votes such as student loan forgiveness. However, it is significant that the Republican Party did its best to portray him as the imagined radical socialist of which they caricature even the most milquetoast Democrats. This strategy ultimately failed.

The obvious answer for why lies in his opponent. Herschel Walker, with his record as a multi-millionaire scammer, domestic abuser, and reactionary extremist, proved repulsive to enough Georgia voters that fear of “socialism” was insufficient for him to win. However, Walker’s actual policies fall squarely in line with the core of the Republican Party, and his nomination as the GOP Senate candidate was virtually uncontested among Georgia Republicans. 

The truth about American politics, that is rarely discussed directly in the press, is that the vast majority of the electorate’s votes can be predicted before any counting begins. While there are variations between individual voting habits, there are certain trends that are impossible to ignore. The vast majority of black voters, especially working class black voters, vote Democratic. Likewise, the vast majority of rural, evangelical Christian white voters, will vote Republican. Similar tendencies are visible in trends of college-educated white voters in dense, urban districts; older, white non-college-educated men; etc. Altogether, the number of “swing” voters is relatively small, even though they are the disproportionate focus of political ads, network television focus groups, and newspaper editorials.

Despite these polarizations, there are elements of the elections that are difficult to predict in advance. Why was Warnock able to win, when Barack Obama, an equally charismatic candidate, decisively lost to weak Republican opponents twice? To answer this question, we must pay attention to the changes in the margins, particularly in the shifts in demographics in Georgia, and the shifts in party coalitions.

There are three key observations from the runoff results that indicate far more at play than the candidates as individuals.

1. Racial Polarization

The racial polarization of Georgia’s rural working class remains a strong force. Nonwhite working class voters have  historically been a core constituency of the Democratic Party, but starting with Donald Trump’s reelection attempt in 2020, Republicans have seen surprising gains with Hispanic and Asian voters, with varying degrees in different regions around the country. Republican strategists cynically hoped that Walker’s candidacy would expand these trends to the black vote.

Looking at December’s results, however, there was no indication that the Republicans gained ground with rural black voters, with Warnock flipping the predominantly black rural areas of Washington County and Baldwin County from the November election. Conversely, while Warnock improved his margins in the predominantly white industrial regions of Glynn County and Lowndes county, they still voted overwhelmingly Republican. This polarization of the working class remains a long-term barrier for building a robust political movement against the capitalist class. Georgia, and much of the deep south, are right-to-work states in large part because of racist propaganda in the postwar period.

2. Changing Suburbs

The Atlanta suburbs have increasingly become home to black and Hispanic workers, which provided the margins needed for Joe Biden, Jon Ossoff, and Raphael Warnock to win their seats. Once strongly Republican upper-middle-class strongholds, these counties’ demographics have massively changed  due to working-class black and Hispanic people moving away from the city core and rural areas and into the more affordable suburbs.

Share of Votes for Democratic Candidates by County

These regions have also been the notable sites of militant labor struggles, including the locations of the John Deere and Nabisco strikes last year. A critical test in the coming years will be whether the Democratic leaders can respond adequately to the labor movement that has contributed so much to their victories. Unfortunately, their recent betrayal of rail workers is a worrying sign in this regard.

3. Abortion Rights

The right to abortion is a critical issue facing the working class, and it was a major factor in this year’s elections. Although Hershel Walker has shown unique hypocrisy in his record of funding abortions, his platform on abortion rights is in no way unique for Republicans. The Republican leadership, and the overwhelming majority of their politicians, are extremists who wish to end the right to bodily autonomy. Although Georgia lacks ballot initiatives, anti-abortion referendums have resoundingly failed even in deeply conservative states such as Kansas and Kentucky. The election results and exit polls show that the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade was a major motivation for working-class people to cast their vote against Republicans.

Tasks for Socialists

While Warnock’s victory represents a defeat of the reactionary right, socialists cannot rely on politicians to protect the working class out of some inherent generosity. It is necessary to organize from below and force elected officials, even ostensible “progressives” to fulfill their mandate. 

With the Democrats now having 51* votes in the Senate, there is no excuse for their failure to codify Roe vs Wade, pass the PRO Act and fully fund the NLRB. Such actions are the bare minimum needed to address the needs of workers and unions that have provided countless funds and people power for Democratic campaigns, particularly in Georgia. 

Ultimately, we need representatives at all levels of government who are accountable to the working class, rather than the Democratic establishment and the billionaire class. Atlanta DSA  will continue to fight in the coming years to elect socialist candidates who are willing to fight against both corporate Democrats and reactionary Republicans.

*Kyrsten Sinema, Bernie Sanders, and Angus King are independents, but they have caucused with the Democrats and have voted with the party line more than 90% of the time.

The post 3 Takeaways from Georgia’s Runoffs appeared first on Red Clay Comrade.

In this episode of Revolutions Per Minute, we will taking you first to Brooklyn and then to Puerto Rico, to explore how neoliberal austerity is wreaking havoc on the lives of ordinary people. I’ll be talking to New York City Council Member Alexa Aviles, of District 38 her first year in office.

Alexa is a proud DSA member and was endorsed by the movement prior to her election. She doesnt take real estate donations and has a track record of opposing the prison industrial complex, having worked to empower marginalized communities before her election as program director of the Scherman Foundation.

The second half of the show takes us to an interview with Ruth Santiago, a trustee of the non-profit Earthjustice who lives on Puerto Rico’s southern coast. As an attorney, Ruth has represented those fighting against environmental injustice in all its forms.

Fascist violence against LGBTQ+ people in America is a terrible and growing force. Last month, five people – Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, and Derrick Rump – were murdered and nineteen others were wounded at Club Q in Colorado Springs. We will remember their names as well as the right-wing cultural narrative that made their suffering possible. Right-wing politicians, media figures, and pretend intellectuals have furthered violence against the LGBTQ+ community by spreading fear and misinformation. The entire right shares the burden of responsibility for the massacre in Colorado.

Here in Ohio, we have become intimately acquainted with the right-wing political movement. It has gained critical ground in our state and scored brutal victories against our people. From shameless police violence in Akron and Columbus to assaults on reproductive rights statewide, artifacts of the right’s surging hatred can be seen everywhere. It will next rear its ugly head here in Columbus on Saturday, December 3, when the Proud Boys – a fascist, white-supremacist paramilitary organization – will menace children and harass families at a drag queen story hour hosted by Red Oak Community School at the First Unitarian Universalist Church. This action is no doubt aligned with the fascist strategy to demonize LGBTQ+ people, incite political violence, and prevent those they deem lesser from ever feeling safe – even in places of worship. We join other groups in our city in condemning the Columbus Proud Boys, their violent rhetoric, and their intrusion into our communities. We call on our members and allies to challenge homophobic ideology wherever it manifests in central Ohio.

No one should ever feel threatened because of their sexuality or gender identity. As human beings, we all deserve safety, freedom, and joy. There is no room for joy in a culture that denies the existence of LGBTQ+ people or that subjects them to mass death for having dared to be who they are. We are finished ceding ground in Ohio to the far right. To counter the spread of fascism, we must build a unified left here in Columbus and abroad.

Columbus DSA is proud to be a part of that struggle, now and forever.
DSA is a socialist feminist and anti-fascist project for collective liberation. Our members are coordinating among themselves and within the community to protect Columbus from extremist violence. For information on how to support the event, including opportunities to fundraise for LGBTQ+ causes and volunteer on the day of, visit the Red Oak Community School website.
Additional Reading:
Abolition of White Supremacy
Gender and Sexuality Justice
Justice for Trans People Requires Power

The rail freight carriers that employ approximately 125,000 unionized employees have spent years prioritizing shareholders and executives, making record profits for the railroad industry. At the same time, the carriers have downsized the rail workforce by furloughing approximately 30% of rail workers, increasing the workload for those who remain. Workers do not receive paid sick time and are expected to be available to work any time of day or night at short notice. On top of this, workers have received a 0% pay increase over the last three years. 

The Biden administration brokered a tentative agreement that excluded a substantial amount of the unions’ demands. In a vote of the rail union membership, over half the rail workforce and four of the 12 unions representing those employees voted down this proposal. If there is a strike by the rail workers, any damaging effect on the economy will have been caused by the greed and intransigence of the rail companies, and the failure of Congress and the Biden administration to broker a decent agreement that addresses the workers’ demands.  

Boston DSA fully and adamantly supports the democratic right of the rail union workers to vote down any proposed agreement, including the tentative agreement brokered by the Biden administration. Boston DSA opposes any legislation that would impose terms and conditions of employment on the rail unions and thereby take away the workers’ right to strike. The National DSA has also recognized the rail workers right to strike and has put out a statement in support of the rail workers, and Boston DSA concurs with the statement issued by the National DSA.

Most importantly, if and when Congress and President Biden enact legislation taking away the right to strike by the railway workers, Boston DSA will support the actions of the rail workers, including any decision to strike. Boston DSA will be there to support the workers, including joining them on the picket lines. Solidarity now, solidarity forever.

While a “Red Wave” of victories did not materialize for Republicans earlier this month on election day in most parts of the country, conservatives won big here in New York gaining congressional seats as well as seats in the New York State Assembly and Senate. Republican Lee Zeldin centered his gubernatorial campaign around a false and racist narrative on crime, that dominated media coverage, and it was almost enough to defeat Governor Kathy Hochul, who ran a lackluster campaign despite a large fundraising haul.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that Republican ad blitzes focused on crime, motivated voters  to head to the polls in suburban Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley, despite many of those voters living in some of the safest places in the country, where crime rates have flattened and that many of them had exaggerated views about crime rates in New York City, which are still well below where they were for decades. 

Today we’re joined live by Nomi and DJ to break down some of the misinformation that blanketed the airways before the election. Nomi is the Constituent Services and Organizing Manager for Council Member Tiffany Caban and worked with DJ and other volunteers from the district to create a Public Safety Resource poster along with Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani’s office. We’ll talk to Nomi and DJ about how socialist are not only battling right-wing propaganda stoking fear of crime, but organizing for real public safety in our communities and dignity for all. 

We’ll also talk to Michaelangelo with Mid-Hudson Valley DSA about what Neoliberal Democrats are getting wrong in their post-election analysis and how centering socialist messaging led Sarahana Shrestha to victory in her Assembly race in the Hudson Valley.

To join a Public Safety Canvass in Western Queens on Saturday, December 3, visit: Bit.ly/safetycanvass 

Strikes are erupting across the country, from railroads to the New School and your local Starbucks. Reminder from your comrades at RPM - never cross a picket line, just grab a sign and walk alongside them. Workers  

Today we will hear from rank and file organizers about the Labor Notes troublemakers school, speak to Shep Whanon of Gays Against Guns on Trans Day of Remembrance and close out the show with Caitlin of the GYM on the brutal sweeps Eric Adams is unleashing upon our most vulnerable unhoused neighbors.

It is hard to find the words to express the depth of the trauma and grief that our chapter and community are experiencing in the wake of the mass shooting at Club Q. That we are issuing this statement a few days after the event is a testament to the fact that we have been in deep mourning as we attend multiple community vigils and spend time supporting one another. We all understand how close this act of hatred brought us to losing chapter members who are deeply loved and valued, and our hearts break for our comrades who lost friends and loved ones to this tragedy. 

As difficult as it is to move forward, our solidarity with one another and the greater LGBTQ+ community is helping us find the strength to begin the organizing work that must follow. It has not been lost upon us that while CSPD was busy surveilling our chapter last summer and arresting our comrades who were marching for affordable housing in our community, the District Attorney was busy dropping charges against the right-wing terrorist that perpetrated this weekend’s armed attack. It is not lost upon us that this terrorist is the grandson of a fascist MAGA politician in California. It is not lost upon us that Colorado Representatives Lauren Boebert and Doug Lamborn have boosted anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric while supporting the gun lobby that made this weekend’s tragedy possible. It is not lost upon us that evangelical churches in our city operate as political actors to create a climate of intolerance where bigotry and zealous hatred are incubated. And it is not lost upon us that all these fascist bad faith actors ultimately work together to silence and oppress our community, especially those amongst us who are the most marginalized. 

Colorado Springs DSA and the community we serve will not be silenced. We will not submit to the fear that right-wing politicians and their followers try to instill in us. This moment makes it clearer than ever how urgent it is for us to stand up for our community and fight for our rights, to stand against hatred and violent state oppression, to stand against the cold and calculated sacrifice of our BIPOC and LGBTQ+ siblings by fascist capitalists seeking a scapegoat for the inhumane inequality that their greed creates, and we take that stand now, together. 

We’ve got us. We stand strong in solidarity, carrying those who are wounded, and march on.  

Atlanta DSA Statement on December 6th Senate Runoff Elections

The Senate Runoff Election in Georgia will have important consequences for working-class people across the country. Although Democrats have lost control of the House of Representatives for now, the winner of this runoff will hold a critical Senate seat for 6 years—the entire duration of the next Presidential term. Herschel Walker is a millionaire capitalist and far-right extremist. If elected, he could be the deciding vote that blocks moves to abolish the filibuster and pass other critical legislation. For these reasons we encourage our members, supporters, and the public to vote to defeat Herschel Walker and his far-right agenda.

The 2024 elections will present a huge opportunity for the growing socialist movement to shift the balance of power in the United States. The Left could lead the charge to abolish the filibuster and clear the path for historic gains for the working class by legalizing abortion nationwide and passing the PRO Act. Expanding voting rights could permanently alter the political battlefield and make it impossible for the minoritarian neo-fascists in the GOP to capture the federal government again. Herschel Walker’s election to the US Senate could rule out all of these possibilities for six years.

Make no mistake: working-class people have fundamentally different interests from the neoliberal elites in the Democratic Party establishment. DSA remains committed to advancing our democratic socialist perspective by building a democratic working-class organization. In this election, we are building independent working-class power by making sure that young workers and people of color know how to vote. We are getting out the vote by helping the public navigate barriers to voting, and promoting political issues like abortion rights from a socialist perspective. We encourage everyone to make a plan to vote as early as possible, to join us in continuing to fight for abortion rights no matter who wins the runoff, and to join DSA to help build an economy and society that works for the many, not the few.

Find your polling place and make a plan to vote early at atldsa.org/vote

While 2022’s Election Day wasn’t a perfect one for our chapter, it was an excellent one. All of our members running for public office won their offices and all but one of our endorsed non-members did. Our endorsed candidates running at the State Senate level won, and all but one of our candidates at the State House level did. We congratulate all of our candidates, both in victory and defeat, for advancing progressive, class-conscious ideals in all three counties of the state–in urban, suburban, and rural parts of Delaware. We especially congratulate endorsed non-member Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown on becoming the House Majority Whip–the first person of color to ever occupy a House leadership role in the history of our state! We are building a mass movement that demands a Delaware that puts people over profits, and puts the interests of Delaware’s working class over its major corporations.

The loss:

Susan Clifford (RD-39, Seaford): 30-70%.

The wins:

Sen. Marie Pinkney (SD-13, Bear): Unopposed

Rep. Larry Lambert: (RD-7, Claymont): 71-29%
Rep. Rae Moore (RD-8, Middletown): 58-42%
Rep. DeShanna Neal* (RD-13, Elsmere): 61-39%
Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown (RD-17, Wilmington Manor): Unopposed
Rep. Sophie Phillips (RD-18, Christiana): 71-29%
Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton*: (RD-26, Bear): 70-30%
Rep. Eric Morrison* (RD-27, Glasgow): 53-47%
Rep. Kerri Evelyn Harris (RD-32, Dover): 58-42%

(* indicates a Delaware DSA chapter member)

DSA-recommended candidates Auditor-Elect Lydia York also won 54-46% and New Castle County Councilman Brandon Toole (CD-1, Bear) won unopposed.

These DSA-endorsed electoral wins represent a DOUBLING of our chapter members in Dover and a 33% increase in our non-member endorsees in office—clearly, the appetite for democratic socialism in Delaware is growing. This election cycle also marks the beginning of electoral relevance for our Southern Delaware DSA branch. One endorsed non-member in a district entirely located in Kent County was elected. Kent County is not sapphire-blue the way Northern Delaware is; while it voted for President Biden in 2020, it went for President Trump in 2016. This should put to rest the tiresome narrative that we are a fringe group only capable of winning in overwhelmingly Democratic communities. While in Delaware, at least, we might not be a competitive force in red or purple districts, or in our state’s one red county of Sussex (yet!), we have proven that with quality candidates, quality messaging, and a quality work ethic, we can go into Kent County, compete, and win.

Still, the relentless attack ads, aimed not only at the candidates we support, but at candidates such as Dr. Frank Burns and Rep. Paul Baumbach who merely donate to our endorsees, should not be ignored, even though they were largely ineffective in a state that both leans left and prides itself on a congenial political climate. It is important that we continue to grow our chapter in membership and in organizing capacity so that candidates continue to view our endorsement as an asset and not as a liability. Mailers and texts attacking us seem to be more effective than robocalls, as several of our candidates who were targeted with these—Reps. Moore, Neal, and Morrison—while all victorious, underperformed Biden’s 2020 performances in their districts at a statistically significant level. Meanwhile, Rep. Lambert, who was merely attacked by robocalls tying him to us, actually slightly overperformed the President’s 2020 results in his district. Granted, other factors are at play here too—racism, sexism, transphobia, and homophobia directed at our candidates, betrayal by some state-level Democrats overtly or covertly supporting our GOP opponents, and of course, Biden’s natural boost up and down the state of being Delaware’s “favorite son”. In the case of Rep. Morrison, who had the biggest underperformance of any candidate we backed, the Delaware GOP ran an experienced political candidate, giving him a (paper thin) moderate veneer, and poured massive amounts of money and manpower into the race. Given all of these vulnerabilities, they’ve probably hit their high-but-not-high-enough ceiling against him, at least for the coming decade in which his district will remain the same.

There is some internal work to be done to shore up our positions—both we and other Delaware progressive organizations have run into frustration when trying to get a mostly Northern New Castle County membership base down to canvas and volunteer even in Southern New Castle County, let alone downstate. While we made up for this by redirecting more fundraising money to our candidates in these communities, nothing compares to on-the-ground support and we can realistically probably never out-fundraise the corporate elite of Delaware. Now that we have multiple electoral successes in the region, southern NCCo in particular is a critical area for us in which to build our base and destigmatize the word “socialism” from meaning “the Soviet Union” to meaning “a society in which the interests of working people are favored over the interests of the elites.” The part of New Castle County below the canal is more underrepresented in our membership than redder Kent County is. While we should not compromise our platform—doing so in the face of electoral SUCCESS looks comically weak, there are possibly some points that could be clarified, especially on criminal justice. It is one of the few issues on which Delaware is right-of-center on, and it is by far and away the issue on which the attack ads against us hammered the hardest—the Republicans can’t hit us on our healthcare policies or environmental policies very much, simply because they are overwhelmingly popular among Delawareans. It is critical that we make it abundantly clear that while our goal is to fight against the carceral state and not just to get nicer cops and prison guards, we do not plan to eliminate police departments and empty all of the prisons the moment we gain power. We actually have a plan for public safety that transfers functions from the police and resolves socio-economic conditions conducive to crime.

Overall, this was a highly successful electoral campaign for the Delaware DSA chapter in 2022! We owe our profound thanks to all of our members, all of our supported candidates, everyone who volunteered and worked for the candidates, and other progressive organizations and labor unions that threw down in money and time for many and in some cases all of our candidates. Thank you all so much!