How A Mass. Special Commission Became a Trojan Horse Against the Powerful Statewide Educators Union
By Chris B.
BEACON HILL, MA – In 2024, as Israel escalated its genocide in Gaza and the political establishment ran cover, State Senator John Velis (D – Westfield) and Rep. Simon Cataldo (D – Concord) led Massachusetts legislators to authorize a state-level Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism. The Commission was charged with holding public hearings, reporting its findings, and recommending how to combat antisemitism to the Legislature by the end of November 2025. But in its most publicized hearing, the Commission called to the stand representatives of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), the statewide educators’ union, to scrutinize an internally shared list of resources for member education on Israel/Palestine.
The amendment passed in a political environment where hate crimes and violence against minority groups, including Jewish people, are rising. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), often seen as an authority on antisemitism, claims 2024 as a high-water mark for antisemitic incidents recorded in a year. But that statistic is misleading. The ADL, a pro-Israel organization so explicitly Zionist and outwardly political that Wikipedia no longer considers it a reliable source for citations, equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. But while antisemitism is a form of white supremacist hatred against Jews historically tied with the political right (e.g., Hitler’s Third Reich or auto tycoon Henry Ford), critics of Zionism take a historical materialist analysis of the settler colonial ideology behind the modern Israeli statehood project. As the United Nations recognized the state of Israel in 1948 as a post-World War II settlement in the wake of the Holocaust, they also granted official superpower backing to the Zionist political movement for a Jewish ethnostate, which took for granted the annihilation, expulsion, and subjugation of the native Palestinian population. The U.S. and its allies have continued to support Israel primarily for their own colonial interests, since it serves as a friendly military outpost in the Middle East, a key shipping route and oil-rich region, even as blatant land grabs, civilian slaughter, and other abuses occur daily.
The MTA is no stranger to fury from the ruling class, Republican or Democratic. Democrat Governor Maura Healey, leading a consensus of state legislators, intervened to crush local MTA unions on strike in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The union’s victories in popular, back-to-back ballot campaigns it supported in 2022 and 2024, also opposed by Healey and state Democratic leadership – the Fair Share Amendment removing the MCAS graduation requirement – cemented organized public educators as a powerful, politically independent force for the Commonwealth’s working class. When the Globe routinely cites Boston-based “free market” think tank Pioneer Institute against teachers’ unions and public education, and a Democratic governor union busts striking local educators desperate for student resources, the political overlap of the settler-colonial (“Pioneer”) project and the anti-union project, both of the bipartisan ruling class, reveals itself. Still, the swift interrogation by the newly formed Special Commission on Antisemitism marked an escalation of manipulative tactics and state repression.
Special Commission on a Zionist Mission
From its inception, it was clear that the Special Commission was, in reality, a Zionist political project cloaked in virtuous language. Activists were quick to criticize the Special Commission for being a Trojan horse for anti-Palestinian repression during its founding. Sixty-four organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace, the Boston Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), UAW Local 2322, and 1,100 individuals, signed onto a June 2024 letter to the legislature requesting that the budget amendment authorizing the Special Commission not pass.
Written signatories also cited a lack of public input, the Special Commission failing to incorporate antisemitism into a generally anti-racist framework, and its adoption of the controversial, ADL-aligned International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. The IHRA definition, which labels some criticisms of the state of Israel as a form of anti-Jewish hate, if legitimized by the state, has far-reaching implications on education policy, civil rights protections, and what is considered hate crimes.
Concerns about Israel’s influence over the Special Commission are well-founded. A June 2024 webinar on antisemitism in Mass. public schools, hosted by the Israeli-American Civil Action Network (ICAN) where Sen. Velis was a panelist, was sponsored by extreme Zionist groups such as StandWithUs, the Consulate General of Israel to New England, CAMERA Education Institute, and Christians and Jews United for Israel.
That webinar included a presentation on the alleged antisemitism of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Association (MTA). A group of Zionist rank-and-file MTA members calling themselves Massachusetts Educators Against Antisemitism (MEAA), who have worked to stomp out advocacy for Palestinians in Massachusetts and their union, led the presentation.
Sen. Velis has been on no fewer than three trips to Israel paid for by Israel-affiliated organizations. He emphasizes that these trips do not influence his credibility as Commission co-chair, since he claims to have also spoken to Palestinians on these trips. Still, in an October 2024 panel hosted by ICAN, Velis expressed doubt about well-documented Israeli apartheid and human rights violations. He then waxed about his experience on a tour of an Israeli air missile battery during his latest trip, commenting on the attractiveness of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldiers:
“I’m thinking it’s gonna be a bunch of U.S. service members coming out, in my mind what U.S. service members look like…and please don’t take this the wrong way…but five of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my life walk out…and I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the Iron Dome, because, you know.”
Working Mass applauds Senator Velis for his even-keeled assessment of the situation in Palestine.
Special Commission vs. The MTA
Sen. Velis’s amendment, passed last spring, also instructs the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to create antisemitism educational curricula for Massachusetts public schools. Under this pretense, the Commission summoned MTA President Max Page and Lexington High teacher Jessica Antoline to testify on February 10th, 2025.
It quickly became clear that the hearing was a setup. What was advertised to MTA leadership as a good-faith dialogue regarding the resource page promptly turned into a McCarthyist inquisition of the MTA, aiming to corner Page and Antoline into “gotcha” soundbites.
The Special Commission’s interrogation focused on an MTA internal list of resources for educators to use to teach a balanced approach to Israel/Palestine with respect to Palestinians’ self-determination. A democratic and popular MTA resolution led to the creation of the list. Sources in MTA tell Working Mass that over 1000 rank-and-file members advanced the resolution democratically, and the MTA’s Board of Directors voted in favor. Retired librarian and MTA member Sue Doherty said that since “most teachers are terrified to teach about this topic,” the resource list was broadly welcomed.
Rep. Cataldo presented a list of images retrieved from secondary links embedded within the resource list and repeatedly demanded that President Page denounce them as antisemitic. He repeatedly ignored Ms. Antoline’s request to present her testimony, pushing it after his presentation. Images selected included an image of Joe Biden with “serial killer” superimposed over him and another image saying “Zionists Fuck Off.” These images were not directly provided to teachers or students, but were found on tangential pages on some of the websites on the resource list. Cataldo presented the images to demonstrate an “anti-Israel” bias within the MTA, pressing Page and Antoline to confirm what he described as the union’s “indoctrination” of students with antisemitic beliefs.
The Special Commission’s hearing was not expected, but not surprising, as rank-and-file MTA members self-organized a powerful pro-Palestine caucus within the union, culminating in a successful resolution to divest their pension fund from military contractors. A simple Google search of ‘MTA antisemitism’ reveals countless articles demonstrating a concerted effort by Zionist organizations to punish the MTA for its pro-Palestine advocacy. The Free Press, an outfit of the Israel hawk Bari Weiss, summed it up in an article titled “Hamassachusetts”.
In the wake of the Special Commission’s interrogation, reactionary forces have capitalized on the MTA’s public flogging to attack public-sector unions writ large. These anti-labor efforts align with Trump’s attacks on federal workers and long-standing warfare against public education through efforts to privatize schools and kneecap educators’ unions. The Special Commission sought to supply the offensive with additional ammo.
Organized Educators Push Back
The attack was, of course, trumped up. Critical facts were left out of the inquisition, like how most of the resources presented were never actually shared with students in the classroom. The resource page includes many optional – not mandated – resources to help instructors learn and teach about Palestine. One of these resources was the website for the organization Artists Against Apartheid, without any specific images attached. The Commission combed through this website and others from the list, found the images it defined as the most antisemitic, and cited them as holistically indicative of the type of resources the MTA provided to its membership.
The Commission cited an infographic about Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer that had an office in Cambridge until recently, due to public outcry, to attack the MTA. However, the infographic was never included in the MTA’s list of resources, nor could it be directly navigated to from the list. This did not prevent Cataldo from attempting to conflate criticism of an Israeli corporation with antisemitism.
At one point, Cataldo asked Page and Antoline to name individuals who had posted pro-Palestine sentiment on their personal social media accounts. An audience member rose and shouted, “Senator McCarthy, how is this any different than naming names of coworkers and associates during the 1950s Red Scare?” The crowd erupted in rapturous applause. Cataldo pounded his gavel to restore order and stated, “That was a nice remark from a former teacher of mine who taught Marxism class.”
As members of the MTA rank-and-file pro-Palestine caucus documented in an exhaustive report they submitted to the Special Commission in response to the February 10th hearing, the co-chairs’ cherry-picked “exhibits” may have criticized Israel and/or Zionism, but they were not antisemitic. The report also analyzes how the line of questioning and many of the images shown promoted anti-Palestinian racism. Merrie Najimy, former MTA president and organizer with MTA Rank and File for Palestine, later testified with a community group at the hearing:
As an Arab-American educator, I bring to my teaching my own experience with racism, that very racism that I just experienced here. My watch went off, telling me my heart rate was elevated to 122.
Deep connections between Jewish labor and the MTA challenge the Special Commission’s incredulous charge of antisemitism to attack the union. Page himself is the child of a Jewish refugee from WW2-era Nazi terror. And three different MTA locals were recently honored by the New England Jewish Labor Committee for their courage in going on strike, technically illegally as public sector workers and with the opposition of Gov. Healey, at the 2025 Labor Seder in Boston.
These facts complicate the Special Commission’s politically motivated smear campaign and highlight the absurdity of lecturing a first-generation descendant of Jewish refugees about antisemitism. As Page and Antoline continuously reiterated, teachers have the critical thinking skills to understand that a poster saying ‘Zionists Fuck Off’, on its own, with no context, is not relevant to the classroom. The labor leader argued:
Our highly educated teachers and other education professionals – creative individuals who have dedicated their lives to building a culture of learning for young people – are not robots who would somehow be brainwashed by a single set of resources.
Leaders of Jewish communities have also stepped up against the politically weaponized overreach of the Special Commission. On March 31st, 90 local rabbis and Jewish community leaders wrote arguing that the Special Commission’s activity was contributing to President Trump’s free speech crackdown under the pretense of combating antisemitism.
Elsa Auerbach, a professor emeritus at UMass Boston, MTA member, Boston Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) member, and one of the signatories of the letter, added that the trajectory of the Commission seems like a giant missed opportunity:
I will not project the intent of the Commission. But, Massachusetts has the opportunity to be the model to fight antisemitism in the current historical moment … clearly framed as a Commission which stands against white supremacy… After the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia, I read that some rabbis were saying the suffering of Jews was being co-opted for an antisemitic agenda. That is the framing I’d like to see the commission looking at.
In Defense of Union Democracy and Public Education
Educators are fighting not only to keep the democratic will of their union’s membership respected in the face of the Special Commission’s attack, but also, as they are obligated to do by their profession, to teach facts. The death count in Gaza is estimated to be over 200,000, more than one in every two buildings is destroyed, and its entire living population is currently on a trajectory to starve to death. Constantly, Palestinians are told to put their lived experience as secondary to narratives mandated by polite society, when the reality is depravity that can never be truly articulated or taught. During a genocide facilitated by our United States government, and with our taxpayer money, it’s no surprise that organized educators are determined to uphold truth. Doherty summed it up:
Silencing the truth about the history of Israel and Palestine and marginalizing the experiences of Palestinian students and their families doesn’t do a thing to help fight antisemitism or make Jewish students safe.
Chris B is a DSA member, public sector union member and contributor to Working Mass.
The post How A Mass. Special Commission Became a Trojan Horse Against the Powerful Statewide Educators Union appeared first on Working Mass.
Weekly Roundup: June 17, 2025
Events & Actions
 Tuesday, June 17 (5:50 p.m. – 7:20 p.m.): Socialist in Office + Electoral Board Meeting (Zoom) Tuesday, June 17 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (Zoom) Tuesday, June 17 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigrant Justice Working Group & East Bay DSA: Know Your Rights & Immigration 101 Training (In person at 1916 McAllister) Wednesday, June 18 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.):  What Is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister) Thursday, June 19 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.): Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom) Thursday, June 19 (7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.): Book Talk on US-China Relations with Dee Knight and Kyle Ferrana (Zoom) Friday, June 20 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): Maker Friday (In person at 1916 McAllister) Saturday, June 21 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Monthly Food Service (In person at Castro & Market) Sunday, June 22 (12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): Picnic (In person at Dolores Park, Dolores & 19th St) Sunday, June 22 (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Capital Reading Group (In person at Dolores Park, Dolores & 19th St) Monday, June 23 (5:50 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Socialist in Office + Electoral Board Meeting (Zoom) Monday, June 23 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Tenderloin Healing Circle (In person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate) Monday, June 23 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (Zoom) Monday, June 23 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom) Tuesday, June 24 (6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Ecosocialism Office Gardening (In person at 1916 McAllister) Wednesday, June 25 (6:45 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.): Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (Zoom & in person at Radical Reading Room, 438 Haight) Wednesday, June 25 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): Screening of ‘They Live’ (In person at Roar Shack, 34 7th St) Thursday, June 26 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigrant Justice Working Group Meeting (Zoom) Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates. |
IJWG & EBDSA: Know Your Rights + Immigration 101 Training
Join the DSA SF Immigrant Justice Working Group and EBDSA Migrants Defense Working Group for a joint Know Your Rights + Immigration 101 training! We will be discussing the current political moment, a brief history of immigration in the U.S., and important Know Your Rights information, including the difference between a judicial and administrative warrant and how to exercise your rights or intervene as a bystander in various scenarios. The training will take place on Tuesday, June 17, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister St.
Maker Friday on June 20 
Join us for Maker Friday on June 20 at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.! Come make some art and connect with comrades. All are welcome. See you there!
Apartheid-Free Bay Area Training & Canvassing
Join the Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group at 1916 McAllister St this Saturday, June 21st from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. as we canvass Hayes Valley as part of the No Appetite for Apartheid campaign! This campaign aims to reduce economic support for Israeli apartheid by canvassing local businesses to boycott Israeli goods.
You will receive training on how to talk to stores in your neighborhood, then we will go out and talk to stores together! This is a great event for both beginner and experienced canvassers.
Summer Social(ist) Events! 
- June 22nd, 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Picnic @ Dolores Park! Bring some food or drinks, bring your dog, bring your friends, bring your friend’s dog! We will be in the Northeast corner by the tennis courts.
- June 25th @ 7:00 p.m. – Screening of They Live at Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Let’s watch the classic monster movie inspired by the scariest monsters of them all (Ronald Reagan and Capitalism)!
- July 6th @ 11:00 p.m. – Screening of The Room at the Balboa Theater! We’ll meet outside at 10:30.
- July 11th @ 7:30PM – Comrade Karaoke at the Roar Shack (34 7th Street) – Come hang out and do some FREE karaoke with your fellow DSA SF comrades or cool people you want to impress with your incredible singing voice! No songs refused, no entry denied! Suggested Donation: $10. Drinks: Wine + Beer Available / BYOB
- July 27th @ 1:05PM – Oakland Ballers vs Northern Colorado Owlz baseball game + “Halloween in July Night” (at Raimondi Park) – RSVP here by July 13th so that we can put in a group order of tickets! Group tickets are are $15 per ticket, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds!
Ecosocialism Gardening
Ecosocialism Gardening
Come garden with our Ecoscocialism Working Group to talk socialism and get to know our garden! We’ll start with a discussion of the history of native plants in the Bay Area and then identify the native plants in our office garden. Join us Tuesday, June 24th at 6:30 p.m. at 1916 McAllister.
People’s Conference for Palestine: Gaza is the Compass
Come one, come all! We’re hoping to have a DSA SF delegation at the 
People’s Conference For Palestine: Gaza is the Compass 
from August 29-31 in Detroit, Michigan. Interested? We’re gauging interest, so please fill out this form by June 19th at 11:00 p.m. Limited financial aid may be available.
Reports
Chapter Convention
This past weekend we held our chapter’s Annual Convention. At Convention, we elect new leadership, charter our chapter bodies, consider bylaws amendments, and determine our chapter’s priority campaigns for the year. Here’s a recap from this year’s Convention!
Bylaws Amendments
We amended our bylaws to reduce the number of annual priority campaigns from up to 3 to only 2, now requiring one of those priorities to be an external-facing campaign and the other to be an internal organizing priority.
Priority Campaigns
- Our new priority campaign for the year is San Francisco Divestment: Confronting Israeli Genocide and Apartheid at Home. The priority campaign will be led by Christina W, Doc R, and Jayson V. You can read more about the goals for this campaign in the resolution we passed.
- Both of the priority resolutions up for consideration at Convention were external-facing campaigns, so we will have a single priority campaign for the year unless an internal priority is considered at a future chapter meeting.
Resolutions Adopted
- Resolution for DSA SF to Take a Socialist Approach to San Francisco’s Overdose Crisis
- Resolution in Support of Christiana Porter, Demanding Justice and Accountability from the City and SFPD
- Resolution to Paint the Town DSA Red
- Editorial Policy Resolution
- Electoral Strategy Resolution
Chapter Bodies & Leadership
We rechartered several chapter bodies and elected new leadership for the first six-month term.
- Steering Committee – Aditya B, Annie R, Ellyn D, Jenbo, and Julian M
- Grievance Officers – Chloe J, Jenna L
- Electoral Board – Anya W-Z, Carlos C-R, Lizzie M, Harlo P, Jordan N
- Education Board – Matt R, Stephen A, Volo K
- Labor Board – Caitlin S, Erich F, James S, Reilly P, Sayuri F
- Ecosocialism Working Group – Rishav R, Sophie P
- Homelessness Working Group – Ben P, Keith H
- Immigrant Justice Working Group – Caroline G, Cindy R
- Palestine Solidarity & Anti-Imperialism Working Group – Andrew Y, Louise D
- Tenant Organizing Working Group – Dan E, Ellyn D
Sunday Streets Tabling
DSA hosted a table at Sunday Streets this past weekend on June 15 which took place in the Tenderloin, right outside the DSA convention happening in Kelly Cullen Auditorium. We had a group of 4 helpers representing the healing circle who facilitated the activities and spoke with community members.
We handed out flyers for DSA SF and the Tenderloin Healing Circle, Know Your Rights cards, educational zines previously created by members, buttons with various comradely phrases and information on No Appetite for Apartheid; and shared the QR code in support of Jackie Fielder’s legislation to extend family shelter stays. We also ran a button making station, which was incredibly popular, and had chalk available, which was especially popular with the littles but appreciated by all ages.
We had a steady stream of folks of all ages at our table the entire time, asking questions about DSA and the different projects we were promoting, or even just stopping to chat about life for a few minutes. In the end, we handed out the entire original stack of healing circle flyers, and the button design with “Stand Up Fight Back” really seemed to strike a chord. We found this to be a very engaging and inspiring event and would strongly encourage the chapter to attend again in the future.
A few other moments to highlight:
- The first person to use the chalk was a young man who drew the blue and pink design – a passerby stopped to compliment the artist saying it looked like a unicorn
- A mom with her three daughters sat and each made a pin together with great enthusiasm while chatting with our helpers
- A father and his three young daughters took turns with chalk and expanded the mural in front of our table, running up to our table each time to retrieve new colors
Behind the Scenes
The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.
To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.
Tech Workers Must Fight the Anti-Immigrant Crackdown and Escalating Authoritarianism
Tech workers are still largely unorganized, but they can act together to stop the used of militarized weapons on people at home and abroad.
The post Tech Workers Must Fight the Anti-Immigrant Crackdown and Escalating Authoritarianism appeared first on EWOC.
Unions and Community Unite for May Day: Lessons for the Fight Ahead
This article is reprinted from the Socialist Forum, a publication of DSA. It was authored by Todd Chretien, who serves both on DSA’s Editorial Board as well as Pine & Roses’ Editorial Collective. It was originally published on May 30, 2025.
What happened?
Hundreds of thousands of workers marched and rallied on May Day, making it the largest International Workers Day since 2006 when two million immigrant workers left work and marched to demand their rights. Protests were organized in 1300 locations, large and small; no doubt the first May Day protest in many places. Broadly speaking, there were three different levels of mobilization. First, as in 2006, Chicago stood out with some 30,000 marching, organized by a mass coalition of labor and immigrant rights organizations. Second, cities like Philly, New York, Baltimore, San Francisco, Oakland, Burlington, and Portland, Maine mobilized between two and fifteen thousand. Third, hundreds of cities and towns turned out crowds from a couple dozen to hundreds, including smaller cities like Davis, California. This ranking is not intended as a judgement on the organizers. In fact, some of the smaller rallies included higher percentages of the population than the largest. For instance, in the town of Wayne, Maine—population 1,000—seventy-five people turned out for both morning and evening rallies.
It’s worth noting that the crowds were not as large as the April 5 day of protest initiated by Indivisible; however, participants were noticeably more multiracial, younger, and radical with widespread support for transgender rights and opposition to the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Though an important step in the process of building working-class unity against the billionaires and capitalist class, these efforts have a long way to go. For instance, although multiracial, at the national level, the marches did not entirely reflect working-class diversity. And if immigrant rights organizations were critical in many cities, Trump’s reign of terror against immigrant workers suppressed turnout from this community in many places.
Who organized it and how?
Memory and sacrifice play a role in sustaining oppositional working-class culture. No Haymarket Martyrs, no May Day. More recently, the 2006 May Day protests provided a living link to the past as well as the importance of International Workers Day globally. UAW president Shawn Fain’s call for unions to align contracts and lead a 2028 general strike, have introduced May Day to a whole new generation of labor organizers.
Recently, precursor actions in the wake of Trump’s election laid the basis for pulling together a mass, class-based response. As the saying goes, the best organizing tool is a bad boss and Trump is one of the worst bosses possible. Repression and widespread layoffs do not always provoke resistance, but this time targeted workers put up a critical mass of opposition that gummed up the works and provided the time to organize a strategic response.
Thousands of teachers from across the country responded to a call by the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers for walk-ins in March to protest Trump’s destruction of the Department of Education. Bay Area activists organized a “Day of Resistance” against ICE even before Trump was inaugurated. The Maine State Nurses Association led a rally to protest Medicaid cuts in March and organized a mass town hall to prevent the closure of the obstetrics department in the small town of Houlton. Kathryn Lybarger, president of AFSCME 3299 representing 22,000 workers at the University of California, summarizes her union’s approach, “My union went on its fourth strike in six months on May Day, and the energy felt great. For union members fighting a powerful employer for our families’ futures, it was amazing to be joined on the picket line by all kinds of community members who are fighting billionaires for their futures too. The day felt like an event and an important step in building the movement we need to stop Trump and win a better world.” In the single biggest display of working-class power on May Day, 55,000 LA County employees in SEIU 721 walked off the job and marched through downtown LA.
As federal workers reeled from Trump’s layoffs, the Federal Unionist Network was one of the most important elements blunting the blitzkrieg. FUN organizer Chris Dols explains, “Amidst all the necessary defense we’re playing against the billionaires’ offensive, May Day is the labor movement’s opportunity to articulate a positive vision for the world we deserve. Federal workers are uniquely positioned and proud to help advance such a vision because, above all else, we are public servants, and it is the entire public that is under assault. As is captured by the FUN’s ‘Save Our Services’ demand, our approach to May Day was to foreground the crucial services and protections federal workers provide in an effort to not only cohere fighting federal labor movement but also to develop and deepen alliances with all who stand to lose the most if Trump gets away with smashing up our agencies.”
Pair these factors with decades of bipartisan misery inflicted on the working class, and it’s not surprising workers are angry. Politicians have failed to deliver on demands like healthcare for all, affordable housing, and a stronger public education system. Add inflation, union-busting, white supremacy, misogyny, transphobia and homophobia, genocide in Gaza, and anti-immigrant bigotry, and the potential for uniting large parts of the working class across its many divisions comes into focus.
Chicago takes the lead
Yet objective conditions alone cannot make a plan. Organized forces with the credibility and capacity to think through a strategy and to put it into practice are needed.
According to Jesse Sharkey, past president of the Chicago Teachers Union and lead organizer with the newly-formed May Day Strong coalition, “Chicago became a center of May Day organizing this year for two reasons—first, there was a local coalition that got a lot of people involved. Activists from the immigrants rights community were extremely important in initiating it, and they held open meetings. They invited anyone who wanted to help organize. That drew in trade unionists, and many others. On a second front, Chicago was in the middle of initiating a national call for May Day protests… The call for that effort came from the Chicago Teachers Union and a handful of allied organizations such as Midwest Academy, Bargaining for the Common Good, and the Action Center on Race and the Economy. The NEA also played an extremely helpful role. In late March, we had about 220 people from over 100 organizations join us in Chicago to start planning for May 1 actions. The reason we were able to initiate such a widespread effort was because we have a past practice of closely linking trade union fights to wider working-class demands. In places where local unions have worked with community and activist groups, we had networks of communication and trust. Then, once that effort had reached a certain critical mass, some of the big national networks like Indivisible and 50501 got on board, and that really grew the reach of the day.”
It’s not that the CTU and immigrant community organizers in Chicago were the only ones thinking about May Day, but their action drew together and amplified similar efforts across the country, nationalizing the protest by providing a framework and resources for labor and community organizers in hundreds of towns and cities. Chicago didn’t create May Day 2025—thousands of activists across the country had to take up the call—but it did open a door.
Socialists and the united front
Assessing the impact of May Day for the working class as a whole should not be conflated with DSA’s role in the organizing. But as this is an article that will mostly reach DSA members, it’s worth reviewing what we contributed. First, thousands of DSA members across the country turned out for May Day. This fact alone shows our organization’s strength, and it points to opportunities and responsibilities. If all your chapter was able to do was to turn out members or help publicize the local protest among coworkers and the broader community, that’s an important contribution. Second, at the National Level, DSA’s National Political Committee and National Labor Commission joined May Day Strong and organized membership Zoom meetings to encourage branches to take action starting in March. Third, and this should come as no surprise, DSA played a bigger role in some places than others. I think it’s worth considering the impact of the strategic and tactical choices local chapters made on the influence they wielded and the organic ties they deepened. After speaking with comrades from across the country, I will offer a few positive examples. I hope comrades will add to this picture and offer alternative ideas or criticisms.
New York
In October, the NYC-DSA chapter adopted a resolution to support the UAW’s call for a 2028 May Day strike. The chapter subsequently held an internal May Day 2028 strategy retreat and identified May Day 2025 as a key link in the chain of developing power and political momentum to fight against Trump and the broader machine. As one DSA organizer puts it, “It’s not enough to circle May Day 2028 on a calendar, we need to build a coalition to organize it and politicize it.” Rooted in this perspective, NYC-DSA turned out to support a mass post-election labor-left anti-Trump rally, the FUN day of action in February, the subsequent Stop the Cuts rally on March 15, and Hands Off on April 5.
Olivia Gonzalez Killingsworth, co-chair of NYC-DSA Labor Working Group and National Labor Commission SC member (as well as a twenty-year member of Actors’ Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA) picks up the story, reflecting, “After Stop the Cuts, I went to Chicago on March 19 and 20 as an NLC representative to join the May Day Strong meeting. Stacy Davis Gates, Jackson Potter, and Jesse Sharkey welcomed us all into the house that CTU built. Shawn Fain was there along with Randi Weingarten, who was enraged because Trump signed his executive order gutting the Department of Education that same day. We broke out into regions and were charged with going back home to build May Day as big as possible. In New York City, broadly speaking, there were three important currents: the core of the union movement represented by the Central Labor Council, the left-liberals like Tesla Takedown, and the labor/left, of which DSA is a part. Through a lot of coalition work, we made a circle out of this Venn diagram. Trump helped along the way. Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation really angered the Building Trades, further galvanizing them into participation. DSA played an important role in mobilizing: we had a huge contingent, and even more members marching with their unions. But more than that, we helped politicize May Day to point to the billionaires who are benefiting from the Trump administration’s attacks on us.”
Part of this work included successfully advocating—alongside many others—for both AOC and Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyer to speak at the rally, which garnered significant national media attention, helping broadcast our message far beyond May Day participants. It’s important to point out that DSA did not initiate the coalition, but worked alongside long-time labor activists to support May Day, earning our stripes as a trusted and capable partner.
On the day, NYC-DSA turned out some 500 members, many of whom marched with their unions. They did so while keeping up with other work—DSA member Zohran Mamdani is running for mayor—with NYC-DSA labor organizers having advanced a month-long Build to May Day campaign. Organizers called on committees and working groups across the chapter to make May Day a priority, turning out members and volunteer marshalls. The chapter is now in a stronger position to discuss next steps with the broader coalition and consolidate a layer of new members and allies. There’s more pain ahead, but May Day helped gather working-class forces together for action and to take the temperature of the most active and militant layer of trade unionists and community activists. As NYC-DSA Labor Working Group member David Duhalde suggests, “The New York City May Day rally and march from Foley Square to the iconic Wall Street Bull statue was a microcosm of the shift in energy in labor during Trump’s second term.” How far that shift goes can only be tested in practice.
Philadelphia
As in New York, Philadelphia DSA did not initiate the call for the May Day rallies. The AFL-CIO led the charge in alliance with immigrants rights organizations such as Milpa, New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, and Juntos, mobilizing some 5,000 workers. But Philadelphia DSA did add its organizing muscle, assigning Luke M to act as liaison. The chapter followed many of the same tactics as their New York comrades. When the AFL-CIO opened up the coalition, DSA members proved themselves energetic organizers; for instance, running the marshal training and providing a large portion of marshals. DSA members constituted a large part of the seventy-two people arrested at the end of the march in a civil disobedience action, including Rick Krajewski, a DSA member elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Seven union presidents joined in this calculated escalation of tactics, demonstrating a broad understanding that workers will have to take matters into their own hands to back down the billionaires and capitalist elites.
And in a lesson passed down through generations, from the IWW to Sit-Down Strikes to the Civil Rights Movement to Occupy to Black Lives Matter to Gaza, no protest is finished until jail support is organized, a responsibility that was taken up by DSA members and coalition partners alike. That unity in action demonstrated the most important aspect of united front work, but the chapter also raised the socialist banner. Taking placards and membership interest card ideas from DSA members in California, Philadelphia DSA formed a visible presence on the march with some 200 members, and signed up sixty-two new recruits. It didn’t hurt that the unions invited Bernie to speak. After all the hard work, Luke praised his Philly comrades, “I have to say I’m genuinely proud of what we accomplished, and I’m looking forward to the debrief meeting to see what comes next.”
Portland, Maine
Maine DSA’s Labor Rising working group decided to focus on May Day in December, laying the basis to help initiate an organizing meeting open to all community groups and unions. Maine AFL-CIO leaders and UAW graduate students participated in a preliminary meeting to brainstorm ideas, and more than 70 people attended an April 12 meeting in the South Portland Teamsters’ Hall, where the group democratically planned Portland’s May Day. Working groups took up all aspects of the action, and we took all important decisions back to the coalition for votes. Running a long a related track, Maine Education Association and Maine AFL-CIO leaders called for actions across the state, amplifying the Chicago May Day Strong call and dramatically broadening what the Portland coalition could organize.
Nearly 2,000 people turned out in Portland, starting with a rally at the University of Southern Maine to back UAW graduate students’ demands for a first contract and then marching to the Post Office to hear from postal workers. Members of the Portland Education Association and a trans student poet headlined the stop at Portland High School and a librarian union rep spoke in Monument Square before the final rally that heard from the president of the Metal Trades Council at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, a rep from the Maine State Nurses Association, members of the Maine Coalition for Palestine, an organizer from LGTBQ+ community group Portland Outright, a local immigrant rights group called Presente! Maine, and others. It was a great demonstration and showed the thirst for a broader coalition. Twenty-five other towns held actions, bringing the total number of Maine participants to over 5,000, the largest Maine May Day anyone can remember.
It would be shortsighted to overstate the power and stability of this fledgling coalition. Large doses of patience and understanding will be necessary to foster bonds of trust. Sectarian pressures to draw “red lines” that exclude workers new to political activity and organizations who have various programs and interests represent one danger. A narrow focus on the midterm elections represents another. Fortunately, there’s a lot of room for creativity between those two extremes.
Long road ahead
May Day was the first test of strength for the left and working class against Trump, MAGA, and forty-plus years of neoliberal rot. We face a long, complex problem where political pressures to return to passivity will be strong, but May Day 2025 constitutes a small step towards healing deep wounds in the American working class, the divide between organized and unorganized, immigrant and US born, etc. If brother Fain’s call for 2028 is to grow strong, then 2026 and 2027 must be practice runs. If 2026 and 2027 are to be real demonstrations of strength, they must grow out of tighter bonds between labor, community, and the left, more active membership participation in all of those forces, and a combination of defensive struggles we are forced to fight and battles we pick on our own terms. As Sarah Hurd, co-chair of DSA’s National Labor Commission, spells out, “This year’s May Day actions showed the power of what we can accomplish just by setting a date and inviting people to take action together. It has also highlighted what work we need to do to scale up our level of organization in the next three years.”
What did May Day teach us? Fittingly, the last word goes to Kirsten Roberts, a rank-and-file Chicago teacher, “The most important element of May Day 2025 is the explicit entry of organized and unorganized labor into resistance to Trump. Trump’s attacks are aimed directly at dividing the working class and turning ordinary people against one another while the billionaires rob and plunder us all. An agenda for working class unity can be built when we stand up for those most victimized and vilified by the right-wing bigots AND when we stand together to fight for the things that the billionaire class has denied us—the fight for healthcare, education, housing, and good-paying jobs for starters. For decades, we’ve been told by both parties that funding war, incarceration, and border militarization are their priorities. May Day showed that working people have another agenda. Now let’s organize to win it.”
The post Unions and Community Unite for May Day: Lessons for the Fight Ahead appeared first on Pine & Roses.
No Mayor Evans, the Answer is not “Zero”: On Arresting the Unhoused
by Gregory Lebens-Higgins
Rochester’s mayoral primary debate took place on May 28, between incumbent Mayor Malik Evans, ROC DSA-endorsee and city councilmember Mary Lupien, and local businessman Shashi Sinha. Lupien spoke ambitiously of her vision for a better future, while Evans and Sinha invoked limitations and appealed to the status quo. The satirical exchange in the footnote below humorously captures the tone of the debate.*
About halfway through, the candidates were asked: “What is your stance on encampment sweeps? Do you support their removal, or do you think their removal [exacerbates] the issues of homelessness?”
“How many people have we arrested for being on the street? The answer is zero,” said Mayor Evans. He elaborates, “you can’t arrest someone for being in poverty or having a substance abuse disorder.” But closer consideration reveals that arrest is the all too frequent response to poverty and substance abuse.
How does Mayor Evans’ logic hold up against racial disparities in policing? Black Americans comprise 33% of the prison population despite being just 14% of the general population, and are arrested at five times the rate of whites. Yet would Mayor Evans believe that “nobody has been arrested for being Black?” (or driving, running, shopping, and swimming while Black).
Of course, racial profiling will always be denied as the true motivation behind such outcomes. Following the Civil War vagrancy laws were enacted across the South, describes historian Eric Foner in his account of Reconstruction, punishing “the idle, disorderly, and those who ‘misspend what they earn,’” with fines or involuntary plantation labor. Virginia’s law punished those who demanded higher wages, while in Florida, disobedience and disrespect to the employer were criminalized.
Many of these laws “made no reference to race, to avoid the appearance of discrimination and comply with the federal Civil Rights Act of 1866,” says Foner. “But it was well understood, as Alabama planter and Democratic politico John W. DuBois later remarked, that ‘the vagrant contemplated was the plantation negro.’”
Similarly, capitalist society builds a carceral framework around homelessness in more devious ways. The threat of homelessness disciplines labor, while the vulnerability of the homeless establishes a hyper-exploitable reserve army of labor.
Today, more than 1,000 Rochester residents are homeless, and the city boasts the fifth highest child poverty rate in the nation, at over 40%. Homelessness in Rochester testifies to the racial legacy of America, with Black residents representing 40% of the general population but 55% of those experiencing homelessness. Meanwhile, rent continues to increase—a single-bedroom apartment now averages $1,200 per month—and a surging housing market pushes home ownership further out of reach.
Housing is not the only rising cost of living, and income growth lags behind. Employment can be difficult to obtain, requiring a stable address, transportation, and a passing background check. Even retaining a job does not guarantee alleviation from homelessness, as employers provide low wages, unreliable hours, and limited time off, and employees are subject to termination at will.
Rochester lacks adequate shelters for the unhoused, and those in extreme poverty have nowhere to go. Capitalism privatizes everything it can profitably possess. Modern public space carries a cost of occupancy, and minor violations such as sleeping in public or an open container can lead to arrest or a trespass notice. “Urinating and sleeping in public are both unavoidable and criminalized,” says Alex Vitale in The End of Policing, “creating a terrible dynamic.”
The unhoused are targeted by police and ostracized by the community. Despite Mayor Evans’ denial, encampment sweeps have traumatically displaced inhabitants and destroyed their belongings and continue to do so. Those occupying public spaces are more likely to have police contact or be subject to search, while poverty encourages crimes of desperation and nihilism—if society doesn’t care about me, why should I follow their rules?
Once the unhoused enter the criminal justice system, problems compound: “The criminal justice system, with its emphasis on punishment,” says Vitale, “[cannot] address the underlying and intertwined problems of homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse.”
The unhoused are more likely to be held in jail, as they are denied release due to a lack of stable housing and cannot afford bail. They will encounter more difficulty paying fines, necessitating more court appearances or consequences such as license suspensions, and they can’t reliably stay in contact with their attorney or the court. Criminal entanglement can disrupt social services and limit job opportunities, leading to a downward spiral.
So, yes, Mayor Evans, we arrest people for being on the street, in all but invocation.
Sinha’s response to this issue is not any better. Solving homelessness, he says, is “very simple and of course it’s [a] very complicated issue.” This answer is revealing—solving homelessness is simple in that the answer appears on its face: providing homes. It is complicated, however, because the desire for profit means this option cannot be delivered by the market.
As mayor, Mary Lupien promises “[to] end homeless encampment sweeps day one.” “Homeless encampment sweeps can kill people,” says Lupien, by disrupting forms of support available to the homeless community through outreach and solidarity. Lupien clearly identifies the “simple answer”—“to provide them homes.”
Mayor Evans admits “[homelessness] is not a problem that you can arrest your way out of.” Yet disproportionate city funding goes to policing rather than social services. With society’s wealth and capacity for production, we have the means to provide housing and a dignified lifestyle to all. When we arrange our society toward these ends, we will find not only that we can eliminate homelessness, but can create a more comfortable and safe community for all.
* “Question: What pizza should we order?
Sinha: Pizza. Ordering. It has some crust. It has some cheese. But we never ask if we can afford it. You know…. sauce. Why aren’t we asking about why we need pizza? We need to fix this problem.
Lupien: I have been a staunch believer in pepperoni pizza, standing with the communities. More pizza in more mouths will feed so many hungry people. It is disappointing that Mayor Evans threw away two whole pizzas at the last pizza party that could have gone to feeding more people. We have the pizza available, we just need to get it to the right mouths. I’ve partnered with Pizza Justice and over a dozen other pizza communities, who understands what it takes to get there. It works.
Evans: I will never apologize for my pizza choices, because my pizza choices are right. I have personally delivered pizza to people, wasting not a single slice. When I was 14 I worked for Salvatores and cannot be ashamed at that. I have never thrown away a pizza. Three years ago we had a pizza crisis in this city. I rolled out Slice of the Night, which gave pizza to pizzaless communities. I will never apologize for what I’ve done. We don’t have the budget to just give everyone pizza. We could all make up misunderstandings about pizza waste, but that’s just not how things work. I have a three topping approach to pizza: sausage, onions, and peppers. You need all three. Let me be clear: without onions a pizza cannot happen. Just like I’ve been doing for 3.5 years, I’ve been bringing these together.
‘Sinha, you have your hand raised.’
Sinha: These two keep arguing. It just isn’t like that. It won’t happen unless we try.” – Reddit user Mysterious-Gold2220.
The post No Mayor Evans, the Answer is not “Zero”: On Arresting the Unhoused first appeared on Rochester Red Star.
Stop Deportation Machine: End ICE Cooperation in Cumberland County
On April 15, Border Patrol agents tackled a 27-year-old Salvadoran man to the pavement on Massachusetts Avenue in Portland. They zip-tied his limbs and threw him into the back of an unmarked vehicle. “It looked like someone getting kidnapped,” a witness told reporters. That’s because it was: a state-sponsored abduction, a spectacle of fear, and a message.
Eyidi Ambila, a man from the Democratic Republic of Congo, served a short sentence in Cumberland County Jail and has since been caged for over eight months by ICE with no new charges, no passport, and nowhere to be deported. This is not immigration enforcement—it’s indefinite detention and state-sanctioned cruelty. A federal judge ruled that Ambila can stay in the U.S. while appealing his deportation, acknowledging that returning him could mean arbitrary arrest, prolonged imprisonment, or torture. Let that sink in: the government admits deportation could lead to torture and still wants to deport him. He’s not a threat. He’s not a flight risk. He’s a living example of a system that dehumanizes, disappears, and discards.
Marcos Henrique and Lucas Segobia, two skilled immigrant workers en route to a job in Maine, were abducted by ICE without charges. They were disappeared for over 36 hours and moved from one facility to another, while ICE lied to their families about their location. Jail staff refused responsibility. It was only after public pressure that officials finally tell their families where they were detained but the respite was brief, ICE, against their families wishes, moved them out of state.
These are not outliers. These are the cases that made it into the press. In April, documents obtained by the ACLU revealed that Cumberland County Jail was detaining 80 people for ICE, and Two Bridges Jail another 25. That’s over 100 people disappeared into the deportation pipeline with the full cooperation of local law enforcement. This is not policy failure—it’s policy success. It is not an accident—it is the infrastructure of repression being put to work to manage the turbulence of dying world.
We are living in the chaos of a collapsing order. Since the 1970s, the twin engines of neoliberal globalization and carceral expansion have reshaped United States: dismantling public institutions, deregulating capital, and replacing mass employment with mass policing, imprisonment, and deportation. What we are witnessing now is not an aberration but the terminal stage of this conjuncture—a world where crisis is met not with care or redistribution, but with cages and scapegoats. Immigration enforcement emerged to discipline labor, to create a hyper exploited strata of the labor market. Now it is being used by the Trump Administration to impose a blatantly fascist order.
To confront this reality, we start with a simple demand: End Cooperation Between Cumberland County Jail and ICE. And we understand that this demand is also a call to end suffering now, dismantle the deportation machine, and it opens the door to new solidarities and new ways of life.
The Event: Spectacle, Terror, and the Demand for Community Defense
The spectacle of forced removal is meant to terrify. It’s meant to be seen. It teaches entire communities to live in fear and sends a warning: no one is safe. The raids, the unmarked vans, the zip-ties—this is fascism in rehearsal. These moments are not isolated incidents; they are performances of state power. The goal is not merely removal. It is submission.
But for every spectacle of fear, we must respond with a celebration of solidarity. These bewildering, terrifying event demand community defense. They demand mutual aid. They demand we show up: outside jails, inside courtrooms, on the streets. The Trump Administration wants to fear going viral. Resistance must spread faster.
The Conjuncture: Neoliberalism, The Carceral State, and Crimmigration
Beneath the immediate spectacle is a broader structure of political economy. Over the last four decades, both parties have built the crimmigration regime—a fusion of carceral control and immigration enforcement designed to regulate the labor market and manage surplus populations. Reagan began immigrant detention. Clinton passed the laws that made mass deportation possible. Bush created ICE, consolidating immigration enforcement into a nationwide, federal police force. Obama used these tools to deport more people than any president in history. And Trump, despite all his gratuitous authoritarianism, has, in both terms, been unable to match the monthly deportation numbers of his democratic predecessors.
The system was not built to ensure justice. It was built to create a precarious workforce and a permanent underclass. It fabricates social order by dividing workers, criminalizing mobility, and treating migration as a security threat. The Trump administration is now using this bipartisan machinery to impose a more openly fascist order.
This is why ending ICE cooperation in Cumberland County matters. It’s not just a local demand. It’s a strike at on the pillars of the crimmigration system. It removes key logistical support. It complicates ICE’s ability to function. It interrupts the flow of bodies from street to cell to deportation. It is a lever of disruption—and it must be pulled.
The Longue Durée: Capitalism, Racial Division, and the Possibility of a New World
Zoom out further, and the contours of a deeper struggle emerge. The United States is a settler-colonial state founded on land theft, racial hierarchy, and labor exploitation. From slavery to Jim Crow to mass incarceration, from the reservation to the ghetto to the border, the same logics persist. Capitalism appropriates and exploits labor and then organizes abandonment. It produces surplus people: unemployed, unhoused, undocumented, untreated. It punishes these victims and twists and contorts their situations to make them appear as enemies to be contained, excluded, and expelled.
But from within that hell, new worlds are being born.
Presente! Maine is showing us how. Their land and food sovereignty programs, mutual aid work, and wellness initiatives are rooted in the labor and leadership of Maine’s Latine immigrant communities—most of whom work in the very sectors propping up this state’s tourism and agricultural economies. This is not charity. It is not service. It is revolutionary infrastructure. It builds autonomy. It deepens solidarity. It models a different way to live—with the land, with each other, and beyond the violence of borders and bosses.
This campaign is part of that same struggle. It’s not just about removing ICE from our jails. It’s about removing ICE from our future so we can build something better, something more humane, something that can unite New and Old Mainers.
We Are Not Asking—We Are Organizing
Of course, movements that threaten power face opposition—not just from reactionaries, but from liberals who want to manage dissent. We see it already. Some prominent liberal immigration advocacy organizations oppose ending ICE cooperation with the Cumberland County Sherriff, arguing that keeping people detained in Maine in the state aids legal defense. But proximity is not justice. Marcos and Lucas were hidden for 36 hours. Their families were lied to. Eyidi has been held for months with no end in sight. The system is built on opacity and cruelty. Local detention doesn’t protect—it enables.
The point is not to make the system more efficient. The point is to make it impossible.
Real change doesn’t come from appealing to authority. It comes from disrupting business as usual. From making the status quo ungovernable. From forcing elites to choose between justice and disorder. This is how power concedes. This is how history shifts.
We are not asking for better policies. We are not asking for a seat at the table. We are organizing to break the table in half.
For Marcos and Lucas.
For Eyidi.
For every neighbor taken in silence.
For every worker forced into the shadows.
For every life destroyed, for family shattered by the perpetual police war in the name of security and order.
End ICE cooperation in Cumberland County.
Free them all.
Stop the deportation machine.
The post Stop Deportation Machine: End ICE Cooperation in Cumberland County appeared first on Pine & Roses.
NNJDSA Chapter Statement: No Immigrant Transfers
The Left Is Not Ready For Shifts In The Working Class – But Class Struggle Unionists Are
Your National Political Committee newsletter — Struggle and Joy
Enjoy your June National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 18-person body (including two YDSA members who share a vote) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, standing against ICE, celebrating Pride and Juneteenth, preparing for Convention, 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 — Struggle and Joy
- RSVP for The Fight for a Socialist Green New Deal Call Wednesday 6/25!
- Monthly Convention Update — Secondary Amendment Submissions, Observer Registration, Volunteering at Convention, and More!
- Save the Date: DSA Fund’s A World To Win Fellowship Nominations Open Wednesday 6/18
- Fundraising Committee Membership Applications are Open!
- Send Chapter News to Democratic Left
- Socialist Forum 2025 Convention Special Issue — Call for Pitches
From the National Political Committee — Struggle and Joy
Things are scary out there. Here in the States, the Trump administration and their ICE jackboots are throwing union leaders in jail on ridiculous, inflated charges, raiding workplaces from coast to coast, ripping healthcare away from trans folks, and deploying the US military in our cities. Internationally, Israel continues to starve and massacre Palestinians and seems to be starting, with bottomless US financial support, a war with Iran. This Saturday, June 14, in Washington DC, Trump is hosting a $92 million military parade from the Pentagon to the White House for his birthday — a victory march meant to celebrate his agenda of war and destruction, rally far-right support, and project strength to the world, while massively wasting taxpayer dollars amid his government’s life-threatening cuts to basic social services.
But when the working class is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!
DSA unequivocally stands with our immigrant neighbors — and not just with words. Our members are holding strong with our communities from Los Angeles to Boston, from San Antonio to Seattle, and especially mobilizing with our labor unions in response. We will be out in numbers this weekend demanding the better, safer, kinder, more just world that we know is possible.
Against Trump’s militarized birthday parade on June 14, the people of Washington DC are choosing to reject fear, and instead will celebrate local culture, community, and connections to one another at #DCJoyDay.
In New York City, Zohran Mamdani’s democratic socialist campaign for mayor keeps surging in momentum, and is now within striking distance of the flagrantly corrupt frontrunner Andrew Cuomo, with just under two weeks to go until the primary election. The ruling class of the world’s wealthiest city is nervous — they don’t understand political success without their own big money strings attached. In a debate last night, Cuomo even said “we wonder who’s funding DSA?” The answer is you — and tens of thousands of working class members giving whatever we can in dues, to punch way above our weight together!
If you’re not sure where to start taking action, here are some steps you can take:
- join our Boycott Avelo campaign to hold the companies that collaborate with these fascist ICE deportations accountable
- join our campaigns to Boycott Chevron
- RSVP for our Labor vs ICE call Wednesday 6/18
- organize Labor for an Arms Embargo, to make it clear that we will not stand for genocide
Our class enemies know that all of these issues are connected; we must, too.
In the midst of the fear and uncertainty, we also remember that June is a month to revel in the joy of victory over fascist forces. Pride and Juneteenth celebrations are both steeped in that tradition: Pride started when trans and queer folks refused to let a fascist police force take away their community space and collective joy; Juneteenth celebrates the end of chattel slavery in the United States, and comes with a reminder that liberation is incomplete — none of us are free until we are all free.
We encourage you to let these celebrations help you remember the long game here. These fights are difficult, the enemies are terrifying and extremely well-equipped, but when we organize, when we use and expand our collective strength, when we stand in solidarity, then we are more powerful than anything the ruling class can throw at us, and the fight for socialism is a fight for a better world for everyone. There is light at the end of the tunnel; there is joy at the end of the struggle. Let that fuel you.
¡Hasta la Victoria!
Megan Romer and Ashik Siddique
DSA National Co-Chairs
P.S. We want to send a warm welcome to our newest DSA organizing committees: Upstate SC, Owensboro (KY), The Shoals (AL), and Pinal County (AZ); and a special shout-out to our newest full-fledged chapters: Rock River DSA (WI) and St. Cloud DSA (MN)!
RSVP for The Fight for a Socialist Green New Deal Call Wednesday 6/25!
Join Wednesday 6/25 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT us to hear from union leaders, DSA campaign organizers, and socialists in office who are continuing the fight for a better future. Given the hostile federal terrain we now face, local pressure campaigns in our communities and bargaining for the common good in our union contracts are the most viable pathways for winning a socialist Green New Deal this decade.
Monthly Convention Update — Secondary Amendment Submissions, Observer Registration, Volunteering at Convention, and More!
Submit or sign on to an Amendment to an existing Resolution, Constitution/Bylaws Amendment, or Platform Amendment via our Convention Hub! Amendments to proposals are also processed through the Portal on our national Discussion Forum. The deadline for secondary amendments is Sunday 6/29. You can find more information on our proposals page here.
And Convention registration is now open! For Delegate and Alternate Registration, Delegation Chairs will receive registration information after their chapter’s election results have been submitted. The election results will be checked for any errors or expired memberships. Any issues found must be resolved before registration information is provided, and we will provide you with directions to resolve it. You can find registration information on the Convention website here. Early bird delegate registration is $175. The deadline for early bird registration is Sunday 6/22.
Observer registration is open as well. DSA members in good standing can attend the Convention in a non-voting capacity as an Observer. The Observer registration fee is $225.
Observers can view plenaries and deliberation on proposals and attend breakout sessions. Observers are not eligible for scholarship funding. For questions, please email DSACon@dsausa.org.
To make sure all delegates and alternates can fully participate, scholarships will be available through our Solidarity Fund. If a duly elected Delegate or Alternate needs assistance with registration fees, travel costs, housing, or food assistance they may apply for a scholarship. Please see your Delegation Chair for details. The scholarship deadline has been extended to Sunday 6/22. And as a socialist organization, we support each other! To help sponsor a comrade, you can give here.
This year’s Convention will be one of the largest member gatherings in DSA’s history. The check-in process, debate sessions, and our voting tools need to run smoothly for our 1,500+ attendees. If you are a DSA member in good standing who can provide support during the Convention, in any of these areas, please check out the shifts we have available at the form here!
Are you an artist, maker, creator, collector, or just a cool comrade with an even cooler item that you’d love to donate to a good cause? Please consider donating to our 2025 DSA Convention fundraiser live auction! The submission deadline is Monday 6/30. We’re looking for art pieces, handmade items, one-of-a-kind socialist collectibles, experiential gifts (a weekend stay at a vacation property, a dance lesson, concert tickets, a tattoo, perhaps?) or some funky or creative thing we haven’t even thought of! Funds raised will go directly to Convention costs, helping it stay affordable for working-class comrades from around the country.
And say hi to comrades in the Convention Solidarity Journal! This year’s National Convention will feature a printed Solidarity Journal that will be distributed to all Convention attendees and shared online. You, your chapter, working group, or committee can place an ad in the Solidarity Journal to send a message of solidarity or of celebration to your chapter, work, or comrades. The deadline to purchase an ad is Friday 7/18.
Please note that Solidarity Journal messages advocating for or against any convention proposal, NPC candidate, slate, or DSA caucus will not be accepted. Journal space is available in three sizes, plus text-only solidarity messages. Ads should be sent as PNG, JPG, or TIFF files, color or black and white. You can find more details and buy your ad here.
Save the Date: DSA Fund’s A World To Win Fellowship Nominations Open Wednesday 6/18
Nominations for DSA Fund’s inaugural A World To Win fellowship open Wednesday, June 18th!
Organizers in every state are bringing new communities into the movement for democratic socialism, often with little support or recognition. They’re organizing new DSA chapters or bringing new comrades into growing chapters. They’re organizing workers or building tenant unions. They’re fighting for immigrant rights and trans rights. They’re bringing democratic socialist messages to new audiences, whether knocking on doors or posting TikToks. They are organizing everywhere, online and offline, small towns and big cities, red states and blue states.
DSA Fund’s A World To Win fellowship is for organizers doing groundbreaking work to bring new communities into the movement for democratic socialism. The fellowship includes a $5,000 award, a set of virtual workshops with democratic socialist luminaries, and opportunities to share their work with comrades across the country. Start thinking today of who you want to nominate!
Fundraising Committee Membership Applications are Open!
“Yes, that campaign sounds cool, but how are we going to pay for it?” If this question doesn’t scare you a bit and you have some experience fundraising either in your DSA chapter or outside DSA, you might just be a good fit for the DSA National Fundraising Committee! This committee helps us fundraise to keep DSA solvent at a national level, through things like dues campaigns, one-off fundraisers, and small-dollar donor asks, as well as helping chapters learn to fundraise for their own work. Whether your experience is in event planning, non-profit giving, fundraising communications, or anything of the like, or maybe you’ve just got a track record of throwing great fundraisers for your chapter, apply to become a member of the Fundraising Committee today!
Send Chapter News to Democratic Left
Our member publication Democratic Left is looking for news items for “Chapter & Verse,” its monthly wrap-up of chapter news. Check out the April edition for examples of the chapter campaigns, events, and accomplishments DL hopes to cover in this feature.
Items can be submitted using the form available here. The editors want to highlight the amazing work DSA chapters across the country are accomplishing. Chapters interested in showcasing their efforts regularly may want to consider designating correspondents who will regularly submit items. Questions can be sent to edboard@dsacommittees.org.
Socialist Forum 2025 Convention Special Issue — Call for Pitches
As the DSA Convention approaches, Socialist Forum is accepting pitches for pieces debating the merits and demerits of the resolutions up for debate at our national convention in August on a rolling basis. We are interested in pitches of essays of a variety of lengths (preferably between 1,000-2500 words) tackling proposals and issues related to the upcoming convention. This could be an essay discussing the specificities of DSA’s position on anti-Zionism or a pitch to discuss or elaborate on a particular proposal having to do with DSA supporting more electoral fights across the country. You can find last Convention’s issue here for reference. Please email submissions or questions to socialistforum@dsausa.org.
The post Your National Political Committee newsletter — Struggle and Joy appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Módulos fundamentales ahora disponibles en español/Foundational modules now available in Spanish
El Comité Nacional de Educación Política de DSA (NPEC) se complace en anunciar el lanzamiento de nuestros primeros módulos curriculares traducidos al español con tres módulos introductorios titulados: ¿Qué es el capitalismo?, ¿Qué es el socialismo? y ¿Por qué la clase trabajadora?
Estos módulos, incluyendo recursos prácticos para el desarrollo de organizadores socialistas principiantes y potenciales, se han utilizado para facilitar la educación política fundamental en todo el país desde su publicación en inglés hace dos años.
Esperamos traducir más de nuestros materiales educativos en futuras publicaciones. Si le interesa colaborar con el NPEC en este proyecto, escríbanos a politicaleducation@dsacommittees.org
Enlace a los módulos de español/Link to the modules in Spanish
DSA’s National Political Education Committee is excited to announce the release of our first translated curriculum modules, featuring all three of our introductory modules in Spanish: What is Capitalism, What is Socialism, and Why the Working Class!
These out-of-the-box modules containing guided resources for developing new and prospective socialist organizers have been used to lead foundational political education around the country since their publication two years ago.
We hope to make additional translations of our committee’s educational materials available in future releases. If you are interested in assisting NPEC with our translation efforts, write to us at politicaleducation@dsacommittees.org