The elected officials of New York State ended their legislative session in Albany on June 2nd. They are headed home for the summer after failing to secure the rights of tenants or meeting New York state’s climate goals, refusing to pass Good Cause Eviction and the Build Public Renewables Act. What happened? To try and answer this and more, we bring on socialist organizers  to break down what happened in Albany and how New York lawmakers left tenants and the climate out to dry. Tonight, we are joined by Avi, a tenant organizer fighting for the Right to Remain, and RPM’s co-host and ecosocialist specialist, Lee Ziesche. We will assess the situation in Albany and the movement necessary, both inside and outside the halls of the State Capitol, to defeat the corporate opposition and make Good Cause and BPRA a reality in the Empire State.  

Visit right2remain.com to learn more about the ongoing campaign to pass Good Cause Eviction legislation in New York state.

On this show, Lee references the Sane Energy Project (saneenergy.org) and No NBK Pipeline Coalition (nonbkpipeline.org) as well as the NYC-DSA Ecosocialist Working Group (https://ecosocialists.nyc/).

Volume 1, Issue 8

By A. Adams

This article is a part of our series Ask DSA, where we ask members of our chapter to define what popular leftist concepts mean to them. The rest of the responses can be found here.

To be an anti-capitalist means to be against the capitalist system. But why would anyone be against capitalism? I am an anti-capitalist because I believe capitalism to be an inherently anti-democratic, authoritarian system. This is because under capitalism, working people have little to no say in the greatest decisions that affect their lives. The resources that their lives depend on are doled out at the whims of faceless corporations, with little to no regard for the lives and circumstances for those who work for them. In addition to this, workers have no power over the conditions in which they labor–the vast majority are, in the truest sense, wage slaves.

“But we live in a democracy where each of us has a voice in electing a representative who speaks for us in government,” you say. Yes, we each have the power to cast a vote, but, outside of the extremely rare exception, whichever candidate wins is already bought and paid for by a myriad of business interests through so-called campaign contributions that are little more than legalized bribery.

“Then what’s even the point of getting involved in politics?,” you ask. Under these circumstances, a fair enough question! Yes, the cards are stacked against working people, no two ways about it. But there is a way out of the sick game that is capitalism, and that’s to organize! Alone, not one of us has the power to change a single thing about our society, but together, working people can literally change the world! But to do this, it will take time, patience, and a lot of energy. We need to organize ourselves into a truly democratic movement that can overtake the power of the ruling class. And our collective weapon is greater than any in the entire arsenal of capitalism, and that weapon is our refusal–our refusal to be slaves who survive on starvation wages, our refusal to be a mindless cog in a system that is utterly geared against us and the well-being of our communities, our refusal to meekly accept the world as it is!

“Very fine and well,” you say, “but what are you proposing to take capitalism’s place?” This is the key question, for it is the easiest thing in the world to be against something; it is so much greater to know what one stands for. I stand for democratic socialism, which is, as I conceive it, a free commonwealth of producers who decide the allocation of resources on a democratic basis informed by science. But even more than this, a democratic socialist society is a society that offers the promise of greater freedom,  where all individuals are much more equal than under the enforced inequality of capitalism. It is a society freed from the tyranny of capitalist markets, where everyone has greater potential to develop themselves to the fullest extent of their abilities and talents because they are no longer ground down by the demands of the boss. It is a society that thrives on a sense of shared community, where everyone contributes to the wellbeing of the community, and each partakes in the fruits that the community collectively produces.

“Sounds great, but this sounds like a utopian pipe-dream to me!” A dream it is, but it is a dream that can be made manifest through the struggle of working people everywhere. I do not pretend that what I propose will be easy or happen overnight, but the alternative is nothing short of an authoritarian capitalism freed from any safeguards that are currently placed upon it. If things are bad now, they will only get that much worse unless we find it in ourselves to pull together and struggle together. The alternative is a future where a neo–fascist capitalism rules over a dying planet. We, the vast majority of people, have the collective power to change this

Rock River DSA Action Report, By Seth Lambert

The Janesville May Day Committee’s first annual May Day Celebration was held on May 1, 2022 at the Marvin Roth Pavilion in Courthouse Park, Downtown Janesville. The event was organized by the Janesville May Day Committee including members of the Rock River DSA and Rock County Progressives.

Although the day was chilly with fast wind blowing along the Rock River, the event was well attended. Working class anthems (like Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5) and classic songs of organized labor were the soundtrack to the day. Speakers at the event included Rock County Board of Supervisors candidate Lucas Carter, who spoke about the importance of bringing working class politics to the forefront of local organizing. 

Read Rock River DSA’s ‘Anyone Can Join A Union’ Pamphlet

May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, is celebrated worldwide to show support for laborers and the working class. The International Workers Congresses of Paris declared the holiday in 1889. The date was chosen to honor the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, Illinois, where marchers who were organizing for an 8-hour work day were killed by police.

More than 80 countries acknowledge International Workers’ Day. The United States celebrates labor in September. Socialist organizers in the United States believe this was done intentionally to isolate American workers from international solidarity. In an interview with NPR, author Peter Linebaugh, writer of The Incomplete, True, Authentic, and Wonderful History of May Day, said “the principle of national patriotism was used against the principle of working-class unity or trade union unity.”

Janesville’s second annual May Day Celebration will be held in 2023. To get involved with the planning, follow Janesville May Day Committee on Facebook for updates.

Access to safe, affordable housing is a right. However, the city of Columbus insists on letting a “market” dictate this basic necessity, where only individuals who have enough wealth to participate in the system can afford housing. The city’s reliance on handouts to developers instead of directly working to solve the housing crisis leads to residents becoming displaced by rising rents, inflated property values, and an ever-dwindling supply of affordable options. Housing does not belong in a market.

To this end, we affirm and support unhoused encampments in our city, including @heertoserve and @firstcollective614 located on East Mound Street. Unhoused communities are a direct result of the city’s market-based approach to the housing crisis. As long as the city persists in this approach, our community will have residents who cannot access housing. Until we have affordable housing for all, we must stand with unhoused neighbors who deserve the dignity to live as they can.

We demand housing justice for all.

In solidarity,

Columbus Democratic Socialists of America
Housing Priority Campaign

The post No Appetite For Apartheid first appeared on Salt Lake DSA.