Angola, Apartheid and “Our Type of National Liberation”
Adventures of a Union Steward
By: Rob Switzer
The following is a post I made on Facebook that was not intended to be published. It was mainly written to vent and just to show friends the kind of things I deal with as union steward at my workplace, which is a Food and Commercial Workers meat market where I have been working for five years as a butcher.
Someone suggested this piece would work as a demonstration of how power functions in the workplace. Note that the stories included are not official union activities and could theoretically be accomplished in any workplace. However, it is worth noting that the union-provided protections we have and my status as a quasi-authority figure very likely embolden my coworkers and me to assert ourselves in ways that we otherwise might not.
A couple of weeks ago, I was informed that a coworker of mine was sent home, suspended, and written up. He had allegedly gone shopping, prepared a lunch, then had his lunch, all on the clock. He was being accused of deliberate and extended time theft, which of course is a fireable offense.
Coworker said this was not true, and I asked him to send me a screenshot of his punches on the time-keeping app we use. He did so. Upon cursory inspection, it was obvious that he had in fact neglected to clock back in from his early break, and was therefore actually off the clock during these events.
We had a meeting with the store manager, and Coworker brought the write-up itself, which included the clearly false accusations, and even had his receipt stapled to it, showing what he bought and when he bought it (while he was off the clock, remember). The store manager saw my point and understood, but told the worker that he had to be more careful about punches; this time it wouldn’t be held against him.
But I wasn’t satisfied — the shift manager who had originally made these accusations was still operating under the belief that my coworker was a time thief. So I informed him the next morning that the worker wasn’t on the clock. “Yes he was!,” he told me. “No he wasn’t!,” I retorted. “Yes he was!” he shouted back. He agreed to let me show him the screenshot. We walked to my locker to see my phone. The shift manager looked at it and I could see his mind spinning. He exclaimed something like, “Well, he probably would have done it anyway!”
About ten minutes later he approached me and apologized, admitting he was wrong and that he should have investigated better. He seemed to hide for the rest of the day; other workers noticed and told me. I made sure everyone was aware that someone had just been written up and suspended for something he demonstrably did not do. Someone chanted, “Steward! Steward! Steward!” which was pretty amusing.
Fast forward to today. We had about six first-shift meat cutters/handlers working. It was getting close to 2:30, our usual out time. But overtime was posted, meaning management can hold us later if they want to.
We had ten cases of bacon that had to be bagged and vacuum-sealed. No one likes doing this; it’s tedious. But it’s part of the job. So when I was done with my other work for the day, I took it upon myself to start.
Right around this time one manager came into the cutting room and said, “We’re getting ready to prep up!” That basically means we’re being cut loose as soon as we clean up. Two of the cutters promptly left, leaving four of us behind. We finished the bacon; we were all getting ready to leave.
Then a different manager came in and said he wanted us to make sure the bacon got vacuum-sealed before we left. Usually what we do is bag it all and let one of the afternoon-shift cutters handle the sealing. There were four of them there today. Why couldn’t one of them do it? We all were ready to leave, and had already been told we could leave.
I told the manager I thought this was bullshit. That’s literally a one-person job. Are you actually asking three of us to stand around and watch someone vacuum-seal 10 cases of bacon? In so many words, he said that yes, yes, he was asking that.
I talked to the other three workers individually. Everyone agreed they were ready to leave. So let’s leave, I told them. I went and talked to the manager, and we had a little argument. “I have other stuff for them to do; I want you to seal the bacon, blah blah blah.” He stormed off and said something like, “Just get it done and you can leave.” I don’t think he understood; I was telling him we had already decided we were leaving.
We rolled the sealer machine into the cutting room, and one of the second-shift cutters started sealing. He was clearly free to do this. I checked in with everyone to make sure we were all walking out in solidarity. And then we did. It will be interesting to see if there are any consequences tomorrow.
Epilogue: There were no consequences, other than a manager mentioning it to me in disapproval. I hope our action stands as a lesson to my coworkers that we have power when we take actions in solidarity.
Adventures of a Union Steward was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Response to the mobilization of national guard troops in Memphis
September 17, 2025
The Memphis-Midsouth Democratic Socialists of America stands in opposition to the military occupation of our city. We reject the false claims by the Trump regime and Tennessee officials that deploying troops will do anything to “stop crime” in Memphis.
Genuine public safety requires an economy and city for all people. Memphians deserve institutions we control, the wealth we produce, housing, universal healthcare, mutual aid, and youth services – and we don’t get that from a police state. This government has no real interest in our public safety. Despite reporting that crime is at a historic low in the city, Trump wants to escalate violence and protect the wealth of the billionaires like Elon Musk, who poison and exploit our city for their own gain.
This latest move is yet another attempt by a racist regime to punish a majority Black working-class city. It is an escalation of their targeting of immigrants, unhoused people, queer people, workers standing up for their rights, and many fighting for their community. It is a continuation of their assault on free speech in criminalizing opponents to the genocide in Palestine. Sending federalized troops into Memphis under these pretenses is lawless, unjustifiable, violates our freedoms, and is fundamentally at odds with the US Constitution.
Across this country, we have witnessed ICE (already with support from the Marines and National Guard) terrorize neighborhoods, abduct innocent people, and funnel them into private detention centers. Now, the same plan is being brought into West Tennessee, draining even more of our public dollars into private corporations like the corrupt Core Civic.
The Trump regime would tyrannize our city – we demand freedom for Memphis and its people.
The city we love is facing an armed, illegal occupation. We call upon local officials and candidates for office to take concrete actions for our protection. We must act together: We call upon Memphis to organize in unions, in communities, and at the ballot box for political change. We can protect our neighbors. We are here with organizations that have been doing this work to be on the side of the people, and we will be here with the people of Memphis through whatever comes.
In Solidarity,
Memphis-Midsouth Democratic Socialists of America
The post Response to the mobilization of national guard troops in Memphis first appeared on Memphis-Midsouth DSA.
VETO AB715: Open Letter to Governor Newsom
Ventura County Democratic Socialists of America
Governor Gavin Newsom
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: Oppose AB 715: Protect Free Expression and Academic Freedom
Dear Governor Newsom,
On behalf of the Ventura County chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, we urge you to veto AB 715 unless it is substantially amended.
We recognize and condemn the rise in antisemitic incidents in California schools. All students deserve to learn in environments free from harassment and discrimination. However, AB 715, as currently written, does not protect students from bigotry. By codifying definitions that conflate antisemitism with legitimate criticism of the Israeli state or Zionism as a political ideology, the bill risks censoring speech, curriculum, and silencing communities, particularly Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and allied students and educators.
Key concerns include:
- Curriculum restrictions: By requiring that instructional materials about Jews or Israel/Palestine be “balanced” and “non-discriminatory,” AB 715 invites political interference and lobby-driven censorship of Ethnic Studies, social science, and history classes.
- Complaint abuse: Expanding the Uniform Complaint Process to cover school board members, teachers, and contractors opens the door for frivolous or politically motivated complaints targeting those who speak out against apartheid or advocate for Palestinian rights.
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Selective protection: Establishing a State Antisemitism Coordinator, without equal attention to anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian hate, elevates one set of protections while neglecting others, undermining the principle of equal protection under the law.
We support the fight against antisemitism. But real safety for Jewish students will not come at the expense of academic freedom, student speech, or the silencing of Palestinian voices. AB 715 risks weaponizing anti-discrimination policy to punish students and educators for speaking truth to power.
We therefore urge you to veto AB 715 unless it is amended to:
- Explicitly safeguard the right to critique governments, including Israel, without being labeled antisemitic.
- Include protections against anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian hate alongside protections against antisemitism.
- Bar the misuse of the Uniform Complaint Process as a tool for political intimidation of educators and students.
California schools must be places of honest dialogue, rigorous scholarship, and solidarity among all communities. AB 715, as written, threatens those values.
For these reasons, Ventura County DSA calls on you to veto this bill in its current form.
In solidarity,
Ventura County Democratic Socialists of America
Weekly Roundup: September 16, 2025
Events & Actions
Tuesday, September 16 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM): ICE out of SF courts! (In person at 100 Montgomery St)
Tuesday, September 16 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM): 
What Is DSA? (In person at Ingleside Branch Library, 1298 Ocean Ave)
Tuesday, September 16 (7:30 PM – 8:30 PM): What Is DSA? Social Hour (In person at Beep’s Burgers, 1051 Ocean Ave)
Thursday, September 18 (7:30 PM – 9:30 PM): “Housing the City by the Bay: Tenant Activism, Civil Rights, and Class Politics in San Francisco” – TOWG Reading Group (In person at 1916 McAllister St)
Friday, September 19 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM): ICE out of SF courts! (In person at 100 Montgomery St)
Friday, September 19 (7:00 PM – 9:00 PM): Maker Friday (In person at 1916 McAllister St)
Saturday, September 20 (10:30 AM – 12:00 PM): DSA SF x EBDSA: No Space for ICE Canvassing (In person at Lincoln Square Park, 261 11th St, Oakland)
Saturday, September 20 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM): Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee Training: Session 3 (In person at 399 Webster St)
Saturday, September 20 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Homelessness Working Group Food Service (In person at Castro St & Market St)
Sunday, September 21 (5:00 PM – 7:00 PM): Capital Reading Group (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)
Sunday, September 21 (5:30 PM – 7:15 PM): Homelessness Working Group Reads “Capitalism & Disability…” (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)
Monday, September 22 (5:00 PM – 6:30 PM): EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing Training (In person at 1916 McAllister St)
Monday, September 22 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board x Divestment Priority Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)
Tuesday, September 23 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)
Wednesday, September 24 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): DSA SF Tech Reading Group (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)z
Wednesday, September 24 (6:45 PM – 8:30 PM): Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (Zoom and in person at 438 Haight St)
Thursday, September 25 (5:30 PM – 6:30 PM): 
Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)
Thursday, September 25 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Immigrant Justice Court Action Orientation (In person at 1916 McAllister St)
Friday, September 26 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Kashmir: Partition, Nationalism, and Global Fascism (In person at 1916 McAllister St)
Saturday, September 27 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM): Physical Education + Self Defense Training (In person at William McKinley Monument)
Saturday, September 27 (1:30 PM – 3:30 PM): Divestment Strategy Session (1916 McAllister St)
Monday, September 29 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)
Monday, September 29 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)
Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates. Events with a are especially new-member-friendly!
This is the Last Chance to Stop AB 715
AB 715 is an extremely dangerous bill designed to censor any criticism of Israel and education about Palestine in California schools, by framing it as antisemitic.
On Friday, after a long week of mobilization to oppose the bill, it passed both Senate and Assembly chambers and will now head to California Governor Newsom’s desk.
We need to bombard his office with letters and calls of opposition!
- Send a letter today (takes less than 30 seconds): https://win.newmode.net/caircalifornia/newsomveto
- Call Newsom’s office during business hours: (916) 445-2841
You can follow this sample script: “I am calling the Governor to strongly oppose AB 715, a dangerous and discriminatory bill aimed at silencing and censoring any teaching of Palestine and Palestinians under the guise of antisemitism.”
Let’s support Palestinian students and teachers in the classroom from being silenced and censored! Please share with friends, family, neighbors to do the same!
ICE Out of SF Courts!
Join neighbors, activists, grassroots organizations in resisting ICE abductions happening at immigration court hearings! ICE is taking anyone indiscriminately in order to meet their daily quotas. Many of those taken include people with no removal proceedings.
We’ll be meeting every Tuesday and Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM at Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery. We need all hands on deck. The 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM window is when we most need to boost turnout, but if you can’t make that please come whenever works for you. 1 or 2 hours or the entire time!
Maker Friday: Zine Edition
Come make with us on Friday, September 19 from 7:00-9:00 PM at 1916 McAllister St! We’ll be making zines about socialism, organizing, and our reflections/hopes/dreams. Masks required and provided. All are welcome, no experience necessary, see you there!
EWOC: Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing
The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) is running a Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing course weekly in September (see below for schedule). Just like we did back in May, we’re getting a group to take the course together and benefit from in-person discussions and activities (at 1916 McAllister). If you’re interested, RSVP here! The goal is to have more people learn organizing skills, both for your own projects and for organizing with EWOC. Sessions run every week from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM on:
- Monday, September 22
- Monday, September 29
If you have any questions, reach out to labor@dsasf.org.
DSA SF x EBDSA: No Space for ICE Canvassing in Oakland Chinatown
The DSA SF Immigrant Justice Working Group and East Bay DSA Migrant Defense Working Group are leaving No Space for ICE!
Join us on Saturday, September 20, at 10:30 AM in Oakland’s Lincoln Square Park to provide Know Your Rights materials and educate local businesses and religious institutions on their rights in relation to ICE/DHS. This canvass will be EBDSA Migrant Defense’s first in Oakland Chinatown — and DSA SF’s Immigrant Justice is helping out! Meet at the sign for Lincoln Square Park for a brief training before we canvass in pairs or small groups.
Wear DSA merch if you can, or put a DSA pin on a visible part of your clothing.
RSVP here or, if you’d like more details, Contact an organizer via email at immigrantjustice@dsasf.org.
Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee (ETOC) Training
This month the Tenant Organizing Working Group has been attending the Fall 2025 Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee (ETOC) training, a four-part series, offered by the national DSA Housing Justice Commission! In the first ETOC session, we learned about the four principles of social housing as well as tools and techniques we could employ in the course of our social investigation and class analysis of the tenants and landlords in our area. In session 2, we learned how to approach tenants about forming a union organizing committee, how to identify tenants who are most readily accepting of agitation and to mobilize to convince their neighbors, and generally getting our foot in the door to begin the process of making a tenants association or union.
We hope to see you join us for the upcoming ETOC session 3 on Saturday, September 20 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM either remotely via zoom or at our watch party at 399 Webster St at the Embassy. There will be snacks! All are welcome! Please get in touch with us at tenants@dsasf.org if you’d like to explore the ETOC materials.
DSA SF Homelessness Working Group Reads: Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell
DSA SF Homelessness Working Group Reads: Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta RussellJoin DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group as we read through Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell. We’ll be meeting every other Sunday evening starting in September for 4 or 5 sessions at 1916 McAllister. The next session is Sunday, September 21. For more info, register here: bit.ly/martacd and check the events calendar for latest details.
Tech Reading Group with Kickstarter Union Founder Clarissa Redwine
Come join DSA SF and Rideshare Drivers United on Wednesday, September 24 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at 1916 McAllister for our monthly tech reading group. We’ll be reading an article by Clarissa Redwine about the Kickstarter Union Campaign that started in 2016. Clarissa will also be making an appearance on Zoom to answer questions about her experience. RSVP here!
Immigrant Justice Court Action Orientation
Come one, come all to 1916 McAllister St for our court watch orientation! You’ll learn how we are resisting ICE , how you can help, and participate in a biweekly art build. Bring questions and anti-ICE slogans! This event will take place every-other week on Thursday’s starting at 7:00 PM and the next one is September 25!
Kashmir: Partition, Nationalism, and Global Fascism
Nationalism is rising all over the world, and violence as always is accompanying it. Nowhere is the genocidal logic of the nation-state more evident than in Israel’s occupation of Palestine, but it is not the only example that we must learn from. The Partition of India in 1947 and subsequent conflicts in South Asia have many similarities, and some important differences. Come join the DSA SF as we investigate the Kashmir Conflict, which flared up violently this spring, and its relationship to Hindu nationalism and the global fascist movement. We’ll be meeting Friday, September 26 from 6:00 – 8:00 PM at 1916 McAllister St.
Reportback: No Appetite for Apartheid Canvass 
This last Saturday, Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialism Working Group had 27 people attend a canvass to partner with store owners to de-shelve products profiting off Israeli apartheid! We had so many new faces from many different orgs, even outside our coalition partners (AROC, DSA, JVP, Speak Out Socialist). We covered 8 turfs in Bernal Heights and Outer Mission, 32 stores in total, and also got some consumer pledge signatures. Join #palestine-solidarity on Slack for more information on the next canvass! Free Palestine 
Behind the Scenes
he 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 publishing the weekly newsletter. Members can view current CCC rotations.
Interested in helping with the newsletter or other day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running? Fill out the CCC help form.
Five Interim Policies to Bridge the Healthcare Gap
Better health, stronger families and fairer spending – all for about 63$ per paycheck
The post Five Interim Policies to Bridge the Healthcare Gap appeared first on Democratic Left.
STATEMENT REGARDING CITY COUNCIL APPROVAL OF MASS SURVEILLANCE
Seattle Democratic Socialists of America stand in firm opposition to the Seattle City Council decision on Tuesday, September 9th 2025 to massively increase video surveillance throughout Downtown Seattle at the behest of the Seattle Police and the encroaching carceral state, in shameless defiance of widespread public outcry against their proposal.
The theory, floated by some Seattle City Councilmembers, that Seattle, or Washington at large, can somehow keep the Trump administration from using local surveillance systems to increase the efficiency of their fascist takeover of the country, is a naive delusion only kept by a cohort of disingenuous politicians that we can now argue are knowingly collaborating with, and encouraging, the local oppressive forces which will undoubtedly have an increased role in the furtherance of Trump’s growing federal police state.
Just this week, the federal government was given the authority by the Supreme Court to racially profile anyone they wish, giving even more unchecked power to their draconian Immigration & Customs Enforcement raids. These are the conditions under which our local Seattle City Council, made up entirely of Democratic Party politicians, has just decided to give integral pieces of surveillance infrastructure to a federal government they know will use to pursue mass arrests, disappear humans, and further deny our freedom of speech and protest.
Seattle DSA denounces our city council’s collaboration with fascist forces in our society and urges the people of Seattle to hold them to account for their actions. This measure only further reinforces our understanding that nobody will save us but ourselves.
The post STATEMENT REGARDING CITY COUNCIL APPROVAL OF MASS SURVEILLANCE appeared first on Seattle Democratic Socialists of America.
DSA National Convention Strengthens the Building of the Socialist Left in the United States
Brazilian political party PSOL reports on the 2025 DSA National Convention and reflects on their participation as invited guests.
The post DSA National Convention Strengthens the Building of the Socialist Left in the United States appeared first on Democratic Left.
A Positive Vision for DSA Cleveland
Author: Andrew O
It is impossible to organize without a positive vision of the future. Placing a point on the horizon allows us to steer our ship towards that guiding star. I do not speak for the chapter here, but for myself and in hopes of spurring comrades to think about and voice their own visions of what our chapter can and should be. This document outlines what is actively and passively in my mind when I am arguing for or against something in the many debates within our chapter. These goals inform my politics and decisions. I have roughly outlined a long-, medium-, and short- term set of goals for our chapter. These goals are ambitious–as they must be for us to truly change the world.
DSA Cleveland can and should become an organized and independent political party. We should become an organization capable of building and providing mutual and material good for the working class of Northeast Ohio. This ability must be built outside the control of the state and of capital. Our membership must be militant and organized; our chapter democratic, transparent, and politically well-developed.DSA Cleveland is not and cannot simply be the left wing of the Democratic party. We are capable of being an independent party, with our own identity, program, and support base. DSA is uniquely positioned within American politics to become a true opposition party. Our message is a winning message, we have strong theoretical guides to build off, and our base is only limited by our capacity to organize.
Simultaneous to our electoral and reformist goals, it is essential that our chapter is working towards independence from the state. Our goal is not to take over the levers of power. Our goal is to build a new world. We must create radical structures of mutual care to support our comrades and fellow workers. All of us will be required to build skills in mutual aid and true community defense, whether via food, medicine, shelter, or otherwise.
Building a new world will be the hardest fight any of us have ever seen. In order to weather it together, we must be organized and we must be militant. Each of us must build ourselves and those around us into the leaders we are all capable of being. Worker-leaders will need to be prepared to fight against the state, capital, and the disasters (natural and otherwise) that will put our entire project at risk. It is up to us to organize ourselves into a working class that can stand up to what is to come.
We will only be able to truly organize worker-leaders if we are seeking to be as democratic and transparent as possible. If we are to build a democratic world, we must start now. Member-led, bottom-up democracy cannot survive with incomplete information or an uninformed membership. Discussion and debate must be open and accessible in all ways. Structures must work to preserve the voice of the minority and to increase the general body’s democratic control of the chapter. We must ensure our elected leaders, both inside and outside of the chapter, are accountable to membership both in principle and in fact. Our membership needs to be politically mature and developed so each member has equal control over our organization.
This chapter can be a powerful base born of and built by the working class of Northeast Ohio, but it will not be easy to achieve. Movements like ours have been defeated in nearly every instance they have been built. We have yet to see a single one survive, let alone thrive, within the imperial core. In order to guide our actions, our chapter needs to work together to learn and teach ourselves political theory. We must grow our chapter through the best available methods of organizing. DSA Cleveland’s structures need to ensure our values democracy, transparency, and accountability are protected. This will only be possible if our membership is educated and knowledgeable on the history of these structures as well as the process to change them.
Every person is capable of being a great organizer. We must work together so that each of us reaches this potential. Unlike under capitalism, we want to make ourselves as replaceable as possible. Within our chapter and within our lives, we should constantly seek to organize ourselves, our neighbors, and our comrades. It is our responsibility as comrades to cultivate a wide variety of skills and pass them on as often as we are able. Organizing and teaching are frequently one in the same. For the working class to take over the world, we must make sure that each of us can lead it, together.
The idea of organizing the whole worker, as laid out by Jane McAlevy’s No Shortcuts model of organizing, is the single most effective organizing model I have encountered or tried. It is not infallible, or gospel, nor should it remain fixed and unchanged as we bring it into the various contexts and work that we are doing. It is, however, essential that we are building our organizing from this model if we want to create a truly militant and organized chapter, organization, and working class. The No Shortcuts model is frequently a lot of work, time, and energy. Not to put too fine a point on it, organizing itself is hard and there is no way to shortcut the process. If we are to build a truly organized working class that extends outside of self-selecting activists, we must do the hard work of organizing ourselves first.
To ensure we are making the best use of our capacity, our tactics, and our time, we must base our organizing, our work, and our politics in a political theory. It is our responsibility as socialists to actively cultivate and examine our own theory of politics. We must read, argue, and live our theories of politics together. Theory cannot be learned in isolation. Theory is not simply words in a book. Learning theory is, in and of itself, part of the radical work to win the future. We are each already working from our own theoretical base, whether or not we have examined it. We must come together and have our political theories debate, clash, and build our chapter.
To guide and instruct the ways we enact our theories and have our debates, as well as to ensure our chapters’ interests in democracy, transparency, and accountability are upheld, we must work to build structures that will withstand bad actors, both those intentionally seeking to harm our chapter and those unaware that they are doing so. It is a fact that any group seeking to change the world will encounter infiltrators and bad actors. This does not mean we should seek to find these individuals, rather we should put structures in place that are better than us, less fallible than us, and structures will be able to be upheld as we continue to grow and change as an organization. These structures should strike the difficult balance between being robust enough to withstand attacks on the democracy of our organization, but flexible enough that they can be changed as needed.
Structures are not the only method to ensuring our chapter’s democracy, transparency, and accountability is upheld, rather they are one of the tools that we have. Building a culture that values these ideals and taking steps to make sure that each member is educated and knowledgeable on the history of our chapter, our goals, and these structures will give them an understanding of why the chapter is shaped the way it is. Our chapter is built of many decisions made by members, and it can be changed and rebuilt in the same way. Members should be empowered to seek changes to our chapter as they see fit. This will ensure each member has as much ownership and control over the chapter as any other member.
In order to achieve the medium- and long-term goals laid out above, DSA Cleveland needs to realign the chapter’s dedication and support for our priority projects. We must continue the progress made in Membership Committee and bring this same system of engagement to our Education and Communications Committees. Our Priority Projects and Committees must integrate themselves into mutually supportive work. Finally, each priority we take on must move us towards our ambitious electoral and material goals.
Our chapter was in one of our most successful and sustained periods of growth during the Cleveland Housing Organizing Project (CHOP) priority project. There were many external factors for this, but also a good number of internal factors. This priority project built much of what Cleveland DSA is today. The level of commitment to the project was unlike anything our chapter has done since. Some of this was the lack of things to do in person during the lockdowns, much of this was the availability of repeatable work with predictable schedules within the project, but the fact that the chapter truly took this on as a priority cannot be ignored in the success of the CHOP Priority Project.
Our committees must be integrated with our Priority Projects to carry our mutually beneficial work. To use Membership Committee as an example, as it is what I am most familiar with, we have seen great successes this year. The membership pipeline has been rebuilt into the most effective form I have ever seen thanks to the hard work of Chad and the rest of member committee. We cannot simply be organizing members that sign up for new member one on ones and pointing them towards our projects, though. Instead we must make the work of our committees and priorities inexorable from each other. We must work to build a parallel membership pipeline into our priority projects. We must have trained and experienced organizers built into all levels of our work. This will allow us to build the engagement and capacity of both our Membership Committee and Our Priority Projects. Our Education and Communications Committees should seek to build similar methods of integration with our projects and with each other.
Finally, DSA Cleveland must build Priority Projects that lead us to our goals. Our chapter has an appetite for electoral work and for mutual aid work. That appetite in and of itself is not enough for us to take on this work. It is important that we take on this work because building skills in these areas are essential for us to build the future we want. We cannot take on priority work merely because the work is good or worthy of being done. Our capacity is limited, but as we build and organize towards a shared positive vision, we will grow, our capacity will grow, and our ability to affect change will grow.
The membership of DSA Cleveland must treat each Priority Project as a step to build the skills of membership, the experience of the chapter, and the capacity we have. Taking each project as a definite step towards our goals will make it easier for us to take on bigger and more varied work in the future. Right now our capacity is limited. Our chapter has not yet successfully run two simultaneous Priority Projects. When we are able to string together several properly supported projects, we will grow our capacity and will need to add more projects to properly organize membership. If we squander our capacity and burn members out without building towards our goals, we will remain at our current size and ability, or worse.
I want to build a DSA Cleveland and a DSA that can take on the world. I want to ensure we, the working class of Northeast Ohio, build the future we want for ourselves. I have great ambitions for this chapter and am sure that we can build it into something great and powerful. If this vision of the future resonates with you, work with me so we can build it together.
- At the 2025 DSA National Convention, we adopted the Principles for Party-Building resolution. This resolution is an excellent framework for us to use as we pursue our electoral goals. I want to call special attention to points two, five, and eight.
- Northeast Ohio is our chapter’s area of operation, but our struggle is a global one and we cannot lose sight of that.
- We must build a concrete set of goals for our chapter and our organization. These goals are what we will fight for and implement when we win power. Our big tent–which brings us strength through a diversity of thought and perspective–can be raised over these points and debate over how to pursue and achieve them can flourish.
- You can read the chapter’s PDF copy in our drive. I believe it is essential reading for our organizers.
The post A Positive Vision for DSA Cleveland appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.