No Queens “Cop City,” fighting Amazon’s sub-contracting scam, Atlanta City Council votes to boycott Starbucks, and more in this edition of “Chapter and Verse,” Democratic Left’s round-up of chapter news.

The post As Elections Loom, DSA Chapters Break 130,000 Members appeared first on Democratic Left.

Monthly Newsletter of the Rochester Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America

Welcome to the November issue of Rochester Red Star, ROC DSA’s monthly newsletter. This month, find essays on navigating the American health insurance system, NYS farm legislation, developing chapter members, and more. You’ll also find upcoming events and coverage of chapter activities.

Interested in contributing? Send submissions to bit.ly/SubmitRedStar, or get involved with our Communications Committee. Reach out to steering@rocdsa.org and join DSA today!

The post Rochester Red Star | November 2026 | (Issue 31) first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Impressions is where ROC DSA members can share what they’re reading, listening to, viewing, or otherwise experiencing. If you have two hundred words about the culture at large you’d like to share with your comrades, submit to Rich J on Slack or to the Red Star at steering@rocdsa.org.

Trans, Punk, and Somehow Legal?

Abigail J watched: The People’s Joker

I recently stumbled upon what is easily one of my new top 5 movies, The People’s Joker by Vera Drew (2022). This movie is an insane transgender coming of age story set in an unofficial DC Comics universe and presented in a psychedelic mixed media format (complete with live action, stop motion, and 2-D animation). The production and editing were completely crowd-sourced, and I’m genuinely not sure how this legally got made.

As a (very recently out) trans woman, this movie hit me in a way that almost no other movie or show has before. During production, this movie morphed from simply being a compilation of Batman satires to a semi-autobiographical narrative of Vera Drew’s life and transition up to that point (the creator and main star). While my story has definitely been different than both Vera’s and the ritual People’s Joker’s, I finally saw aspects of my life represented on film that I had never seen before, and connected to on a visceral level. How would my life be different if I’d seen this five, ten, fifteen years ago? I’ll never know, but I hope some not-yet-aware trans teens get as much (or more) out of this movie than I did.

For those interested, the film is available for free at: www.thepeoplesjoker.com

Real Americans

Isabella D watched: The Americans

Elizabeth and Philip Jennings are the quintessential family in Reagan’s America — two kids, a nice house in the suburbs, respectable careers. Their neighbors, and certainly not the affable FBI agent across the street, would never suspect that the two are KGB spies, committing gruesome acts of espionage to tip the scales of the Cold War in the Soviet Union’s favor. Over the course of six seasons, audiences suffer Breaking Bad-esque tension over if and when the Jennings will be found out in The Americans. 

I mostly enjoyed the series, but with a disclaimer: while the show is a well-crafted drama with four Emmys under its belt, the acute viewer may discern the tint of anti-Communist, pro-western ideals. This gripe is not just paranoia; the creator and showrunner Joe Weisberg is a Reagan-admiring former CIA agent. The Jennings are depicted as destroying themselves for a vague cause, their Marxist convictions never fully elucidated, and dogmatically resisting the prosperous American way of life for an oppressive, decadent Soviet Union. The cinematographic dichotomy alone relays this bias — the US is colorful, vibrant, abundant, and the USSR bleak, dismal, and bureaucratically stifling.  

To give credit where credit is due, the narrative imparts a great deal of empathy and relatability to Elizabeth and Philip as Soviet illegals before a predominantly western audience. The couple’s dynamic is deeply compelling, tempering my ideological frustration with the show, but the narrative is dragged down by clunky plotlines and a clear predilection for the American way. 

Rooting for the Underdog.

Greg LH watched: Coyote vs. ACME

In Coyote vs. ACME, our ever-floundering Wile E. Coyote, and his billboard lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte), become the face of underdogs confronting the corporate behemoth ACME over the thousands of malfunctioning products sold to the Coyote. Coyote vs. ACME has a convoluted production history – In 2023 Warner Bros. shelved the fully-made film to obtain a $30 million tax write-off. The film was only released in 2026 following backlash and its subsequent purchase by another production company. 

On opening day at The Little Theater, Dan Sendker, author of Dance of the Comedians – 75 Years of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote gave this context prior to the showing, echoing the content of the film and highlighting the perverted incentives of capitalism.

The film delivers the laughs and delights of the original cartoon, with the fun element of live-action overlap. A tale of the little guy going after the corporate behemoth, the Coyote manages to poke his snout at corporate malfeasance. But his revenge is individualistic – there is no moment of organized unity with the other injured members of his class (of cartoon characters). I was hoping for a class action lawsuit, at least. A montage of FBI arrests also places the ideology of the movie within the Mueller-led resistance of Trump One. Don’t think about it too deeply though, just go have a good time.

The post Impressions (October 2026) first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

DSA is on the rise, Trump’s polls are sinking fast, voters brace for Election Day, and more in this edition of “Red All Over,” Democratic Left’s occasional news roundup.

The post Trump Polls Tank, DC’s DSA Mayor, Voters’ Scary Halloween appeared first on Democratic Left.

This speech was delivered by Jenny HB on October 3rd at CDSA’s Field Day event. The text has been edited for clarity.

Comrades, we stand today in a moment unlike anything our movement has seen. Capitalism has developed itself into such a state of chronic dysfunction that even those most deeply committed to the status quo find themselves completely unable to articulate a path forward.

As the political mainstream continues to lose the consent of the people, our party grows stronger with each passing day and with the deepening crises we face.

We are able to offer a credible alternative to the status quo because, unlike the unprincipled liberal and reformist progressives, we have the ability to understand and engage with the world through a Marxist framework. This gives us not just moral clarity but a coherent structural critique.

We are able to identify the exploitation that capitalism inherently creates via the theft of the value created by our labor. We are able to identify the instability created by capitalism’s concentration of power in a tiny fraction of the population, and we see how this concentration leads to wars of imperialism as this class of oligarchs searches for excess profits and new markets.

While liberals have been blindsided by the rise of American techno-fascism and its atrocities at home and abroad, we know that this is the inevitable result of our economic system. As collapse approaches, our model of the world holds strong as liberalism falls to pieces.

DSA has found unprecedented success by addressing these realities head-on, and our growth is cause for celebration. But it isn’t simply because of our worldview and structural critiques. Change and success come from understanding the material circumstances in which we organize, recognizing our strengths and advantages, and planning a strategy accordingly. By acting in the interests of the whole of the working class, we create the potential for a coalition that encompasses the vast majority of people. That scale and broad appeal is our key structural advantage. Our task is to realize this potential and plan how to harness it to fundamentally change the systems that govern us.

Our political system is unequivocally a tool of class oppression, yet it is also terrain on which we can struggle. It can be a tool to harness our mass politics toward building working-class power and a working-class party. The power we gain through political struggle, through electoral victories, is more than just a trophy or a show of strength. It is real, material power. It allows us to change the rules and make the terrain more advantageous for our organizing.

We know that elections alone cannot win socialism. We do not and should not limit ourselves to electoral work. Instead, we use political power to strengthen our other efforts. We use it to support, expand, and radicalize labor unions. We use it to organize tenants. We use it to bring our message to the public and raise awareness among the working class of their natural antagonism towards the owning class and inherent solidarity with each other. We use it to make our political system more democratic and more representative.

Above all, we use it to build a working-class party that can be an agent for revolutionary change. Make no mistake, though we seek to build power for our party, we stand in service to the working class. That means we also have the responsibility to use the power we gain to visibly and materially improve the lives of the working class. The public has spent decades watching idealistic progressives who promise change and largely fail to deliver. We build and legitimize our party when we harness power for the public good.

When socialists make the buses run faster, or hold landlords to account, or freeze the rents, we achieve more than just clout — we earn the chance to change minds and raise class consciousness. When government delivers, people listen.

From every position we find ourselves in on the path to liberation, we must take stock of all the avenues of struggle available to us, use the power we have gained along the way to advantage our party in those struggles, and redouble our efforts.

Along the way we must also solidify what we have built, building durable institutions that can outlive any individuals. Just as capital creates a self-reproducing superstructure, we must build organizations as clearly defined structures of relations, not ad-hoc efforts of overburdened organizers.

Our party is strong precisely because of its potential to sustain and grow itself outside of cults of personality and rigid dogmas. We instead place our faith in the only force that merits it: in the radical participatory democracy of the working class.

It is of paramount importance that we guard and protect our internal democracy and culture of openness.

Radical democracy also means hearing the voices of those most disadvantaged under capitalism, centering them and their struggles. There is no socialism without Black liberation and an end to racism in every form, and there can be no mass politics without a truly multiracial party.

Comrades, we have our work cut out for us. I cannot promise socialism in our lifetimes or that we will win. But I truly believe if real change comes, it will be led by DSA. Being a part of this organization is the honor of a lifetime.

Thank you. Solidarity forever!

The post One Step, Then Another appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

Hundreds of races with DSA endorsees are on the ballot Nov. 3. Here are some Democratic Left will be following on election night.

The post DSA Races to Watch on Election Night appeared first on Democratic Left.

Eugene V. Debs

Eugene V. Debs (1855 – 1926) was a union leader and socialist politician. As presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America, Debs received 6% of the popular vote in 1912.

In June of 1918, Debs was arrested for a speech that urged resistance to the military draft in violation of the Espionage Act. He delivered the following statement to the court at his sentencing to ten years imprisonment.

Debs ran for president from prison in 1920, receiving 3.4% of the vote. President Warren G. Harding commuted his sentence on December 23, 1921.

Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

I listened to all that was said in this court in support and justification of this prosecution, but my mind remains unchanged. I look upon the Espionage Law as a despotic enactment in flagrant conflict with democratic principles and with the spirit of free institutions. . . .

Your Honor, I have stated in this court that I am opposed to the social system in which we live; that I believe in a fundamental change – but if possible by peaceable and orderly means. . . .

Standing here this morning, I recall my boyhood. At fourteen I went to work in a railroad shop; at sixteen I was firing a freight engine on a railroad. I remember all the hardships and privations of that earlier day, and from that time until now my heart has been with the working class. I could have been in Congress long ago. I have preferred to go to prison. . . .

I am thinking this morning of the men in the mills and the factories; of the men in the mines and on the railroads. I am thinking of the women who for a paltry wage are compelled to work out their barren lives; of the little children who in this system are robbed of their childhood and in their tender years are seized in the remorseless grasp of Mammon and forced into the industrial dungeons, there to feed the monster machines while they themselves are being starved and stunted, body and soul. I see them dwarfed and diseased and their little lives broken and blasted because in this high noon of Christian civilization money is still so much more important than the flesh and blood of childhood. In very truth gold is god today and rules with pitiless sway in the affairs of men.

In this country – the most favored beneath the bending skies – we have vast areas of the richest and most fertile soil, material resources in inexhaustible abundance, the most marvelous productive machinery on earth, and millions of eager workers ready to apply their labor to that machinery to produce in abundance for every man, woman, and child – and if there are still vast numbers of our people who are the victims of poverty and whose lives are an unceasing struggle all the way from youth to old age, until at last death comes to their rescue and lulls these hapless victims to dreamless sleep, it is not the fault of the Almighty: it cannot be charged to nature, but it is due entirely to the outgrown social system in which we live that ought to be abolished not only in the interest of the toiling masses but in the higher interest of all humanity. . . .

I believe, Your Honor, in common with all Socialists, that this nation ought to own and control its own industries. I believe, as all Socialists do, that all things that are jointly needed and used ought to be jointly owned – that industry, the basis of our social life, instead of being the private property of a few and operated for their enrichment, ought to be the common property of all, democratically administered in the interest of all. . . .

I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.

This order of things cannot always endure. I have registered my protest against it. I recognize the feebleness of my effort, but, fortunately, I am not alone. There are multiplied thousands of others who, like myself, have come to realize that before we may truly enjoy the blessings of civilized life, we must reorganize society upon a mutual and cooperative basis; and to this end we have organized a great economic and political movement that spreads over the face of all the earth.

There are today upwards of sixty millions of Socialists, loyal, devoted adherents to this cause, regardless of nationality, race, creed, color, or sex. They are all making common cause. They spread, with tireless energy, the propaganda of the new social order. They are waiting, watching, and working hopefully through all the hours of the day and the night. They are still in a minority. But they have learned how to be patient and to bide their time. They feel – they know, indeed – that the time is coming, in spite of all opposition, all persecution, when this emancipating gospel will spread among all the peoples, and when this minority will become the triumphant majority and, sweeping into power, inaugurate the greatest social and economic change in history.
In that day we shall have the universal commonwealth – the harmonious cooperation of every nation with every other nation on earth. . . .

Your Honor, I ask no mercy and I plead for no immunity. I realize that finally the right must prevail. I never so clearly comprehended as now the great struggle between the powers of greed and exploitation on the one hand and upon the other the rising hosts of industrial freedom and social justice.

I can see the dawn of the better day for humanity. The people are awakening. In due time they will and must come to their own.

When the mariner, sailing over tropic seas, looks for relief from his weary watch, he turns his eyes toward the southern cross, burning luridly above the tempest-vexed ocean. As the midnight approaches, the southern cross begins to bend, the whirling worlds change their places, and with starry finger-points the Almighty marks the passage of time upon the dial of the universe, and though no bell may beat the glad tidings, the lookout knows that the midnight is passing and that relief and rest are close at hand. Let the people everywhere take heart of hope, for the cross is bending, the midnight is passing, and joy cometh with the morning.

The post Statement to the Court Upon Being Convicted of Violating the Sedition Act (Sept. 18, 1918) first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

GRDSA has published a Voter Guide to reference for 2026! Check it out below to see our recommendations for contested races. You can find your polling locations and times at mi.gov/vote

2026 GRDSA Voter Guide

The post 2026 GRDSA Voter Guide appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

In a state legislative race in Rhode Island, the two candidates will be the Democratic nominee and a DSA-backed independent. A leader in Rhode Island DSA explains why they’re skipping the Democratic ballot line.

The post Socialism Is on the Ballot in Rhode Island appeared first on Democratic Left.

Tuesday, October 27 (2:00 PM – 7:00 PM) GOTV Turnout (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Tuesday, October 27 (5:30 PM – 7:00 PM) Social Housing Working Group (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Tuesday, October 27 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM) Ballot Measure Turnout Tuesday (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Wednesday, October 28 (5:30 PM – 8:00 PM) TOWG x Prop I Canvass | Know Your Rights (in person at 1499 California)

Thursday, October 29 (5:30 PM – 8:00 PM) Yes on I: Tenant Phonebank (in person at 11 Grove St)

Thursday, October 29 (6:30 PM – 9:30 PM) Spooky, Scary Socialists: Electoral Bar Crawl (in person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, October 29 (7:30 PM – 10:00 PM) Haunted Housing: Movie Night (in person at 16 Sherman)

Friday, October 30 (10:00 AM – 8:00 PM) Election Weekend GOTV (in person at 650 Ellis)

Friday, October 30 (5:30 PM – 8:00 PM) TOWG x Prop I Canvass | Know Your Rights (in person at 650 Ellis)

Friday, October 30 (6:00 PM – 9:00 PM) Open Mic Night (in person at Mercury Cafe, 201 Octavia)

Saturday, October 31 (10:30 AM – 1:00 PM) Touch Grass! with Florence Fang Community Farm (in person at 1 Diana)

Sunday, November 1 (11:00 AM – 8:00 PM) Election Weekend GOTV (1916 McAllister and 558 Capp Street)

Sunday, November 1 (3:00 PM – 4:45 PM) EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing (in person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, November 2 (10:00 AM – 7:00 PM) Election Eve GOTV (1916 McAllister and 558 Capp Street)

Monday, November 2 (5:30 PM – 8:00 PM) Yes On I – Social Housing Working Group Lit Drop 

Monday, November 2 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Labor Working Group Meeting (zoom, meet, and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Tuesday, November 3 (8:00 AM – 8:00 PM) Election Day GOTV (1916 McAllister and 558 Capp Street)

Wednesday, November 4 (6:00 PM – 9:00 PM) New Member Happy Hour (in person at Zeitgeist, 199 Valencia)

Wednesday, November 4 (7:00 PM – 8:30 PM) Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, November 5 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM) Education Board Open Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, November 5 (7:00 PM – 8:30 PM) Immigrant Justice Regular Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, November 7 (2:00 PM – 4:00 PM) TOWG Film Screening: Home is a Hotel (in person at 1975 Post st)

Saturday, November 8 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM) No Appetite for Apartheid – Consumer Canvas 

Saturday, November 8 (1:00 PM – 2:30 PM) What is DSA? (in person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, November 8 (2:00 PM – 4:00 PM) Canvas Workers with SF EWOC (in person at corner of 15th and Valencia)

Saturday, November 8 (3:00 PM – 4:45 PM) EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing (in person at corner of 15th and Valencia)

Saturday, November 8 (5:00 PM – 6:00 PM) Tenderloin Healing Circle Working Group Meeting (zoom)

Saturday, November 8 (6:15 PM – 7:30 PM) Working Class Gender Liberation (zoom)

Monday, November 9 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Tenderloin Healing Circle (in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)

Monday, November 9 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM) Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Get out the Vote for Our Endorsed Campaigns

We are 1 week out from election day, and we need all hands on deck for our endorsed campaigns. We need YOUR help in this final stretch to make sure San Franciscans don’t fall for the lies being spun by the oligarchs and tech elites. Fill out this form and join us!

Haunted House Movie Night

A spectre is haunting our housing… 

Come watch Bernard Rose’s horror classic, Candyman, which terrifyingly depicts our cursed housing system. Set in Chicago’s Cabrini Green projects we see how disinvestment from public housing and gentrification create a monstrous rift in which a vengeful spirit emerges. With hair raising rents and ghoulish landlords San Francisco is experiencing its own real estate nightmare. Join us as we discuss how real estate forces harm our communities and what we can do together to fight back. DSA SFs Tenant Organizing Working Group will be hosting this free film screening at 16 Sherman Street, SF on Thursday, October 29th, 7:30pm. 

Food and drink provided. Thanks!

Open Mic Night with DSA SF

Join us this Friday for a DSA SF open mic at Mercury Cafe (201 Octavia St) from 6 PM – 9 PM. We’ll be hearing performances from comrades and community members, and invite you to perform or listen. All languages are welcome, no experience necessary. Costumes are encouraged!

EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing — November Session

Do you have problems at your workplace or generally have frustrations with the systems governing your communities? Would you like to learn how to talk to people in order to build collective power? Are you interested in discussing organizing strategies with comrades of various organizing levels?

If you said “yes” to any of those questions (or are just a radical person), attend our sessions each Sunday of November 3:00 – 4:30 PM for the EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing course! Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) is a collaboration between national DSA and the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) to organize unorganized workplaces and build a distributed, grassroots organizing program to support workers organizing at the workplace.

This training course is meant to help you build your union from the ground up alongside workers in your industry. It doesn’t require an organizing background to understand the material, which covers topics including mapping and charting, building an organizing committee, uniting over common concerns, and how to take action. If you’re interested in becoming any level of organizer for EWOC, this course is mandatory.

This course will be in-person, with the group watching the EWOC lectures and the discussion activities occurring at the DSA office (1916 McAllister). If you can’t make all of the sessions, reach out to san-francisco@workerorganizing.org for accommodations.

RSVP here

Hands Off Our Vote!

DSA SF joins other organizations in the Bay Resistance coalition to support an election defense resolution that will introduced by Supervisor Chyanne Chen at the San Francisco Board of Supervisors this Tuesday. This resolution asks that San Francisco commit to protecting election integrity, oppose interference in the election and voter intimidation, and that San Franciscans have the right to exercise their constitutional rights of freedom of speech and right to assemble to defend free and democratic elections.

Organizations that have signed onto this resolution include Bay Resistance, SF Rising, the San Francisco Labor Council, the California Nurses Association, SEIU USWW, the California Federation of Teachers, Indivisible SF, just to name a few. A 9:30 AM press conference is scheduled to take place this Tuesday at SF City Hall to announce the resolution.

We need to be ready to stand up to Trump and MAGA should they cause election chaos and try to delegitimize the election results.