The California DSA State Council met for our bi-monthly meeting on April 5th. State Committee member Michael L. grounded us in our political reality. He applauded the mass mobilizations at the “Hands Off” rallies across the United States that were happening at the same time as our meeting. “Sure ‘hands off,’ but what more?” He challenged us, “What are we fighting for?” He highlighted the importance of building a base, organizing, and leadership beyond these mobilizations. 

Bonnie L. from East Bay DSA reported that her chapter’s labor committee had passed a resolution to support the Federal Unionist Network (FUN) and was bringing it to the full chapter at its upcoming yearly convention to make this work a priority for the coming year, and urged other chapters to do the same. [The chapter subsequently voted to make it the top priority.]

California DSA can also publicly take a position on legislation. We had a lively discussion about our legislative endorsement framework and the process for supporting or opposing legislation going forward. We did not formally decide to change the framework language in the meeting. 

The statewide electoral committee shared the work that its members have been doing to research key, winnable districts to build an Assembly slate for the 2026 elections. 

We also discussed the California DSA delegate elections, which are currently happening across the different chapters. 

We ended the meeting with a presentation and discussion about our collective ideas about the Vision for California campaign.

Our next State Council meeting is on June 7th where we will have our first meeting with the newly-elected delegates.

Terror is leadership: the falling
out of the plane
when you are midair, you wonder
did I sign up for this?
when you are about to hit the ?--
parachute or not--
you see
whether you made the right choice

you knew for a while it would be this,
you smelled it from afar: the fear
you were called to it by such bodies, Black ones
after colonial wars
they were the wrong bodies, that much was clear,
dead as they were in the rivers. Many of them.
This is not the solidarity you hope for.
Though that is how we all end: back to sea, back to Earth.

Terror is poverty, empty bellies stalking sleepless nights.
Terror is nothing ever smells right, because all the alerts
flash at once
Albert's story is not mine to tell. Though I fear if I don't
no one will know it.

He too was dead by the end, on the streets of a city.
Can you hear the lament? this man who gave me his trust.
And he died in the same way his fate foretold when we met,
to my deepest regret. I failed him. We all did.

I got him SSI. It was hard. Albert's head, which was beautiful
because he was a human
because he told me precisely the truth
those locks of honest hair
where he had been kissed by his wife, gripping as she does the papers she brings
for my "learned" eyes
was indented by his father's hammer, in his father's hand;
the divot--alltheseyearslater--was easy to see. His wife made it clear
when he only said it with his eyes:
he is very disabled. He really needs this help. His eyes
said You have no fucking idea.

The worst part is, I got him the help. I did
that. I fought for him and won.
It might have saved his life?
Albert died on the streets. Young. So all of us lost.

I managed to forget most of them, you know. To my shame.
Most of them were too blinding, especially cumulative,
in that long queue out the door,
in their honesty,
survival craft,
the wisdom of what others know,
the fact of their continued existence,
for my dark mind to preserve.
They deserved better. Even when we won.
From all of us. I/we owe them more. Our neighbors.

Albert was a man walking in terror. His lungs didn't much work. He had other things,
scary ones, hurting, haunting, his body. Diseases. Despair. Seizures. His dad's hammer.
Hunger.

Albert was afraid of himself. How did I come to this?

Albert was a hero. Albert was alive.
Albert made me want to cry.
Albert made me laugh. Albert was good people.
His wife made me want to be brave.
I met Albert, alive.
By the time he left this place, the city, Golden State, where the streetlights end,
he was dead.

Terror is a person like Albert beginning and ending
those ways. Those dark alleys. He was so beautiful, alive.
Terror is thousands of dollars of trauma
therapy for yourself, so that you can tell this very story,
knowing that OR that money could keep
the next Albert alive.

Terror is what you feel
when you realize
you like pretty things
and so many Alberts

Terror is your government
will torture Arab(-seeming?) people
before asking whether
it might be
the wrong thing to do
-or immigrants
-or that stranger over there
-or whomever the file is on
-because ignorance becomes malice
in that way that we do

Terror is a rich grinning man with a chainsaw
choosing who lives and who dies
and the people who keep cheering him on
Did you see them?
What did you do?

Terror is that steady stream of Black people
and brown people
and disabled people
and poor people, so many poor people
walking into your office
to tell you how they have had to learn
how to survive
White supremacist police
and their equivalent in any direction
where power thinks it can squat
The same waters of survival stream out of your office
having enlisted you
having taught you
what beauty is
having taken you to rivers of so many kinds, the wilder
the better, before hitting the Earth, parachute or not
and you could have gone your whole life
and not known
any of this

I will tell you about terror.
I will tell you about walking down streets where you
can hear the abuse, every block
and much of it not even
directed at you
and when the last man who raised his hand to strike you
liked your defiance
so didn't
you learned
what might work
until it kills you some day

Terror is walking barefoot
the perfect, delectable earth
every way that you can
which is
Californian
which is
peculiar
which is painful
which is too raw to survive
which is mostly
through the paths of your heart
which is mostly
sick in bed

Terror is
your hometown burned down
and the whole world watched
and somehow this story is yours

Terror is looking at your kin
and the fairness of our skin
and thinking:
do they actually think killing someone, anyone,
body or soul
is a good idea, ever?!?

Terror is knowing you are one medical bill away
from Albert's fate.
Terror is not saying goodbye.

the way he said thank you and all I had was sorry

Terror is alone.
Solidarity is freedom.

The Democratic Party is in a mess of trouble. And a mess.

Polls peg its public approval rating at the lowest in decades, mainly for failure to push back vigorously against the MAGA agenda. That’s no surprise to socialists, both within the party and without, who have watched it become more and more dependent on Wall Street and big business, especially distasteful elements like arms makers and sellers, neo-con warmongers, fossil fuel corporations, healthcare profiteers and financial speculators. It’s gotten to the point where Republicans, while allied with the same billionaire classes, manage to exude a phony “America first” populism by campaigning against Democrats’ elitist reputation and using cultural war opportunism to win enough of the working class—or induce us to not vote at all.

Meanwhile, insufficient attention was paid to post-election polling that showed the genocide in Gaza was the No. 1 reason people who voted for Biden in 2020 failed to back Harris in 2024.

Just a little farther to the right
Yet the Democrats’ dominant forces continue to insist that if only the party moved a little farther to the right or a little more distant from solidarity with Palestine, it could capture the votes of “moderate” Republicans in the “managerial/professional class” and stereotyped white suburbanites. The heck with working class immigrants and other marginalized groups.

We know better. Only a party by, of and for the vast majority of us who work for a living—or would if we could—can defeat the fascist right and institute a march toward societies that put people and the planet over profits. 

Could that be a drastically remade Democratic Party?  It feels implausible—and maybe is. But stalwart socialists and uncorrupted progressives are still carrying on that fight, understanding full well that comrades organizing in other formations (e.g. Greens, Peace and Freedom) or who envision DSA as a proto-party, are all our allies. Time will tell what roads will eventually converge in success.

The ostensible ruling body of the California Democratic Party (CDP) is its Central Committee, with approximately 3,500 members. About a third are elected officials, party bosses and their appointees—with some exceptions, the most conservative portion, thanks to the power of big money, incumbency and patronage. (Part of the progressives’ platform is to eliminate or greatly reduce superdelegate appointments.)

Another third are appointed by county central committees, themselves mostly elected on the bottom of the primary ballot in presidential years. The exact mechanism varies a lot by county, but they’re not typically big money operations. Progressives who banded together in slates and worked hard to get the word out have seen some success. (I’ve been elected twice.)

The final third are elected in Assembly District Election Meetings, known as ADEMS. Every two years, CDP organizes special elections to elect 14 people in each of 80 districts. The most recent was in February 2025. Traditionally, these were in-person, Iowa-style caucuses, with candidates vying to get supporters out on a weekend morning. This permitted a measure of grassroots power; where progressives organized slates effectively, they were often successful in making sure each candidate’s friends voted for all of them. 

With COVID, the party began instituting mail and online voting, now in addition to a reinstated but much more low-key, in-person option, with complicated sets of deadlines for candidate and voter registration. 

Progressives determined to win
This year, progressives determined to win a large number of seats organized—later than we should have, unfortunately—as the Progressive Delegates Network (PDN), aiming to help create and support slates in as many districts as possible. We first developed a political platform, set out to recruit and vet candidates, then helped organize and campaign. We endorsed about 360 (including significant numbers of DSA members) of a possible 1,120, and about a third of those were elected.

Post-mortems have led to some observations and conclusions:

• We needed to start organizing earlier. 

• We failed to hook up with some progressives who either organized themselves or ran, generally unsuccessfully, as individuals.

• We need to make affiliation with our slates a sine qua non for progressives, both as a key to success and a measure against opportunism that some have adopted, aligning instead with liberals or establishment figures perceived as more likely to win. We were up against a number of phony, self-declared “labor” slates, and others sponsored by state legislators who sought even more influence than they could get through their allotted appointments.

• Online voting—a large percentage of the total—provided many opportunities for mischief: we’ve seen circumstantial evidence of people being registered without their knowledge, then “voting” as they’re told with minimal understanding. In most districts, only about half of those who went to the trouble of registering to vote online actually did so. 

• People with less English knowledge or lacking Internet access had more trouble voting.

• Fewer in-person voting sites without good public transit discouraged participation, especially in rural districts.

• Voters were uncomfortable going in person to some locations housing institutions that actively supported certain candidates.

• Chaos reigned at several in-person sites, where privacy was compromised and ballots ran out. 

• For the first time, apparently, large sums were spent to get out the vote, with progressive slates particularly targeted by groups aligned with Democrats for Israel. 

Probably the biggest conclusion of all is that if progressives want to seriously challenge the CDP machine, more serious, ongoing organizing is needed, not last-minute rushes to find people for the biannual ADEMs.

A new membership organization
To that end, the small, self-appointed group of PDN organizers intends to create a new membership organization, probably in the form of a PAC, outside the party. It will be based on the platform that was hammered out and with the sole mission of fighting for power in the CDP by competing for Central Committee positions in ADEMs, county parties and through selective involvement in legislative and statewide contests—something that California DSA is also taking on. 

Meanwhile, there will be flurries of organizing around statewide party meetings, including the upcoming annual convention in Anaheim May 30 - June 1. Together with the party’s Progressive Caucus, we’ll engage in educational work, including a showing of the Oscar-winning film No Other Land about attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. PDN is waiting to get more organized before endorsing candidates for party offices, but a number of affiliated individuals are running for regional director and caucus leadership positions. Alan Vargas, a maverick Young Democrat who was PDN-endorsed for ADEMs, is challenging party chair Rusty Hicks, a nemesis of progressives and advocates for party democracy.

Battles may develop over resolutions calling for an arms embargo of Israel, Palestinians’ right of return and others—in an oppressive, anti-democratic milieu. Some of us will challenge the Rules Committee’s ongoing stall in approving our application for creation of a chartered party organization, California Democrats for Justice in Palestine. Democrats for Israel achieved that status a couple of years ago.

Anyone interested in getting involved in these efforts, contact your local folks engaged in the intraparty battles. Someone in your chapter surely knows who they are.

Before reading more, an urgent ask for all members: we want the feedback of all our membership! Please fill out our chapter survey so we can know more about your thoughts on our various areas of work and how we can improve! This will take about 10-15 minutes, so set aside some time to sit down and share your thoughts!

• Our State and Revolution reading group is coming up this Saturday. Make sure to RSVP in order to get the link!

• Our Sanctuary Cincy petition is going strong, but we need you to help us reach as many people as possible to sign! Sign up for our canvass this Saturday, May 24th in Westwood to get as many residents of Cincinnati as possible to sign the petition!

• New to DSA (or know someone interested) and want to meet others and learn more about the country’s largest socialist organization? Join us for our next DSA 101!

• Our next Stitching Social is happening this May 31st at noon! Join us at the Covington Library to start or continue a craft project and socialize with fellow socialists!

• We’re hosting a 101 session on Medicare for All and why we fight for it as socialists! Join us on May 31st at the Newport Library at 3 PM for a political education event on one of the core issues for democratic socialists over the past ten years!

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Climate Disaster? The Point is to Change It!

What got me out of being a climate doomer is meeting and collaborating with enough people across this organization who have been through that period of engaging with how bad things are and reckoning with that doomer aspect, and then are like, No, we just have to build something better and that’s the only alternative, because otherwise we are fucked. But we have to figure out what that alternative is and how to make it happen at whatever cost because that’s our collective and individual survival. Those actually are the stakes and we can build it together—there are all these reasons to think we can build it together—but we have to keep articulating that in a way that people can actually believe, that we can actually believe and also convince other people of.

• Ashik Siddique, DSA Co-Chair. READ MORE

By Gregory Lebens-Higgins

America “didn’t have any self-admitted proletarians,” wrote John Steinbeck. “Everyone was a temporarily embarrassed capitalist.” But unless they owned the business, this “capitalist” was probably just another member of the working class, producing profit for the bourgeoisie.

“The bourgeoisie are the ruling class of our historical epoch.”

The bourgeoisie are the ruling class of our historical epoch. Replacing monarchies determined by blood or divinity, the bourgeoisie now own the means of production—land, factories, and capital—necessary to produce commodities. These commodities are created with the labor of workers in the process of production. Yet when sold for profit, only a fraction of the value is returned to its creator.

The bourgeoisie are compelled by competition to accumulate the remainder. To maintain their place in the market they must expand and innovate; and they are compelled by ego to maintain the accoutrements of their status. They must also fend off working class assertions of class interest by lowering wages, extending hours, and breaking unions.

In The Power Elite (1956), C. Wright Mills takes a broader view of the elite, as “self conscious members of a[n upper] social class.” Though dated, Mills provides a useful analysis of “those political, economic, and military circles which as an intricate set of overlapping cliques share decisions having at least national consequences.”

Class consciousness is formed among the elite by psychological and social unity; ”men of similar origin and education” with similar careers and lifestyles. The interwoven institutional hierarchies of the political, corporate, and military elite further shape “the relations of their rulers.” Finally, the class-conscious bourgeoisie coordinate to maintain their position: “As the institutional mechanics of our time have opened up venues to men pursuing their several interests, many of them have come to see that these several interests could be realized more easily if they worked together, in informal as well as in more formal ways.”

However, members of the bourgeoisie do not always put their self interest aside. The bourgeoisie consists of factions shaped by their basis for securing capital. In The Eighteenth Brumaire, Marx describes the friction between landed property and capital: What kept these two factions apart “was not any so-called principles, it was their material conditions of existence, two different kinds of property.”

“Upon the different forms of property, upon the social conditions of existence, rises an entire superstructure of distinct and peculiarly formed sentiments, illusions, modes of thought and views of life. The entire class creates and forms them out of its material foundations and out of the corresponding social relations.”

Another faction of the bourgeoisie are small business owners who still participate in the work. These “petit bourgeoisie” are at risk of falling into the proletariat from competition with centralized monopoly. They are less secure in their class position and become the most reactionary, fighting any encroachments on their property and finding scapegoats (rather than capitalism itself) on which to blame their troubles. They are the face of Trump’s “beautiful boaters.”

The bourgeoisie is propped up by bureaucratic institutions staffed by the professional-managerial class. These workers, elevated above manual labor by social status, come to identify with the bourgeoisie. Their loyalty is ensured by the promise of stability.

But such stability is no longer a guarantee. The professional-managerial class no longer receives the benefit of the deal. Student debt, the erosion of benefits, and rising prices push them further into the proletariat.

Meanwhile, the bourgeoisie is unraveling. As Mills reminds us, its structure is not meritocratic: “The man who is rising gets involved in the accumulation of advantages, which is merely another way of saying that to him that hath shall be given.” The capabilities of the bourgeoisie erode with the pampering of each successive generation.

The very institutions that support the cohesiveness and maintenance of the bourgeoisie are being destroyed in its race to suck up remaining profits from the public sector. Meanwhile, the resentment of the petit bourgeoisie is increasingly unstable in its support for the destructive policies of Trump.

These weaknesses provide an opening for a new historical epoch. One defined by democratic control of the entire working class. The bourgeoisie has outlived its usefulness, and is unable to deliver anything beyond destruction. For progress, the means for a dignified life must be guaranteed to all.

The post B is for “Bourgeoisie” first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Starting With Gramsci

MAGA has put together a fascist coalition of white supremacist, reactionary nationalists, Christian fundamentalists, libertarians, and techno authoritarians; and they are on an offensive against the progress of the 20^th century. All the gains of labor, civil rights, women’s rights, and the LBGQTI+ community are under assault in a blitzkrieg of attacks. The fascists intend to fundamentally restructure institutional democracy, and impose a strait jacket on civil society. Nevertheless, among the people there is an anti-fascist majority and deep splits within the ruling class. How can socialists organize to block, resist, and build an effective opposition? 

In the struggle for power, the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci defined two different periods which have relevancy for our current political moment. He terms these the war of position and the war of maneuver. The fascists are now on a war of maneuver, a rapid offensive to gain ground and consolidate power. For the left, the massive labor movement in the 1930s was our war of maneuver. Other key periods were Reconstruction after the Civil War, and the second reconstruction of the civil rights movement that defeated Jim Crow apartheid and brought radical changes to civil society. 

When not on the offensive, the left needs to be building positions of institutional and organizational strength in civil society, Gramsci’s war of position. In these moments, socialists should root themselves in the working class by building the power of unions, Independent Political Organizations (IPOs), social and community organizations, mutual aid groups, immigration defense, progressive churches, on school boards and so on. In other words, “socialists everywhere.” This builds our organizing capacity and mass influence; increases our ability to mobilize, whether for protests, contract fights or elections; and offers opportunities to train and recruit activists, build relationships, and project power.

How can socialists work to build power in civil society? Mass organizations don’t need to have socialist politics, but socialists can win leadership through fighting for organizational goals, gaining respect, and uniting rather than dividing. Through such work we can attract and recruit the best organizers, educate people about socialism, and connect the immediate struggle to strategic goals. Avoiding working with people because they don’t say or do things as we would, or simply preaching socialism without defending people in their daily struggle, ends in political isolation. We don’t need to impose our ideas, but learn from folks; find out what their worries and demands are. Only once we fully understand their reality, can we hope to clarify the exploitative nature of capitalism and bring them to socialism. Chinese revolutionaries called this “from the masses to the masses,” and the great Brazilian educator Paolo Freire articulated it as “pedagogy of the oppressed” and developing “critical consciousness.” Through such organizing we can help create a broad united front that can resist and block the fascists and build the opposition. By the elections of 2026 we may be in the position to start a counteroffensive, and more so in 2028. 

Coalitions are also a crucial element to building organizational power. We must answer the question: How should we deal with centrists in a united front? There is widespread anger and growing disillusionment over centrist leadership.  It’s evident in the mass crowds rallying to Sanders and AOC, and the huge protests organized by Indivisible, Working Families Party, Move On and 505051. Some members of DSA are uncomfortable working with such organizations. They are too close to the Democrats, they’re not socialists, they fail to say this or that. Yet standing on the sidelines just won’t do and converts are not won through disdain and neglect.

This is the time to unite with all friends and allies to push the centrists to the sidelines. Something we can’t do by ourselves. During the civil rights movement and Vietnam war, under mass pressure, some centrists moved to the left. Others did not. The same will happen today. Senator Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador should be applauded, much more effective than Senator Booker’s 25-hour soliloquy of performance politics. When centrists vacillate, compromise, and collaborate they weaken the united front from within and must be criticized and called to step aside. But our anger needs to be directed at the fascists. In that battle, when centrists show they can’t lead, it opens the door for more militant leadership.  Schumer and Jeffries act like deer caught in the headlights of an onrushing car. They yearn for a return to “normalcy.” But we must push beyond the old normal that proved too weak to prevent the fascist onslaught. We can build towards an expanded democracy, what we might call a third reconstruction, and win the united front to such a vision. 

This must be done through fighting the war of position. But how do we do it? What practices can we adopt to build the capacity of DSA and the left to generate real political change? What actual examples are there of on-the-ground tactics and techniques to use in today’s war of position? We’d like to explore three projects: one old, one new, and one not yet implemented. These illustrate possible approaches to engaging with organizations and individuals outside the left to build our positional power.

The New Lynn Coalition 

The New Lynn Coalition—a group of faith, community, labor, and political organizations—is a prime example for how coalitions can serve both immediate needs and move forward in the war of position. In Give Light and the People Will Fight, Jeff Crosby, the former Executive Director of the organization, describes the coalition’s successful reactions to Trump’s victory and attack on immigrants, quickly gaining support with an array of community institutions and elected officials. The power to catalyze such a broad range of participants is not due solely to the cruelty of the Oval Office, but a decade’s long campaign to build coalitional power and sharpen organizing abilities.

Their actions should be seen as a set of habits built over decades of organizing and coalition work. These habits within the war of position are what have enabled the New Lynn Coalition to be so formidable in 2025.

Coalitions are not easy. As Crosby outlines, they take patience and, sometimes, a pragmatic perspective. Because of their extensive experience, the New Lynn Coalition was able to effectively employ several techniques to leverage the dissatisfaction with the Trump administration to maintain and build their coalition. In return, Crosby claims that residents have begun successfully building institutions to resist and increase the power of the left.

What can New Lynn teach us? According to Crosby, the coalition sought out organizational allies with different political orientations, encouraged democratic participation outside of the coalition’s leadership, and compromised to maintain positive relationships between organizations and honor the results of the democratic process.

Building Alliances

The New Lynn coalition actively courts organizations that have overlapping interests during a given campaign. Crosby describes two examples. In the first, the coalition worked with a Guatemalan Evangelical Church to support undocumented immigrants and then, after Trump’s 2024 victory, a rally protesting ICE. This very same church discouraged parishioners from attending a Ceasefire for Palestine march. Similarly, seeing how Trump’s attack on immigrants was harming small businesses, the coalition recruited them to join the anti-ICE march, despite their past opposition to labor rights. By building these tactical alliances, the fight to defend immigrants was strengthened. 

By necessity, coalitions must be built between organizations that do not share all the same values. The New Lynn Coalition’s view on temporary alliances increased their public power during marches against the Trump administration and created relationships embedded within the community that can be mobilized for future actions. The core of the Lynn Coalition has strategic and deep organizational relationships, but other relationships are tactical, uniting all those who can work together on a specific issue. 

Democratic Participation

The New Lynn Coalition depended on open meetings to organize one of their actions. This meant that unaffiliated individuals could come off the street and join in. This structure has some risks, but Crosby explains the tactic brought new insights into the current moment and their course of action. Democratic processes that allow people to feel ownership over a movement, have potentially profound effects on organizational depth.

Certainly, this tactic should not always be employed. But there is reason to believe that, if done carefully and selectively, open meetings can help organizations build power within a community, not only increasing a membership roster but ensuring that new members (or affiliated individuals and organizations) are fully engaged and empowered.

Compromise

Crosby details how several decisions were borne out of democratic negotiations. One which Crosby himself did not agree with: the day of the protest was set for a weekday, better for media but inconvenient for workers and seniors. But negotiating in good faith is absolutely necessary to the maintenance of coalitional relationships. It’s crucial that in our partnerships we accept even ideas we disagree with (sometimes) to hold coalitions together, and ensure that partners will continue to collaborate in the future. 

Of course, compromises must be made purposefully: we need to be clear about the principals on which we won’t compromise and, even if socialism is not a prerequisite for coalition unity, maintain our independence to speak about socialism and recruit for DSA. 

Crosby’s account follows the structural decisions of the coalition rather than individual behavior, so we’d like to point to one more potential to build organizational capacity within coalitions: recruitment. Coalitions bring membership into contact with people from different backgrounds and orientations. This is an opportunity. Any interactions with non-socialists are a chance to recruit, however nominally. These recruits do not need to become red-dyed left militants (although that would be great!). Shifting their political orientation leftwards opens opportunities for future mobilization. This boils down to basic organizing tactics: seek out interaction; listen and try to understand their primary political concerns; and ‘recruit’ using their rhetoric and values, not yours. This perspective becomes even more relevant when looking at our next example, Socialists Everywhere.

Socialists Everywhere

Socialists Everywhere, a new project started in the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America (CDSA) Blue Line Branch, asks members to attend meetings for civic and quasi-civic institutions, such as the city councils, school boards, and neighborhood associations and…well…mainly, listen. After the event finishes up, members file reports that break down important information from the meeting. That’s it! No protests or leaflets required. Many descriptions of the program’s goals and structure come from an interview with Ramsin Canon from CDSA Blue Line Branch.

This simple program is an exciting innovation in building positional power. Internally, the ease of access and freedom from the campaign boom and bust cycle give members and potential leaders a simple, unintimidating project to build skills and confidence.

For the project to reach its full potential, we think members should meet people, offer ideas during civic forums, and even take on leadership positions within these civic and quasi-civic institutions. As the project and its participants mature, we expect that these more ambitious goals will materialize, allowing CDSA to build organic ties to the community. Building organic ties to the community sounds more like an over-scripted commercial sound-bite than a central political goal, but these communal ties are crucial political tools, allowing our organization to extend its reach outside of our membership and mobilize a much broader group.

Socialists Everywhere can build these communal ties by increasing visibility, building individual relationships, and constructing the foundations for bottom-up coalitions.

Visibility and Individual Relationships

Socialists Everywhere promotes CDSA as an interested and active organization. If members wearing CDSA swag sit in on group meetings, listening to the concerns of the community and volunteering to help, they’ve effectively proven our organization to be reliable, open, and invested in the problems of concerned workers. Appearance at these events also repositions CDSA as a coalition partner. If our members are attending the same events and listening to the same communal concerns, we no longer need to treat other groups as exclusive representatives. Instead, we’ve been there too. We’ve heard and shared the same problems. This increases our attractiveness as a coalition partner, home for new members, or simply a more powerful endorser of candidates or political goals. This is no small positional change, but promises to make CDSA an equal rather than junior partner in future alliances. 

Individual relationships are also crucial for increasing organizational capacity. With Socialists Everywhere, members can interface with people from different backgrounds and political orientations. More than that, these events are often at least nominally political and have to do with decisions about shared responsibilities and priorities. This is a great opportunity for our members to build networks outside of CDSA that can amplify political goals well past a typical member’s bubble of friends, family, and comrades.

Bottom-Up Coalitions

Socialists Everywhere may also improve the quality of the foundation of our coalitions. Now, it has only been around for a few months, so the effectiveness of coalition building through Socialists Everywhere remains to be seen, but the glimpses are promising. One example: a member attended a ward meeting where a tenant union announced their project and a related event. After the meeting, the member talked to some of the union folks and exchanged contact information. The member discussed their interaction with branch leadership and the union presented at a branch meeting and even took the opportunity to ask for volunteers and donations. This isn’t a full-scale coalition by any means, but the door is now open to future coordination.

This is what Canon would call the beginning of a bottom-up coalition, where a rank-and-file member first connects with members from another group. Leadership consent is still required (otherwise there would be no democratic accountability), but on-the-ground relationships constitute the first step. This is quite different from a leadership-based coalition, which depends on relationships between an organization’s leaders. Leadership-based coalitions are more fragile. Such a coalition is vulnerable to personality differences and leadership changes, dangers that are far less concerning when relationships also exist within the broader respective memberships. Last, when leader-based coalitions do take place, if there are organic ties to other organizations through rank-and-file members, membership is already, at least indirectly, involved and more likely to respond positively

Building a Base through Electoral Campaigns

Both the New Lynn Coalition and Socialists Everywhere seek to continually build networks within their cities and communities by working with people outside of their organization and respectfully listening to the needs and wants of partners and residents. This project format could be applied to other organizational action, particularly electoral campaigns. Typically, we regard them as win or lose, but these actions can be harnessed to build relationships and establish institutional strength in civil society. In addition to winning seats on councils and school boards, we should focus on expanding the ward IPO. 

Let’s say a DSA candidate gets 2,200 votes in a losing effort for city council. In doing our mass outreach and door-to-door work perhaps we have identified 500 home addresses that had positive responses to our issues and candidate. If we used a petition during the campaign, asking people to support one of our issues, we may also have a few hundred emails or phone numbers. So post-election, we have an immediate popular base of 2,200 with more than 500 already identified with contact information.

The election should not be the end, but the beginning. From programs such as Socialists Everywhere and canvasses, we will have learned the major concerns of our supporters. Now we can create a campaign to take to the ward, showing we are serious about issues and not just getting votes. First, we can contact the 200 or so people whose phone or email we have, asking them to come to a planning meeting at our IPO office. Perhaps we get 10 to 20 new people to show up who want to be activists. Now we’re in a position to go back to the 500 addresses of supporters with an enlarged activist core. And we build from there: turning supporters into activists, turning activists into DSA members. The result is an institutional structure led by socialists based in the ward’s working class. 

Positionally, such an approach would have an incredible impact. But, it must be pursued with the ideas of the New Lynn Coalition and Socialists Everywhere in mind. We must listen and learn from the people. What are their issues, not just the issues we think are important. Moreover, to pursue true long-term organizational strength, we need to create working relations with other progressive ward organizations and institutions, built on respect and common concerns.  

By rooting ourselves deeply in working class communities and integrating into local institutions, socialists can build positions of power in civil society. It’s not about one campaign or one election, but a strategy that can defend workers when the enemy is on the offensive, and turn our defense into mobilizations to expand democracy and contest for power. We can build socialist influence and leadership by working with all our friends and allies, using tactical alliances as well as building long-term relationships and recruiting members and building DSA as an organic expression of the multi-racial working class. That necessitates a long-term commitment for socialist to be everywhere, in our community, in our workplace, and in elections. There are no shortcuts. Preaching socialism in a “field of dreams” scenario in which “they will come” to our side won’t do. But being shoulder to shoulder in the daily battles for dignity, building those battles into institutional structures, and making those institutions a base for working class power is our road-map forward. 

The post Building Working Class Power in Civil Society appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

By Triangle DSA Socialist Feminist Working Group

The NC Triangle Democratic Socialists of America’s two-year-long effort to shut down anti-abortion center Gateway Women's Care on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh has ended in victory! Gateway's landlord is no longer leasing to this unlicensed, unregulated, and unethical “crisis pregnancy center.”

Local activists with Triangle DSA’s Socialist Feminist (“SocFem”) Working Group began picketing Gateway in the spring of 2023. We aimed to bring attention to the harm that anti-abortion or “crisis pregnancy centers” pose to working-class communities. These centers are known to target low-income folks and women of color, who experience disproportionate risk for poor maternal health outcomes. Like other “crisis pregnancy centers,” Gateway poses as a source of legitimate healthcare, even though it is not a licensed medical facility. Misinformation abounds on their website, from alleging abortion causes breast cancer and depression to offering dubious “abortion pill reversal” services. Crucially, anti-abortion centers like Gateway obstruct reproductive justice by endangering people regardless of whether or not they want to stay pregnant. Free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds peddled by centers may deceive clients into thinking that they are receiving quality prenatal care, a calculated diversion that can delay OBGYN visits. “Crisis pregnancy center” staff have also been known to fail to diagnose pregnancy complications that might require urgent medical attention or abortion care. 

Gateway opened with the stated intent of targeting college students seeking reproductive healthcare. Their location stood within two miles of seven local universities serving over 50,000 students. In the end, the very college students Gateway hoped to “slow down in the rush to the abortion clinic” were instrumental to the center’s demise. The NC State Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) turned out dozens of students for regular pickets on the sidewalk in front of Gateway. At our pickets, we warned community members about the presence of an anti-abortion center in their neighborhood and shared legitimate resources for reproductive healthcare. We also informed passersby that Gateway’s landlord was a registered Democrat who worked in the building just next door and seemed all too comfortable profiting from his lease with the anti-abortion operation.

Ultimately, our campaign was successful because we threatened the reputation of Gateway’s landlord. In May 2024, we received no response when we contacted the landlord to inform him of Gateway's harm to the community. In August of 2024, we contacted him again to no avail to share that over 200 petition signers shared our vision of a Hillsborough St without Gateway. Later that month, we had the first opportunity to speak to him when he arrived at his workplace next to Gateway during a picket. He memorably suggested that we should hold Kamala Harris signs since she could “take care” of anti-abortion centers. Inspired by his comment, at our next picket in November 2024, we decided to hold a sign bearing the name of the only person who could fix the situation. Within an hour of hearing that picketers were outside holding signs demanding he stop leasing to Gateway, the landlord emailed us claiming our tactics would not work. But on March 27th, 2025, we learned through public records that Gateway would no longer be a tenant at 1306 Hillsborough St. 

We want to credit the borrowed and learned techniques that helped shape our successful campaign. We learned how to de-escalate anti-abortion agitators from clinic defenders in our community. Triangle DSA’s No Appetite for Apartheid campaign shared tips for canvassing local businesses. Siembra and Triangle Tenant Union encouraged us to identify Gateway’s points of vulnerability, helping shape our unique strategy of escalating pressure on their landlord. We are also deeply appreciative of chapter partner and member of the Raleigh Planning Commission, Reeves Peeler. His guidance supported us in confirming the lease's termination and identifying areas where Gateway may have failed to comply with municipal building code. 

Most importantly, we want to thank the more than 100 community members who showed up to picket Gateway. The “sexually broken and abortion minded” community that Gateway sought to deceive and control came together to fight back, and we won. In the continued pursuit of bodily autonomy, Triangle DSA SocFem plans to activate other DSA chapters and politically aligned organizations across the nation to take action against anti-abortion centers. There are six remaining “crisis pregnancy centers” in the tri-city area of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill– and we are prepared to dismantle the thinly veiled propaganda operation that they are, one by one. 

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, May 20 (7:15 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.): Socialist Night School: Salting (In person at 1916 McAllister)

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

Wednesday, May 21 (6:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (In person at 438 Haight)

Thursday, May 22 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.): Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)

Thursday, May 22 (7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.): Comrade Karaoke (In person at The Roar Shack, 34 7th St)

Saturday, May 24 (10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.): No Appetite for Apartheid Outreach and Training (Meet at 1916 McAllister St)

Saturday, May 24 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Food Service (Meet at Castro St. and Market St.)

Sunday, May 25 (1:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.): Excursion to Angel Island to see Border Surveillance: From Gaza to the Rio Grande (Meet at the Ferry Building)

Monday, May 26 (5:50 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Socialist in Office + Electoral Board Meeting (Zoom)

Monday, May 26 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Tenderloin Healing Circle (In person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)

Monday, May 26 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Regular Meeting (In person at 1916 McAllister)

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

Tuesday, May 27 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Tech Reading Group (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Tuesday, May 27 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Da Vinci Code Reading Group – Day 2 (In person at 1916 McAllister and Zoom)

Wednesday, May 28 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): Maker Wednesday (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, May 29 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Ecosoc Vision and Strategy (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, May 29 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigrant Justice Working Group (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, May 31 (6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.): Chapter Movie Night: A Screening of Soy Cuba (I Am Cuba) (In person at Carr Auditorium, 22nd St, Building 3)

Sunday, June 1 (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Capital Reading Group (In person at 1916 McAllister and Zoom)

Monday, June 2 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Ecosocialist Biweekly Meeting (Zoom)

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

Events & Actions

Socialist Night School: Salting

Curious about salting? Heard the term but not sure what it means? Interested in learning about salting opportunities in the Bay Area? Join the Labor Board for a Socialist Night School on salting on Tuesday, May 20 from 7:00 p.m. – 8:15 p.m. at 1916 McAllister. We’ll learn about salting strategies, examine past SF wins, and hear about current opportunities to salt a workplace.

Masks are encouraged but not required. Food and drink will be provided!

RSVP at https://actionnetwork.org/events/socialist-night-school-salting/

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DSA Karaoke

Come hang out and do some karaoke with your fellow DSA SF comrades or cool people you want to impress with your incredible singing voice! Thursday, May 22 from 7:30 – 10:00 p.m. at The Roar Shack (34 7th Street at Market). Suggested donation of $10, no one turned away for lack of funds. No songs refused, no entry denied! Cheap drinks available to purchase or feel free to bring your own!

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Good Vibrations & Urban Ore Celebration & Fundraiser

Party with East Bay DSA to celebrate two union victories and rai$e money to continue the fight! After more than two years of organizing and struggle, workers from Good Vibrations and Urban Ore, with support from the East Bay Workplace Organizing Committee (EBWOC), BEAT their bosses, reaching major milestones at the bargaining table!

Come to Berkeley’s Hottest Backyard at 2923 Newbury St on Friday, May 23rd from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. for food, rousing speeches, DJs, dancing and karaoke! There’s a sliding scale entry fee to raise funds!

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No Appetite for Apartheid Training & Canvassing

We’ll be holding our next training and canvassing for No Appetite for Apartheid this Saturday, May 24! We’ll be meeting at 10:00 a.m. at 1916 McAllister to do training. After the training, we will divide up into groups to visit stores, and maybe some restaurants and cafes!

If you’ve already trained and you just want to canvass, feel free to show up at 11:30 a.m. at 1916 McAllister to get a turf. If you are able to provide transportation for people from the training site to the canvassing location, please indicate that in the RSVP form.

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Border Surveillance: From Gaza to the Rio Grande

The logic of empire extends all the way from Gaza to the Rio Grande. Join DSA for a thoughtful excursion, as we discuss the past and present of border surveillance, and how it relates to the methods and policies of colonization and empire.

On May 25th, the Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialism Working Group will lead a group to San Francisco’s historic immigration detention center on Angel Island where the Electronic Frontier Foundation is currently holding its exhibition Border Surveillance: Places, People and Technology.

We will meet at the Ferry Building at 1:30 p.m. to catch the 1:55 p.m. shuttle to Angel Island. We will then view the exhibition at the Angel Island Immigration Museum and discuss the connections between border surveillance practices and technology in the United States and decades of occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing in Palestine. Our event will conclude at the Ferry Building at 5:30 p.m.. Note: The cost of a roundtrip on the ferry is $15 per person.

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Maker Wednesday

Join us for Maker Wednesday on May 28 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.! Come make some art and connect with comrades. All are welcome, see you there!

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Office Hours

Co-work with your comrades! Come to the DSA SF office and get your DSA work or work-work done, or just hang out. We’ll  be at 1916 McAllister from 12:00 p.m to 5:00 p.m. on Fridays.

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May Chapter Meeting Recap

Our May Chapter Meeting was full of energy and lots of business! We heard report backs from Emilye on our May Day labor actions, and from Christina and Nayef from our Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group on what it means to divest here in San Francisco. Members debated and passed three important resolutions: to nominate Andrew and Hazel to DSA’s National Political Committee, and to increase our travel budget while launching a fundraising push to make sure everyone can take part in the work, regardless of finances. We also heard from over 30 candidates running to be delegates to the 2025 DSA National Convention!

We won’t have a regular chapter meeting in June, because we’ll be having our annual June Chapter Convention June 14 and 15, from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. each day at the Kelly Cullen Auditorium (220 Golden Gate). All are welcome!

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Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee Reportback

After breaking the ice by sharing our first concert experiences, the 12 of us dove into the second EWOC Fundamentals Training Series session focused on organizing conversations. We started with learning about the steps of an organizing conversation, had a group discussion about factors that could make those conversations more or less difficult, then we partnered up and practiced among ourselves before wrapping up for the day.

Coming out of those practice conversations, one comrade acting as an organizer was praised for how they organically applied the 3D framework when they got to the issue identification and agitation step. They detected an issue, asked their partners to further define the nature of the problem, and dug deeper by inquiring about the emotional impact of the issue. Inquiry tools were also a major part of our group conversations about conditions that make organizing challenging. More specifically, we discussed how asking questions that make people imagine life outside of their current state can make it easier to organize someone who either thinks their situation is fine or rationalizes it as being okay. While asking questions, listening, and making people feel heard are critical, they were just a few of the traits we learned to look for in workers who should be brought into an organizing committee. The others were: not being abrasive, having the trust of coworkers, and demonstrating the ability to lead coworkers into action.

Next week we’re going to learn about the arc of a campaign!

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Hygiene Kit Assembly and Distribution Reportback

Mutual aid is a tactic that models a socialist world where community members take up the responsibility of caring for each other through material solidarity. It exposes participants to revolutionary possibilities in the face of state neglect and violence. On Sunday May 11, the Labor Board and the Homeless Working Group hosted a Hygiene Kit Assembly and Distribution event at the DSA Office at 1916 McAllister Street. This was done not as an act of charity, but rather solidarity — an opportunity to share a resource, commune, and learn with working-class people who are in struggle against capitalism. The morning event attracted over 25 eager and early-risen volunteers, including some community members from outside of DSA, who stepped up by bringing requested kit supplies and delivered by building over 100 hygiene kits to distribute to our unhoused neighbors. The Homeless Working Group also provided information and guidance on how to best distribute the kits that all volunteers were provided at the end of the event. It can be tempting to view this as a one-time, “feel good” activity. Instead, we asked participants to see it as the first step in a project of regular support for, and community-building with, our unhoused neighbors. Hygiene kits are just a starting point  — please reach out to DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group for further training and collaboration!

Behind the Scenes

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

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

The 2024 Convention of Metro DC Democratic Socialists produced a unified plan for 2025, although divisions remain.

DSA San Diego, as part of TRUST Coalition, is demanding the end of Automatic License Plate Readers used by the San Diego Police Department. Read statement. [...]

Read More... from DSA San Diego Calls on the San Diego City Council to End the use of Automatic License Plate Readers

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