Author: Shane M., former Co-Chair of the Street Corps Working Group and a member of the Mass Work Caucus Contradictions and A Movement Out Of Touch When I started Street Corps back in 2021, I had the goal of doing my part to address our organization’s lack of presence among the working class community of […]

Every year is an Election year. Every vote matters because there is no United States of America without free and fair democratic elections. This foundation remains the bedrock of our government, enshrined in The Constitution, despite the violent efforts of the current administration’s illicit actions to reduce it to a dictatorial oligarchy.

Electoral politics is the process by which citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf. It is a crucial aspect of democratic governance. By grounding our electoral work in the needs of people DSA Ventura County fights to ensure that politics serves the many, not the few.

Recently, across the county we’ve seen elections flip districts, overhaul city councils, oust mayors, and usher in reform at an unprecedented level prioritizing the core pillars of democratic socialism. The old parties may be dying, but the machine lives on. Electoral politics, indifferent to the dying of the light, continues to bring about material change for all in the form of a new, equitable future. 

Putting Electoral Politics into Action

Working Groups are committees made of DSA chapter members that form around central topics, efforts, or objectives. The mission of the DSA-VC Electoral Working Group is to build working class county, state, and Federal power through local socialist electoral efforts in order to win socialism. 

The Electoral Working Group is Ventura DSA’s vehicle for engaging in local politics with a clear socialist perspective. We understand that working people can also use the ballot box as one tool to advance justice and build class consciousness. 

Within the Electoral Working Group are responsibilities and strategies that ladder up to goals.  First, it evaluates candidates seeking public office in Ventura County, making recommendations to the chapter for possible endorsements. Every candidate is carefully assessed on their record, values, and willingness to stand with working-class communities, with the understanding that elected officials must be accountable to the movement, not the other way around. 

Second, the group reviews and analyzes ballot measures and propositions, studying their potential impacts and making recommendations for support or opposition. A central output of this work is Ventura DSA’s Voters’ Guide, which helps neighbors cut through political spin and understand how each measure affects working people, immigrants, and marginalized communities. Developing a Voter’s Guide is a massive undertaking, so we encourage any members-in-good standing who are interested in this work to join. 

Beyond, the Electoral Working Group sees elections as an opportunity to grow organizing power. Campaigns bring members into neighborhoods, onto phones, and into direct conversations with Ventura residents about the county we want to live in. Whether canvassing for a candidate, writing about a ballot measure, or creating voter guides, the group builds skills, relationships, and capacity that strengthen every part of the chapter. 

Democratic Socialism Electoral Work in Action

A landmark moment in electoral democratic socialism in action was Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont’s 2016 presidential campaign. While not an active member of DSA, Sanders (a registered independent), has described himself as a democratic socialist for decades, and championed DSA ideology in his campaign; from universal basic income, to Medicare for all and higher education reform. Sanders received DSA National endorsement, and with it hundreds of DSA members coordinating campaigning efforts across the county. This work resulted in Sen. Bernie Sanders receiving national media coverage, becoming a household name, and securing nine national Democratic party debates opposite Hilary Clinton. 

Recent years have seen the elections of DSA members including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. Both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez — as well as the NYC-DSA — endorsed NYC Mayor elected Zohran Mamdani before the primary in June 2025.

The Future

Momentum is building around Democratic Socialism because its tenants prioritize people, welfare, and progress by means of fair, democratic elections. To date DSA achieved its highest-ever membership in September and broke 80,000 members in October. With Democratic Socialists elected to various offices throughout the country, change is more than possible – it’s happening right now. 

Join today, change tomorrow. 

How many times have you been told that real change is impractical? That America isn’t ready for something new? That we need to make compromises with an ever more ruthless fascist regime? However, the proof that we can dream bigger is here! Because Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter, has won the popular support of his city’s people once more and he is now the Mayor-Elect of the city, the largest in the United States!

With all the attention on Mamdani and his organization, the Democratic Socialists of America or DSA, people may be wondering: what is DSA? What is socialism for that matter? What can socialism do for the average American? And what can people do to build the better future that socialism promises?

DSA is the largest socialist organization in America, with over 85,000 members, organizing and fighting for a better tomorrow in scores of local chapters. But what do socialists believe? For us at DSA, we believe socialism is when working people democratically and collectively control our lives and all aspects of our society, whether it be the government, the economy, or the workplace. 

There are many ways in which such an approach under socialism can benefit the average American. Socialists are on the forefront of the struggle for affordable housing, healthcare, access to food, transit, and other necessities of life. Locally, DSA’s Silicon Valley Chapter has been a major contributor in the Measure A campaign to save Santa Clara County’s hospitals from shutdown amidst Trump’s budget cuts, Palestine solidarity work such as No Appetite for Apartheid, mutual aid work with groups like Food Not Bombs and Apoyate, and many more organizing efforts locally. 

In an increasingly inequitable America, where billionaire oligarchs control most of the wealth in the richest country in world history, we believe that all people deserve a share of this hoarded wealth. We don’t want freedom to be reserved for the wealthiest in society; we want freedom for all! That is a dream we believe can become a reality!

Speaking to you from Silicon Valley DSA, Mamdani’s victory has meant many things for us. First, his win has shown working Americans everywhere that the policies we support, from healthcare to affordable housing, are popular among voters. But more importantly, it gives us organizers a window of opportunity to help our community. That includes you. We dream of a better world and believe you can help us.

While Mamdani criticized power and the problems in society, he, more importantly, gave tangible solutions as well, along with a plan to achieve these aims. He met with New Yorkers to hear about the issues that mattered to them, working to find tangible and imaginative solutions to address these issues. We at Silicon Valley DSA are cut of the same red cloth organizing in our local community in the South Bay for years. With their victory, we seek to emulate the impact NYC-DSA and Mamdani have left on their communities to deliver for our own. Be sure to join us and keep an eye on the calendar for future organizing. Just imagine what all of us will bring to Silicon Valley in the years to come. 

Dare to dream big! A better world is possible. And when we fight, we win!

The post The Dream of Tomorrow: What Mamdani’s Win Means for Silicon Valley DSA appeared first on Silicon Valley DSA.

Metro Justice and the Rochester for Energy Democracy coalition delivered this statement to City Council leaders who have opposed rate hikes but haven’t yet acted on a City-led study at the Speak to Council session on Thur Nov 13 at City Hall at 6pm. The statement was given by Pastor Wanda Wilson of RocACTS on behalf of the Rochester for Energy Democracy campaign coalition, in advance of an Action at RG&E on Dec 6 at Noon calling for No Rate Hikes, No Shut Offs, Public Power Now. City Council members were invited to the action – if they commit to City leadership on a public utility study. 

Pastor Wanda Wilson expressed it clearly: “Today Rochester for Energy Democracy is saying to City Council: you spoke out against the rate hikes – will you also take action with the power you have to get us out of this mess? We’re inviting City Council members to an action at RG&E on Dec 6 at noon for No Rate Hikes, No Shut Offs, Public Power Now –  if they commit to City leadership on a public utility study. With RG&E’s proposal to increase our rates by over $600 a year, lacking and delayed HEAP energy assistance, and regulators still not implementing the recommendations of their own audit, we can’t afford not to Replace RG&E. The City needs to act now.”

A video of the statement will be available at Metro Justice socials, and through the Youtube Livestream of Speak to Council sessions. 

The post Rochester for Energy Democracy Welcomes City Council Opposition to Rate Hikes, Hopes it means Action on a Public Utility Study  first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Enjoy your November National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 27-person body (including both YDSA Co-Chairs) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, hear about recent wins, support striking Starbucks workers, sign up for trainings, and more!

And to make sure you get our newsletters in your inbox, sign up here! Each one features action alerts, upcoming events, political education, and more. 

• From the National Political Committee — Take on the Moment
• Help Socialists in Competitive Runoff Elections!
• Be a Part of Our Fall Drive! Next Call Saturday 11/15 with Labor Guest
• Sign Up for Trump Admin Response Committee (TARC)
• Join DSA’s Queer Socialist Working Group
• National Political Education Committee Trainings Thursday 11/20, Thursday 12/04

From the National Political Committee — Take on the Moment

Dear Comrades,

It’s hard to believe that it has only been 9 days since proud DSA member Zohran Mamdani became New York City Mayor-Elect — we’ve been celebrating, and we hope you have been too! This is the biggest socialist electoral victory in the US in a century. Despite the millions spent to stop us, working people across New York chose a movement to bring down the cost of living, expand public services, and hold war criminals to account. 

And socialism isn’t just winning in NYC — Zohran won office alongside a slate of democratic socialists who won municipal races in Atlanta (Kelsea Bond), Detroit (Denzel McCampbell), Minneapolis (Robin Wonsley and Soren Stevenson), Boston (Ayah Al-Zubi), and across the country, and DSA chapters all over the place fought hard in races that built a stronger local base for future fights.

Join us to analyze these wins and find new ways to grow DSA by taking on the political moment at our Our Time to Win call tonight at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT!  On this call, you’ll hear organizers from some of the teams that brought you these wins (and at least one of the winners themselves!) as well as folks from the labor movement, organizers for immigrant rights and Palestine solidarity, and more. 

Tonight’s call is a perfect opportunity for new and potential DSA members to learn how we work in DSA to tie together different areas of working class organizing, both inside and outside the electoral arena. Our connections with labor and tenant unions, social justice movements, anti-war organizations, and mutual aid networks are crucial for building the working class power that can and will defeat capitalism, and we need all hands on deck! 

And have you signed up for your unique referral link for our Fall Recruitment Drive yet? Zohran’s election is inspiring people around the world, and this is a crucial political period for us to grow DSA and keep building momentum together. We just passed 85,000 members nationwide, and are aiming for 100,000 by the end of 2025! It’s a great time to ask friends, coworkers, or family members to join DSA — and as you recruit people (perhaps by inviting them to tonight’s call or to participate in one of the actions below), have them use your unique join link. If you recruit three new people to DSA using your referral link, you’ll win a prize, as well as the satisfaction of helping to grow and sustain our mass movement for socialism!

Speaking of mass movements, over 1000 Starbucks baristas in 40+ cities across the country just walked off the job and launched an open-ended Unfair Labor Practice strike. This is likely to be one of the highest-profile labor actions in recent memory, given the combined popularity of the pumpkin spice latte and the tireless coast-to-coast organizational efforts of our comrades at Starbucks Workers United. 

Starbucks organizers have some simple organizing asks for us, and because Starbucks really is everywhere, it’s likely that the vast majority of folks reading this newsletter can show up for at least one of these. So let’s make it happen! 

1. Find a picket line near you! They’re in cities across the country. Connect with your DSA chapter if you can, or just show up and make new friends once you get there!
2. Don’t buy Starbucks, and tell your friends: “No contract? No coffee!” This is a great way to practice having some organizing conversations in your network. (If they go really well, use that unique join link and ask them to join DSA!)
3. Join SBWU for a mass call on Monday 11/17 at 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT/6:30 MT/5:30pm PT! Hear from baristas on strike and find new ways to get plugged in.

These are just a few of the organizing asks we’ve got for you this week. Just because this round of elections is mostly over (we’ve still got some runoffs — see below for how you can help!) doesn’t mean the work is done. In many areas, it’s just beginning! Scroll down for more opportunities to plug into DSA work nationally. And if you’re not yet connected with your DSA chapter locally, find it here and reach out. We’ve got a world to win and it’ll take all of us. We’ll see you out there!

Solidarity,

Ashik Siddique and Megan Romer
DSA National Co-Chairs

Help Socialists in Competitive Runoff Elections!

BREAKING: Our comrades Jake Ephros and Joel Brooks of North NJ DSA are heading to a runoff for Jersey City Council!

Corporate money will be flooding into this high stakes run off in North New Jersey, and Jake and Joel are going to need YOUR help to get over the finish line. It’s time to take out the capitalist trash in Jersey City and send 2 more socialists to office. 

We’ve already raised $100,000 for DSA candidates around the country, who won over 11 races this year! Help us cap off a historic election cycle for socialists in the US with a donation to Jake and Joel TODAY.

Be a Part of Our Fall Drive! Next Call Saturday 11/15 with Labor Guest

The Growth and Development Commission has been hard at work with the Fall Drive. We now have over 5,000 new members, and the goal is to keep that growing while helping chapters engage members new and old in recruitment and development work.

We have a team of coaches working with chapters across the country for the Fall Drive. If you would like to participate in the Fall Drive with your own coach from our national team, please email the GDC at gdc@dsacommittees.org.

If you want to help us build DSA, join us for an upcoming phonebank with special guests:

• Sat 11/15 at 5pm ET with the NLC and a special guest from the labor movement
• Wed 11/19 at 7pm ET with special guest author Adam Hochschild
• Sat 11/22 at 2pm ET with special guest, author and Danish MP Pelle Dragsted
• Tue 12/02 at 7pm ET Giving Tuesday phonebank

Sign Up for Trump Admin Response Committee (TARC)

As the second Trump administration continues to wreak havoc, we know this onslaught is meant to overwhelm working class people and make us feel powerless. The Trump administration has within the first year committed mass terror campaigns against the people who live in this country, from threats against trans lives to the brutal horror of ICE raids across the country. But at the same time, we’ve seen the power of solidarity in this moment, as working class people in LA, Chicago, and cities across the country have taken a stand to defend their friends, families, and neighbors from this administration’s brutality. Multiple times this year, millions have taken to the streets to show their opposition to the Trump administration. What we are seeing across our society is something we as socialists already know: we are not powerless when we’re organized, and we’re still fighting for someone we don’t know.

It is crucial for socialists to be part of this fight to defeat fascism and win a socialist world. To that end, DSA’s Trump Admin Response Committee (TARC) is organizing with DSA members across the country to fight to defend and expand the rights of trans and migrant communities, stand up against Musk’s billionaire coup and stand with workers, elect socialist champions to office all over the country, and show how DSA is fighting against fascism and authoritarianism and for a world where we all have dignity and liberation. 

DSA can be a leader in the fight against fascism, but we need you to make it happen. Join our fight against fascism, and sign up here to get involved in TARC today!

Join DSA’s Queer Socialist Working Group

Join the DSA Queer Socialists Working Group (QSWG)! With recent anti-trans judiciary decisions, joining QSWG is more important than ever. The Supreme Court just decided that Trump can invalidate trans people’s passports, and a Federal court in Ohio just allowed people to bully trans students.

But right now, you can take action on anti-trans legislation! The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), described by sponsor Marsha Blackburn as intended to “protect children from the transgender in our society,” is back in Congress. This is especially concerning given the passage of explicitly transphobic anti-“obscenity” and digital surveillance bills in state legislatures all over the country. Our coalition partner Fight For the Future has a dialing tool and information about KOSA here.

The QSWG also has major internal changes going on. The Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy campaign commission is merging into the Queer Socialists Working Group (QSWG). We’ll also change our name, make structural reforms to comply with the Democracy Commission’s proposal, and have elections for new leadership in January. To vote or run in that election, you must join the QSWG.

National Political Education Committee Trainings Thursday 11/20, Thursday 12/04

With our big wins and fightback against the right, DSA has momentum and we are growing! The National Political Education Committee (NPEC) offers trainings to help chapters prepare for new members and build the strength of their local. Join us to learn how to start and run your own poli ed committee on Thursday 11/20 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT. Or learn how to set up a childwatch program on Thursday 12/4 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT.

And that’s not all! We want to broaden DSA’s horizons and encourage the spread of this kind of knowledge. If you have reflections and experiences with socialist political education in or out of DSA, we want to help you share them. Pitch your writing to our monthly newsletter, Red Letter.

The post Take on the Moment — Your National Political Committee Newsletter appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

People inspired by the Mamdani's success should consider changes to the electoral system that would make similar wins possible across the country.

The post Making Mamdani a Model appeared first on Democratic Left.

Discussions of internal structure are often maligned as being the least of an organization’s concerns. As the crises of capitalism evolve and accelerate, what use is it to discuss the role of a branch, the difference between a working group and a priority campaign, or the need for this or that committee?

The reality is that well-organized internal structures are crucial. Rational and accessible chapter structures help new members find and participate in chapter work, and clearly defined roles for chapter bodies provide leadership with clear expectations. It is important that we have a common understanding of the roles of our various bodies to make sure they work effectively and that their purposes are clear to new members. When a chapter’s bodies are logically and consistently organized, the chapter is more effective at growing itself and its capacity to deploy its membership to the task of building a revolutionary socialist party to confront capitalism and fascism. 

This article discusses a vision for the function of the lowest body in Chicago DSA, the branch. 

The Structure of Chicago DSA

Branches 

At its lowest level, Chicago DSA is divided into five branches – four territorial and one based on “a common interest”. The territorial branches divide the city into four parts: the North Side Blue Line, the North Side Red Line, the South Side, and West Cook County. A person is a member of a geographic branch by virtue of residing in its assigned territory. The interest group branch is called the Labor Branch, and all members of Chicago DSA are eligible to apply for membership. The Labor Branch works to “help socialists build unions, push labor leadership left, make the labor movement accountable to the rank and file” (Labor Branch Manifesto).

The chapter’s bylaws describe branches as being “responsible for promoting and implementing CDSA policies and programs.” They further state that the branches are “not autonomous entities and must seek full chapter approval for outward facing political work” (Article VII, Section 5, emphasis added). The Labor Branch has been granted higher autonomy by the chapter’s Executive Committee and General Chapter Meetings. As a result, it functions far more like a working group or campaign than the other branches. For that reason this article excludes the Labor Branch when referring to “branches” and the term should be read to mean “geographic branches”.

Working Groups & Campaign Committees 

Above these branches are Chicago DSA’s working groups and campaign committees (often called priority campaigns). These bodies are officially created at the sole discretion of the Executive Committee, but in practice they are frequently chartered at the chapter’s quarterly General Chapter Meetings through resolutions drafted and voted on by the chapter’s membership. Working groups and campaign committees, once chartered, are relatively autonomous bodies capable of engaging in outward facing political work on behalf of the chapter within the scope of their charters. They can generally host town halls, create flyers and petitions, contact electeds, and otherwise interact with the public without approval from the EC.

Executive Committee & the General Chapter Meeting 

At the top of Chicago DSA is the quarterly General Chapter Meeting. According to the bylaws, the GCM is the “highest policy-making body” in the chapter (Article IV, Section 2). Between GCM meetings, the Executive Committee is empowered to make decisions that are ratified by the membership at the next GCM (Article VI). These two bodies are the most powerful in the chapter. They share the authority to establish and dissolve all lower bodies and are responsible for guiding Chicago DSA’s activity and direction.

Other Committees

The chapter also currently has three standing committees which help facilitate certain areas of its work: political education, membership engagement, and communications. These committees help do the basic administrative work of the chapter.

A Vision for Chicago’s Branches 

Our vision for the branches is rooted in part in the text of the chapter’s bylaws and in practicality. First and foremost, the branches are meant to serve as non-autonomous bodies responsible for “promoting and implementing CDSA policies and programs” (Article VII, Section 5). In other words, the branches are responsible for doing the work of the chapter as determined by our General Chapter Meetings, the Executive Committee, and the chartered working groups and priority campaigns. In our view, a branch should not be deciding on its own work and political vision, but rather should strive to serve the needs of the higher bodies. 

The North Side Blue Line (NSBL) branch’s newest steering committee has worked over the past several months to organize its branch under this principle. Prior to recent elections, most of Chicago DSA’s branches were relatively aimless. The NSBL, for example, had a single member on its steering committee prior to the July 2025 election. Prior to this summer, none of the branches did more than host a single monthly meeting (usually used for general political discussion rather than substantive organizing) and sporadic phonebanking events. Meanwhile, chapter projects like our Fix the CTA and Unite + Fight campaign committees were responsible for hosting their own canvassing events of which there were only a small handful between January and June of 2025.

Most of the members of NSBL’s current steering committee were identified by the previous term’s one-person steering committee to stand up an ad hoc organizing committee in early 2025. This committee quickly began implementing reforms. First, it was noted that most people attending branch meetings were new members without a home inside DSA, so time at NSBL meetings was given over to reports and requests for volunteers from the campaign committees. This facilitated a pipeline from joining DSA to doing work for DSA. Second, the branch’s future leaders realized that campaigns struggled to put on widespread flyering efforts for the same reason the branches’ own events were so sporadic: running such events is a lot of effort for already busy campaign organizers. To combat this, the organizing committee and later steering committee began recurring “outreach” events (tabling, flyering, and phone-banking).

NSBL has found that branch leaders are much better situated than campaign organizers to research local targets for outreach events. They have more time and a deeper understanding of their home territory and easier access to members looking for work to do through the branch meetings. Furthermore, because the branch can draw work from any campaign or working group, there is never a shortage of things to do. As a result, tabling and flyering does not have to be propped up sporadically by particular campaigns as needed but can become standing infrastructure which can be planned once and set to recur regularly (NSBL currently runs three such events, with plans for more next year). This infrastructure can be used as needed by one or more campaigns and is easily retooled for new campaigns. 

The benefits of organizing the branch as infrastructure for doing the work of the chapter are two-fold. First, consistent branch infrastructure attracts regular volunteers, who naturally develop as leaders in their area of work. As those budding leaders become more confident and connected in their branch, they can either take over a project (freeing up the original organizer

to do other work) or  organize around their own ideas such as other tabling events, socials, book clubs, or fundraisers rooted in the branch. The infrastructure approach effectively develops leaders who can reinforce existing events and facilitate bigger and better projects. 

The second benefit is to the campaigns. As a result of the massive growth in outreach events, the campaigns have been able to greatly expand their reach without a significant increase in their labor. Without branch support, Chicago DSA’s Trans Liberation Campaign was able to host three canvassing events in June (centered around major Pride events) to collect signatures to restore gender affirming care at Lurie Children’s hospital. The NSBL was able to supplement their work with a full six outreach events dedicated to distributing the petition in the same time period. As the summer progressed, NSBL outreach events incorporated literature from the Immigrants Rights campaign’s (now International Solidary working group) Boycott Avelo project and Fix the CTA’s call for the state to fund transit to avoid disastrous cuts.

Effectiveness of the Organizing Principle 

Organizing the NSBL branch under the principle of “doing the work of the chapter” has had immediate, noticeable effects. More and more new members have shown up to branch meetings. These meetings grew from 10 to 20 people to over 40 monthly attendees, spread out over two locations. Many were new members or longtime members who were becoming more engaged. The new members frequently told us they joined because of our tabling, while longtime members said that they felt lost trying to engage in DSA prior to recent branch meetings guiding them to chapter work.

More concretely, the number of calendar events labeled as “outreach” skyrocketed from less than 10 chapterwide between January 1st and April 30th to more than 44 between May 1st and August 31st. The NSBL accounted for 55% of all of these outreach events, with another 20% held by the campaigns themselves. During the same time period in 2024, 0 such events appeared on the calendar.

The uptick in activity has had measurable effects on recruitment and engagement in the branch. In the month leading up to our last GCM, members of the NSBL branch were more likely to have engaged in at least one Chicago DSA event than any other branch. In that month, the NSBL achieved 19% member engagement, compared to just 13% on the similarly large North Side Red Line branch. Additionally in August, the NSBL recruited twice as many new members as any other branch.

Conclusion 

Chicago DSA is lagging behind other large DSA chapters in terms of membership growth. This is in part because we have an undeveloped structure for our chapter, which makes it difficult to recruit and retain new members. The NSBL has shown a path forward for other branches to build the structures necessary to foster new leadership within the chapter at the branch level. New leadership increases capacity and allows the chapter to grow its activities, membership, and ambition. 

We envision a future Chicago DSA which rivals (and eventually surpasses) other parties in Chicago for political power in the city–we encourage other branches to follow our lead towards a model which helps build the organization of this future.

The post On the Role of Branches appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

By: Audrey E.

On November 5 Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) voted by 92% for an unfair labor practice strike. Their open-ended strike is set to kick off on Starbucks’ notorious Red Cup Day, November 13, where customers line up to receive a free reusable cup with the purchase of a holiday drink.

This limited edition plastic cup draws one of the company’s biggest annual sale days, which makes this day incredibly strategic for SBWU baristas who are demanding a fair contract to begin their open-ended strike.

No Detroit-area stores are among the unionized stores chosen to strike in the first wave, but keep an eye on DSA’s Slack for stores that may strike in the near future — and see below for the solidarity actions we are taking this weekend and beyond.

The strike announcement comes because of a stand-still at the bargaining table in December 2024. While there was some progress in the months prior, Starbucks denied SBWU’s demand for baristas’ pay to increase to $20/hour with a 1.5% increase yearly. Due to the union’s dismissal of Starbucks’ proposal, and the company’s lack of putting forth a serious negotiation, SBWU is preparing its biggest action yet.

Although SBWU didn’t disclose which stores are going on strike first, it did state that stores in at least 25 cities will be going out, with future locations potentially added in second and third waves. This isn’t SBWU’s first trip around the block either, with work-stoppage actions dating back to 2022. In the past, SBWU has mostly stuck to shorter strikes with a clear timeline of a few days or a couple of weeks. This year’s strike may be the longest in the union’s history.

POVERTY PAY AND UNDERSTAFFING

The top demands for unionized Starbucks baristas are better hours, higher pay, and a resolution to the hundreds of unfair labor practice charges the union has brought against Starbucks for union busting.

Topanga Hass, a barista in Ypsilanti said, “Our store has been planning for this strike since April…We’re so excited.” Topanga shed light on ongoing support from the community and how her store is well equipped for the long haul. From planning to grill on the picket line for striking workers and community members, to hosting trivia games and cornhole matches, they’re preparing to keep up the energy throughout the strike.

Topanga’s shop unionized in 2023, and she has been working there for around 1.5 years. She serves as a strike captain and her store’s bargaining delegate.

Two of the main concerns Topanga shared were rampant understaffing and being underpaid.

“Every single day for the next three weeks, we are understaffed for all of our peak times … and we just don’t have enough people to help with the demand,” said Topanga.

On November 6, Starbucks’ holiday drink launch, Topanga said, “I was getting messages from every store in the district that there were over 100 mobile orders in queue.” Due to short-staffing, baristas have to work multiple positions during their shift, while only being paid “$10/hour by the time taxes and everything else is taken out of [their] paycheck.”

Between hopping from station to station, and restocking whenever there is a (rare) opportunity, Topanga’s fitness app tracked 10 miles in a seven-hour shift. While her sneakers are wearing down from the constant pressure, she not only has to worry about getting costly new supportive shoes, but also ones that fit into the new CEO’s uniform mandate.

At the time of Brian Niccol’s appointment as CEO of Starbucks in September 2024, he released a “Back to Starbucks” campaign that listed everything from dress codes to requiring baristas to write a message on every single cup. This has been part of his mission to boost Starbucks’ sales and regular customers from the decline it had been experiencing for years. That decline resulted in part from an organic boycott that emerged when the company sued the union for its stance on the genocide in Palestine.

But Niccol can’t understand that the real divide between barista and customer has nothing to do with ink on cups. It’s a result of understaffing and chasing the bottom line.

“And that’s why I’ve been telling my coworkers that we need this contract so bad,” said Topanga.

DSA IS SBWU’S PARTNER

Over the past few months, DSA nationally has been organizing in partnership with SBWU to support the contract campaign. This collaboration came about not from a top-to-top relationship but as a reflection of the years of work DSA members across the country have done to support organizing Starbucks.

One major role DSA has played nationally is cohering support for workers among the public. Chapters across the country have undertaken crowd canvassing and actions outside nonunion stores, collecting thousands of pledge signatures to support a boycott, and raising awareness of the contract fight. Chapters have organized movie screenings to fundraise for the SBWU hardship fund and taken initiative on strike kitchens and pantries to feed striking workers.

To support Starbucks workers, sign their No Contract, No Coffee pledge to commit to boycotting Starbucks for the duration of the strike! You can donate to the strike fund here.

On Saturday morning, November 15, DSAers will be leafleting and talking with customers at several nonunion stores, as requested by SBWU. We’ll be informing them of the strike and boycott and convincing them to go elsewhere to get their joe. To get hooked up with one of these actions, see the Labor Working Group Slack.

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Starbucks Baristas to Strike on Red Cup Day was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

On November 4th, a 1% sales tax was passed (52% to 48%) in Mecklenburg County to fund the P.A.V.E. Act.

We remain opposed to the sales tax increase. The working class had no say in the P.A.V.E. act, yet we are those with the most to lose. With the current $20 billion transit plan, we will also gain the least. We will not be able sit on the new governing Transit Authority Board of Trustees, but we're free to be harassed and kicked off transit by the new transit police force. There are no guarantees that these transit expansions will be completed, and that this tax money will actually go towards transit or bike infrastructure.

We support transit when it serves the working class. This Bill does not. It serves to support corporations.

Bills like the P.A.V.E. act get passed because these politicians don’t care about workers, only their corporate donors.

We're building an organization by and for the working class that can stand up to the capitalist class and fight for reforms like fast, free, reliable, and comprehensive public transit. We hope you will join us!

In Solidarity,

Charlotte Metro DSA

by Yarrow

“Ten Days that Shook the World” is an account of the Russian Revolution in October and November of 1917. It follows the complex and rapidly changing events, people, and factions of the struggle in detail. The author, John Reed, was a U.S. American journalist and socialist who traveled to Russia along with some fellow journalists and witnessed these events first hand. It’s mostly made up of his first-hand accounts with some second-hand reports from his colleagues and from contemporary written sources.

The book includes a map of Petrograd and a map of western Russia; a forward by Lenin; Notes & Explanations; and background information. These were essential for understanding the main text. I referenced the Notes & Explanations a lot to keep all the parties, factions, and people straight. The end of the book has appendices with extra explanations and source texts; a chronology; and an index. It also includes lots of astounding photographs.

Before I read this book I didn’t know much about the Russian revolution. I knew when it happened, that there were Bolsheviki and Mensheviki, and I knew something about the constituent assembly (which this book stops just short of). This book helped me understand the failure of the constituent assembly because it showed the split of the Right Socialist Revolutionaries and Left Socialist Revolutionaries.

The events of 1917 were so complex, changed so dramatically, and there were so many lies and rumors flying around (spread by the reactionaries to smear the Bolsheviki), that it was easy for things to get twisted, taken out of context, and misreported. This book gave me a really solid understanding of what actually happened and why, and why the actions of the Bolsheviki were necessary.

Before explaining the events of October, Reed summarizes the earlier stages of the uprising which began in February. This uprising, lead by the Menshevik & Social Revolutionary parties and driven by the Soviets—autonomous workers’ and soldiers’ councils—deposed the Czar and put a provisional government in power, with the promise of a Constituent Assembly that would later be elected by the citizens (this was endlessly postponed). This provisional government issued at once ineffective reforms and harsh repression.

The Menshevik & Social Revolutionary parties were the moderates: they believed that this was a bourgeois revolution which should put the capitalist class in power, and that Russia should continue fighting the Great War.
The Bolsheviks were the principled socialists, whose line was summarized by the slogan “Peace, Land, and Workers’ Control of Industry”. After the uprising of February, many Bolsheviks were imprisoned or exiled.

After the uprising came the July Days, a massive demonstration lead by women and the Bolshevik party, which was quickly gaining members and votes in the Soviets and Unions because they refused to compromise with the bourgeoisie and based their platform on the immediate desires of the workers, soldiers, and peasants.
This set the stage for the final uprising that would finish the revolution and place the Soviets in power.

I was surprised to learn just how much the revolutionary consciousness was fueled by the horror of the Great War. The soldiers were desperate for the fighting to end, and the Bolsheviki were the only ones who were willing to demand it.
I was also surprised to discover the dizzying proliferation of organizations and parties. Factory-shop committees, soldiers’ and workers’ soviets and peasants’ land committees, consumer cooperatives, army committees, Mensheviki, Bolsheviki, right and left Socialist Revolutionaries, Cadets… they split and merged and formed alliances here and there as they were tested in struggle.

One surprising thing that I appreciated about this book was how funny it is. Many parts of it read like a novel. John Reed included many anecdotes that give refreshing insight into the real situation on the ground, and I found many of them amusing. Mr. Reed showed the actions of everyday people who came together and organized themselves, not just the bigwigs in the CIK (executive congressional committee), the provisional government, and the dumas. I felt that there were real people getting swept up in these events, that circumstance brought unlikely personalities together, that normal everyday life was continuing somehow in spite of everything. I recommend this book just for the funny bits.

Much of the book consists of accounts of meetings. There were so many of them. I particularly enjoyed the movements when, during one of these meetings, tensions would run high, people would shout over each other and get agitated and confused, and then some noble person would stand up and give a rousing speech that stilled the commotion and united the crowd. Reed definitely had a flair for the dramatic.

A lesson that I took from this book was that any revolutionary party must have its base in the people. The Bolsheviki did this by speaking to the material demands of the peasants, soldiers, & workers, and actually delivering on promises. It was only the principled refusal of the Bolsheviks to collude with the bourgeoisie which brought the revolution to victory, instead seeking alliances with the peasantry. (The German Revolution of 1918-1919 showed the failure and backsliding that happens when moderate socialists are allowed to take charge.) The revolution definitely wouldn’t have been possible without all the autonomous civil organizations that were lead by the workers, soldiers, and peasants, and defended by the Red Guard.

This was how the Bolsheviki won the propaganda war that raged in the newspapers and on the streets, as well as the contest of arms and the stubborn resistance of the bureaucracy and logistical workers. The Bolsheviki cemented their legitimacy by delivering on the demand of peace, land, and power to the workers, by daring to struggle and be bold. They pushed forward as soon as the opportunity came, and met every new challenge without wavering. It’s so inspiring, and I think it is owed in large part to the leadership of Comrade Lenin.

One thing I want to know more about is the origin of the soviets and how they actually worked. I also want to know more about the earlier stage of the revolution which this book summarizes but does not detail, and the failed 1905 revolution.

I’ll end this review with a quotation that I found extremely moving:

“I went back to Petrograd riding on the front seat of an auto truck, driven by a workman and filled with Red Guards. We had no kerosene so our lights were not burning. Across the horizon spread the glittering lights of the city, immeasurably more splendid by night than by day, like a dike of jewels heaped on the barren plain. The old workman who drove held the wheel in one hand, while with the other he swept the far-gleaming capital in an exultant gesture.
‘Mine!’ he cried, his face all alight. ‘All mine now! My Petrograd!’”

All in all, I think this book is absolutely essential reading for anyone who is interested in socialism. And it’s a proper page turner. 10/10!

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